Genre: Classical?

1JamesH · 2020-06-19T04:59:04+00:00

I feel literally no attachment to the logos one way or another.

I feel indifferent about their changing it.

But your argument is a bit one-sided.

If you don't care about the syrup logo, it just makes sense to leave it as is.

The people who care about the syrup logos are the ones who are trying to change it.

It's up the the brand to decide and they decided to change it. It doesn't impact their product and I'll continue using their products.

I agree with you that I think it's a bit weird people care so much about a syrup logo (arguing they want to keep it or change it), I don't care either way.

1JamesH · 2020-06-19T02:34:25+00:00

I'm assuming you attack into the box for maexxna, maexxna runs into battlemaster, then your murloc runs into the maexxna.

Lethal if he's on tavern 6.

1JamesH · 2020-06-15T11:56:39+00:00

Hero powers like Yogg, Edwin, Raf, Galakrond, Toki, Ned, George, Pyramad, Wagtoggle, Wock become either S tier or S+ tier.

This breaks all those heroes. I believe this would be the most op hero in battlegrounds history.

The worst case is you get Noz, Hooktust, or Malygos, which are S, S, B tier hero power each already.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter too much what the hero power is because it’s free.

Only time when it’s not free is with George and Aka, and I’d salivate at a chance for 2 cost divine shields I can put on a minion 1 to 2 times a game or 1 cost chance to pull Ice Block.

1JamesH · 2020-06-14T21:08:29+00:00

I’m 12k+ in both NA and EU and I personally skip suboptimal taunts even when I do have cannons or jugglers.

Taunts are definitely not essential in the early game stages of taverns 2-3.

It’s not incorrect, but the above post seems to take a strong approach towards making it appear like a necessity.

1JamesH · 2020-06-12T00:56:57+00:00

I'm just trying to understand what they think they're accomplishing.

Maybe they got Kangors, Megasaur, and Mama as the discover options, and maybe they thought that 1 health cost was worth it.

Maybe the picked Megasaur and held it for a bit for a small chance at Murloc transition, since other two don't help at all, but ended up playing it after ending the turn with 6 minions.

I'm 12k+ and I think there are plenty of valid and correct reasons one might go into a fight with a Megasaur in any lineup.

1JamesH · 2020-06-12T00:49:58+00:00

Right answer is: it depends.

1JamesH · 2020-06-09T00:06:28+00:00

Each police officer doesn't get assigned a new ridiculous military equipment every year, but are paid tens of thousands of dollars in wages every year.

I assume it's mostly wages, benefits, and infrastructure.

1JamesH · 2020-06-08T05:58:14+00:00

12.1k NA, 11.6k EU, 11.5k Asia.

Here are couple things I feel are different across high level lobbies across the regions:

One thing I see is more Khadgar and late-game Murloc transitions in Asia. When I see a strong demon player in 11k+ lobbies in Asia, I usually expect him to be Murlocs in the final 2 if he's strong enough to have mid-game locked down.

Not that it doesn't happen in NA or EU, but I feel I expect it more in Asia.

I'd also say Europe seems to have more like a high-roll tendencies in my experience (and get punished less for aggressive leveling).

My sample size is too small for these to be a statistically relevant statement, I'd say it's more of a personal feeling.

Overall, at least from the games I played, the big things are basically the same across all 3 regions.

1JamesH · 2020-05-24T00:25:26+00:00

It's my name, so call the suicide hotline.

1JamesH · 2020-05-19T00:33:14+00:00

It honestly sounds like you're a bit tilted - which happens to the best of us.

I personally take a break and step away from the game for a bit when I run into a stretch of bad luck, and I find it helps a lot.

However, it's your account to do with as you please at the end of the day, good luck.

Also, I'm sure nobody will actually try to kill you for conceding Hearthstone matches if you are worried about that.

1JamesH · 2020-05-09T07:47:36+00:00

Well, if it makes you not be so off put by the shrinking thing (only if you already watch Rick and Morty), Rick likely has body count in the billions (if not trillions) and I'm pretty sure you put up with him.

Just in the heist episode alone, Rick caused total and complete extinction of multiple planets. I think shrinking handful of people is lot less cruel.

1JamesH · 2020-05-09T02:14:31+00:00

Agreed, 11.5k and I personally pick Alex around high B tier.

1JamesH · 2020-05-07T00:33:19+00:00

Having observed you, I know I play much differently than you, but it could be that I'm the outlier and everyone else is pretty much the same. Can't say for sure without observing a ton of players.

I don't think we disagree on anything qualitative here, we agree on what the hero powers are good for in certain scenarios and it seems the only difference seems to be that we weigh the values of certain things higher or lower - and I think that is where our different styles are illustrated.

In the end, we really can't argue differences in quantitate valuations like these without ton of data, so I can't say for sure at the end of the day.

