Hearthstone Championship Tour: Americas Winter Playoffs - Results, Decklists

Upcoming Class & PvP Tuning - Feb 21
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
With the next weekly maintenance, we're planning a large round of PvP tuning changes, as well as a few PvE buffs for Unholy. Please see below for the full list of changes that are currently planned. As always, this may not be the final list - additional tuning may be added or removed before these changes go live.

Classes

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Unholy
    • Virulent Plague damage over time effect has been increased by 67%. Damage unchanged in PvP.
    • Summon Gargoyle: Gargoyle Strike damage has been increased by 50%. Damage unchanged in PvP.
    • Dark Arbiter: Val'kyr Strike damage has been increased by 16%. Damage unchanged in PvP.

Player versus Player

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Dark Simulacrum's cooldown has been reduced to 25 seconds (was 30 seconds).
  • Blood
    • Blood Death Knights no longer deal reduced damage in PvP situations (was a reduction of 10%).
  • Unholy
    • Crypt Fever's damage has been reduced by 15%.

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Restoration
    • Nourish now reduces the cast time of Healing Touch by 0.2 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
    • Nourish will now only apply Regrowth's heal over time effect (was both the initial heal and the heal over time effect).
    • Abundance now reduces the cast time of Healing Touch by 5% per Rejuvenation active in PvP situations (was 10%).
    • Fixed a bug that caused Nature's Essence to fail to heal on Wild Growths cast in PvP if the Druid had the Nourish or Overgrowth Honor Talents.

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Survival
    • Caltrops now deals 20% less damage in PvP, and reduces movement speed by 50% (was 70% speed).
    • PvP Template Agility has been reduced by 2.5%.
  • Marksmanship
    • Healing Shell now heals for its full value in PvP.
    • Aimed Shot now deals an additional 5% damage in PvP situations.
    • PvP Template Agility has been increased by 5%.
    • PvP Template Haste has been reduced by 15%.
    • PvP Template Mastery has been increased by 33%.
    • PvP Template Armor has been increased by 20%.
  • Beast Mastery
    • PvP Template Agility has been increased by 5%.
    • PvP Template Haste has been increased by 30%.
    • PvP Template Versatility has been increased by 25%.
    • PvP Template Mastery has been reduced by 25%.
    • PvP Template Critical Strike has been reduced by 30%.
    • PvP Template Armor has been increased by 20%.

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Fire
    • Cauterizing Blink's heal has been reduced by 33% in PvP situations.
    • PvP Template Intellect and Stamina have been reduced by 5%.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Holy
    • Avenging Crusader once again ignores line of sight when healing.
    • Avenging Crusader will now cause Judgment and Crusader Strike to heal even if their damage is absorbed.
    • Fixed a bug that caused Spreading the Word to make Blessing of Freedom trigger Cleanse's cooldown.
  • Retribution
    • PvP Template Strength has been increased by 3%.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Discipline
    • Inner Renewal now causes Power Word: Radiance to refund 25% of its mana cost when self-cast (was 50%).

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Assassination
    • Fixed a bug that caused Deadly Brew's additional free Wound Poison effect to increase to Kingsbane's damage.
    • Poison Bomb's damage has been reduced by 30% in PvP.
    • Wound Poison's healing reduction effect has been reduced to 20% in PvP (24% with Master Poisoner).
    • PvP Template Agility has been reduced by 5%.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Elemental
    • PvP Template Intellect and Stamina have been increased by 5%.
  • Enhancement
    • Stormstrike deals 20% less damage in PvP (was 15% less damage).
    • PvP Template Agility has been increased by 10%.
    • PvP Template Stamina has been increased by 5%.
  • Restoration
    • PvP Template Versatility has been increased by 30%.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Arms
    • PvP Template Strength and Stamina has been increased by 5%.
    • PvP Template Armor has been increased by 10%.
    • PvP Template Versatility has been increased by 17%.
  • Fury
    • Endless Rage now increases the duration of Enrage by 1 second (was 2 seconds).

