Hearthstone and its 'Pity Timer'

I have already quit Hearthstone but this information is really interesting.

Pity Timer on Packs Opening, and the Best Strategy: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/3z7jyh/pity_timer_on_packs_opening_and_the_best_strategy/

According to the findings, it's a nearly guaranteed legendary card at 40 packs so it is similar to getting one of the highest rarity card when you open one box of TCG booster packs in real life.

Quitted Hearthstone

Signs when it's time to quit:
- Stopped checking Hearthstone news
- Checking Hearthstone news to find a new expansion coming but not the least interested
- Didn't feel like logging in to play the week's Tavern Brawl or to get to rank 20 for the month

GG.

Hearthstone: A new way to play? (Added an Edit on 10 Feb 2016)

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19995505/a-new-way-to-play-2-2-2016

Huge announcement by Blizzard regarding Hearthstone with the move to introduce game formats to the game; Standard and Wild. It is quite similar to the formats in Magic: The Gathering. For Standard in Hearthstone, the Basic and Classic set will not be rotating so Classic packs are probably one of the best pack to buy at the moment if you are still missing key cards from there. I've stopped spending coins as I have most of the cards required to build the decks I want and even with the Standard format, I should be spending my coins on the latest spring expansion as it is always nice to experiment with new cards.

More deck slots were also announced but when I checked the Hearthstone reddit, there wasn't much posts about it in the first few pages which is strange for something much asked for! It seems that mostly the format change had quite an impact on the Hearthstone community that everyone was talking about it instead.

Standard's introduction in Spring will "rotate" out Curse of Naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes and there are so many staples from those sets that cannot be used; Zombie Chow, Haunted Creeper, Webspinner, Mad Scientist, Piloted Shredder, Antique Healbot, Loatheb, Sludge Belcher, lightbomb, shielded minibot, muster for battle, death's bite and the infamous Dr. Boom! They are definitely still usable in Wild mode and solo play and should be helpful in Adventures and the Heroic quests.

I look forward to Standard format as it should shake up deck building and keep things fresh with each rotation!

Edit: I realised I forgot about this line from the official article, "While normally we’re quite conservative about making balance changes to Hearthstone cards (and we’ll continue to be in the future), we’re planning to take the new Hearthstone year as a golden opportunity to re-evaluate a number of cards in the Basic and Classic card sets, including class cards, and make some long-considered adjustments." It looks like there is going to be a number of card changes!

More Readings:
https://tempostorm.com/articles/hearthstone-gone-wild
https://tempostorm.com/articles/the-inevitability-of-standard-mode

Hearthstone: Warsong Commander Balance Change (Update with another post-nerf Patron Warrior deck)

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/19288409377

It seems really long since we had one of this, the last nerf I remembered being for Undertaker if I'm not mistaken. I personally quite like Patron Warrior as I love combo decks but this pretty much spells the end of the deck. I've seen Patron Warrior win by controlling the board with just a lot of Patrons but it will be very susceptible to board clears. I wonder if there will be any adaptation possible to keep Patron Warrior as a deck.

The other effect of the nerf is that we lost a powerful and relatively cheap deck for clearing Warrior quests. Some of the alternatives will be OTK Warrior involving Raging Worgen (http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/267912-kolentos-otk-warrior-30dmg-in-one-turn) or Ostkaka's new Charge Warrior: Hearthstone Subreddit link

Update: Surrender, a Hearthstone player from Korea, is playing this new version of Patron Warrior as reported by Hearthstone Top decks: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/surrenders-season-19-new-patron-warrior/

Update#2: Xixo with another post-nerf Patron Warrior deck: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/xixos-season-19-new-patron-warrior/, the main changes was no Emperor Thaurissan which I agree as it's less of a combo deck but more midrange now and opting to use 2 Frothing Berseker which is still a powerful card that requires answering immediately when put on board.

Revisiting Blackrock Mountain Heroic Mode... (Updated with Lord Victor Nefarius for full clear!)

Previously, I managed to clear the first BRM wing of heroic bosses before stopping.

I was browsing around Hearthstone sites and found out Icy Veins has some useful guides on Blackrock Mountain (BRM) Heroic Mode, created by Sottle. I followed them and managed to clear the specified boss so it was really helpful! I'll be compiling a list of the guides below that I used successfully from that site in this post.

