Upcoming updates will include a split into standard modes (no more GvG and Naxx in this mode) and Wild mode (includes all sets), and 18-deck slots. http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/1180-a-new-way-to-play-hearthstone-more-deck-slots-new Goodbye Dr Boom, Death's Bite, Sludge Belcher, Mech Warper, Mad Scientist, Antique Healbot, Unstable Portal, Muster For Battle, Lightbomb, Oil, Dark Bomb, Haunted Creeper, Loatheb, and Zombie Chow.
Apparently cards from the basic and classic sets will be re-balanced. Looks like meta defining combos that use core cards from classic+basic will be changed, like the Savage Roar-FoN combo.
I'm very conflicted on the whole thing, so much good but a good amount of bad at the same time. This next expansion has got to knock it out of the park or there is going to be problems, I can't imagine a world without Kel'Thuzad... It's like my favorite card in the whole game. The "Then play Wild" side of it doesn't work either. We are on a countdown until Wild winds up horribly broken, because there will be no balancing done to it. But I'm also excited to play a game without so many bad RNG cards. So like I said, conflicted... E
This will be... interesting. Haven't even had Boom for a month yet, and was crafting GvG recently looking for more mechs to play with. Guess I'll go back to saving up for LoE.
I've been evaluating meta deck lists since i heard the news, and it seems tempo Mage is the one that could survive the rotation. It loses only Unstable Portal, Flame Cannon, and Boom. Portal can be replaced, Flame Cannon can easily be replaced, and Dr Boom out means you wont have to deal with one on the other side of the board, and you can replace him with Rag or even Sylvanas and not hurt the deck that much. Mech decks will cease to exist in standard, most non-aggro decks will stagger without Sludge Belchers, Deathlords and Antique Healbots, and i dont think Patron Warriors can exist without Death's Bite. Unless it's confirmed that they are changing "The Druid Combo," aggro decks are going to love standard. Be ready to face a lot of face decks. LOL
Are they actually doubling the amount of deck slots, or are they just giving each play mode (standard and wild) their own page of nine deck slots? I'm hoping it's just a straight up doubling of the slots, but I'm expecting the slots to be split up between the two different modes.
Doubling the slots. You can ignore one play mode and still have 18 decks for the other. That part is the one im most excited about actually. That, and the new expansion that will come later. I have a feeling some of the "standard" cards that will rotate out will be recreated in one form or another.
Yeah, I should have read the faq before I posted, lol. Just read that part. Pretty sweet! I also just read that the standard format will be in year-long cycles and contain both the current and previous years' cards. That's perfect! I was worried that the cycles might finish too quickly for me to fill out a decent collection before everything got flushed into wild, but that definitely won't be a problem. Ok, all worries have been quelled. I am fully on board with this now! When is this happening? Can we have it now? Are we there yet? How much longer? Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
Holy mackimoly. My mind is blown. Having never played any other ccg before, I didn't know anything like this could happen (wild rotation and standard). Not sure I honestly comprehend the true impact, or I actually do and refuse to believe it... Wow. Just wow. Sure not about to buy any more packs or dust and/or create anything at the moment until the new expansion hits, that's 100% guaranteed...
In my case i'd stick to buying classic packs only. New expansions i will only craft what i need. As for adventures im most likely buying those coz i like those a lot.
Im just really glad that I din't waste any real money on this game. (PS : at least I still have vainglory to play)
Im really crying inside about the loss of a lot of control cards. But on the other hand, we will see change of meta in a more consistent manner in Standard. I also just realized... With the loss of Loatheb, Antique Healbots, and a lot of the defensive control cards, Classic Miracle Rogue may reappear once again, especially since Thaurissan can initiate the burst the turn before you go off.
I'm still going to main Warrior, so im theorycrafting decks for Standard. Seems aggro will have an edge until we see what the new expansion will provide. Right now im thinking of a midrange taunt deck with Bolster. Could be fun.
I'm pretty certain that mage will always be my main but I'm just going to tinker with all of the other classes until I have all of them at level 60. My mage is already at 60 and golden, so I can't shake the feeling that playing matches with him are "wasted" in the sense of completion while I still have other classes I could be working on. Silly, I know, but that's me! Hehe. I imagine that if I ever actually manage to get every class to golden, then I'll likely drop back to playing my mage almost exclusively again. That's a long ways off, though, if ever.
Something I've been thinking about since I read the update details is that it seems blizzard has shifted their view on what Hearthstone is for them. In the beginning, it was just a small project that they didn't expect to get so popular. Then it was "we'll eventually run out of ideas for new cards", with the idea that Hearthstone wouldn't be as long term of a project as their other games, like WoW. Now they are adding standard play to keep things fresh and putting it on a year-long cycle. This implies that they plan to be working on Hearthstone for many years to come. It's a much different vision than what they started with. It's pretty wild, because (iirc) Hearthstone was simply Blizzard's first attempt at entering the foray of mobile gaming, but it has become something so much bigger.
What's sort of crazy is how small the Hearthstone team still is for how huge the game has become. Visiting Blizzard back in September when this was all initially discussed was pretty eye opening.