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  • Destruction
    • Chaos Bolt's damage has been increased by 25% in PvP situations.
    • Reverse Entropy reduces the cast time of Chaos Bolt by 0.25 seconds in PvP situations (was 0.5 seconds).
    • Backdraft reduces the cast time of Chaos Bolt and Incinerate by 15% in PvP situations (was 30%).
  • Demonology
    • PvP Template Intellect has been increased by 5%.
    • PvP Template Haste has been increased by 50%.
    • PvP Template Versatility has been reduced by 25%.
    • PvP Template Mastery has been reduced by 25%.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Warlock and Paladin Class Mount Quest Requirements
I posted this in the main thread, but cross-posting it here for visibility - we'll be re-examining the rare material requirement for the Paladin and Warlock class mounts, we don't want the gate for these to be an expensive tradeskill material. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
FEEDBACK: Class Mount Questlines + Flying
Reposting this from my other thread in here, so hopefully the blues can see it:

So, as an avid lore junkie, I couldn't help myself, and decided to do as many of the mount campaigns as I could on the PTR. I've been loving them so far. But then I stumbled on the Death Knight one. It's very engaging, from a fantasy stand point it's my favorite, but there are a few gleaming lore inconsistencies that go against the main plotline of Cataclym.

-The Ruby Sanctum is perfectly fine: This is the big thing, that the red dragonflight, and probably by extension all the others, have their sanctums. In the book Twilight of the Aspects, Korialstrasz sacrifices himself to destroy all of the sanctums, because the Twilight's Hammer was using their eggs to create more twilight dragons. I could maybe understand if it were another sanctum, but the Ruby Sanctum was specifically the one that Korialstrasz saw, which prompted his decision to blow it up.

-Vyrastrasza has whelps: If we get past the fact that we're in a Sanctum that shouldn't exist, there's another glaring problem. The large wyrm in the middle, Vyrastrasza, has whelps. If we go by the provided timelines by Blizzard in Legion and other expansions, dragons are in their whelp stage for around two years. However, the end of the Cataclysm heralded the Age of Mortals, causing the dragonflights to lose not only their titanic powers, but also their ability to reproduce. This was highlighted in the Dawn of the Aspects novel, where Alexstrasza is in a deep depression as the last of her eggs hatch. Now, suddenly, there's a newly created brood mother making eggs! Problem solved? Only it goes against all established lore.

Hope I don't sound like too much of a nut here, but these problems seriously trouble me, I am really hoping that there is someone who is actively checking storylines for continuity. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for your interest in the Death Knight story! The new Lich King certainly has some... unique requests.

To answer your lore questions, the whelps you see here, as Senegos mentioned, are likely the last whelps we will see, unless the dragons figure out a way to make more eggs. Some dragons are still in whelp form, though, as they have not matured yet.

The Ruby Sanctum itself was destroyed by Krasus, but some of the dragonflights have chosen to rebuild their sanctums. As you see in the Death Knight quest, the Ruby Sanctum has been completely regrown, and has no traces of any lingering twilight influence. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Marksman Hunter Tier 19 Set Bonus
I'd like to highlight to the Dev team that currently, on live, the Marksman hunter T19 4pc tier bonus has the effect of decreasing the damage done by Piercing Shot by 15%.
This is a bug. Piercing Shot should be affected similarly to other spells, where the cost is changed by the bonus but the damage isn't. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
MW Monks and Mythic Raiding
Much like the Disc post in the other thread, Mistweaver is more in a state of thinking ahead for possible refinements, but no immediate shake-ups. This is preliminary, but a possible direction is that some things could be smoothed out by reducing the emphasis on Essence Font. That could help with, for example, drawing out more of a regular ongoing decision between Enveloping Mist, Vivify, and Effuse, rather than having that so often pushed out by Essence Font. Also, making the value of mastery more stable, and reducing the importance of churning as much mana into Essence Fonts as possible. For fair warning, a cooldown on EF is not out of the question after seeing how it's played out, but that would come alongside seeing how other heals might have to be strengthened.

