Grand Tournament Standouts

Greetings Travelers!

It's been a little longer than usual since my last post, but luckily this gave Blizzard time to preview the entire set for GvG and to announce the release date of the 24th. Any time a new set comes out, countless professional players rush to Youtube and Twitch for their set reviews. I enjoy hearing what the best players in the world have to say about the newest cards, but I don't like 2 hour long videos that go through every card in detail. So what I thought I would do is go through a few standout cards that I plan on focusing on when I begin crafting cards for the ladder.

The first Legendary I want to talk about is probably the strongest in a vacuum. A 10 mana card had better have a text box that wows you and Varian doesn't disappoint. I expect him to slot into Control Warrior builds immediately as well as possibly finding a home in a Dragon Warrior if that deck develops. Control Warrior aims to trade with your early minions one for one until they overwhelm you with one haymaker minion after another. Varian hits the board and can bring another bomb with him to completely take over the game. In a control mirror, the game often comes down to who gets the most out of their mana and who draws more cards. Varian not only draws 3 cards when he hits play, but he also has the potential to give you a huge mana advantage.

Rhonin is the other class Legendary that i think is going to make a big splash. He is similar to Varian in that he is a form of card advantage tacked on to a huge minion. The current Tempo Mage decks aim to leverage their minions with spell based effects alongside cheap efficient removal spells. The problem the deck has is transitioning to the late game. Rhonin is a finisher in his own right, but his Deathrattle provides an arsenal of cheap spells to fuel Mana Wyrms, Flamewakers, and Archmage Antonidas. And even without any of those getting 9 damage for 3 mana is an absurd rate. I don't expect him to break into Freeze Mage decks but Tempo and Mech varients will find a spot for Rhonin.

Dragon decks have been trying to worth their way into the metagame since Blackrock Mountain fully released. One of the reasons they haven't become a force on the ladder is that they lack mid-game Dragons to bridge them to the late game where cards like Malygos and Ysera can take over the game. Chillmaw has a unique effect in that his/her effect triggers when it dies rather than when it comes into play. Rather than give your opponent information about the contents of you hand when you play it, you leave them with a decision. They can trade their minions in to kill it assuming they will lose them anyway to the damage effect, or they call your bluff and use removal on it. Because it has taunt, your opponent does not have option to ignore Chillmaw.

The last Legendary I want to talk about is Eydis Darkbane. A 3/4 for 3 mana is already worth playing, but when you add on the text box we've got a real card to talk about. Aggro Paladin is already taking over to a certain extent and this card is an instant addition. Curving this card into Blessing of Kings on turn 4 will go completely uncontested in some games. If an aggressive Shaman deck emerges after TGT I think she slides right into that deck. And Mech Mage will instantly add her as well. This card is a perfect example of why Blizzard has been slow to add low-cost legendaries. The less mana available to answer a strong card, the more careful you need to be. Think Undertaker. Enough said.


Mulch might be the class card I am the most excited about. Druid has had the downside of weak minion removal since the beginning of Hearthstone. Wrath and Swipe while strong in some situations, do little against strong late game threats. Naturalize has always been an option, but giving your opponent 2 cards from their deck was too big of a cost. Mulch lands in a nice middle ground. We have to pay 2 more mana, but our opponent gets a random minion that they still have to pay for. There will be times that you give them a great minion and lose, but the tempo gained from killing any minion for only 3 mana should make this a worthwhile spell for most Druid decks.

The other piece of the Dragon deck puzzle is Twilight Guardian. This card serves as another mid-game card for Dragon decks that also happens to be a Dragon on it's own. That means that this card fills both roles within the same deck. It's stats become better than average because you have other dragons, and it also triggers your other cards abilities while it's in your hand. The possibility of going from Blackwing Technician on 3, to Twilight Guardian on 4, to Blackwing Corruptor on 5 with all of their effects triggered will lead to some very lopsided board states. It's also worth noting that 6 health is something of a sweet spot that allows this card to survive many situations that something like Senjin Shieldmasta would not. The second attack from a Death's Bite being just one example.

Healing Wave is not a fancy card by any means, but similar to Mulch, it fills a need that Shaman has had since day one. They have never had an efficient way to regain health. Shaman has been driven to the bottom rung of the Hearthstone ladder due in no small part to its inability to recover in the face of early aggression. Most of the time against an aggressive deck you will win the Joust with this card and gaining 14 health against a Face Hunter or Aggro Paladin will almost certainly win you the game outside of any Divine Favor shenanigans. It's not a big flashy legendary but it is damn good at what it does.




