Haven’t played for over a year and I’m thinking of possibly coming back to standard. Has anything changed significantly since then? How’s the overall balance and state of the game?
I’ve heard they keep pushing overpriced bundles and the last expansions were really unbalanced. Is there anything else I should know?
that’s true for cosmetics only, the price of packs and pre-purchases hasn’t changed much and the free-to-play rewards haven’t been reduced (however events are a bit more grindy to complete)
This year’s expansions have been designed to be weaker and slower that the previous year. If a card isn’t especially strong it will not see much play. Of course there are some cards that are especially stronger than others as in any expansion, but yes that makes for something quite unbalanced.
The long term plan is that next year this should be more aligned once 2024 rotates out as their overall objective is to slow down the pace of the game compared to what it was in the previous years
Don’t put money in the darkmoon faire for the new pet system. You have 92% chance to need to spend 170$ to get the pet
If the new sets are generally weaker, I think it’s for the best. Power creep has gotten way out of control, where (last time I played) the game ending past turn 10 was rare.
Small side question, should I login now or wait for the new set to release? Asking for the catch-up rewards.
There are 2 rewards for returning players :
On top of that, there currently is a community event for a couple days only. Link your twitch account to battle net and watch 6 hours of Hearthstone to receive up to 10 packs of this year’s expansions
On top of that, you can still complete the first few levels of the current free reward track which grants a random legendary at level 1
On top of that there are still 5 days left on the current event track. You will not be able to complete it but maybe the first 1 or 2 rewards for a couple extra packs
On top of that there’s also the pre-release tavern brawl which is a mini-arena in which you build your own deck. It’s unlikely you go far in it but that’s still a couple extra packs
So I’d say it’d be a waste to wait for the release. Even if the loaner decks are updated, it won’t improve the quantitative cost of the decks, and you’d miss on a couple things you can collect before it’s too late
Additionaly and independant of when you play again. Each expansion offers a free legendary during its period. To receive the free legendary of past expansions you’ll need to get a pack from said expansion (from any source) and enter the pack opening screen. If you own a pack of said expansion, the legendary will instantly be granted before you open the pack.
I’ve found it nearly impossible to come back. The amount of ads thrown at you and the convoluted storefront are more annoying than ever. There’s too much crap and too many packs, and as far as I can tell, unless you’re willing buy more and more crap every 3 months there’s almost no reason to play.
The ads and pop-ups all over the screen was enough to turn me off completely.
You are misunderstanding people when they complain it is unbalanced.
People arnt complaining this expansion is weaker vs other expansions. They’re complaining that some classes are far weaker than other classes.
Saying “they designed this expansion to lower the power level “ is irrelevant to what people are upset about
They are
They are too
That’s not incompatible
The game is currently vying to become the largest legalized scam ever concocted by mankind.
Honestly, the current state of HS is quite far from being good. The main reason is the power reset. The vast majority of cards of this year is just very weak in comparison with cards of the previous year. Some strong cards are almost automatically included in many decks of different classes.
The low MMR meta is destined to be unbalanced, but nowadays the high MMR meta is also balanced poorly. Most decks are playable somewhere in the middle. You’d better be somewhere between 3000-8000 of legend usually to feel that there’s a variety in the meta and to see all classes. You’ll probably see too many aggro decks, paladins and hunters lower and you’ll forget about the very existence of these classes and aggro decks higher. I doubt that the new expansion will change this situation too much.
Also players who prefer pure combo decks can go to the wild or desperately keep playing the same old Owlonius Druid.
People tend to complain about power creep and about “uninteractive” combo decks, but what people think about fun and what is actually fun are different things.
There is also a lack of creativity in the sets of the current year. Quests were the main theme of the previous expansion, and it is enough to mention that one of the most interesting quests is literally “survive 10 turns”.
Balance wise, its awful.
And this team constantly refuses to do balance patches.
I am still having success with lesser utilised decks such as Terran Shaman and Elemental Mage in Standard, and Wild still has many possibilities for deckbuilding, but I have chosen to not pre-order for the first time since I started pre-ordering back in Kobolds & Catacombs (I did miss Alterac Valley release but that wasn’t by choice).
I had another look at the Mage cards and just saw how bad they are, because while I play all classes, Mage has traditionally been one of my favourite ones, and seeing how overcosted/downsided the cards are makes me very disappointed.
At 5 mana this card might be ok, but at 7 mana for a 5/5 that at best draws 3-4? Not a chance.
Why would I want to give my opponent a Secret?
Haha you could get Travelmaster Dungar for a 10 drop, it’s just mediocre stats for 7 mana. That doesn’t do it for modern Hearthstone.
Additionally, they have been giving out more free rewards than ever before so I might just buy one of the post-launch bundles that give two legendaries and some packs (as well as the usual Tavern Pass) and be set to complete the set by the end of the cycle anyway (luck permitting).