Rising Thunder has wound up underperforming which we would likely look at at the same time. It would likely be helped regardless by changes that made it easier to spend mana and GCDs on Rising Sun Kick, without always taking away from something like an Essence Font. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Assassination T20 Set Bonus Feedback
The 2-piece will get some single-target benefit. That said, part of the benefit of the bonus is the improved multi-target capability that Garrote has with a shorter cooldown. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Shaman Class Mount Feedback
Thanks for the feedback! In the next PTR build, elemental will be fiery, and enhancement will be stormy.

We are also making changes to the resto version to make it more watery, and remove the strobe effects.

Is anything going to be done to reduce the movement of the mount? Looks like I won't be able to use it due to the same sea sickness effect the sky golem causes.
Will investigate, thanks for mentioning it! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Build of the Month - February 2017
Each month or so we will post a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!

All of the parts on this page are Amazon affiliate links. When you purchase your parts through them it helps support the site!

This month
The current SSD prices are fairly flat right now, with most SSDs under $0.50 per gigabyte when on sale.

Depending on how much you want to overclock, you may need to spend a bit more for a better CPU cooler like the NH-D15.

Unless you are doing a lot of video rendering or streaming, you do not need the 7700K and would get more performance from spending that money elsewhere.

Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.

Don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions!

Peripherals


Narwhal

MonitorDell U2414H Monitor$229
KeyboardLogitech G710+$78
MouseLogitech G502$56
SpeakersLogitech Z323 2.1$44

Unicorn

MonitorDell U2715H Monitor$459
KeyboardCorsair K70$110
MouseRazer Naga 2014$70
SpeakersLogitech Z523$68


Puppy and Dolphin
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Puppy and Dolphin.

Puppy

Updated February 19, 2017
$641
Case NZXT Source 210$55
Power Supply EVGA 600B$50
CPU Intel i3-7100$120
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO$31
Motherboard ASUS Z270-K$145
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4$67
Graphics Card ASUS RX 460$107
Hard Drive Western Digital Blue 1TB$50
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW$20

Dolphin

Updated February 19, 2017
$848
Case NZXT Source 210$55
Power Supply EVGA 600B$50
CPU Intel 7600K$240
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO$31
Motherboard ASUS Z270-K$145
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4$67
Graphics Card RX 480 OR
GTX 1060 3GB
$175 / $180
Hard Drive Western Digital Black 1TB$77
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW$20


Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn.

Narwhal

Updated February 19, 2017
$1234
Case Cooler Master HAF 912$60
Power Supply SeaSonic SSR-650RM 650W$70
CPU Intel 7600K$240
Heatsink Scythe Mugen Max$48
Motherboard ASUS Z270-A$169
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4$129
Graphics Card GTX 1060$235
Hard Drive Western Digital Black 2TB$131
SSD Crucial MX300 275GB OR
Samsung Evo 850 250GB
$95
$94
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW$20

Unicorn

Updated February 19, 2017
$1377
Case Corsair Air 540$130
Power Supply EVGA G2 650W$99
CPU Intel 7600K$240
Heatsink Noctua 6 NH-D15$86
Motherboard ASUS Z270-A$169
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4$129
Graphics Card GTX 1060 OR
GTX 1070
$250
$370
Hard Drive Western Digital Black 2TB$131
SSD SAMSUNG 850 Pro 256GB$130
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW$20


StarCrafts Season 5 Ep 15 ArchOnslaught
Another episode of StarCrafts has been released.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Upcoming Class and PvP Tuning, Class Mount Blue Posts, Build of the Month, StarCrafts started by chaud View original post
Comments 27 Comments
  1. Railander's Avatar
    the destro nerfs are real.
  1. agentsi's Avatar
    I really don't understand the destro nerfs to be honest...I'd love for them to state their reasoning, as well as what data they have that shows the need for them.
  1. ElDoorO's Avatar
    So monks have problems that they are going to address Soon (TM) -- maybe this xpac, maybe next.. but they still don't listen to the major players concerns much like they didn't with the brewmasters. Of course not... So we migrate from "you can't trust those sims!" to "there just aren't enough parses" -- can't wait to hear their next excuse when they "fix" the monk MW and fail...
  1. Notdev's Avatar
    Monthly reminder that the recommended builds are bad and mmoc only posts Amazon links because they are paid to do so

    Rx 470 and 480 sales have been ridiculous lately in the states, and the 480 has caught up to the 1060 after recent driver updates. There is no reason to go nvidia before 1070 level performance unless you are invested in a g-sync monitor.

