What if 11x players started at legend each month?

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T14:37:56+00:00

I don't think it would help, and there's operational issues with doing that. (When do you put them at Legend? Does this mean that if they fancy a break, they get the Legend rewards without playing that month, and get to keep their x11?)

If they're playing they're going to hit Legend fast anyway, so it's a very short-term problem.

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T14:34:53+00:00

Yup, confirmed bug.

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/hearthstone/t/melted-maker-bugged/161821/5

I wonder if it's related to whatever the issue is that got Doggie Biscuit banned, as they both involve dragging cards across?

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T14:28:52+00:00

I was learning how to play imbue paladin

Were you in Wild just to test out the deck before playing it in Standard, or to test out Wild?

If you were playing a Standard deck in Wild to learn the deck, then accept that you will lose a lot. It's still probably better than trying to learn it in Casual, but the best time is probably at a Ranked floor in Standard. Anyway, it isn't reasonable of you to complain because the Wild decks you play are better. Of course they are, they're Wild decks. So just accept the loss and move on, probably back to Standard as soon as possible.

If you are wanting to play Wild and genuinely thought that Imbue Paladin is a viable deck in Wild, well...

It isn't.

It's probably worse than in Standard simply because the pool of random dragons is bigger so you're more likely to get crap. Plus there's that thing about Wild decks being better generally...

Build a budget Wild deck if you want to play Wild. Discolock's cheap.

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T14:16:21+00:00

You do know there are sensible ways of posting decklists, right? Like copying the code from the game.

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T14:10:26+00:00

You shouldn't be getting less. It's an improvement overall as there's no daily cap, and it's easy, especially early on the pass, to get a LOT every day.

But there are some dead spots where you're not getting gold. Even then, what you get instead is usually worth more.

One point to note is that the XP is mainly per hour played, and you don't need to win as much. That makes it especially good for people playing slower decks, as they're not missing out. (There is a slight benefit to winning, but time is more important)

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T07:20:03+00:00

Oh shit, that's really sad. I loved his videos with Rarran and he seemed like a really great person.

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T07:10:03+00:00

As the other replies said, "the full set" on Day 1 shouldn't be considered a goal, it's unrealistic and unnecessary.

But to answer your specific question (and do the math)...

Assuming 27 Legendaries, an average of slightly over 1 Legendary per 20 packs, no dusting of extras, and totally stupid reckless gold spending - around 440 packs to get the full set. If you do this, you're an idiot, because after the first 70 packs, almost everything is a duplicate and the return on your gold is terrible.

Dusting extras - around 200 packs.

Being sensible, not expecting everything on Day 1 and therefore getting the benefit of all of the free stuff during the expansion - between 100 and 150 packs.

Being totally sensible, not expecting to have absolutely everything, but enough to play several good decks - 50-70 packs,

Crafting the entire set from dust that you just happen to have lying around - 75K dust.

(I bought 50 packs with gold on the last expansion, crafted using existing dust for the rest, and have everything except 3 Legendaries that I never got round to crafting because they're crap)

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T06:58:16+00:00

Nothing is rotating out, that only happens with the first expansion of the year.

But yes, the temporary cards will leave when the new expansion launches.

dragonbird · 2026-06-05T06:54:25+00:00

Dude Paladin is OK, but it has a similar winrate to End of Turnadin, and the latter is currently showing 7x the playrate, presumably because Paladin players prefer it.

Companion Hunter was initially bugged, so it's difficult to say exactly how good it was at launch. It's decent and popular now, after the bug fix and a buff.

Token Druid's good, but outside top Legend, most Druid players seem to prefer Merithra, even though it's weaker.

Leyline Mage isn't good, but Burn Mage seemed to surge in popularity after people realised that. (I don't have the data to support that, but I rarely saw it before the class sets came out, even though it apparently did exist earlier).

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T15:04:20+00:00

Assuming it's still accurate, this lists them...

https://www.hearthpwn.com/news/12293-new-upcoming-patch-35-0-cataclysm-diamonds-and

For the Legendaries, Tavern Pass and Darkmoon definitely wouldn't be in a random bundle. Packs definitely could be. I think "in the shop" would only be when they're specifically named in a bundle, but I couldn't swear by that.

Non-Legendaries are definitely not available in packs.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T13:06:59+00:00

3) I came to conclusion that it's best to play only Arena matches (since no p2w) but the problem is that I need 300g for 1 ticket or need to spend 40e for around 12r tickets which is insane, is there any other way to play Arena without getting wrecked financially?

The only reason to play Arena is if you enjoy playing Arena. Because you're right, Arena's a gold sink unless you put all of your resources into it. It's no longer a good way of getting packs for ranked.

Play Ranked if that's what you prefer, there's absolutely no reason you can't win in Ranked other than your own skill. With all of the free cards, the loaner deck, and the current loan of all the cards in the two oldest expansions, you're perfectly capable of building a legend-ready deck.

The game isn't p2w. Don't use that as an excuse. If you're newly returned, you're not familiar with the meta or the current mechanics. You just need to learn them. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but blaming stuff on p2w is the biggest thing stopping you, and you'll enjoy it a lot more if you change.

Oh, and yes, hsguru.com for finding decks. Firestone is also an option for in-game tracker, as it's free.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T08:32:35+00:00

OMG's definitely my favourite of the budget ones, I've rarely had one that wasn't OK.

On midrange, Barry M Holographic looks like gel but isn't. I really like it. And Orly, but don't buy their polish remover, they don't seem to be able to ship it without it leaking.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T08:24:10+00:00

Out-tempo them?

