We're getting a balance patch next week for constructed and we've got some early details on what we can expect thanks to Alec Dawson.
Quote From Alec Dawson 5 Nerfs (Warlock, Shaman, DH)
1 Redesign (Priest)
1 Ban (Warlock)
7 Buffs (Hunter, Mage, Warrior)Nerfs looking to slow things down further. Buffs looking at recent archetypes that didn't hit as well as we want, mix of light + medium changes.
Quote From Blizzard 21.3 Patch is coming Tuesday!
Keep your eyes peeled for the patch notes featuring changes for Constructed and Battlegrounds early next week. We’ll also answer some popular questions about Mercenaries. Stay tuned!
Comments
why buffs to mage? When the quest still very strong
meh
Mage has been below 50% WR for weeks now. It’s still popular because some people find it fun to play, but they’re helping the rest of us out when they do it. (If you believe the people who claim Rush Warrior is getting overlooked, then Mage is the only class without a T1 or T2 deck in the past month.)
This is an interesting design question, actually. We sometimes debate whether to nerf a deck that’s not actually strong but feels like it is. This time, the question is whether to buff a deck that’s weak even though not everyone realizes it. I would say no - Mage is prominent enough that it feels right in the meta. But I can see the argument for doing it, too.
The other factor might be the overall impact on the meta. Warlock and Mage are the two classes holding Shaman back from total dominance, and some people are worried about Shaman taking over after Warlock’s next nerfs. Blizzard might have decided a small Mage boost is needed to keep Shaman in line. (Edit: Or a more obvious explanation is that with Warlock and Shaman both getting nerfed, Mage’s WR will plummet unless it gets some help.)
If it's a minion buff, it's not going to do much for the quest archetype.
I'm guessing Chandler.
Well, we can probably guess there's 2 nerfs for warlock, two for shaman, and one for dhunter.
Runed Mithril Rod, The Demon Seed - Rod on 3, backfire on 4 = easy win. Im not entirely sure about the quest, but there's really no other card they would change other than Blood Shard Bristleback
Command the Elements, Charged Call - Probably change the first quest reward. Lightning Bloom in the early game basically cheeses games. Im not too sure about charged call, but wouldn't be surprised if this got nerfed as well. Guess team5 really dont like how quest shaman can both fill the board and burn the opponent down at any time.
Irebound Brute - Cheesing out brutes probably not team5's idea of balanced
The one redesign is probably Seek Guidance. Because of all the quest this one is not only redundant as a win condition, its also the weakest of all the quests. Dont be too surprised if suddenly we start seeing Purified Shard on turn 7-8. Or illucia gets the Warsong Commander treatment.
The ban will be to The Demon Seed in wild. Team5's way of not nerfing Crystallizer and giving me 1600 dust.
7 buffs. My guess: Rats of Extraordinary Size (buff to 5), Stormwind Piper (have rush), Sanctum Chandler (buff to 4), Cowardly Grunt (buff to 5). Probably a few more from previous expansions. And my prediction would be that spell mage will continue to be the best and only archetype for mage, because if team5 hasn't noticed, quest mage is everywhere despite its win rate and it wins by turn 8.
Edit: Forgot about Perpetual Flame, and that's likely going to get nerfed instead of charged call. This one card solos every aggro deck right now. Taunt druid and shadow priest are actually playing crappy divine shield minions just to play around this. Probably change the damage from 3 to 2, which will make it dependent on spell damage to clear.
The rework is gonna be Illucia, there is no way they make they bring control back in the control class. They probably want to kill Illucia because it's too good in Shadow Priest and even at 5 it would be too strong in that deck while neverplayed as the combo counter it was suppossed to be.
1 Redesign!?!?
Your charge minions have +1 attack??
A Warlock ban huh? Could they actually be axing Demon Seed? Or is Demon Seed getting nerfed and they're axing Mithril Rod? Hm hm hm. The buffs got me a little scared though. Mage and Hunter buffs could do terrible things if misplaced and Quest Warrior also definitely doesn't need help. Hope it's for some off meta archetypes.
My guess:
No bans for standard. Warlock quest gets banned in Wild.
The Demon Seed gets banned for Wild, that much is a no-brainer.
Mindrender Illucia gets reworked, although it's unclear to what. Copying your opponent's hand was already done through Azalina Soulthief, so I doubt they're just going to copy the effect.
5 Nerfs is quite a lot. Runed Mithril Rod is probably on the list, as is Perpetual Flame. Maybe they're also looking at Canal Slogger, but I doubt it at this point. I'M assuming there'S at least one other nerf to Warlock, but I'm not sure what it would be. Perhaps [Hearthstone Card (Bloodshard Bristleback?) Not Found]. There's also a possibility that they'll nerf the Shaman Quest in some way, to slow down its progression. Really lost on what they could possibly touch in Demon Hunter though. I doubt they can nerf Il'gynoth a second time without just straight up reworking it. Does Irebound Brute actually get hit? And if so, how?
7 Buffs are also quite the amount and the fact that we know who's getting them makes things very interesting. I wonder if they include Barrens when they talk about recent archetypes. I'm guessing Quest Hunter might get some sort of nudge (although hopefully not too much, that deck is not weak by any means once it gets rolling and I don't want it to just become the next Quest Mage). Maybe they do the Lock and Load change that makes it only give spells. Maybe something about the Rats too. Warrior is difficult too evaluate because their biggest issue is just not having enough good cards to make the Quest work, despite the Quest itself being quite good (as evidenced by Wild). Maybe some of the Pirates get better stats, but that would be an indirect buff to Wild as well I think. Was there even a new Warrior archetype in Barrens other than Rush Warrior? Not sure what Mage buffs would look like at this point. Hoping for some love for Hero Power mage, and part of me is still holding out for some late help for Secret or Spell Power Mage.
Then people would cry about Hunter/Warrior quests
Both of those decks have very clear counters. Quest hunter only has limited damage so any slow deck with heals or lifegain should be fine.
Warrior loses hard to soul rend evenlock.
So no, they shouldn't be a major reason for complaints.
Goodbye, Illucia :(
DEV 1: Should we worry about Illucia being used to delete the opponent's entire turn by giving them an empty hand?
DEV 2: LOL, as if there will ever be a competitive Aggro Priest!
DEV1: Oh, yeah. LOL!
Hello 1600 dust.
Always look on the bright side of nerfs. ;)
Illucia was great as a combo counter in Priest, a class that has problem with draw and combo decks... it getting reworked to something stupid like "get a copy of your opponent cards this turn only" not only sounds tupid af because it's basically a very worst secret passage but forgoes the intended counter to combo decks Priest still needs to not die to all of them in Wild.