    Also for the cheapest build they suggest pairing a non overclockable chip to with an overclocking motherboard and a CPU Cooler even though it comes with a stock one, which will be more than enough since it cannot be overclocked. The hyper 212 Evo has also been replaced as the best lower end CPU Cooler by the cryorig m9i which is cheaper, smaller, easier to install, and yields better performance.
  1. Wretchedmist's Avatar
    Still ignoring disc. Getting pretty damn sick of this now.
  1. mmocb0712db3e4's Avatar
    Is that... Is that an Unholy buff there?
    Still not gonna tighten the gap between the two specs, as the "dot part" of Virulent Plage and Gargo are basically the two lowest damage source - the two combined is less than 10% of our total damage, but it's a start!
  1. Rolow's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Notdev View Post
    Monthly reminder that the recommended builds are bad and mmoc only posts Amazon links because they are paid to do so

    Rx 470 and 480 sales have been ridiculous lately in the states, and the 480 has caught up to the 1060 after recent driver updates. There is no reason to go nvidia before 1070 level performance unless you are invested in a g-sync monitor.

    Also for the cheapest build they suggest pairing a non overclockable chip to with an overclocking motherboard and a CPU Cooler even though it comes with a stock one, which will be more than enough since it cannot be overclocked. The hyper 212 Evo has also been replaced as the best lower end CPU Cooler by the cryorig m9i which is cheaper, smaller, easier to install, and yields better performance.
    Totally agree. I never understood why they post as Unicorn Peripherals for speakers Logitech Z523 every single month. Those speakers are so tiny, under-powered and wimpy. Get a true 7.1 surround sound system with an optical in.
  1. Sail into the wind's Avatar
    We get it Blizz, no more Rogues in PvP.

    And I didn't even know what half of the zerg creatures in that video were.
  1. mmoc86abf9a49e's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Notdev View Post
    Monthly reminder that the recommended builds are bad and mmoc only posts Amazon links because they are paid to do so

    Rx 470 and 480 sales have been ridiculous lately in the states, and the 480 has caught up to the 1060 after recent driver updates. There is no reason to go nvidia before 1070 level performance unless you are invested in a g-sync monitor.

    Also for the cheapest build they suggest pairing a non overclockable chip to with an overclocking motherboard and a CPU Cooler even though it comes with a stock one, which will be more than enough since it cannot be overclocked. The hyper 212 Evo has also been replaced as the best lower end CPU Cooler by the cryorig m9i which is cheaper, smaller, easier to install, and yields better performance.
    Thank you.
  1. kornek21's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Railander View Post
    the destro nerfs are real.

    having a warlock as a main myself, i dont see the problem here

    "Chaos Bolt's damage has been increased by 25% in PvP situations."

    that to me more then compensates the other "nerfs" that destro get if you ask me, 25% increase in damage on chaos bolt is a HUGE thing considering how already powerful that spell is.
  1. Cerunnir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by xPraetoriaNx View Post
    Is that... Is that an Unholy buff there?
    Still not gonna tighten the gap between the two specs, as the "dot part" of Virulent Plage and Gargo are basically the two lowest damage source - the two combined is less than 10% of our total damage, but it's a start!

    This buff is done to even out the difference between someone who have the bracers and someone who do not. Without bracers you will most likely run Ebon Fever after the change, and that makes disease a much bigger deal. Its a big buff single target and even bigger for AOE.

    Im simming around 12% increase going from Bursting Sores without bracers pre buff, to Ebon Fever after the buff.

    Its around a 10% increase going from Ebon Fever without bracers pre buff, to Ebon Fever after the buff.

