A HIDDEN NAXXRAMAS SCREEN IN PRACTICE MODE

So, how does one discover this hidden location? Redditor Cozmosus found this when he played in Practice Mode. He then went to the Deck Selection screen and pressed the asterisk key on the numpad, giving a hidden Naxxramas image that seems to have been left during the mode's development. Additionally, someone in the thread has identified that it is a simplified map of the Naxxramas raid in World of Warcraft.

The map looks like this:

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PSA: DISENCHANT EAGLEHORN BOW AND GET FULL DISENCHANT VALUE (LIMITED TIME ONLY)

If you're like me who missed out on the Naxx release week (thank you, storm ravaging my place), then you might also find this useful. Eaglehorn Bow is a very powerful Hunter card, especially in Face Hunter decks. If you get this in your opening hand, the ideal thing to do is mulligan for a trap such as Explosive Trap and Misdirection so that you can cast this on turn 3 and play the trap/s on the next turn, assuring you +1 Durability (unless of course the opponent destroys your secret or it isn't activated by the time you use your bow). So, what has changed? This time, only the secrets that you play will result to a +1 in Durability. That means that you have to have a decent number of traps if you want the full value of the bow, as opponents using Mage, Hunter, and Paladin secrets won't help anymore. Do you think it's now worth disenchanting for full dust? For me, I'm keeping my copies. I love them, and I've depended on my own traps anyway.

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GOLDEN VERSIONS OF NAXXRAMAS CARDS CAN BE CRAFTED

Yes, you can have golden versions of the cards you get from playing the Curse of Naxxramas adventure mode. This was confirmed by Community Manager Zeriyah over at the Battle.Net forums. However, you can only craft the golden version of the card if you have already acquired the normal version

Additionally, all cards will be available in Arena Mode even if you don't open up a wing and beat the bosses. That means that once Arachnid Quarter opens, all cards that can be acquired from it will show up in Arena mode.

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HUNTER BUG EXPLOIT: WILD PYROMANCER + TRACKING (A WARNING)

This is a follow-up to the previous post about an alarming number of threads popping up in the interwebs regarding a certain combination of cards used by Hunter players that allows them to win most of the time as their opponent's game crashes. The two cards being exploited are Wild Pyromancer and Tracking. Having the former on the board and using the latter suddenly crashes your opponent's game, but the Pyromancer's and Tracking's effect still triggers in your game.

The only known way to get around this is to quit the game and try to reconnect, which we all know doesn't work always. However, take this as a warning, and it's probably best to not waste any time playing against a hunter with this bug exploit still around, especially in Ranked Play. There is still no official announcement on how to deal with this, and you might lose a ranked play if you battle against one of these Hunter players.

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PLAYERS, BE WARNED: Some Hunter Users Are Exploiting a DC Bug

THE BUG

According to /r/hearthstone moderator aeurielesn, there have been numerous reports popping up lately about a "high-impact bug that may cause you to disconnect when a certain combination of cards are played." In order for other players to stop from abusing this bug too, he has deleted any posts regarding what exact combination of Hunter cards are needed to exploit it.

THE SOLUTION

Some players have observed that closing and reconnecting to the game solves this problem, though you might not always get back to the game. Similar to the attack hover bug posted yesterday, you should produce a detailed report and send it to hacks@blizzard.com.

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WEBSPINNER: New Hunter Card From Naxxramas

A SPIDER! WHY? !<source>

A SPIDER, HMM. A PYROBLAST WILL DO.

Finally, we have a preview card from all of the heroes in Hearthstone. Webspinner is a 1/1 beast for one mana, with a fun but probably too-risky Deathrattle ability. It lets you "draw a random Beast card." Sounds weird, right? How can you randomly draw a Beast card from your deck? Well, Ben Brode has clarified all the confusion going around about the card text.

According to him, Webspinner does not actually draw card from your deck, instead its ability is similar to Ysera's. It doesn't get a card from your deck, it just puts a randomly-selected Beast card in your hand. With that in mind, people were asking why they didn't just have it at "Put a random beast card into your hand", and Ben Brode clarified that that suggestion confused some people, so they stuck with the "draw" card text.

Additionally, you only get the collectible beasts, which means that Misha and Leokk and Huffer, all of which from from casting Animal Companion, cannot be attained by Websinner's deathrattle ability. That still leaves a lot of beasts though, and the rarity of the beast card does not affect the chances of it being picked. So there are equal chances of getting a King Krush and an Angry Chicken.

