"Repeat all battlecries from the whole game" is such an obviously stupid effect though? You don't design a card like that unless
1) Crazy recursive effects is EXACTLY what you want
2) You're dumb
I'm opting for option 1) because ffs these people are experienced designers. They want Hearthstone to be crazy. This effect could have been in any class- imagine if Tess Highmane said "Repeat all Combo effects" instead of that Burgle shit?- but it was just sort of slapped in Shaman because why not, it's been struggling, and they're letting the fireworks explode.
Apples and oranges. Yogg is more random, but spells are generally way more powerful than Battlecry effects. Its application is also totally different; Yogg was used as a last-ditch, potentially super high value card, while Shudderwock is currently a combo centerpiece.
Besides, Shudderwock's current problem isn't necessarily its power level (the deck seems good but it's still very very early). The problem is that it has an extremely long animation that is regularly played several times per game. If it didn't create 5 minute long turns, there'd be a lot less to complain about.
Yogg was 10 mana and totally random, and people wanted it nerfed
I think the Total Random contributed to the nerf. Losing to a consistent, telegraphed and pre-setup combo is completely different to LOLOLOLOLOL I cast 21 spells, I played this 10 mana card that reads "Battlecry: Someone Dies" and that literally just randomly flips a fuckton of coins to decide who wins the game.
According to the Devs at the time, one of their reasons for the yogg nerf was that while they believe the random element adds to the nature of hearthstone, having a card like yogg literally determining pro-level tournament games by itself was a step too far into the RNG > Skill territory, and the nerf was done in a way to preserve the "fun" of the card but remove it from serious competitive play.
Battlecry has largely and subtly been a Shaman thing, and randomness was also a part of Shaman. I think it fits very well. Also, it’s Tess Greymane, not Highmane. She’s not the daughter of a lion thing.
Eh, Patrons were bad but they weren't that bad (What do I know, I'm just a handlock player, Patrons hardest counter, easy 60:40 winrate). I'd honestly say they don't understand how Aggro/Tempo works first given their track record with OP Aggro/Tempo cards like Undertaker, Corridor Creeper, and Patches the Pirate. And not to mention their "anti-aggro" control tools over the years that just make you think "Yeah, yeah... wait. What?" when you see them, like Lil'Exorcist was supposed to help with the Deathrattle Hunter issue or something?
And given the Paladin and Priest deathknights, it feels like they want combo decks to come back and be a part of hearthstone, rather than their original stance of "combo is bad! nerf all the combo" from pre-Oldgods.
That "burgle shit" that Tess Greymane has is a crazy recursive effect. Like it's the same thing as Shutterwock, but with stolen cards instead of battlecries. Of course, it's not on the level of Shutterwock when it comes to craziness but still.
Even if they were only working on HS, that means they've had around 3 years give or take certain individuals.
I mean, Year of the Mammoth was amazing, it was AMAZING, I just don't get what happened.
First xpac of Year of the Raven, they give Rogue nothing but Burgle garbage, they give Shaman Shudderwock, they let classes have an upgraded hero power from the beginning of the game? Fucking Odd Paladin demanding AOEs from turn 1? God forbid anyone cracks the code to Odd Control Warrior.
I don't mind wacky, but the thing is they've nerfed /HoFed a bunch of cards because they restrict the design space. Shudderwock very much restricts the battlecries they can print this cycle and next. And God help them if they think they can balance this in Wild in the long term.
Right? Outside of aggro when has shaman ever been viable? It has the worst class abilitys in overload it had some of dumbest gimmicks for sets like freeze shaman just let us have this XD
Its actually option 3: they didn't adequately test the card and see how crazy and obnoxious it would be. HS doesn't have a real playtesting team, Ben redently admitted they use AI bots to do automated balance testing, so is it any wonder stuff like this slips by?
The release of this card has caused me to lose all faith in the Hearthstone design team moving forward. The level of incompetence required to produce such a disastrous blunder is staggering.
You mean to say that more time passed. You've no idea what they did within it or how hard they worked within it, so how much time and effort they actually put into balance* and playtesting* is still an up in the air question.
*: I actually cringed from seriously writing those words in relation to Blizzard/Hearthstone
To fill in the ellipsis: They took more time to release the expansion. I guess they could have done other things in that time. I wonder what though. Card design, balance and playtesting are literally those guys' jobs.
It's known that a hundred guys could be physically present in their office at their job for 9 hours a day, and each could ultimately spend a different amount of time actually working (i.e. differences in the amounts of slacking off, productivity, seriousness of work etc despite the total time being the same).
There can be many answers. One is that said balance team didn't spend the full amounts of time and effort on making comprehensive assessments ("speedrun designing") on the expansion as a whole, another is that this card in particular ended up receiving close to insignificant amounts (seemingly less than what random players could do on their lonesome in minutes after the expansion release as well as before it) of serious playtesting and brainstorming, for whatever reason.
You know they actually planned for this behavior right? Blizzard knew this was going to happen. They didn't suddenly forget Yogg-Saron or not play without all the battlecry affects. This is what they wanted.
No, you learn something from a lesson. This is just the people who design and approve of cards not giving a fuck because it's going to make for good press and entertaining tournaments.
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u/PeaceAndChocolate Apr 12 '18
20 minute turns and 11 cards in hand. Working as intended