I’m curious on what’s the general opinion on how or what makes you a very good Hearthstone player ?
Do you guys think it’s just a matter of rank ? Arena average win rate ? Total games played ?
Do you think getting Legend once makes you a ‘‘very good’’ player for life ? Do you get the status for consistently making high Legend ? Or from making Legend 20+ times ?
I personally don’t think you need to get to Legend every month to prove you are a good player. On the other hand, if you’re one of those who’ve never made it or just made it once and says ‘‘I could do it anytime I want but I just don’t have the time or patience’’ then I’m sorry but you are overestimating yourself until you can prove you can make it multiple times in different metas.
What is your definition of a great Hearthstone player ?
All great Hearthstone players know how to deckbuild/card swap. At the very least, they will be able to figure out why certain cards are in the decks they are playing.
Any good player will also be consistent in making good decisions while playing across a large number of games. This is not the same as never making some big mistake, though good players will almost never make a “newbie mistake” (subjective, needs context).
If the good player does make a big mistake they will almost certainly recognise it, and why it is a mistake, upon reflection or replay, while a less-than-good player will do so less often, or not at all.
No, you can ride to Legend off some Tier S deck, and still be very lacking in some areas of Hearthstone.
However, being able to reach Legend multiple times across different metas: well it shows that your general game knowledge is not limited to just using a FotM cheese strategy.
This whole thread could be resumed with this sentence. It was just for you to brag, isn’t it ?
Almost anyone who play this game consistently has been legend lots of time. It’s not hard, it’s not really challenging either, it’s just a matter of tryhard time you are willing to put into the game.
I’d consider most pro players winning tournament to be very good players.
But that’s about it.
HS doesn’t have enough deep thinking mechanics to be considered a high skill game anyway. There’s almost no insane plays or decks in each meta, and even less in tournaments.
That’s 100% perspective/whatever context is where we’re talking about “good” players.
A Diamond is probably “very good” in the eyes of someone stuck in Gold, but probably pretty inept compared to most of the Legend ladder.
For me personally, I look at players in 5 buckets:
Sub-legend: Anyone who isn’t Legend most seasons. Something fundamentally wrong with their understanding/execution. They just don’t “get” whatever deck(s) they play yet.
Inb4 anyone cites the “grind” as the reason they aren’t Legend most seasons-- it’s only a grind if the above is you. I’m not shaming anyone or anything, but getting legend is pretty quick and easy if you know what you’re doing.
-Bottom Legend: Your legend rank has 5 digits in it. These are mostly the same as the above bracket, but they’re either slightly better or play enough to gain sufficient meta knowledge.
Middle Legend: (I know that’s a bad name for this) Between 8-2k: This is where most players who understand the “big ideas” chill out. They make a lot of mistakes, but if you point them out they can usually understand why it was a mistake and what the implications were.
High Legend: 900 - 100: You are consistently in top 1k,. These players are “good” in almost any context. They tend to understand the meta, their decks, and don’t make THAT many execution mistakes. They’re not perfect, obviously, but they tend to make sound, informed decisions in every matchup.
Top players: consistent top 100 and master/gm tour players. This is as close to “perfect” play as I think we can safely identify in HS. Meta is thoroughly understood, as is their deck. Turns are scrutinized for the best lines.
Anyway that’s just how I look at players, and it’s obviously colored by my skill level/experience with the game. It’s always going to be contextual.
So for me to name my achievements is considered ‘‘bragging’’ even tho I don’t think it’s anything impressive at all. But ofc if I said ‘‘I have never been Legend’’ then it’d be perfectly fine heh.
I think Standard HS has drifted away from ‘skill’ being as impactful as it used to be.
Bad players can occasionally even squeak into top 500 Legend with cheese/broken decks and a wave of good variance (Ramp Paladin/Pre-nerf Evolve Shaman/Pre-nerf aggro DH).
This is because success in modern ranked game-play is mostly about the power level of a deck and its cards.
Skill and being a very good player doesn’t really factor in until probably around top 200 Legend or so.
The people CONSISTENTLY around this mmr bracket (season after season)… I would consider them very good hearthstone players as it pertains to the overall player pool of ranked Hearthstone.
In this mmr bracket the players add a considerable amount of win % by just being a good player… in addition to their deck choices.
People who make frequent mistakes can’t consistently stay in top 200 because mistakes cost them games when they get punished.
Also, I think lower ranked player greatly overestimate the skill level of Bronze - Low Legend.
Much of getting into legend is just playing the most powerful deck enough times with a decent amount of game knowledge.
Imo, a reasonable amount of skill doesn’t exist until top 1k Legend due to the current game state and power-creep.
What takes more skill? Getting to legend 5000 with your tier 4 deck or getting
to legend 500 with a tier 1 deck. Hard to say.
Some people I know move from r30 legend to r 500 back to r30 in a span of some days (nani!)
I have played tier 3 decks and was more comfortable and had better win rates than with supposedly tier 1 decks. (compatibility with the decks/meta)
Your legend rank doesn’t tell necessarily how good you are, but say how good you can climb ranks with a certain deck./You might be able to push to top 100 legend with a certain deck, but are bad with other decks. (some people main archetypes /shrug)
Some people don’t care about ranks/used to be former top 500 players but play now casually on phone or let even their children play on their accounts /shrug
The only REAL skill I accept is clamouring on this very forum, strawmanning and enlighten us with your profound knowledge of the intricacies of the meta and your deck piloting/building skill. Achoo!
Takes more skill to get to Legend 500 with a tier 1 deck because at least that player recognizes the winning strategy… not intentionally gimping their own ranked success by playing a worse deck (‘Getting to legend 5000 with your tier 4 deck’).
This is false, the entire point of having ranks in Legend is to indicate… how good you are.
That is why, pro players are consistently top 100 Legend or so.
It’s also why there was a ‘top 32 ranked Legend finish’ requirement for a recent tournament qualifier.
Because your legend rank, does give an indication of how good you are.
That is called variance.
It happens to the best of Hearthstone players every now and then.
Big losing streaks because your hand sucks… it happens sometimes, there’s nothing to do about it but play more games and wait for variance to level out.
This is that moment where we should maybe think about the meaning of very good in a context of how many people actually play the game.
If you are top 1000 in the americas or europe at anything you are more than very good.
If you’re asking what makes an excellent or top level player, then many of the definitions are good, but if you really want to say “very good” then consistently reaching legend when you make the effort would be a good place, imo, to start.
Some people like to play their fun decks. Why do they play that deck even though they know it is bad? Well, because they like playing it.
Unless you can make money with HS, the reason you should play is because of fun. (Yes I look at you tickatus warlock players:D)
Yes, but those pro players have also more than one account and are not always high legend with every deck. Sometimes because they play bad stuff.
You see, I have more accounts as well, and on some I have 11, 10, and even only 7 stars (standard)! On the account I play the most, I have funnily one of my lowest ratings.
If I see someone with a legend 10000 rank that plays no minion mage, I would for example never assume he doesn’t have/or had a better rank, possibly highlegend.
Indeed, but for some people the variance is even higher. So, if I don’t know my opponent, I don’t know if he is at his low or high peak. And you can finish the month on peak or a your bottom.
