You seem unable to grasp that many players see Hearthstone as a casual fun game they play in the spur-of-the-moment.
People simply have a life outside of Hearthstone and they just want to play a few games that last around 10 minutes each. Not spend 30 minutes watching a priest rezz his minions several times over.
I used to play Everquest, with 6 hours raids, that’s not what I enjoy anymore, nor could I fit it into my daily schedule. My best friend who used to raid with me, now plays mario kart, another game that doesn’t demand hours from you.
Because…well…because. Not everyone is a college kid who can spend hours playing games.
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Sometimes I like to go fast. Generally speaking, when I play aggro, it’s largely due to how efficient it is of my time on ladder. If I’m trying to climb to Diamond 5, I don’t really want to spend tons and tons of hours on it–I just want to get there. Then I can play whatever I want to for any other games.
I’m not speaking to the current ladder–I haven’t laddered since early Stormwind because the cards released have way too much power long term & the meta will just remain uninteractive, which I find not fun.
I can say that if I play friendlies, I’m never using aggro.
That’s still not an answer to what makes aggro gameplay fun. And that’s also my point of view, since we don’t have hours to play games like college kids, why would people spend their very limited free time playing aggro, if we almost nobody is able to explain how HS aggro is a fun gameplay experience.
It’s kind of sad if working adults spend their limited free time playing unfun deck archtypes just because they find fulfillment in HS ranks and wins.
Crom had a good answer, I totally see how playing aggro as an anti-meta pick could be fun, especially if you craft your own deck or pick your own techs.
If beast druid a complex deck, im lady gaga. Always the same thing over and over. Im not saying its not fun. Its just the same thing every time with ZERO decision except which overpowered one drop should I play. I see a bunch of salty aggro players who are getting defensive because they play the easiest archetype. Aggro is so braindead right now hunter using piercing shot on its own minion feels like a 1000 Iq play compared to the rest.
I’m going to say this is a hugely sweeping statement. There are some combo decks that really have little to no skill or decision making involved. There are also some combo decks that have been arguably the hardest decks to pilot. A lot of combo decks have been “Draw deck out, play 3 cards that OTK”. There isn’t necessarily a massive amount of skill required to do that–like Raza Priest for example. That was a really low skill ceiling deck to play, yet it dominated the ladder. Pretty much the only main decision you had to make was “Do I want/need a 1 pot Kazakus potion or a 5 pot?”.
As for everyone arguing that Control decks are somehow SUPERIOR inherently to aggro decks: there have been control decks that truly were braindead; there is a large sentiment within the community I see that seems to believe that every control deck is some kind of GALAXY BRAIN attrition deck, where in reality there hasn’t been a control deck like that in a really, REALLY long time. Like–when was the last true attrition deck out there? Boom Mad Genius Warrior? You can’t look me in the eyes and tell me that was a deck that required skill; it had like the best cards in the meta at virtually every point on the mana curve, a plethora of removal & board clears, and won with an infinite value hero. Mirrors weren’t skill, they boiled down to who rolled “Discover a Mech” more frequently. As for more recently successful (again, it’s been a while since I played ladder due to how awful the meta’s been) control decks, Control Priest has basically been “Play big annoying taunt minions & endlessly Rez them”. You’re telling me there’s decision making involved in that? Jam minion, play uninteractable spell?
The majority of aggro decks ARE simple to play: Tempo = good. There have also been aggro decks that have really finite points of damage that you DO have resource management to factor in (for example, spending Kill Command on a particularly annoying minion means you CAN’T go face with it later). Now, I’m not arguing aggro is MORE demanding than a fatigue deck or some variants of Miracle Rogue, but I am positing that not every single aggro game is as mindless as just “haha hand size go brr”.
In my experience, the decks that I’ve seen have the most skill tend to be some of the worst performing decks, and they’re usually rogue or mage decks that require a ton of actions per turn & knowledge of when spending a bunch of gas is worth it. Not a sweeping statement tho; examples of successful decks with high skill are Miracle Rogue, Garrote Rogue (I think this deck got more braindead over time, but I quit shortly after it first developed), Cyclone Mage.
