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How one card almost ruined Hearthstone (Pocket Gamer)

Strider

Member
I expected pre-nerf Undertaker, not a card meant to combat the mindless face aggro.

Same. Especially since the title implied action had been taken by Blizzard with "almost ruined" as if they nerfed it just in time or something.

Where is ragnaros?

On the sidelines. Dr. Boom replaced it in pretty much every deck that isn't running both. But yea the RNG that comes with that card is no fun :/
 

Joco

Member
Came in expecting Dr. Boom, maybe Mech Warper or even Unstable Portal. But Antique Healbot? Come on now.
 

Special C

Member
Worst article ever. Sure Antique Healbot changed the game a little with a neutral heal, but ruined the game? Hardly.
 
This is a strange idea. Does anybody complain about healbot? Except when one saves someone's life, which upsets their opponent.

Dumb article.
 
Plays Zoo > Wants Strategy > Complains about relatively minor addition in GvG that affects Zoo barely at all

A joke?

I like how every card that counters the specific deck you want to play is anti-fun now. Same exact thing was being said about big game hunter for being too anti-late game decks just a few days ago.

Except that Antique Healbot doesn't even counter Zoo. The natural draw of the Warlock makes Zoo have continual power. It's not like Healing up by itself will put you out of Zoo's range. This article is wrong in so many ways.

The Kibler article, on the other hand, brought up some interesting points. Which is to be expected, since Kibler was the lead designer of the WoW TCG and one of the most well-known MTG players.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
I like how every card that counters the specific deck you want to play is anti-fun now. Same exact thing was being said about big game hunter for being too anti-late game decks just a few days ago.
 

Aureon

Please do not let me serve on a jury. I am actually a crazy person.
That...doesn't sound broken. In my experience cards that break TCGs tend to always be about bypassing resource restrictions in some way or another

Hiiii.
WegutheAncient.jpg


It's often also simple raw power, like Jace.
 
AHB really isn't that bad for Hearthstone in my opinion.

Unless you're arguing that the +8 health helps you get your Dr Boom out more reliably.
 

johnsmith

remember me
bluth-no.gif

The guy who wrote this is complete and utter moron.


Aggro is still viable, and still the vast majority of what you play on ladder, this card did not change that. I've never heard anybody say this card is broken or overpowered, ever. Are there decks that abuse it and can play it more than twice? Yes, but those decks are rare. I might play against one of them once or twice a week at most, and I play this game way too much.

This guy sounds like a whiner who lost to a fatigue/echo mage and a mill druid a couple of times.

There are broken cards and combos in hearthstone (5 mana unleash/starving buzzard, dr boom, undertaker), but this is not one of them.
 

Dahbomb

Member
This thread is a joke because :

A) Aggro decks are more rampant than Control decks at the moment.

B) There are at least 10 cards more "broken" than Healbot at the moment and most agree that Healbot isn't even broken.

C) This thread isn't about Dr Balanced.
 
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thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Except that Antique Healbot doesn't even counter Zoo. The natural draw of the Warlock makes Zoo have continual power. It's not like Healing up by itself will put you out of Zoo's range. This article is wrong in so many ways.

The Kibler article, on the other hand, brought up some interesting points. Which is to be expected, since Kibler was the lead designer of the WoW TCG and one of the most well-known MTG players.

Fair enough.

For people that don't know, zoo is about putting so many minions on the board that the enemy doesn't have enough time to react to it, and is usually about control more than agro. If you have so little control over the board that you're worried about a 5 mana 3/3, you shouldn't win that game healbot or not. You don't want to have a long end game, but an opponent healbot should give you so much board control that the 8 extra health doesn't really matter.

Healbot is more for these mages and hunters that don't give a crap how many minions you have on board and are just gonna shoot your face to death instead.
 

Haunted

Member
So now that we have established that the article author is clueless (surely one of the mods active in the Hearthstone thread will change the title eventually), let's talk about the real culprits of brokenness these days.

Even though Dr. Balanced is the card drawing the most complaints, it's not actually the most played card, is it? Not even the most played legendary. I'd wager those distinctions go to Sludge Belcher and Loatheb - auto-includes in even more decks than Dr. Balanced. Still no one complains about those and things they're fine as is. I'd argue if cards are good enough to be included in almost any deck, they should be looked at.
 
So now that we have established (surely one of the mods active in the Hearthstone thread will change the title eventually), let's talk about the real culprits these days.

Even though Dr. Balanced is the most complained about card, it's not actually the most played card, is it? Not even the most played legendary, I'd wager those distinctions go to Sludge Belcher and Loatheb - auto-includes in even more decks than Dr. Balanced. Still no one complains about those and things they're fine as is. I'd argue if cards are good enough to be included in almost any deck, they should be looked at.

Loatheb isn't anywhere near auto-includes.

Dr. Balance is the only clear cut "needs a nerf".

You could extend some potential to Piloted Shredder or Goblin Blastmage.
 

inky

Member
I thought this was going to be an article on the Undertaker reign/nerf.