Hearthstone: Gaara's rant on balance and world championship Subreddit thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/3m35cw/gaaras_rant_on_balance_and_world_championship/

Interesting read over at the Hearthstone subreddit about game balance and tournament formats. I think the most important take away is about the balancing of the game. I think for a most card games like Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, if a particular deck was dominating for a while, there will usually be some bans or card limit given to key cards of the deck. (Edit: For Hearthstone, cards will get nerfed) In the case of Hearthstone, it probably takes too long to happen and in the case of dominating Patron Warrior, no action has been taken so far...

My pick of Hearthstone The Grand Tournament links to check out (Updated with new links about the Secrets Paladin deck)

The Grand Tournament (TGT) is now out and there is a lot of excitement about this expansion. I picked some of the links about it that are worth checking out below:

1) Reynad picks the most overpowered TGT cards to craft discussion on Hearthstone Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/3i7yvs/reynad_picks_the_10_most_op_tgt_cards_to_craft/?

Be sure to check out the PCGamer article link for his writeup on all the cards. I agree with most of the cards he has on the list but I prefer to take the list as cards to watch out for. It's still better to wait for the deck lists to get standardised before deciding if you need to craft them. The most important rule to remember is actually not to disenchant non-dupe cards you get from TGT until deck lists standardised. I made the mistake of disenchanting Imp-losion very early and have to re-craft them after not getting them from packs again.

The only cards that I'm tempted to craft if I can't get them in packs are Lock and Load because I can see the potential in that and also am interested in trying out a new kind of deck; spell-centric Hunter.

Update: I think Reynad's list does not have enough Shaman cards which I thought had quite a big buff with more totem support cards from TGT, so here is StrifeCro's Top 10 Grand Tournament Cards that will change the game Hearthstone Subreddit discussion for further reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/3hk4x8/strifecro_top_10_grand_tournament_cards_that_will/

A F2P-player-who-bought-the-2-Adventure-modes's current Hearthstone Decks as of July 2015 (Added an update on Paladin, Shaman and Hunter)

I've gone back to playing more Hearthstone since the release of Blackrock Mountain Adventure. I have only spent money on the 2 Adventure packs so far and used gold mainly for packs. After trying arena for a while, I decided that I am not doing well enough to justify the time spent there when I could have just bought packs and be done with it.

I probably played for at least a year now and did manage to amass quite a number of cards from occasional playing to earn coins for packs. I also got lucky and had about 5-6 legendaries opened from pack so far but most of them were used in competitive decks anymore or only appeared in a deck list once in a blue moon. Thus, I dusted most of them for useful epics instead. Most of the "budget" decks from the past, like old school Zoo, are no longer viable and you'll probably need some epics for each class now in deck building as the game has already progressed quite a bit.

I enjoy playing a variety of decks and was able to build a competitive deck each for all the classes with the cards I have, using only legendaries from Adventure Modes. Here are the decks I am able to netdeck:

Hearthstone Blackrock Mountain Heroic Modes: An update on my lack of progress

I actually wanted to avoid reading any guides and come up with my own strategies to take down the heroic bosses from the second week onwards but Diablo 3 Season 3 started and I spent most of my time in that game instead! As such, I won't be attempting the heroic bosses from week 2 onwards.

I find that the Class Challenges do offer a clear strategy against 2 of the bosses that they feature. As I played, I realise there do seem to be Epic and Legendary cards that make the bosses easier. They are important to use if you do not want to spend too many tries and time against the bosses. I don't think it is worth the time to challenge this mode with my limited cards but TommyJTheGamer has guides on how to take down the bosses using mostly basic cards on the Hearthstone subreddit.

Hearthstone: Nomodogan's Grim Patron Warrior

Grim Patron is a really fun card from the 1st wing of Blackrock Mountain and most people try to fit him into Warrior decks. Nomodogan has a list written in the Hearthstone subreddit that got to top 10 legend in the North America server with explanations on his card choices and guide on how to play. I've looked at a few Grim Patron Warrior decks before and he doesn't use some of the cards other people play but it seem to work well for him. This might be the "base" deck for Grim Patron Warrior decks to build around from so it's a great reference!

Hearthstone: Decks I used to beat Blackrock Mountain 1st Wing Blackrock Depths Heroic Mode (Update#5 with more 1st wing Heroic Mode Guides from subreddit)

A discussion on the Heroic mode can be found on the Hearthstone Subreddit where strategies and tips are shared.