Darnassus Aspirant could be the best card in the set. Druid has fallen out of favor lately partly because of it's reliance on Wild Growth. Being able to accelerate the mana gain of the game is one of Druid's cornerstone traits. The Aspirant gives them a second card to accelerate them from 2 mana to 4. If your opponent can't answer this card on turn 2 then you gain a huge advantage and can start to take control of the board. If they do answer it, then you are back on curve. If a more aggressive token or aggro Druid deck hits, then this card will be a big reason why. Mirror Entity also hates seeing this card get played and should make for some fun fail moments.



Master Jouster is a card I am a little unsure about. When you win the Joust this card is insane. A full +1/+1 on Sunwalker is a really big deal. I already touched on the importance of 6 health before, and adding a divine shield on top of it would make this card a home run. However the nature of Joust makes this card a big risk. Against the aggressive decks this card should win the Joust most of the time. But in the midrange or control mirror, losing the Joust on this card will be backbreaking. There is a chance that this card helps to push aggro decks out of the metagame for a while, but I am really apprehensive to call it a home run just yet.



The last card I'm gonna talk about is pretty minor compared to all the legendaries and epics, but I think it is very good and pretty important. 2 damage for 1 mana is standard for spells without some kind of drawback. Living Roots adds in the option to create 2 1/1s instead, making the card better in all stages of the game. You no longer have to rely on your hero power and Wrath to deal with troublesome minions like Knife Juggler. And in the event you draw it later in the game, you can always make 2 minions and force your opponent to play around a potential Savage Roar. I really hope this card helps bring back the old Token Druid with Violet Teacher and all that good stuff.



Well that's it as far as cards I want to talk about today. I know some people will wonder why I didn't go into any of the Shaman Totem cards but I feel like those have been talked to death in other places and I want to wait and see what decks develop. Overload is such a tough mechanic to overcome but we will see what happens with it. Let me know what cards you are excited about.

As always, thanks for reading.

Until next time,
Chris

Gamescom pt2: Legion

Welcome back friends!

I had originally planned to write this post Thursday, but the amount of information unloaded on us was staggering. We knew we were getting an expansion announced, but the amount of detail we go on some of the features was really surprising. I'm going to go through this post with the assumption that you have either seen or read most of the information released, and I'll touch on each of the features point by point. Let's dive right in to World of Warcraft: Legion.

The Demon Hunter Hero Class:

 

The Demon Hunter has probably been the most requested new class since Burning Crusade. Leading up to the announcement of every expansion you could count on multiple posts on Warcraft fan sites speculating on that it was time for them to make their appearance. Well here they are and we got a decent amount of detail on them. They are going to be a Leather wearing class, with one Melee DPS spec; Havoc, and one Tanking spec; Vengeance. The pictures above are of their respective Metamorphosis form. They are available only to Night Elves and Blood Elves unfortunately. And they will apparently work on a Demonic Fury resource, but we don't have the details of exactly how that will work. We don't know yet what level they will be starting at, but if I had to venture a guess I would say 90-95. We will probably level as we go through the Hero Class starting experience, and have that join up with the end of Warlords at level 100.

Back when people were predicting Demon Hunters regularly,  I was one of the naysayers. Too many of the iconic abilities had been given to other classes (Metamorphosis!), and they always looked too farfetched when compared to the classes we already had. While I have no problem admitting I was wrong (since they are here), but those same reasons have me less excited about this new class. Right now, classes are differentiated visually primarily by gear. When you see a Troll in Skyshatter you know its a Shaman, and the same is true of a Paladin in Judgement. Demon Hunters break that mold in a huge way. As you walk through Dalaran in Legion amidst the player models you have seen for years, will be things with giant horns and wings. I guess I am just more of a traditionalist, and the Demon Hunter has broken the mold a little too far. It's also a little disappointing  that they are reserved strictly for Elven races. I play primarily Horde and I've never been a fan of Blood Elves mostly because they seem to be overpopulated. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to come off as totally against the class. I will absolutely roll a Demon Hunter and give it an honest try, but I don't think it will be replacing my main anytime soon. PS: Why are people so excited about double jump? Maybe I'm out of the loop but it doesn't really seem to accomplish anything other than look cool.