LOL Antique Healbot. Wouldn't even consider it a top 5 OP card currently.

Stop playing aggro nub. :p

Hiiii.
WegutheAncient.jpg


It's often also simple raw power, like Jace.

Really need to reinstall Solforge. I remember having fun with it.
 

autoduelist

Member
I've never played Hearthstone so have no idea about the validity of article.

Although this line had me crack up:
"A lot of frustrated aggro players have taken to calling Antique Healbot a "broken" card. Which is patently absurd. A company with the reputation and resources of Blizzard isn't going to allow a card that genuinely ruins the game through the playtest process."

No company, or set of playtesters, is perfect. Games let broken things in all the time, then they get nerfed/fixed. Hearthstone is not somehow immune to accidentally getting an unbalanced card --- or, more likely, having a new card produce unintended effects once it goes live and some random player comes up with a new tactic no playtester thought of.

Again, I'm not talking about this card, I have no idea. It's just laughable to think Blizzard is immune from making a mistake like that.
 

ViviOggi

Member
I like how every card that counters the specific deck you want to play is anti-fun now. Same exact thing was being said about big game hunter for being too anti-late game decks just a few days ago.
Brian "Brian Kibler" Kibler of Brian Kibler Gaming made a compelling argument for BGH being problematic, and I think it's absolutely worth discussing. His point was actually that BGH makes too many fun cards unplayable on the ladder while being necessary to keep Handlock in check, which is pretty much the opposite of what you got out of it. This article on the other hand is all over the place to the point that I have no idea what it's even trying to say.
 

Haines

Banned
Guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

It still costs 5 mana and is only a 3/3 body
Dr boom is the op card.
 

JohnCYQ

Member
Spending 5 mana to heal up and at most play your hero power on turn 6-7 when the opponent already has Highmanes/Blastmage/Shredders on the field does just about nothing except delay your death by a turn (if lucky).

The author is indeed clueless about the meta.
 

SentryDown

Member
For sure zoolock is a little weaker than before in the current meta, mostly because control decks are even better at control (with or without healbot, think of warrior/paladin new cards) but aggro/midrange decks are still pretty powerful, including hunter, mech mage & shaman.

This article is what happens when you play decks that only relies on itself to win (zoolock has little to no "really bad" matchups)
 

Cipherr

Member
Antique Healbot isn't even used in many top decks. This is a pretty hyperbolic article that doesn't take into account the current meta.

Oh my god thank you. Sounds like a salty Zoolock player thats upset the meta has shifted. I cant believe this article isnt about Dr Broken.

Spending 5 mana to heal up and at most play your hero power on turn 6-7 when the opponent already has Highmanes/Blastmage/Shredders on the field does just about nothing except delay your death by a turn (if lucky).

The author is indeed clueless about the meta.

Indeed. Its mana cost is so high.. You get the heal but only on turn 5 or later and it only puts a 3/3 body on the board.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Brian "Brian Kibler" Kibler of Brian Kibler Gaming made a compelling argument for BGH being problematic, and I think it's absolutely worth discussing. His point was actually that BGH makes too many fun cards unplayable on the ladder while being necessary to keep Handlock in check, which is pretty much the opposite of what you got out of it. This article on the other hand is all over the place to the point that I have no idea what it's even trying to say.

Beyond that, every class already has big creature removal, while a whole bunch of classes don't have a big heal card. This one is especially costly for what you get as well. Five mana gets you a Sludge Belcher which is 5/7 worth of stats with two taunts and Antique loses value if you're not down 8 health.

With Big Game Hunter, you get the same amount of stats as Antique (but it's 4/2 instead of 3/3), it costs two mana less, and instead of healing 8 damage, you can kill any creature that has 7 or more damage regardless of whether they're behind a taunt or have divine shield.
 
Sounds like the author can't best handlock with his hunter deck.. Boohoo. Evolve, the better hunter players already have and include more mid-range cards in their decks. Sorry pure cancer isn't the answer anymore.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
But... Mech Mage is at the top of the ladder...?

I'm so confused.
 
Started the season last night, took two games before I hit the mech mages..,

Seven of them in a row.

You want to talk about what is ruining hearthstone? Heck it is barely Dr Boom. Sure it sucks if you don't have him, but he can go in every deck so he sort of cancels himself out.

Where this idea has some merit is fatigue mage, which is a real scummy way to play the game. But at least there are counters to it, so it isn't a real big problem.
 
What's especially amusing about this little screed is he plays warlock, and they get more out of Healbot than any other class. Four lifetaps ain't nothing...I almost never encounter the healbot in high-rank games aside from lock decks.
 

Cipherr

Member
People/Kibler do have a point about BGH though. Neuters the use of fun big cards in a pretty awful way. Its not even Leg, so I believe you can run 2 on top of your classes removal. Its a bit much. But don't touch him until you fix Dr. Balanced.
 
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