Elwynn Forest was beautiful, looking quiet and peaceful, but for ordinary civilians, deadly dangers lurked beneath the surface...
Aige killed several spiders that suddenly ambushed him from above along the way, losing quite a bit of time in the process. Still, the mine was finally in sight in the distance. Unfortunately for the young master, it was mealtime... no, wait, it was almost dark!
Going into a mine at night was extremely dangerous, and the young master, who had always maintained that a wise man kept away from danger, naturally wanted no part of it. No matter how badass he was, he was still a human mage, right? He wasn't a nocturnal creature. A Night Elf wouldn't have had to worry about that, but the young master was just an ordinary human right now. There was no point envying them!
Actually, even if Aige were given another chance to choose, he might not have picked a Night Elf. In the level-60 era, Night Elves had Priests, Rogues, and the mysterious Druids, but no mage class. That wasn't to say Night Elves had no mages. In fact, after Wrath of the Lich King in the later level-80 era, Night Elves could choose the mage class just like Blood Elves...
There was a lot of history behind it. The young master didn't know much about it, but he did know one thing: in ancient times, Blood Elves, also known as High Elves, had no qualms about using magic. One could even say they abused it, bringing disasters like the Burning Legion upon themselves and causing the Sunwell to explode. Only afterward did the Night Elf Druids come to power. Advocating balance in nature, the Druids stripped Night Elves of the right to use magic and forbade them from using it any longer...
That was why, in the level-60 era, choosing a Night Elf meant you couldn't choose the mage class. Later, however, human mages rose to prominence, and more powerful experts were indeed needed to fight increasingly dangerous threats. The Druids could no longer suppress this need among the Night Elves, and in a later expansion, Night Elf mages finally appeared... that seemed a little off topic. Enough of that!
The biggest advantage Night Elves had was their slightly higher agility. Everything else was just a bonus, and compared with the versatile racial traits of humans, there wasn't much to stand out. That extra agility was certainly useful, but he wasn't a Rogue. He was a mage, and high spirit and intellect were what mattered!
All right! The most important thing for him now was to find a temporary place to stay...
Paul had told him earlier that there were two fairly well-known farms on either side of Goldshire Mine. Many adventurers doing quests chose one of them to stay at, so the young master would have to trouble them too...
Hall Farm was to the west, and Beech Farm was to the south (dear readers, please don't take this too seriously. Place names are generally fictional; if I made them exactly the same as in World of Warcraft, someone might find fault with it. You know what I mean-some things are better left unsaid). Men left, women right. All right, he would go to Hall Farm in the west first.
Aige glanced at the sky, then at the Kobolds wandering around nearby, and felt thoroughly annoyed. These Kobolds were pretty brazen. Taking over Goldshire Mine wasn't enough; they even dared to expand their territory beyond it. They were only miners, yet they were acting like highwaymen... sure enough, although this place clearly wasn't within the mine's boundaries, the young master spotted Kobolds in twos and threes blocking his way to Hall Farm.
As for taking a detour, Aige wasn't having it. Those Kobolds had picked the wrong place to wander; as far as he was concerned, they might as well have been offering up their heads. There was no reason to let them go. Besides, he'd already used a Goldshire Footman card today and hadn't earned back the cost yet. It was a one-use minion that would be forcibly dispelled at six tomorrow morning. There was no reason to take a loss, right? He had to make at least some of it back...
It was still only approaching evening. His quest required him to scout the mine, not clear it out completely. Maybe he could squeeze some work out of the Goldshire Footman and finish the quest before looking for a place to stay? He could see the farm buildings in the distance, so it should be fine. He might as well do it!
Having made up his mind, Aige immediately switched from lazy sightseeing to leveling mode...
With the Goldshire Footman tanking up front, two Wisps doing the hitting, and Aige himself, the main DPS, constantly hurling fireballs, the scattered Kobolds were utterly out of luck. The Kobolds outside the mine weren't densely packed; they were scattered about, making the area ideal for soloing. Besides, Aige had always preferred ganging up on his enemies and attacking together...
Kobolds would flee, shouting as they ran when they realized their lives were in danger. Unfortunately for them, spineless fellows like these were the young master's favorites. Running away was fine by him. He was a ranged mage, so it was even better if they ran. Could they outrun Frostbolts and fireballs? Besides, they couldn't deal damage while fleeing, which indirectly meant Aige's party used fewer resources. At the very least, it saved a few bandages, didn't it?
Shouting was fine too! The Kobolds here were scattered, unlike in the relatively cramped mine, where they were packed more closely together. They could shout themselves hoarse and still no one would actually come to their rescue...
These Kobolds were classified as humanoids, a type of intelligent creature, and were well suited to a Grandet like Aige. They had high attack but low health, could drop copper coins, and might even drop linen cloth, which Aige quite liked. With a supply of cloth, he could make bandages to restore his minions' health and then continue leveling, creating a virtuous cycle.
