We have already 11 classes. If people say every class was unique gameplay wise they would be lying.
Some classes identity weren’t respected anyway(hi mage spells that are crap). So why not?
That to not even talk about certain themes that are just forbiden from being good without tons of nerf requests borning(Control Priest COF COF).
Class identities should be less attached to strategy and more attached to form. This is why the actual “class identities” aren’t good for the game.
Now If you can forgive me for being a mage player here is a example:
If devs ever feel like making a mage deck capable of fighting for board like a nowadays paladin deck it should probably run with a minion summoning theme.
This game is garbage now. There were 9 classes with each class having three distinct decks.
Then geniuses here, (like some I could name) screamed for more classes,
and Blizzard, being the soulless capitalists they are, obliged.
The coming class bleed is just new insult on top of an old injury.
The damage was done when team 5 broke the original 9 class formula and nothing they do will fix it.
They can only make it worse.
I’m sure we kissed class identities out of the derailing train when they started removing said identities from the classes. I’m sure many of us wouldn’t mind seeing melt your face with spells priest come back, if only because Shadow Priest was definitely a thing in Warcraft and it would allow Priest to play an actual aggressive style. I’ve seen some cheap minion priests running around but the deck has more holes than our legal system in the U.S.
class identities are a fundamentally important part of the game.
I originally thought to the contrary, in this game and in others (except for RPG games), I thought differences in things like classes was simply flavour, similar to a particular art style employed or otherwise.
But, I was wrong. I was convinced of this when I talked to other players about games like diablo 4, where classes play a pivotal role as well. I inquired why they played a certain class even if it was not an optimal build or meta-build of the month/season.
They gave me a great response. Part of the reason some people find games enjoyable is the power fantasy involved in them. For example, some people like to fantasize they are leaders of undead armies and love the idea behind say a necromancer in diablo. Others love the idea of hurling fireballs at enemies and that makes for a great fit with a mage/sorceror.
Reflecting on this, I guess that was never important to me, if I want to play a power fantasy I typically look to single-player RPGs, but I understand how that fantasy is a powerful motivator or key component to enjoying a game.
So while I personally don’t need it, I can see how distinct classes give a more complete or enjoyable experience to, likely, most players, and to ignore this is folly.
I would agree if we were talking about a different game.
Unfortunately, Hearthstone lacks the immersion necessary to make players feel connected to the characteristics of each class.
It is more likely that players enjoy the mechanics of a class’s deck rather than the concept of the class itself.
Even as someone who primarily plays Mage, my preference is driven by the gameplay rather than any sense of magical immersion. Hearthstone’s whimsical nature prevents anything of that sort. The game is simply too goofy.
Mostly agree, but for the fact that some players, myself among them, collected class cards because they enjoyed a given playstyle, only to have team 5 decide that other classes should have that style instead, and in an even better version than the original.
Meanwhile; your class that you collected for, gets ripped apart and made into a hodgepodge of joke left overs.
That isn’t creativity. That isn’t innovation.
That is copy/paste and I think it stinks.
They were given too much leeway. Consider other games with a physical component: any nerf directly impacts the player’s investment. Players can argue, “I purchased this card to play it; how can you ban or nerf it now?”
Hearthstone’s digital nature has allowed the developers to exploit players’ excitement. A new set is released with overpowered cards, only for those cards to be significantly nerfed within a week. If you lose your favorite deck, the response is indifferent: “You can still play the card; it’s just weaker. We didn’t take the card from you.”
Regarding the Wild format, the solution is clear. There should be three distinct formats: Standard, Wild, and a new format that operates without any bans. I’m not certain if there are currently banned cards in Wild, but if there are, consider this: there are cards in the game that cannot be played anywhere. How stupid is that? And that just incorporates straight bans. Some cards have been nerfed so severely that they might as well be considered banned as well.
Classes to me are needed in order to give a structure to deck building/balancing. They might as well at this point (and it looks like its trending to that) just let people put 30 of any card in a deck.
That might not in and of itself be a terrible thing given that unlimited choice gives unlimited variability to the playerbase in both what they play and what they play against but that only works in a game that can achieve a proper balance… and its been shown time and time again ‘balance’ is achieved in only the loosest sense.