Overall point is: don’t hate the archetype, hate the deck. I love aggro sometimes, I love control sometimes, I love midrange sometimes (but almost always), I love combo sometimes; it all just boils down to whether or not the deck is healthy for the overall UX of the game.
Have you played it? Some matchups I agree with you, like kaz druid where you just curve out and you either kill them or they scam you. But to beat stuff like death rattle priest or control warrior you need to not just curve out but have key pop-offs that make them use removal in-efficiently.
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So you mean if you go up against a deck that is tailored to beat aggro you actually have to think? All that does in enforce my point. Vast majority of the time its the same thing. Even a well tailored deck with a good pilot can still lose because beast druid is waaaaay over-tuned. Dont confuse playing a way over-tuned deck with high IQ plays.
It’s okay for people to like different things. There’s room here for ALL of us to find enjoyment.
Except OTK players, they’re the worst 
You are insulting your whole post.
It’s not conducive to an honest conversation about somebody’s enjoyment about something when you are insulting them the whole time.
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A lot of control decks doesn’t have that much decision making either. Control Warrior is a prime example of this. Armor up, remove, wait to draw bomb and win easily with the busted cards that can deal 30+ damage in a turn or summon a ton of big minions from deck.
Some aggro decks actually require quite a bit decision making, as you have to play carefully around removals from control decks and save burn spells/minions in hand to trick the opponent into not healing or removing.
Same reason i like my control decks etc. i enjoy the decks i’ve hand built and put love and thought and care into creating.
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It’s so funny with all these “aggro is brainless” threads popping up recently. Sorry to burst your bubble. Control isn’t harder. If anything, playing a reactive playstyle (that most control archetypes are) is by far the easiest.
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This. 100% this. Maybe it’s because i been playing magic the gathering for over 20 years but building my own deck and piloting it is what i find fun. In the age of net decks its rare but i always appreciate divergence.
I am more thinking people are forgetting how to play control correctly. I just faced one of those removal warriors who did not spare their removal and I am playing a unique resurrect control hunter (I won because they ran out of removal). so I get more of the feeling those playing control, even though they like long games, are switching off their brains and then they complain that agro is to strong.
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Pure copium.
You’re looking at aggro decks being more efficient at laddering, and you’re just handwaving it away as mere rational self-interest. But there’s an emotional component as well, one focused not on aggro efficiency but on control inefficiency. There is a term for people who deliberately engage in inefficient play in a multiplayer game that wastes the time of everyone involved, and that term is: griefer. I have an intense, negative emotional reaction to griefers, which means I have an intense, negative emotional reaction to players who can’t or won’t play their win conditions and get it over with already.
I don’t play aggro (at least, not often). I play combo (mostly). But I’d be lying if I said that hating control players had nothing to do with me playing combo. I don’t mind losing to aggro players because they’re not wasting my time. They’re trying to end the game and I can respect that. I absolutely love delivering a lethal to control players that they can’t control. It brings me deep satisfaction. I don’t mind making my deck a little worse against the overall meta to if it’ll make it significantly stronger against griefers.
So I ask you: why would anyone ever want to play control? You want to play a game that lasts 2 hours? Absolutely disgusting. If you’re not going to count love of time efficiency as a valid reason, I’m certainly not going to count your love of time inefficiency as a valid reason.
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Longer games means less time queueing and more time playing. Personally I’m less focused on the outcome than the gameplay.
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I guarantee you’ll enjoy Hearthstone a hell of a lot more if you stopped caring about your opponents perceived motivations and concentrated solely on your own.
This goes for emotes, roping, card choices, aggro/combo/control, etc. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Let it go.
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I readily concede that the darker reasons for my love of combo are petty and childish. If I felt that they were causing more suffering for me than enjoyment, I’d drop them in a heartbeat.
Well okay I’m only human and I can’t drop feels in a heartbeat. But I’d try to be quick about it.
Most players are playing to win, not just see themselves play cards.
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