Does anyone care...?

[Essence]

Has anyone ever actually gone out of their way to spend any period of time playing against Halfbloods and come away feeling like it was time well spent?

Is there any reason to have Halfbloods in their current format at all?

If we were to replace them, what would we replace them with?

[ddevans96]

Has anyone ever actually gone out of their way to spend any period of time playing against Halfbloods and come away feeling like it was time well spent?

Yes. Not in the past year or so though...

Is there any reason to have Halfbloods in their current format at all?

If we were to replace them, what would we replace them with?

I've actually an idea brewing in my head for a long time. A huge set (not quite the 144 combos we have now) of preset decks following strict guidelines and reflecting the various branches of the metagame.

Eventually I'll post it

[furballdn]

Half bloods are only played only because they have the upped cards as a reward. They have twice your health, three times your mark, and even upped cards. It's mainly a way for newer players to be able to get some upped cards easily without fighting false gods or paying 1500

[bored_ninja777]

i could see people grinding these with the usual rushes to get rares and upped stuff instead of AI3? seems like it would be a better challenge but im not sure how many actually do it. i used to until i started trying FGs instead.. once in while ill fight one for hell of it.

[Rutarete]

I think it mainly now serves to be the step below FGs (which is below platinum league) for newbies only. The fact that they're not based on a focused strategy is the biggest difference between them and Gold league. In a way Gold already has replaced them.

[agentflare]

Solution: make Halfblood decks preset just like AI3.
Except:
Perhaps rotate them weekly for some variety in-game? (this should also extend to AI3 IMO)

[furballdn]

Solution: make Halfblood decks preset just like AI3.
Except:
Perhaps rotate them weekly for some variety in-game? (this should also extend to AI3 IMO)

I don't agree with this. The main reason that halfbloods are more fun than AI3 is that not only are they tougher, but they have an unpredictable and random deck. Theoretically, you could win every single nonultrarareorshards card (upped as well) from only fighting half-bloods, whereas you can only get a select few from AI3.

The rotation idea is nice, but perhaps Zanz could make it that every week or every other week he includes one or two user made elders that have around the same difficulty level as the other elders, but have different cards that users can decide.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Has anyone ever actually gone out of their way to spend any period of time playing against Halfbloods and come away feeling like it was time well spent?

I did it to kill time once back when I was a newb - I didn't exactly feel that it was rewarding, but I did get a few upped cards so I was content.

Is there any reason to have Halfbloods in their current format at all?

No. There's simply no unique purpose in the game's meta of opponents:
AI0-2 Are tutorial/practice/'fun' opponents.
AI3 - First-time grind, medium challenge, great for score grinding.
Arena - Variable challenges (even split into 4 different levels), easiest way to get rares and only way to get shards.
FGs - Crazy challenges for the first-time newb, an electrum grind for the expierienced player.

Half Bloods are somewhere in between Arena and FG purposes and don't do it as well as either.

If we were to replace them, what would we replace them with?

We shouldn't, IMHO. We should give them unique rewards that players would go for. Perhaps new rares, quests that focus on them, beating them unlocks new cards in the shop, or a set of "Uncommons" that only they wield.  Since they've proven to be somewhat tough due to their unpredictability their rewards should be worth fighting them.

If they had to be changed, I would leave in the random card selection somehow. It seems to just be a trait that they handle very well, but don't reward players well enough for defeating,

[Sevs]

I actually do for lengths of time because I find they allow you to be more creative than your normal FG decks. The FG's after a while get boring after playing the same ones over and over again knowing what to expect every time.

for halfbloods you can actually create any original deck and have a decent chance. and the reward is better electrum wise than AI3

[Jappert]

I play vs Half Bloods alot simply because I think it's more relaxing and fun then plat league/FG's

Their decks can sometimes be surprisingly strong and I like the diversity. You do not want to know how big a portion of my score I grinded vs HB's....

[Contrary]

They're suppose to be a bridge between AI3 and False Gods. Why not make them closer to that with only 150 health and only 2x mark?

[agentflare]

The problem is that Arena is now the bridge between AI3 and FGs.