Artifact Weapons:

Artifact Weapons are really exciting to me. They seem to be a lot of things rolled into one feature. At their core, Artifacts are powerful named weapons specific to a individual spec. Underneath that, they are a player progression system and potentially an epic class quest rolled into one. Shortly after we begin our journey to the Broken Isles we will be given a unique quest that leads to us receiving our unique weapon. I imagine this will be a smaller version of the Warlock green fire quest. That quest line was really well done and delivered not only some cool lore, but also a really unique experience. I don't think Blizzard will go into that level of depth 36 times for these weapons, but there is a chance and even something half as epic would be pretty cool.

After we earn our weapon, we unlock the player progression path in the image above. Throughout our leveling process, and as we complete level 110 content, we will power up our weapon and unlock points to spend on its unique talent tree to earn various spell buffs and other effects. Eventually you will be able to unlock all of the bonuses and earn various model changes and color tints. I think this is a really nice way to reward the leveling process and max level progression on an individual basis. I think of it as a vastly improved version of the Draenor perks we got this expansion. Instead of every two levels getting a spell buff that you then forget about since it's baked into the spell, we get a choice of how to augment our character as we go on. I honestly don't remember what any of the perks I earned were leveling through Draenor. I have no doubt this system will feel infinitely better.

Another subtle side of the Artifact Weapons is that they seem to replace the system that the more negative side of the community would call "welfare legendaries". I admit I have grown tired of the expansion long process of grinding out assorted items in order to eventually earn a legendary that everyone else has. And while this system will no doubt have the same issue to an extent, I would rather have an item that is at least unique to my spec rather than specific to all casters or all tanks. The shift from Legendary to Ancient also opens Blizzard up to bring back traditional legendaries that can make a select few players truly feel special and unique. A new legendary would need to be in a non-weapon slot, but that doesn't seem like too big of a hurdle. Maybe a legendary Skull of Guldan trinket. At this point this is probably the feature I am most excited about from what we have seen so far.

The Broken Isles:

Possibly the most overlooked part of every expansion, the new continents and zones are one of the things I end up looking forward to the most. After you have seen a few expansions, the new areas can quickly become something you just expect to see and then dismiss just as quickly. But I think there is something to be gained from looking ahead to the zones we will be immersing ourselves in for at least a year. This time around the new continent has a lot that veteran players can be excited about. Highmountain in the north is the home of the Highmountain Tauren who to this point have only been mentioned in game. Tauren lore has been somewhat lacking since the Cataclysm brought the Grimtotem back into the fray so getting a real look at ancient Tauren civilization would be really fun. Stormheim is a zone that will remind players a lot of Wrath of the Lich King. Early screenshots remind me a lot of less snowy Borean Tundra. Here will learn more about what happened to the Vrykul that left Northrend, what the origin of the Val'kyr is, and what's going on with the two warring Titan keepers. With the Val'kyr playing a role, expect this to be the main reason for Slyvanas' interest in coming along to the Broken Isles. Val'Sharah is where Malfurion became the first Druid, and it is where we will be confronted by Xavius and the forces coming through from the Emerald Nightmare. Much of what happened in the Emerald Dream was dealt with in the novel Stormrage, but the initial raid of this expansion will be a nice way to close out that story and let players see an area they have been asking for since classic WoW. The last two major zones are linked together in what's going on, and I think both zones will have a lot of story for us to explore. Suramar is the ancient capitol of the Kaldorei and now houses a race of Night Elves that have continued to embrace the use of arcane magic and have flourished with it. To the west of Suramar is Azsuna, which is home to the spirits of ancient Night Elves in addition to a sect of elves called the Nightfallen who were exiled from Suramar. While we don't know exactly what the story is between these two zones, but we do know that Queen Azshara will at least make an appearance as we progress through them. Azshara is the most threatening being on Azeroth besides the Legion and the Old Gods, so if she is getting involved it's definitely worth paying attention to. The potential for amazing story threads on top of Ancient Night Elf architecture should make these two zones great. I'm really looking forward to leveling through these zones to 110, especially if Blizzard carries the process over from Warlords of Draenor since it was one of Warlords' few strong points.

Class Order Halls:

The last feature I want to talk about is the one we've gotten the least amount of detail on. Class order halls will apparently be instanced areas that players will go and share with other players of the same class similar to how Acherus works for Death Knights now. This is where we are going to upgrade and tweak our Artifact Weapons, and it will apparently be a altered form of Garrisons. We will act as the leader of the order for our class, and we will recruit and lead notable characters of the same class to go on new forms of missions for us. Unlike Warlords however, these recruits will unlock content for us rather than be names and rewards on a mission table. The example the developers gave was that we send them out to a zone, and while they are there they discover a cave or a disturbance and they come back and tell us about it so that we can handle it. This sounds great in theory but I really want to see the process in action in the beta. Garrisons have left a really sour taste in peoples mouths so going back to that well may end up doing more harm than good. 