    Around 5% buff going from Bursting Sores without bracers pre buff, to Bursting Sores after the buff.

    With bracers the buff is going to be smaller relativly speaking.
  1. Nozuka's Avatar
    Does anyone actually like to have spells that are only usable or different in Battlegrounds/Arena?
    Seems confusing to me.
  1. mmoc8d5232fab8's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nozuka View Post
    Does anyone actually like to have spells that are only usable or different in Battlegrounds/Arena?
    Seems confusing to me.
    I do not like either, most of the time I did not remember those habilities.. Also, they cluster my bars when I PVE.
  1. natyara's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kemonozume View Post
    I do not like either, most of the time I did not remember those habilities.. Also, they cluster my bars when I PVE.
    it mess up with my bars. I don't like it really.
  1. Sencha's Avatar
    I love how they "slightly adjust" pvp templates with 25% increase/decrease or more.
  1. mmoc6513cc48dc's Avatar
    Resto druid nerfs? am i dreaming?
  1. Oftenwrongsoong's Avatar
    I don't understand your monthly computer build recommendations. I suspect "Unicorn" is the "best" build recommendation of the options, right? That notwithstanding, none of them make any sense at all.

    For example, your power supply for the "unicorn" is a paltry $99 EVGA G2 with 650W? Um, for a "unicorn" build you'd probably need at least 1000W and you should use at least a Corsair HXi or better.

    Motherboard is the ASUS Z270-A? WTF? If you have a Unicorn build you want to OC and tweak, and definitely want the most options and stability available to you, so you should at least have the ASUS Hero IX or IX Code motherboard.

    The "unicorn" is fitted with 16GB of DDR 4 memory... Um, really?

    Graphics card, the "unicorn" of computers this month is the 1060 or 1070... what in the actual fuck are you recommending?

    And don't even get me going on your peripheral recommendations. A 60Hz monitor is your "unicorn?" And why the hell are you recommending the Z523s?

    The recommendations are laughable, and I hope no one ever actually takes them seriously. It's clear you are simply passing along cheap substitutes to your audience in the hopes they click the link and buy it. Don't mask these recommendations as anything other than what they are: Cheap builds that you think your audience can afford in the hopes they click your link.

    Disgusting. Get it off the front page.
  1. chaud's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Oftenwrongsoong View Post
    For example, your power supply for the "unicorn" is a paltry $99 EVGA G2 with 650W? Um, for a "unicorn" build you'd probably need at least 1000W and you should use at least a Corsair HXi or better.

    Motherboard is the ASUS Z270-A? WTF? If you have a Unicorn build you want to OC and tweak, and definitely want the most options and stability available to you, so you should at least have the ASUS Hero IX or IX Code motherboard.

    The "unicorn" is fitted with 16GB of DDR 4 memory... Um, really?

    Graphics card, the "unicorn" of computers this month is the 1060 or 1070... what in the actual fuck are you recommending?

    And don't even get me going on your peripheral recommendations. A 60Hz monitor is your "unicorn?" And why the hell are you recommending the Z523s?
    1000W is extreme overkill, you can do overclocked 1070 SLI with 650W.

    Most people using a guide aren't going to be overclocking to the very extreme limits and won't gain anything from buying a higher end mobo.

    You can always buy another set of 16GB if you need it, but 16 is still sufficient for most people.

    Unicorn doesn't mean a $3000 computer, it is just the highest specs of the listed builds.

    Happy to look at other speaker suggestions at that price point.
  1. Gadzooks's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sencha View Post
    I love how they "slightly adjust" pvp templates with 25% increase/decrease or more.
    Right? 5% is a "tweak" - 25% is a huge change. The percentages that they're tweaking with are sadly funny - Holinka just keeps screwing that pooch over and over. Templates were a good idea on paper, but like everything he touches, it just doesn't work.
  1. Gatsbybutters's Avatar
    Whoever is in charge of pvp should be embarrassed. Those aren't tweaks or minor changes. If I was that guys boss and saw those live changes on my million dollar cash cow I'd fire him, out of a cannon, into the sun. Pvp devs must be blow job artists.

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