Of course, for Aige, who had the Book of Hearthstone, any hostile creature might also drop Arcane Dust. If he was ridiculously lucky, one might even drop a card directly... the odds weren't much different from getting a legendary card with the five chances in a card pack, so remember before opening a pack: bathe, change clothes, and wash your hands often, and legendary cards will come every day (would Kushou say that reading Warcraft: Hearthstone before opening packs gives you a better chance of getting orange cards?).
The young master was most interested in leveling up and killing monsters! Although there were always flamers on the American and European servers who complained about Chinese gold farmers in all sorts of ways, they could say what they liked. The way to go was to walk your own path and leave others with nowhere to go! Aige liked camping in one spot to level up and kill monsters. So what?
Some people liked running around doing quests, some liked wandering about just for fun, and some liked roaming around killing people. But when Aige used to play a top-level Rogue, he liked finding a suitable spot, settling down, and mindlessly killing monsters... bite me!
Everything required accumulation, didn't it? A lot of the time, you had to be able to endure solitude, and you should never judge others by your own standards. Some people saw someone doing something they disliked and called them brainless. Aige liked mindlessly farming monsters, but if he actually went into the arena, his skills were absolutely god-tier... the two things had nothing to do with each other!
It was the same in Hearthstone. There were always people who would flame others for being brainless, for using aggro, for doing nothing but going face...
If you don't like it, why don't you make a deck yourself? Once you actually put together one of those supposedly brainless aggro decks, you'd suddenly discover that its win rate wasn't all that high, and it definitely wasn't as brainless as you imagined. As they say, aggro carries risks, so enter the market with caution. Some people had no choice but to play aggro decks. As everyone's card quality improved, decks would increasingly favor the late game, but what were beginners supposed to do when they didn't have those high-quality minions to start with? What if they didn't have Sylvanas, Cairne, Ragnaros, or Ysera?
And once you had a complete collection and understood the game more deeply, you'd find that aggro was actually easy to counter, really easy to counter... Zoo Warlock might be a little different. That deck of rare and common cards was indeed quite powerful, but it definitely wasn't something a brainless player could use. Since it was relatively easy to assemble, some people could use the very same deck to reach legend, while many others couldn't even make it to rank ten. If you put it all down to luck, then I have to say, that's as far as your luck will take you...
Someone once said that in this game, cards were one factor, luck another, and skill another, each accounting for roughly a third (everyone might see it differently, so the proportions might differ too. Some might think luck accounts for more than 80 percent. To them, I also have to say that I'm afraid your luck will never be good, because no one will admit that skill is also a factor, or that their own skill isn't good enough).
Of course it was annoying to get hit in the face, but were those players really brainless? Honestly, at first I thought so too and joined in the criticism. Later, as my collection grew more complete, I occasionally put together a supposedly face-aggro Warlock deck myself (the once very rampant Murloc Warlock deck). I found that sometimes it really was satisfying, but other times I got beaten so badly I couldn't take care of myself. Its win rate wasn't high; its only advantage was speed, with the outcome decided in just a few turns. After I actually played those aggro decks, I found that these supposedly brainless aggro strategies really were quite easy to counter. As long as you included a few key cards, defending against them wasn't hard. Once you established a foothold and took them into the mid-to-late game, your opponent could only concede...
Take Sen'jin Shieldmasta, for example. Playing it for four mana would make your opponent's asshole clench, forcing them to trade two or even three cards to remove it. That would undoubtedly give you a card advantage over your opponent. I'm sure many people have felt this way: they hate aggro but aren't afraid of it. When they run into someone who can play two or three minions on turns one and two, they might even give a cold smile... The key card I saved especially for you can finally be put to use.
Honestly, hate it all you like, but aggro wasn't hard to deal with. If you were always losing to your opponents' aggro decks, then you really should examine your own deck. Was it too focused on building an advantage in the late game? Did it have too many high-cost cards? Was it lacking AOE? Had you failed to include suitable Taunt minions?
That was the state of the Hearthstone ladder at present. Aggro ran rampant at the lower ranks, but at the higher ranks it was almost nonexistent (even Zoo Warlock rarely truly flourished and made it to legend. Someone with that level of skill would have an easier time putting together a Roar Druid deck)...
Mindset-the key was mindset! Instead of blaming this and that, take a good look at yourself... perhaps this was the moment your skill would break through! When people clamored every day for this or that to be nerfed, true experts would only smile and move on...
Note: Kushou isn't an expert and is just showing off by writing this. In fact, the highest I've ever reached was rank four on the ladder. If you disagree, please keep it to yourself; I don't intend to start an argument. Great masters, please don't flame me.