After reading through, I managed to beat the Grim Guzzler by abusing his hero power, using the Mage class. The basic strategy is pack your deck with a lot of spells and high mana cost taunt minions and Mage class happens to have a lot of useful spells. It's probably do-able with other class too. The deck that I put together from whatever cards I have, had 17 spells and 13 minions:

The Grim Guzzler Heroic Mode Mage Deck
2x Mirror Image
2x Flamecannon
2x Frostbolt
2x Frost Nova
2x Ice Barrier
2x Mirror Entity
1x Cone of Cold
2x Fireball
2x Polymorph
1x Fen Creeper
2x Sludge Belcher
1x Emperor Thaurissan
2x Lord of the Arena
1x Piloted Sky Golem
2x Sunwalker
2x Stormwind Champion
1x Force-Tank MAX
1x Kel'Thuzad

The first heroic mode boss isn't difficult at all once you figure out the deck to use. I've still no idea how to beat the other 2 though...

Update#1: Hearthpwn with the Heroic Mode guide, not a lot of budget options though.

Update#2: I managed to beat Dark Iron Arena with another Mage deck. I recalled ever used a version of the Echo of Medivh Mage deck with the existing cards I had which was very defensive and thought I'll give it a try. (Edit: It is especially effective as the boss plays a ton of legendary minions and has accelerated mana) I cleared the boss on the first try and here's the decklist:

Hearthstone: Blackrock Mountain Pre-purchase ends when first wing is released (Edited)

Edit: I went ahead and pre-ordered in time before the first wing opening. I guess I really enjoy the single player games in the adventure mode during Naxxaramas. I read that the heroic mode will not be as frustrating so that'll be good.

Source: us.battle.net

No free first wing this time round unlike Naxxramas but still, if you ever want to spend money on the game, I think it is more worth it to spend on buying the adventure expansion over packs. An individual wing cost USD$6.99 or 700 gold or the equivalent of 7 packs and 7 packs in turn, cost USD$9.99.

The other reason for me personally will be that spending all the money on buying packs does not guarantee a good "return", easily leading to buyer remorse, whereas the expansion is fixed in the sense that you know what cards you will be getting. It is definitely possible to buy 60 packs and not get a single legendary due to the randomness as this is unlike TCG like Magic or Yu-gi-oh where you buy a box and is guaranteed a fixed amount of "Super Rare-s".

There is most likely no doubt that this adventure expansion will be important for all players who want to stay competitive. Ben Brode, the senior game designer of Hearthstone, already stated that each class will get cards that cause huge shift in the meta. (Source: Hearthpwn article) There should definitely be some cards that are relevant and may become staples for some decks as this has always been the case with card games and their card expansion to encourage people to buy them. I am hardly playing Hearthstone nowadays so I will most likely skip the pre-order, forgoing that exclusive cardback and maybe buying the bundle with cash in the future if I get back into the game more.

Hearthstone: Blackrock Mountain a needed boost for Hearthstone?

Article by Nydra over at Gosu Gamers

There is actually a lot of focus on the randomness of the card effects but what I definitely agree with are these quotes:

"GvG didn't give us more deckbuilding options. It only gave us more auto-includes."

Firebat brought up about the prevalence of Piloted Shredder, Loatheb, Sludge Belcher and Dr. Boom and you can just check out the recent Viagame House Cup #2's card stats to find out more. (It includes decklists used too) Those cards all have above 55% appearances in decks which is huge. I don't know how Blackrock Mountain can improve that aspect of the game as any new and powerful card will simply replace the previous card in the same mana cost slots and we are back to square one again.

Hearthstone: Mobile version and full Blackrock Mountain full card reveal and my thoughts

HearthPwn with all the information:

Mobile achievements sighted in an upcoming Blackrock Mountain Patch
We should be close to the phone version release!

Blackrock Mountain full card reveal
Overall, other than the obvious support for dragons, I think there are quite a few situational cards this time round that depends on other cards/conditions to get better value. There are also a lot of cards similar to Bolvar Fordragon's effect which proved to be quite feasible in matches unlike what a lot of people was thinking during the card's preview. However, we need to evaluate the usefulness of these cards as a standalone without the "bonus" effects first. Bolvar was a basic 1/7 minion for a mana cost of 5 which is reasonable.