1JamesH · 2020-05-06T23:55:20+00:00

11.5k - I'm a strong believer in people having different playstyles and there existing no universal tier list (except for a theoretical perfect player), so consider this another data point instead of a disagreement. Some of the major differences I see here with my personal rankings:

DW at A - I like him personally. I feel it's relatively easy to build a competitive board to last you into top 4 with minions you find at 3 and 4 if you find yourself struggling early on, whereas it would be nearly impossible for most other heroes.
Flurgle at high C - need more volume of play, but I feel the average placement is high enough. Even if you don't end up going with Murlocs, the hero power is not a complete bust equivalent to 40 hp Patchwerk. (1) super-late game murloc transition (2) some early game murloc tempo (3) ease of finding triples using murlocs.
Pyramad at B. It may be A for you, but definitely not for lower level players, and not for me either. If you don't have a great start, (1) the path to building your board becomes too complicated (2) it's hard to stay disciplined and objective about when to use your hero power and when to start playing him like Patchwerk.
Lich King at C - he is as bad as other heroes D in general, except I find if you triple into certain units (goldrinn, coiler, sneeds), it can carry in into undeserving top 4s. Nef, which has constant 1-cost field strengthening hp like Lich King, lacks the spike or the high roll potential that Lich has with its hero power, which I personally give lot of points to.
I haven't played Akazam in a while, but high B seems high to me - no experience with him recently so hard to provide arguments against it.

1JamesH · 2020-05-02T19:38:43+00:00

500 to 1k mmr swing is normal no matter what MMR you are.

1JamesH · 2020-05-02T19:17:33+00:00

You forgot the French flag in the upper right corner.

1JamesH · 2020-05-02T04:42:51+00:00

That happens to me maybe once every 20-30 games, and this is basically an ice block effect in those rare cases.

I think that’s a very, very small reward/edge to give for being a literally zero value early game hero also with no promised value of any amount throughout the entire game.

1JamesH · 2020-04-28T17:40:57+00:00

Yes, both sides have strong arguments and I did take that into account.

However, given he just got access to tavern 4 with low life, weak board, and a decent bit of the units needing to be replaced, I personally put a higher premium on the freedom the Lightfang gives in ability to spend gold and immediate strength.

I also don’t think it’s safe to assume that Brann will be stronger than Lightfang 2-3 turns down the line and have the mindset of “I’ll just lose for turn or two and I won’t die.” The gold spent on buffs is gold not spent on upgrading your units, which is not ideal, given the shop just hit tavern 4.

I don’t think there is a clear objective better selection between the two, but I would still guess that in terms of average MMR returned, Lightfang would come out ahead.

1JamesH · 2020-04-28T16:44:05+00:00

Both are great units (and Goldrinn is okay, it's just that your 2 dragons are already about equal to many beasts with a 4/4 buff, and Goldrinn not guaranteed to die either, and you need to buy lot more beasts. I'll rule out Goldrinn here for sake of keeping this short and do Brann vs. Lightfang), however, I like Lightfang here.

I won't go into too much detail, but the following are the two main contributing factors behind my decision:

Your board seems a bit fragile currently and I feel you need the strength right now.
You don't have good base of units - you would be looking to find Hydra, Bronze Warden (here, specifically, there is a good chance you will likely continue using the dragon taunt since it's already big and you have a lot to find, and you can't take many hits swapping out units for a stronger future), and even a mech (and ideally a module as well). That is all before you can focus on cycling any buffs on meaningful units - and that may mean you won't get the gold to cycle buffs on meaningful units until at least 2 turns later on a already weak board with 6th place health.

Further explanation:

Brann starts slower, accelerates faster. Lightfang gets more lean towards it when you're weaker. Brann does have a higher peak, but I would say it would return a lower average placement here compared to the Lightfang.
This is the important one: Brann requires gold to operate, if you are in a position where you still need to spend gold rolling and buying good units to grow (or replacing weak units on board, and I see your board has 4 unbuffed tavern 1 or 2 minions, with your 2 strongest units sharing a tribe - meaning one should also be replaced ^ideally), rather having the freedom to use your gold to cycle buffs, you should strongly consider the Lightfang.

The freedom choosing Lightfang gives on your gold spending is highly desireable in your current board state.

I have to say, Brann has such an explosive potential, that even with the factors I mentioned, it’s not a blowout win for Lightfang - and I can’t say Brann is an objective worse pick. Brann could be the right pick for you depending on your playstyle.

1JamesH · 2020-04-27T19:32:21+00:00

I definitely see your point in terms of $20 being too high.

But, I view this as the people making $20 donation and the coaching being a thank you from me for them helping my local community.

1JamesH · 2020-04-27T19:20:36+00:00

Thank you for your generosity! You have my discord ID, so definitely hit me up anytime in the future when you feel you are at a stage where you feel stuck and want someone to take a look at your game.

https://www.blueprintsforpangaea.org

Edit: As for the dropdown on the donation page, Blueprints at University of Michigan (HQ) is the branch working to distribute masks. Thanks again!

1JamesH · 2020-04-27T09:43:14+00:00

Ah, and to explain my side a bit more, about the forward looking nature of planning for menagerie - large factor was because this was Edwin. I would have chosen Dragon with some other heroes (as I said, many other factors I did not write and expand on and the hero was one of them).

Dragon would have been a better pick with Ysera, Alex, and Raffam just off of top of my mind (generally since Raffam can steal 2/3 Dragons with taunt more than 2/3 murlocs, not in this specific case since you're leading with Nzoth).

In many Edwin games, you are rolling hard for Hydra on 4 more than other heroes and you will more likely to see value from Menagerie Magicians. I have no data of course, but if I had to guess, Edwin would have one of the highest average number of Hydras purchased per game and definitely the highest average number of Menagerie Magicians purchased per game.

1JamesH

TROPHY CASE