Battleground, by far is more fun than the rest of hearthstone. Here are the top 3 reasons:
It’s vs 7 other players which makes it feel extra awesome to win.
There is no net-decking. You gotta figure out the damn moves yourselves. Fakers can’t fake it, you gotta man up or get knocked the * out. On a more serious note, this allows battlegrounds to have a higher skill cap. (only if Blizz fix the obvious issues that i and others have mentioned in other threads.)
No net-decking will actually provide more variations in play, and fun for longer. It takes longer time for a meta to be figured out. (in standard it takes like 1 week, then after that everyone who’s level 10 or better plays the same damn 3 or 2 decks.)
Why? Seriously. I can see the added enjoyment of multiplayer when you get to actually play against 7 other people (see: EDH in MtG), but in this case you’re literally just playing 1v1 against people repeatedly. It’s just like ladder, but the pool is much smaller. Often you won’t even play against certain players in your pod.
What? Just because people don’t consistently end with the exact same boardstate doesn’t mean there aren’t consistent and widely-acknowledged-to-be-the-best picks and strategies, carrying the exact same spirit as the meta and netdecking on ladder. Moreover, if the lack of consolidated decklists somehow makes the mode more skill intensive, I’d argue that the fact you don’t actually engage in combat/gameplay (i.e. outside of board construction there is no decision making as there is in a normal game) makes it significantly less skill intensive.
The meta’s already been “figured out” multiple times on Battlegrounds, hence the multiple balance patches that have been implemented since the release of the beta.
I played it nearly non-stop for like a week. I now know pretty much 100% of the time what to do and the only thing is whether I have time to do it.
Things I like:
it’s quick and fun
there are enough champions that at least part of it is different every time
Things I don’t like:
Personally, I don’t feel the need to have every card picture and associated stats memorized. And unless you do, it’s difficult to make the correct moves in the time available. Mousing over each choice and glancing at the text of the card is too slow. I’d like them to add about 30 seconds more to each turn, plus a “i am done” button so if everyone finishes early there’s no need to wait
there’s far too much luck (which champions you can choose from, whether you get the perfect choices of recruits early, did your guy snipe his rightmost minion, whether you get stuck facing the one uber-deck or the guy who already lost, how long does it take to get your triples, did you get an amalgam, did you get a toxfin, etc.)
For that first week it was available I found it far better than the regular game. But it’s gotten old quickly. I’m getting a bit tired of seeing the exact same handful of strategies for the end game and having the outcome of a match determined by luck so often.
I think long term the regular game will still be better.
I have to agree BadSoup (nice name btw!). This game mode relies almost entirely on luck. You may be lucky enough to get the right hero. Once you get a good hero you may be lucky enough to have access to the correct type of minion, or even just the right minions in a type that go with your hero ability. I wish there was some way to balance minion choices better because it just feels like you either get the good stuff or end up picking through the junkie minions that are left.
There is always an element of luck, even in play mode, for example if you get the right opening hand or not. Often with battlegrounds, I find myself thinking, I have a choice between “not good” and “not great.” There needs to be a way to make it so you can re-direct your strategy more quickly without losing time or too many coins. It’s very frustrating.
I agree here, to a degree, and is one of the reasons I wish tournament lobby/mode with a gold buy-in plus reward structure was added to HS
Maybe eventually but right now the end round meta is essentially figured out:
Amalgam + DS + Poison is a serious goal for all builds
Menagerie appears to be the best comp right now, Beast is a close second, and Mech + Demons are a bit behind the curve right now. You can win with them but it isn’t a primary avenue
I agree on the journey to get to the end-game there is a decent amount to it, similar to homebrewing a deck that can fight a meta, but the end-game I view as being similar to normal game’s meta. Honestly, if you’re watching the stream right now at the end levels the comps are focusing on a similar structure.