To help you know what beasts you can get, someone has provided handy guide:

1-DROPS

2-DROPS

3-DROPS

4-DROPS

5-DROPS

6-DROPS AND UP

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PLAYERS, BE WARNED: There Are People Exploiting An "Attack Arrow Bug"

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THE BUG

The image above shows a player thewizzer against his opponent ImperatorM who was using the arrow to hover over thewizzer's hero. Sometimes, the opponent would hover over his cards, moving from right to left which, according to him over at a thread in Battle.Net, prevented him from playing both spells and minions as he was unable to place them on the board.

The video below shows a player named Mazvis battling someone who was clearly exploiting the bug. Thankfully, Mazvis found a way to counter the bug, though his opponent was still able to replicate the bug a few more times during his turn.

HOW TO COUNTER IT

There have been numerous threads popping up in forums such as in Battle.Net and even in reddit threads. If you watch the video, you will see that Mazvis was still able to play some cards and win by figuring out how to stop the opponent from hovering over your hero skill.

According to him, "using hero power cancels his arrow momentarily. Also picking up minions from the board and not attacking also seems to disturb it. Thus giving you few seconds to make your play."

Additionally, redditor Uncommited_ explains that you can also work around by creating your own target arrow, but this would only work if you have a hero power like that of Mage or a card that has a specific target. This also supposedly stops your opponent's own arrow from hovering for a while.

REPORT HACKS/EXPLOITS/CHEATING

Rolkyr from the Battle.Net forums noted that you should send a detailed e-mail to hacks@blizzard.com if something like this ever happens in one of your games.

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DRUIDS, Do NOT Use Your Hero Power BEFORE Attacking: Here's Why

I just realized that I am one of those players who like to do it the wrong way. But why is it wrong? Apparently, it's better to kill of a 4/2 or any minion that you can kill using Claw alone, without having to use your hero power. The same thing goes for killing any minion with 4 health using Bite. The reasoning behind this is pretty simple: to lessen the risks. But what are you being careful for? Well, it's actually because of the probability that your opponent will be playing Alexstrasza, and of course, your life total might be picked down to 15. So what does this have to do with the hero power of the Druid? Moreover, what does this have to do with armor? The answer is this: Alexstrasza only adjusts your health, but not your armor.

Here's an example:

Situation 1: Your opponent has a Knife Juggler in play. You decide to use Claw and your hero power to have an attack power of 3. You hit the Juggler, and you lose your three armor. Your opponent then plays Alexstrasza a few turns later and you have 15 total health.

Situation 2: Your opponent has a Knife Juggler in play. You decide to use Claw and then attack the Juggler with your 2 attack power. This causes you to lose 1 life point. After attacking, you use your hero power to get 1 armor. So, you lose 1 life point but you gain 1 armor. A few turns later, your opponent uses Alexstrasza. In this situation, you get 15 health and 1 armor.

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RANKED PLAY: How Many Games Before You Reach Legend?

If you've ever reached Rank 5, you know that it's gonna be a long road towards getting legend rank. You are seriously close to your goal, but so are thousands of players, all vying to get onto the big leagues. It's normal to get a 50% win rate from Rank 5 to 1 since the game has gone more diverse than ever, from Miracle Rogue to Aggro Paladin and Aggro Mage returning to the fray. So, statistically, just how many games would it take you before you reach legend? Well, redditor TantrumRight provided a graph that provides the average number of wins you need, depending on your win rate. So, if I do get at Rank 5 this season (which is a bit impossible at the moment), I would probably have to play about 500 to 700 games. Ah, my life.

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GOLDEN Mirror Entity & Soul of the Forest Do NOT Summon Golden Minions: Need A Fix?

Apparently, if you have a golden Lorewalker Cho and your opponent plays a spell, you'll get a golden version of that card. The same thing also applies when you use a golden Mind Vision, Thoughtsteal, Mindgames, and Faceless Manipulator. Yes, you do get two golden cards (regardless if they really weren't) when you have a golden Thoughtsteal. However, there are two cards which do not grant the same thing, even when they are golden: Mirror Entity and Soul of the Forest. A golden Mirror Entity does not summon a golden minion (unless the copied minion is golden already), and Soul of the Forest does not give golden 2/2 treants. A bit disappointing when you realize that all other golden cards aren't like them.

