They are setting up Hunter as the aggro class.
Paladin, Warlock, and Rogue aggro has been nerfed or Hall of Famer.
Hmmm let me try focusing on the main things:
Druid: It should be about ramping, while having bad draw cards. Then again they nerfed wild growth and left UI alone.
Hunter: Beast synergies while having bad spells. Then again hunter has Sul’jin.
Mage: Generally good spells and bad minions. Then again we have lunas pocket galaxy and book of specters.
Paladin: stat changers, divine shields and weapons
Priest: Healing synergies. But i havent seen a priest based on healing synergies during the last 2 years.
Rogue: Thats a difficult one cause im not sure whats the answer
Shaman: Same as above.
Warlock: Card that can be played cheaper but have another extra cost like discard or lifeloss.
Warrior: Armor gain cards and weapons.
Yes, we definitely do disagree on what warps means. If Mill Rogue was truly warping the wild meta, then there wouldn’t be an abundance of decks which love sitting on full hands in the meta, yet there is and many of them are performing very well despite the ever present threat of Mill.
No, it doesn’t mean warp, if it did then the vast majority of standard format decks over the last year were warping the meta at the same time. You’re talking about polarised matchup spread, that is not the same thing as warping the meta. Warping the meta would make the decks it preys on (near) unplayable, yet thats not what we see in wild re: Mill Rogue. Not even close to it.
Like I said in my previous post, I’m not the biggest fan of the deck myself. But I still support its existence in wild for those who enjoy that play style, even if I consider the deck (not directed at the players of it) degenerate in nature, its a lot more tolerable now than the Kingsbane versions of recent history. Hell, I even support Big Priest existing for those that like Graveyard style decks, I just want the Barnes high roll removed from it.
Not one core card of Priest has anything to do with that. What it does have to do with is deck manipulation; getting stuff out of it’s own deck, getting stuff out of your deck, that sort of thing. That’s why Psychic Scream is so uniquely Priest-flavored.
It used to be the king Control deck. More Value, No Tempo. Now it’s just No Tempo, as more and more control-slayer tools emerged (DMH, Mecha’thun, OTK Paladin, Togwaggle Druid, Death Knights) the class identity just fell apart. It really had no choice but to embrace the Combos because it couldn’t compete in the late game against these kinds of decks.
Rez is just a tool that fits into the slow value archetype game plan; without the combo potential, it’d be perfectly fine. Like, Priest used to not be able to kill you from hand at one health. Now, it’ll kill you from 40 reliably. Although, if this is not meant to be the identity of the class, Velen really, REALLY needs to go to the HoF and be replaced by a more value-oriented Legendary. Velen has no practical use outside of OTKs. I love him, he’s iconic in lore, but he has to go. Give us a core Legendary that serves the identity of the class.
Hopefully the cards for the next expansion will bring it back to form, and we can all embrace the glory of Hakkar Priest.
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Here it is, enjoy:
@Bowie I didn’t know about that part of the website so thanks for the link. I assume it is the closest thing to class identity blizzard currently has posted.
The Mage description says “When it comes to turn mana into OH GOD IT BURNS, Jaina is second to none.”
IDK seems like Clone Priest chucking 10-40 damage Mindblasts has her beat.
I (and probably many other players) would still like an “official” more detailed description of class identity.
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I mean, Quest Mage can do theoretically infinite damage. But I get what you mean.
Revive is definitely now Priest’s identity. A Priest is Warcraft’s cleric, and clerics are good at bringing others back in battle, with healing or potions.
Also Priest converting others to their side is also another of their identity, somewhat connected with faith/religion. Bringing them to the Light.
Psychic Scream is kinda opposite of Priest identity.
Priest was king of Value, not king of Control, it got constantly overrun by Aggro. Until MSOG, that’s when Priest (and Warlock) kinda became king of Control, but Jade Druid the king of Value with their infinite Jades.
And now, Value/deck advantage doesn’t even matter any more. It’s about OTK, Combo and superior hero-powers.
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Except for the whole “being part of a WoW Priest’s kit since 2004” part.
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The cards change all the time,the only thing that is constant is the hero power so I would like to define class identitys based on hero power alone.
warrior:armor control/fatigue
rogue:tempo at the cost of health
paladin:token boards
shaman:token boards
druid:jack of all trades,attack and defence
priest:board sustain with high hp minions
mage:removal control
hunter:agro
warlock:anything
I think the recent comments on Blizzard regarding “class identity” point in that direction. Class identities are what the current cards tell you they are.
The “King” in King Cobra is there because it eats other snakes. Not because it eats more rats than other snakes. What I was trying to get across was that Priest the Control deck that beat other Control decks, not that it was best against everything.
An aggro deck that can only defeat other aggro deck by adding few taunts and is a lose to everything else is not a “King of Aggro”. Imo that’s just a meme deck.
But besides that … As someone who played lots of control games since HS beta…
I don’t remember Priest as “slayer of Control”, well not before Entomb and Dragonid OP was introduced, at least. In the lower ranks of 20-18 there were indeed Priests who have teched 2x Mind Control, Death Wing, Ragnaros and who knows even Gruul. But that’s not a Control king, any deck can throw bunch of late-game minions in their deck and call it a “Control killer”. There is a reason why those deck stayed at the absolute bottom of the ranking.
Priest was a meme class in early years of Hearthstone, and I don’t think you want to back. Priest has terrible offensive, weak board clears. Their win-condition is hoping to steal opponent’s Ragnaros/Jaraxxus and mind-control their last legendary minion. Doesn’t work always and the Control Priest that tried to climb seriously with an anti-aggro deck get smashed by the Control Warrior, Handlock Warlock, Freeze Mage in late-game.
Priest did well against Paladin, a Mind Control on Tirion pretty much ended the game with lack of removal from Paladin’s side.
I don’t know, but here’s my opinion of what it should be.
Druid: Ramp, big powerful but expensive minions and spells, choices, treants, healing/armor.
Hunter: Beasts, traps. (Yeah not really much, but I guess there is a lot of different possible iterations.)
Mage: Spell empowerment, card draw/generation, freeze synergy.
Paladin: Powerful buffs, divine shield, tough little minions, defense/healing.
Priest: Manipulation, healing, healing synergy, resurrection.
Rogue: Combo, weapons, very aggressive/fast tactics, card draw.
Shaman: Elementals, overload, totems, healing.
Warlock: Sacrificing for great power, demons, self healing, discard synergy, attrition.
Warrior: Weapons, armor, dealing 1 damage/destroying damaged minions, tough taunt minions, enrage.
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