so I play this game for over a year now and at first I wasn't too eager to get to legend rank

In hindsight I probably regret the decision that I didn't start playing the game with more thought because the laziness of play creeps into your playstyle and you get used to it.
Now however I'm happy to have reached legend for my first time.
I mean there are people who have done it over 30 times that's really impressive. But also time consuming.

On my next climb I can be more relaxed I guess =P

Congrats! First legend is always the best!

I'm assuming you just used a pretty standard midrange druid?

yeap the list from Kolento
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/333452-kolento-legend-1-druid

I did use this druid before but I ran Sylvanas instead of Living Roots.
So my journey began when I realized that I wouldn't get any further with the decks I played like Secret Paladin or Midrange Hunter. Didn't get over rank 5, dunno why.
So I used Patron and got to Rank 1 4 stars. Deranked to rank 2 so I changed the deck.
And with 1 or 2 losses I made it from there to legend.

Congrats! First time is always the hardest.

Was it tough to win without BGH or did it not matter ?

BGH can be really clunky, didn't really miss him. Probably also because I didn't meet any handlocks.
There are so many matchups when speed is more essential than having an answer to something that might appear on turn 7

Imagine you play against a tempo mage and your turn 3 is BGH with your villain having Flamewaker with a spell at the ready.

I also think that list which run BGH are more tournament oriented.

Congrats!

do you not find bgh helpfull against secret paladin?

Here are some of my thoughts, I hope their not too off the charts:

Main problem against Secretdin seems the early game to me.
It really works wonders if you are able to get out like Druid of the Claw on turn 3 with innervate.
Or early emperor.

The goal for the druid should be to pressure the Paladin going for his face and making him trade.
As soon as this happens you won't need any bgh.
It really comes in handy that druid has some effective removal against paladin.

Valuewise you should easily outgrind Secretpally. And BGH normally is used in an environment where you need to deal with heavy stuff and regain some value.

seems to hit the Mysterious challegner often though. and helps if u do encounter giants ;o i love my bgh