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PATCH NOTES 1.0.0.5314: Making Unleash the Hounds cost three mana AND resolving a lot of iPad issues

Heads up! Hearthstone will be getting a much-needed 40 MB update, which most importantly will mean that Unleash the Hounds will finally, officially, cost three mana instead of two. Will it make Hunters less playable? Not really, since it only means that the UTH + Starving Buzzard combo will still happen but will arrive a turn later. Perhaps they should have made Starving Buzzard's ability into drawing a card for each beast that dies? Because, you know, it's a buzzard anyway so it will fit the flavor. Aside from, this, here are the other issues solved:

GENERAL
- Improved friends list sorting based on player status
- Breaking News will now properly be shown when Hearthstone is undergoing maintenance
- Reconnect functionality has been enabled for Practice Mode
- Games in Friendly Play now have a turn timer- [iPad] Deck Rename and Deck Delete is now easier to find
BUG FIXES
- Winning a game as Lord Jarraxus will now properly grant credit towards unlocking the Warlock golden hero. You win... BUT YOUR WORLD IS STILL DOOMED!- Returning an opponent's minion to their hand will no longer occasionally leave behind a facedown card on the game board
- Resolved issues that prevented Fireside Friends card back from being properly unlocked under certain conditions.
- [iPad] Resolved an issue that was causing a client crash when choosing between two options of certain Druid cards
- [iPad] Resolved an issue where new chat notification bubbles would appear behind the keyboard when in the chat window interface
- [iPad] Adjusted the location of where enlarged versions of cards appear so that they are easier to see when selected
- [iPad] Resolved an issue where the client may sometimes use the incorrect default language
- Other bug fixes and UI improvements

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OFFICIAL UPDATE: UNLEASH THE HOUNDS NOW COSTS THREE MANA

Photo from the official Hearthstone FB page

Zeriyah, the Community Manager, has just posted in the Battle.net forums that the infamous UTH from the Hunter class will now cost an additional mana. This following is the full statement:

Over the last few months, we have seen hundreds of different decks do well in game depending on many different factors. Our community is incredibly creative, and we've seen players constantly trying out new things and coming up with new strategies to counter whatever decks they have trouble with.
At the very highest levels of play there are a lot of different decks performing well, and the decks at the top change from week to week. Since we've seen many cards and deck types in the current state of the game rise and fall as players adapt, so we did not want to change Unleash the Hounds immediately. However, Hunter decks have become increasingly more dominant and are doing better than we are comfortable across many levels of play.
We do like the idea of decks that have a really big turn and pull off a sweet combo, but when playing against Hunter decks, you may feel punished too much for playing minions. Playing minions is one of the key, fun pieces of the overall Hearthstone puzzle, and feeling like your options are limited by the opponent creates a play experience that may not be particularly enjoyable.
We take any balance changes very seriously, and we will continue to hold true to our stance that we plan on only making changes to cards if we feel it is completely necessary. After much consideration we have decided to increase the mana cost of Unleash the Hounds to 3. This change should make the card more fun to play against while still allowing for some big plays.

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Unleash the Nerf: UTH Unlikely To Be Redesigned In The Near Future

As can be seen and heard from the video, Ben Brode tells the audience that while Unleash the Hounds is getting a lot of attention for its cheap-costing but possibly game-changing effects, it can also be observed that players are devising unique decks to counter the dominant "Face" Hunters. Ben states that unusual, innovative decks are springing up in Ranked Play, with some of them allowing for that climb to Legend while countering the flood of Hunters (and Zoolock). This is of course one of the great things about card games, as players will find their own solutions in dealing against the top tier decks. Moreover, while UTH is incredibly hated as can be seen through forums and threads, it should also be noted that another factor for all the hate is that a lot of people use it. In addition, if Starving Buzzard (and Timber Wolf) wasn't around, it wouldn't be such a threat to people.

Personally, I know how "easy" it is to climb the ranks with a Hunter. I didn't have Leeroy, Savannah Highmane, or even Misdirection, but UTH + Timber Wolf + Starving Buzzard usually does it. I played yesterday using a very cheap version of the deck and won five times in a row, letting me climb three or so ranks. Still, my main objective is still to complete my Watcher Druid deck (lots of Epics and Legendaries to go for).

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