So there was a little bit of a kerfuffle recently, when, instead of sending out the expected hotfix to deal with ongoing issues, Blizzard set the wrong patch to go live on Asia servers, and players got a brief glimpse of the future before it was taken away from them.
Quote From Blizzard 8/12 Update:
Earlier today, a different patch version was inadvertently set live briefly. This resulted in game crashes, as well as players seeing incorrect versions of certain cards. That patch version has now been rolled back, and those issues should be resolved.We will continue to update this post as we get more information.
Aside from the news of people's games crashing (especially in Battlegrounds), the big headline of this little whoopsy-daisy was that some players got to see the adjusted versions of several cards before they were all properly announced. Following up on Twitter, Aleco (Final Designer on Hearthstone's Team 5) has confirmed that these sneak peeks at planned balance changes were, in fact, accurate. We also learned exactly when we are going to see the upcoming patch - more or less as expected, this coming Tuesday, August 16. It's very possible that the full patch notes will become available a little earlier.
Teased Standard and Wild Balance Changes - Nerfs & Buffs
In case you weren't one of the lucky players with a ghost in their machine, Aleco has also spelled out just what those intended nerfs were. As for the buffs, he mostly stayed silent but hinted that there's hope for the underused classes: while it wasn't certain before, we now know for sure that the balance patch will also contain improvements for Paladin, Demon Hunter, and Warrior.
Quote From Aleco Due to a small oopsy-doopsy, a patch planned for next Tuesday was partially pushed early. Some clever sleuths were able to spot a handful of card changes before things were reverted, and I can confirm that the changes seen on live are accurate. But, there's much more!We're doing a small number of nerfs this patch. Vile Library loses the base +1/+1, Stag Spirt Wildseed will make a 3/2 weapon, Snowfall Guardian becomes base 5/5 but no longer grows based on minions frozen, and Celestial Alignment will no longer affect the opponent.
In Wild, Kobold Illusionist will cost 5 mana.
In addition to these nerfs, we're also doing a substantial number of buffs! Some of these have already been discovered (Edwin will be a 3 mana 3/3, Relic Vault to 2 mana), but the majority of these buffs were likely not spotted.
For the rest of the buffs, stay tuned for the patch notes early next week
Paladin, Demon Hunter, and Warrior fans should have a lot to look forward to.
I hope you all enjoyed our impromptu "preview"!
So, we've got four fairly big nerfs to some of the most oppressive archetypes in the game right now: Implock gets a slight nerf to the baseline of Vile Library, Control Shaman no longer gets to build big Birds by repeating the Battlecry of Snowfall Guardian, Wildseeds get a little weaker with the change to Stag Spirit Wildseed, while in Wild Kobold Illusionist dies for the sins of Neptulon the Tidehunter.
However, most important of all: Celestial Alignment is being significantly reduced in power. While Druids can still have all the Lady Anacondra fun they want, their opponents no longer have to come down with them to 1 Mana, then watch as they ramp back up in no time at all.
As for the buffs - while only Edwin, Defias Kingpin and Relic Vault got a honorable mention above, we saw some players claim that they were able to spot other improvements (in this case, extra stats for Magnifying Glaive and Bibliomite). Perhaps we'll stumble upon even more 'spoilers'! Such as:
Quote From Aleco This isn't the only Rogue change
There are rumors about Halkias getting Stealth, but don't take it for granted.
We also happen to know which cards are NOT getting changed for the time being, with Aleco addressing a couple of 'leaks' that apparently popped up across Reddit:
Quote From Aleco Kael'thas and From the Depths are not getting changed this patch.
Sensible. We'll take those other healthier ways of buffing Warrior.
Leaked Battlegrounds Balance Changes
Unstable Battlegrounds games weren't the only unintended result of this brief too-soon-patch. Players were also able to spot a number of curious changes:
- Evolving Chromawing - base stats set to 1/4, but +1/+0 for each dragon on tavern level up (instead of the current +1/+1).
- Lil' Rag - Tavern Tier 5 (currently Tier 6).
- Lieutenant Garr rejoins the minion pool.
- Removed Grease Bot returns, but without Divine Shield.
- Elise Starseeker changed - Hero Power no longer passive, but an upgradeable (for Gold) Discover effect.
- Some Darkmoon Prizes adjustments.
None of this has been officially acknowledged by members of Team 5, however, so we are not going to be absolutely certain until the patch notes arrive.
Have an opinion about these upcoming changes? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Comments
Well, Freeze Shaman became a meme largely because for KotFT the devs knew it's not fun to play against someone who repeatedly freezes your whole board. Snowfall Guardian always felt like an example of the saying "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it", and could only have been designed because Freeze Mage's sins were too far back to be remembered clearly.
The Macaw was also a mistake of a design because there are just too many ways for it to become bs, but Snowfall Guardian is not innocent in all this.
I would hit the parrot instead of the elemental... The elemental became an issue because you could chain essentially 4 of them thanks to the parrot.
Now with aire denathrius is even worse in my opinion... Get to play sire denathrius and a parrot and is essentially game over without any possibility of interaction.
Glad to see Celestial Alignment changed. I like the idea of the card but a druid can get back to near 10 mana in a turn while playing out an entire board and the opponent having 1 mana/1 card turn to try and counter it is dumb. Making it to just effect the caster makes it a fun combo enabler without being an I win button.
The rest seems fine. Snowfall is interesting, the freeze is still powerful enough I think.
Buffs I love Relic Vault getting cheaper. Love to see what they do to everything else. Relics are cool but so slow. Edwin is strange but okay cool, I am sure that won't break anything. Curious what they'll do with Paladin and Warrior.
I do kind of wish the nerfs and buffs were in separate patches. The nerfs could be good enough to help other decks pop up. Throwing the buffs in just might over do it. Not that they aren't needed but to much too fast is bad too. We shall see.
I look forward to playing against wild Celestial Alignment Druid with my highlander Quest Priest once the patch hits. I have lost way to many games when one reduces all my cards to 1 mana just before I play an 8 mana cost card and the quest becomes impossible.
I don't see this as the death of Kobold Illusionist at all.
yeah, deathrattle rogue was doing things before Shattershambler could discount illusionist down to 3, i cant imagine the decks gonna die now that that 3 becomes a 4
Sketchy doesn't get him anymore, so early game highroll is dead
Sure, Necrium Blade builds could come back into style but it's a big deal that it can no longer be tutored with Sketchy Information.
Yeah it is now like turn 4 at best pretty much,in line with other big decks