Before I go, I still want to touch on the subscriber loss of last week. 1.5 million subscribers is a huge number to lose and definitely deserves taking a good hard look at what happened. I don't want to go back down the rabbit hole that is the issues of Warlords. I've touched on that in the past so I don't want to beat the dead horse. The fact of the matter is that World of Warcraft is almost 11 years old and people move on. Warlords of Draenor sparked peoples curiosity through a nostalgic trip down memory lane and that resulted in a huge spike in subscribers that most people didn't think was possible anymore. Once those players came back and saw what the expansion had to offer, many of them probably came to the same realization that others did. There wasn't a lot to do and behind the promise of beloved characters making their return, was the disappointment of dispatching them too early. And with that realization players left once again. THATS OK! If World of Warcraft is no longer a game for you there is nothing wrong with that, and for those of us that still find enjoyment with it, Blizzard will continue to support it even if the numbers continue to decline. I think there are a lot of pieces of Legion that will speak to some of those same players that came back in Warlords. The return of Illidan, a true Burning Legion invasion, the ability to wield Ashbringer and Doomhammer and the like, and even the design of zones like Stormheim with a  very Northrend feel to them, will all appeal to the nostalgic side of gamers. And some of those players will return to the game and we will have another spike in numbers. Maybe we will get back to 7 or 8 million subscribers, but then after people get their fill of what Legion has to offer they will leave again. I think that is that state of the game we love and the cycle will continue and over time the number will slowly continue to drop. I'm fine with that and you should be too. Whether you are the kind of player that logs in every day or you unsubscribe for months at a time, Azeroth will be there for you to escape to.

Well, thanks for reading as always friends! Let me know what you think about the expansion. What are you excited about? What are you hoping for that we maybe haven't heard about yet?

Until next time,
Chris

Gamescom pt1

Greetings Travelers,

Gamescom is here and in the interest of brevity I've decided to split my coverage post into two. If you are like me, you woke up this morning to a ton of new information and announcements for almost all of Blizzard's games. We got hero and battleground announcments for both Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch as well as a preview of Allied Commanders for Legacy of the Void. I want to touch on each of those today, and save the Warcraft expansion announcement for another post tomorrow. There are some things I want to add to that post regarding the drop in subscriber numbers from quarter 2 and I don't want to end up with one giant post that no one wants to read through.

Starcraft:
First, and probably the least exciting for me, we got a preview of the new Allied Commanders game mode coming with Legacy of the Void. From what I can tell it seems like co-op version of specific campaign mission types. You escort the payload/supply train, defend the base from intermittent attacks, and other things along those lines, after choosing your commander (aka Race?) and which units to base your army on. I assume the replay-ability comes from the need to customize your choices based on the different missions, but without a more in-depth look, it just looks like 2 player campaign missions with a few limitations to increase difficulty. I've said it a lot before, but Starcraft is by far the game I am the worst at so I doubt this game mode is enough to get me to devote time to anything beyond the campaign. I do like that Blizzard is adding secondary game modes. The competitive ladder is great, and I love watching competitive Starcraft, but these new game modes appeal to different group of players. Those, along with Legacy of the Void being a stand alone game, definitely broaden the appeal of the game.

Heroes of the Storm:

Blizzard dropped a pretty good amount of info for Heroes as well. We already knew the Monk was coming, but now we have a name. Kharazim. His kit seems relatively strong. His trait is chosen at level one and you get the option to have your melee attacks heal, deal extra damage, or regenerate mana. And his heroic abilities are Seven Sided Strike, a multi-strike attack during which you are invulnerable, and Divine Palm, which heals a friendly hero back to life if they lose all of their health while the ability is active. Kharazim may end up suffering from the same issues as Tassadar and Tyrande where he is labeled a support but straddles the line a bit. From what we know about his talents and abilities, he may be able to be built as a true support, but we will have to see once all the details are released.

