(January 2nd, 2014, 14:37)Jowy Wrote: Ranked gonna get wiped
And now it's postponed.
That sucks, I got my mage secret deck to Rank 11, but I would be more motivated to play ranked if I knew rankings wouldn't be reset any day now.
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
I must admit I absolutely prefer going second, I feel the advantage of having the coin (which counts as a spell, hello turn one Defias) in addition to an extra card is far stronger than going first.
However, there is an interesting interview on ihearthu with Senior game designer Ben Brode where he talks specifically about this question of going first or second and all the things they tried to balance win ratios:
Don't coin innervate a Venture Co Merc on turn 2 as Druid vs a Shaman. He ignored me and I ignored him with me doing far more hero damage (but couldn't play anymore minions), however 2 turns from his demise he pulls the 1 in 4 taunt totem. After killing it, next turn he pulls the taunt totem again... Well flipping flip!
p.s. my arena deck got offered ZERO removal cards, so playing the merc stopped me doing anything except armouring up.
"We are open to all opinions as long as they are the same as ours."
(January 4th, 2014, 04:03)Gustaran Wrote: I must admit I absolutely prefer going second, I feel the advantage of having the coin (which counts as a spell, hello turn one Defias) in addition to an extra card is far stronger than going first.
However, there is an interesting interview on ihearthu with Senior game designer Ben Brode where he talks specifically about this question of going first or second and all the things they tried to balance win ratios:
Wanting to go first or second depends on what hero/deck you're playing and what the match-up is. Going 2nd is very strong for some decks (midgame rogue, aggro mage) especially against other aggro but for control decks you typically want to go first because you can consistently maintain tempo/board control with your move advantage.
I know that old stats showed going first, on average, was a significant advantage (53% iirc). I wonder what the numbers are like now.
Secrets might not be great cards, but damn the entertainment value is high
My secret copied his Ysera, and the copy ended up staying on the board for 5 turns and 100% winning me the game. His was pyroblasted to death. "Thank you".
Actually went to 10 wins with this deck, but only got 175 gold for it :/
Rank 18. At this pace I'll be #1 NA in like a week
I'm alternating a Paladin flavorless deck (pretty much just minions and some weapons) and a Hunter beast deck. The later is more fun but has...a lot more variance in game outcomes.
It is quite funny that he uses Cenarius over Ragnaros, because at the top ranks there are so many counters against Ragnaros that Cenarius is supposed to be better.
(I am still using Rag, almost nobody includes Big Game Hunters in his deck at Rank 10). I just won against a priest through fatigue (!) who had no Mind Control in his deck...
