I will now cover an issue I have hated, really hated for months. I have written a report on this to Blizzard on the Hearthstone forums and I have talked to many people on that forum who have basically written the exact same report as I have to them(-minus that my report of course was structured better, seriously I don't get why people that write serious bugs on that forum or similar cannot also write the actually try to write a report and not just say - X don't work.)
As I am very experienced card game player and I have made my own card game etc. I know that you always follow the text on the cards. The cards sets a new or several new rules when it is in play. For example in my card game Intergalactic Conquest the card Eden says no card with conquest strength 4 or higher can be played at this location. That players has to follow that, that is how the card says the new rule is. If that card is destroyed well then that rule is not longer in place.
This is not the same for digital games as there the computer make sure the cards are followed. So the Stealth issue in Hearthstone can be argued that it is correct, meaning the way the game is played out is actually not a bug.
And the thing is I agree on this I do think the current system of Stealth is what the game designers wants. But that means the text then is wrong, either the string is incorrect or the functionality is incorrect.
It is impossible for both of them to be true. I just want to note that this issue is a text incorrect and not gameplay incorrect, that might sound a little overexplanatory but when the game was new and I wrote my report to Blizzard, back then I was actually unsure what the intended gameplay was, well I did assumed back then that the functionally was correct
OK what is the issue:
"Can't be attacked or targeted until it deals damage."
This would mean nothing can target this card (Worgen Infiltrator) who has the ability stealth.
So this should give some kind of stop feedback here, an error message, sound or both when I try this.
Surprise I could actually target my Worgen Infiltrator even do it says I can't.
So this is a huge logical bug if its a functional bug or its a bad text written which is kinda a logical issue(just on the writers understanding of cards vs the other which would be a code issue).
This is a huge, huge difference and has been for a half year now I really wish Blizzard could fix this.
This is why I mentioned my card game before, while it might sound like I am just boasting about it. Its because I can tell you here right now what I intended with the design of a specific card. So ok, Eden as I mentioned before locks out all strong cards(4 and higher) which includes the player of Eden. If I wanted that card to only lock out opponents cards the text would be " your opponent cannot play any card with conquest strength 4 or higher at this location". See I would have to completely reword that sentence and the gameplay change would be enormous. That card right now is intended to work against both the player of it and all the other players.
The way Stealth is worded it should be a negative effect for both players not just for the opponent. People like to give arguments pro blizzard on this (like always on any game forum) but really this is such a black and white, true or false situation. Either you can't target it or you can.
The text has to be changed to something like "Can't be attacked or targeted by your opponent until it deals damage."
I don't mind how the card mechanic works but the wording is very off.
And every Stealth concerning card got this issue. So we are talking several cards(10) and some of them overused like Blood imp a common annoying bug that has been live for half a year.
One interaction I really hate is this:
First of all Big Game Hunter says "Destroy a minion with an Attack of 7 or more" with his Battlecry ("Does something when play it from your hand"). This means he has to actually kill a card you have if you cannot target an opponent's card.
Ravenhold Assassin has Stealth so he should not be able to target him.
He of course can anyway and in this case playing Big Game Hunter means killing your own card even do the card should not be valid target if we follow the card text.
OK, I toke this example because this thing with Stealth is that people might argue and say, but your card is of course positive. Or its a digital game text does not have to be follow the rule always.
Well this is a perfect example when a card has a negative effect sometimes, which what I tried to illustrate earlier. Why does it exactly follow Big Game Hunters text but not the Stealth text this is a huge inconsistency. The game can't have some cards being both negative and positive and other being only positive with according to their text. (Note of course some card can be only positive but then it has to say "your opponent" etc)
Comparing Stealth mechanic to other card games is easy. The famous card game Magic The Gathering(which Hearthstone is very similar to) has this exact mechanic. Its called Hexproof.
I wrote this months ago to Blizzard.
"In magic terms this would be hexproof vs shroud, were shroud is that nothing can target the creature were hexproof (which is what wizard use on most creature today, before it was a troll thing) is that hostiles can't target the creatures.
I think TCG players are very used to take texts very literately as in this genre a text changes the rule of the game so it has to be followed very exact, were in Hearthstone now when its a computer doing the rules it can feel of then if the compute rules does not follow what the player interprets from reading the text."
See Hexproof is that your opponent can't target while Shroud is that no one can. Hearthstone is literally using the Hexproof mechanic but it is also literally using the shroud rule text. This is why this is so mind-bowling to me, it such an obvious mistake if you have played Magic. I am not saying that Hearthstone has to be like Magic but Stealth has a clear inconsistency with other games.
And actually there is a smaller extra bug here too. I found this bug now while taking images for this Stealth issue.
First of all, using the card Conceal means you make your cards get Stealth for 1 turn so they cannot be target(by your opponent).
There is actually 2 bugs here with Conceal. First of all the Knife Juggler has lost his Stealth as he damaged the Yeti (This is correct and what I was actually testing) But he still has the text and icon of Conceal under the card. Which clearly there is no reason for this should be removed after he has dealt damage.
Furthermore, correct me if I am wrong but "Stealthed" is not a word. See how it says "Stealthed until your next turn". Thats not correct written English. Stealthed is one of those urban dictionary words that might work orally but should not be written.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/spellcheck/american-english/?q=stealthed
The correct English I believe would be "Stealthy until your next turn" or "Has Stealth until your next turn".