In addition to the Monk, we are getting our second map, and final bit of content associated with the Eternal Conflict, Infernal Shrines. It's a three lane map with 3 shrines spread across the map that periodically similar to Sky Temple. Once the shrines activate your team can kill the minions that spawn from it to summon a giant demon to push a lane for you. They have one of three different abilities based off of Diablo 3 elites. Who doesn't love a good Arcane Enchanted monster? Sure, why not lets add it to Heroes too! We didn't get any gameplay footage of the map so we don't have the whole picture of how its going to play.

We also got previews of our next two heroes once the Eternal Conflict ends. Rexxar will be our first Ranged Warrior, and Artanis will be our first Starcraft Warrior. Artanis is exciting, but we don't know anything about him other than he is a Warrior and he will be free with the purchase of Legacy of the Void. Rexxar on the other hand, has me so excited. From the looks of it Misha is the actual tank, while Rexxar hangs in the back and throws axes and tosses birds to slow enemies. I'm really interested in the actual play style since having even minor control of two units opens up a ton of possibilities. And I am interested to know what Rexxar's personal health pool looks like if Misha is expected to be the one on the front line.

One concern I have is the release schedule in relation to role. If the hero release schedule remains Kharazim, Rexxar, Artanis, then 4 of the last 6 heroes release will have been Warrior heroes, and that will bring our grand total to 13. Sure, some Warriors like Sonya and to a lesser extent Anub'arak feel more like Assassins. But that is no different than Tassadar and Tyrande being more Assassin than Support, and Kharazim will bring our Support total to 8. The game is in definite need of new Support heroes yet we've gotten 4 Warriors in the same amount of time as 1 Support. This disparity effects not only casual play, where the in-game matchmaker tries to match teams with Supports together, but it also effects the competitive scene. Most tournaments these days are using 2 bans and a common strategy is to try and choke out the other team on supports. I don't like to be the guy who gets an awesome christmas present but still complains about the present he didn't get, but this game is in desperate need of more traditional supports in order for the competitive scene to remain healthy.

Overwatch:
And then we have the game that keeps on giving. Every new thing I see from this game gets me more excited. It doesn't matter if its a fake news story, a hero reveal, or a map fly by. Gamescom didn't disappoint.

Lucio is the latest character to make his debut. Following last weeks article detailing a bit of back story, we got a full reveal and ability preview of the Brazilian DJ. I feel like Blizzard stepped way outside the box with the design of this guy. Between the Jet Set Radio style roller blades, and the sound cannon, Lucio really shows off the kind of unique styles and ability kits we can expect throughout this games lifecycle. His Support kit seems really strong when compared to the other supports we have seen. The versatile effect of his Crossfade auras can have a huge effect on a fight. One mode increases nearby teammates' movement speed allowing you to press an attack, then you have the option to switch modes to provide a passive healing aura once the fight starts. Couple that with his ultimate ability giving everyone on his team a pretty big shield, and you should have the ability to take a team fight decisively. If this is the kind of thing we can expect going forward then we have a lot to look forward to for a long time after the game is finally released.

 

We also got a first look at two new battlegrounds. Volskaya Industries outside of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Numbani, Africa. Our Russian battleground is a factory where Volskaya Industries is manufacturing human-piloted mechs to combat Omnic aggression. And Numbani is a technically advanced city that promotes harmony between man and robot. We didn't see any real gameplay on these maps but they are just another example of how Blizzard is taking areas of the world we are familiar with and changing just enough to make them fresh, I know I say it every time I talk about Overwatch, but I really can't wait to see all this world has to offer.


So far Blizzard has not disappointed with their Gamescom announcements. Here's hoping tomorrow's Warcraft announcement follows suit. WoW players have a lot to be concerned about these days and we can only hope that Blizzard is putting all of their energy into redeeming the game in the next expansion. I'll touch more on it tomorrow after the press conference, but I really hope they impress us.

Thanks as always for reading! Until tomorrow,
Chris

Scheduling Update

Hi Team!

I just want to let people know that I just got a new job after over a year of searching, and the hours are a big change of schedule for me. As a result, I'll be writing new posts mostly on Wednesday or Thursdays. Those are my days off so I will be able to contribute the most coherent thought then. This week I will have a post after the big announcement at Gamescom and I'll cover anything Blizzard reveals in Germany up until that point for any of their games.

Sorry for the delay in content, I know I don't get a ton of readers who aren't friends but I still want to be as transparent as I can about it. I'm not disappearing and if the last 20 posts have taught me anything it's that I really enjoy writing about these games in one way or another.

Thanks for the patience. Until Thursday,

Chris