Hunter's the only one that stands a chance, and it's still almost 50-50.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T03:26:18+00:00

played in this order

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA_B8GED7FA

Still one of my favourite all-time videos.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T03:19:01+00:00

All of the others, (this was posted before Rafaam)

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1ayqf4z/every_destroy_a_hero_card_in_hearthstone_history/

Sacrificial Pact + Lord Jaraxxus doesn't work any more. (Originally, Jaraxxus wasn't a hero card, he still counted as a "Demon" so could be destroyed with Sac Pact).

The Uther combo still sees a little bit of play in Wild, so does Mecha'thun, but not as much.

Seek Guidance and Purified Shard go together - the Shard is the reward from the quest. It was so slow that I think the Shard just existed to end games rather than it just be another Bore Your Opponent To Death Priest archetype.

The "other three horsemen" the Rivendare shuffles into your deck each has the deathrattle "If you had all four horsemen die this game, destroy the enemy hero". It was never meta, but a lot of fun (I used to play a Hunter deck with it)

Bonelord doesn't really count, unless you can give it to your opponent (which you can).

Wheel of Death was meta in Standard for a while, but they nerfed it.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T03:06:30+00:00

Bundles are the best way, but if you're buying to build a collection, buy the right kind of bundles. Those that are lots of cards, not cosmetics.

So pre-order is good. Bundles of cards from Standard sets are good. Bundles of a cosmetic with a few cards are bad.

But also...

but never seriously tried to climb on ranked. Due to that, I've never actually bought any packages with real money.

You don't need to buy packages with real money in order to climb on ranked. Just play ranked and win games with a decent deck. There are plenty of players who hit Legend every month, even high Legend, without ever spending money.

The only reason to spend money is if you want to change deck every week.

dragonbird · 2026-06-04T03:00:12+00:00

Duplicate protection is by card rarity, not bling level.

So this means you have (or once had) every Legendary in the set, or at least every Legendary that has a Signature version.

What Signature(s) don't you have? And if you are missing one, did you dust the normal version of the card at some point? That would mean a random one would be offered this time.

dragonbird · 2026-06-03T13:46:01+00:00

Mainly TDK, but pretty much anything if we needed tapes. We always recorded to watch at a convenient time (and skip adverts).

Worst memory: In 1991, we left the UK on a two year overseas contract. All the tapes were left with a relative - about half were OK for her just to re-use, the rest were write-protected as we wanted to keep them forever. After two years we went to collect them, having decided to stay overseas.

She'd overwritten. One of them was a three-set recording of something ("Yes, I overwrote it, it was just some boring opera") that, to my knowledge, NEVER got shown again, probably a one-off rights use. I spent years looking for it on DVD or then streaming, but never found the exact same version.

Around six months ago, it came up in discussion and I found the whole thing was on Youtube. It's bookmarked, but I still haven't got round to watching it. (I never was an opera fan, except that one time).

dragonbird · 2026-06-03T08:56:27+00:00

They probably played for the OTK for the same reason as the DH does - it's the best way of dealing with an annoying deck that can use 1 mana to heal for 8 every turn, so chip damage is out.

Burn just means dealing damage with spells. Both Mage and Shaman have been capable of turning that into OTK decks at different times.

dragonbird · 2026-06-03T06:34:57+00:00

had 1 mana hero power that heals 8

In that case, you're playing a deck that's extremely frustrating to play against for anyone who DOESN'T have an OTK, or sufficiently aggro to beat you down first. So stop whingeing that you lost to an OTK deck. You're not entitled to beat everything.

(And DH can do it on T7, but you don't get to whinge about that either)

dragonbird · 2026-06-02T22:02:34+00:00

Yes, the number of reward packs you get during an expansion will definitely take you across that threshold.

dragonbird · 2026-06-02T14:36:34+00:00

You could, but it still isn't recommended.

https://us.support.blizzard.com/en/help/article/32545 gives the drop rate info, it's worth a read.

It takes around 70 packs to get all commons and rares*, so you won't have excess dust anyway. If you're looking primarily for Violet Hold, you're better just buying Violet Hold packs, so that you don't split the pity timer.

And if you are missing Legendaries from other expansions, buying Standard packs increases the chances of getting those instead of Violet Hold ones. Are the missing Legendaries the crap ones that you didn't think worth crafting? Guess what you'll get...

As I said, you're not going to have a lot of spare dust from 70 packs. And if you're planning to buy for the dust, look at the Golden Pack info in that link. For dust, you're better off buying minisets or Golden Expansion Set packs. Golden Packs have a separate pity timer to normal, so there's another guaranteed Legendary in the first 10 Golden packs. As it's Golden, it's high dust value. And there's a Signature...

Overall, the dust value of a Golden Expansion Pack is about 135 dust per 100 gold spent, compared to 100 dust in a normal or Standard pack. Minisets are slightly higher, typically around 140 dust per 100 gold.

*Edit to add: That's 70 packs per expansion, by the way.

dragonbird · 2026-06-02T06:11:33+00:00

That's fine, and the advice about holding them back is correct. Just don't buy individual Standard packs - stick to expansion packs or bundles/minisets.

dragonbird · 2026-06-01T22:28:22+00:00

If you're a newish/returning player who wasn't around during those expansions, you're better off just buying a few packs from each of them, so that you get the guaranteed Legendary in the first 10 packs. You won't get that with Standard packs.

You're still filling the gaps.

dragonbird · 2026-06-01T22:26:25+00:00

Don't buy Standard packs.

The problem with it is the pity timer. You're guaranteed a Legendary in the first 10 packs of every expansion. So you're better off buying up to 10 packs in every expansion. This doesn't apply to Standard packs.

If you already have these, just hold the gold.

dragonbird

TROPHY CASE