On the other hand, Mage's new Dragon's Breath spell is a basic 4 damage spell for a mana cost of 5 while Solemn Vigil is a 5 mana cost card to draw 2 cards which aren't very good. Therefore, the good ones IMO are those that are already reasonable for the initial effect like Revenge. (Warrior seem to be constantly getting at least one good control card with each new card addition) It looks like it will most likely be included into Warrior control decks for me. Quick Shot is 2 mana cost for 3 damage and that is pretty good value in itself so I think Face Hunter decks will most probably run it.

It'll be interesting to see which cards make it into the current decks as we only have 30 slots. I personally don't think there will be a lot of dragon decks coming out after this expansion unlike Naxxramas' Deathrattle and Goblins and Gnomes' mechs. The only notable ones I see are Hungry Dragon, a neutral card and Twilight Whelp, a priest card.

Hearthstone: TiddlerCelestial's Burst Mage Deck

I've heard about TiddlerCelestial a lot whenever there are Hearthstone tournaments featuring China players. He's definitely one of the top players from China and GosuGamers has an article on his burst Mage deck which has a really interesting strategy; able to switch between offensive and defensive. The decks we normally see are either focused on offensive or entirely defensive (control).

I think there are a lot of different innovative decks from China and Asia and hopefully, we get to see more of them being featured!

Hearthstone: Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Champion Stanislav Cifka on Hearthstone

Yet another Magic: The Gathering professional player that plays Hearthstone. He is also a high-ranked chess player as well! He has an interesting take on Hearthstone in his interview at GosuGamers. His comment on randomness is actually mostly about the mana gain being consistent compared to Magic: The Gathering where you might not draw enough lands for your mana requirements, whereas most people are referring to the randomness nature of the card effects.

He'll be facing of Kolento in the current China vs Europe Season 2 and definitely someone to watch out for. You can check it out in the esl_hearthstone Twitch page.

Hearthstone: Blackrock Mountain next Adventure Expansion next month

Source: us.battle.net

Time to start saving your gold if you don't plan to spend money on the game! For the previous Adventure Expansion, it was worth it to buy with money instead of gold and it looks to be the same this time round. The first wing will not be free for Blackrock Mountain unlike Naxxramas and if you are buying with money, there is a pre-order choice where you can get an exclusive cardback.

Naxxramas featured quite a few staples, from Haunted Creeper to Loatheb, that are used in a lot of decks so I'm guessing you can expect the same for this upcoming expansion. There's probably no skipping if you want to compete competitively for Hearthstone.

Hearthstone: Undertaker nerfed (Edited)

Source: Blizzard

I haven't been playing Hearthstone for a while because games just feel so similar to me with the relatively small card pool. Games just seem to go a certain "fixed" way where you or your opponent draw a series of cards to play and win. (Edit: The guaranteed mana system kind of help out too) Anyway, Undertaker no longer gains health from the the next patch and I know a lot of players dislike the card so it is probably quite a welcomed change. It is one of the cards that when drawn early with you having the death-rattle cards to support it along with your opponent having no answer soon enough, it usually results in a win.

Hearthstone: LifeCoach's interview by GosuGamers (Updated)

Article link

I first noticed LifeCoach from tournaments as he took very long time with his turns, going until the rope burns out. He's obviously thinking through all his and his opponent's possible moves and you can find out more about his thought process through his Twitch streams. I really like his positive attitude as well, in trying to learn as well as share his input about the game. You get that as well as his excitement towards the game when you tune into his streams.

Update: Hearthstone Subreddit discussion on the interview and LifeCoach. I totally agree with the top post by DOGpls.

Hearthstone: Kolento's Demon Warlock

Source: Hearthstone Top Decks Section with updated version posted by Kolento to imgur (Image 9, changes made was Dark Iron Dwarf for Defender of Argus)

I was expecting Mal'ganis like we usually see for Demon decks but Kolento only ran Doomguard and  Lord Jaraxxus as the only demons for Voidcaller's deathrattle. You can watch the deck in action from his Twitch past broadcast video. Some of the interesting combos in the deck are Void Terror + Sylvanas Windrunner and Abusive Sergeant and Dark Iron Dwarf on enemy minions to combo with Big Game Hunter.