I just came to say that I accidentally just queued this in wild and beat a secret Hunter. (on an related note, don't you wish there was a warning for that like the is for doing the opposite??)
Most of these buffs feel useless, but I'll hold off on making any judgements until the meta is set. That said, the nerfs don't really make me hopeful that things will change; Paladin will probably remain strong, might just shift to a more midrange build with the Crabrider and First Day of School nerfs.
The only interesting buffs for me are N'zoth, Deck of Chaos, Lilypad Lurker, and Tidal Surge. The rest feel pointless because the devs just adjusted their stats, which won't really do anything.
The N'zoth buff opens up some interesting possibilities. You can play it and give your minions rush with Animated Broomstick. You can also run this in Demon Hunter with Illidari Inquisitor for a massive late-game bomb that could fill your board AND damage your opponent's face.
Maybe it's a better long term solution to embrace the emotes than to try and abolish them? It really makes me sad when I witness people who are offended sometimes for days in a row by the smallest slight that comes from other people.
I grew up in a very safe and positive environment. It was rare that someone was ever rude to me. After high school however I worked a lot of hard blue collar jobs and also got mixed into harder drugs. Suddenly people weren't as polite. Did I get my feelings hurt? Of course I did.
From reading a lot of hearthstone forums over the years it's obvious to me most people have had it a little softer than I have and therefore are a bit more sensitive. I just want to throw it out that it is pretty laughable to me to get offended even the smallest by... An emote of all things
Maybe it's good that people hear them so they can work on not being so offended by other people being people?
I played the 2 main paladin decks (Secret and Aggressive) for about an hour this afternoon, and I quickly realized that First Day of School is now very awkward -- you'd rather have a playable minion in the early to mid game. I reduced it to one copy in the Secret deck, and cut it out entirely in the Aggressive version.
I'm still surprised how much people underestimate mana curve nerfs. The nerf to First Day of School is devastating to all tempo decks for Paladin. The main purpose of the card was to enable a turn 1 play when they don't find their main 1-drop. The most busted thing about it is that it simply didn't cost any card advantage whatsoever. They simply spent no mana to gain an extra card and played one of those cards while maintaining their starting hand size and enabling their early game curve. The fact that they can't play this on turn 1 and drop a minion on the board means that they will have a really hard time curving into some of their strongest early game plays (1-drop into Hand of A'dal). This will buy a lot of time for other decks to pressure them or find answers to their plays. I can't say much about the other changes as i'm no longer playing constructed and i haven't played against those cards. I'll still share my opinion on the buffs though.
The buffs won't help Shaman. If the class is struggling because of card draw, making those cards better Tempo plays means absolutely nothing when you can't draw consistently enough to have them available on curve every game.
Lowering the cost of N'Zoth is okay but what the card needs mostly is a better selection of cards to summon. That will come with later expansions but the buff will help a lot once the pool of minion is slightly better.
Xanesh could be interesting to experiment with but it probably won't be a big deal because Priest's own corrupt cards are completely whatever which makes Y'sharrj not very attractive as a win condition.
The change to Deck of Chaos could be scary if it wasn't a Warlock card. The card suffers from similar issues as Luna's Pocket Galaxy before its buff. Only when that card got buffed and broke the game that people realized that the pay off was worth the risk of skipping a turn to enable it. The main difference in this case is that Warlock just slowly kills itself with the Hero Power throughout the game which makes the class even more vulnerable to aggression than Mage. Greedy cards like this are more easily punishable in Warlock so lowering its cost probably won't do anything to improve its viability. Also, Fiendish Circle won't save Zoolock unless they plan on releasing some powerful token synergy cards with the mini-set.
Shieldmaiden is a lot better as a 5-drop. It's now a decent card to play on curve that also comes with a small health boost to mitigate damage from incoming attacks. Whirling Combatant was already a good card and now is a premium defensive 4-drop. Slower Warrior decks are going to benefit a lot from these buffs.
The only buff here worth mentioning would be Nzoth and Deck of Chaos. Everything else here is either too weak, or serves little purpose.
Xanesh's 'buff'in particular is really just a slap in the face. Poorly stated, can't be realistically tutored and there's only 1 of her. I mean, you can easily make her a 4/6 and she still wouldn't be riding her worm to the dizzying heights of tier 2, so why the hell not? Besides, it would be nice to be able to play corrupt priest for a change, and actually do something proactive.
I don't mean to nit-pick, but I really, really hate it when people say they have OCD when really they just mean they are bothered by small details or like to wash their hands a lot.
OCD is a mental disorder not a personality quirk. Can we please stop with all of the "oh I have 5 gold and it's triggering my OCD" nonsense. Being bother by little things doesn't mean you have OCD and I wish people would stop acting like it does.
Again, sorry if I sound like I am making a big deal out of nothing. But this seriously bothers me.
It's probably because you are counting level 1 when you shouldn't be.
Starting from level 1 and getting to 350 would mean you leveled up 349 times. And similarly this season you are on level 134, but because you started on 1 you would have leveled up 133 times. Which would add up to 482.
I can totally relate. I remember holding my umbrella with my right one fine morning and as soon as it turns to rain I got so pissed I held the umbrella up with my left.
I just want to mention, a lot of people struggle to see it when a control card is overpowered. This was a turn 3 board clear most of the time. it absolutely deserves a nerf.
I hit 350 last expansion and am currently working toward 135 in barrens progression. That would be my tavern regular should be 350+134= 484? Instead it says 482. I know that's minor at the cheaper high levels but would gate me at the even caps at some point.
My opinions. I'm trying to keep things short, so I apologize in advance over the crappy writeout.
Some of these changes I was not expecting, like how Crabrider is nerfed. Basically this card is niche now, as a sort of tempo clear option, but in no way ever going to be good enough for an aggro deck since the attack is simply too low. That unfortunately means you won't be seeing this small guy anywhere anytime soon, except as a surprise clear option.
Others are pretty much in line with expectation. Nerfing Refreshing Spring Water was necessary and expected, though with flow still at 2 means the deck is by no means dead, just much slower. Mankrik's wife is now 7 health, which is still a good, so no changes here. First Day of School hit is brutal, might spell the death of this card, because this is no longer a turn 1 play. We might still see it, perhaps in slower paladin decks like librams.
And finally the best surprise nerf today; Hysteria. Basically this card is reactive, so much hasn't been said on how bs this card can be. In so many cases this card is simply too good, so I'm glad they're finally hitting warlock where it hurts - the removals - instead of where it doesn't (Yes Tickatus, that's you)
Buffs. Nzoth, Whirling Combatant, and Deck of Chaos is interesting. The others are pretty meh. Nzoth's mana reduction means that its a genuine threat on curve now, instead of being just another turn skip (because anything that doesn't kill you by turn 10 is likely to be able to either ignore or deal with it).
Why the others are meh to me? Lilypad Lurker's additional +1+1 wouldn't change anything. If you're playing elementals, you'll play this card for a tempo swing. A 4/5 is already a decent body. The problem has always been the elemental chain, and there being no good targets for the hex effect on 5. Playing Unbound Elemental means you're playing overload cards, which are generally not good, Razorboar's additional attack really doesn't do anything since the best deathrattle deck in my opinion plays big not small. Shieldmaiden is still too slow, Fiendish Circle is still too weak, and Xanesh's buff looks more like an April fool's joke come around rather than substantial.
So what will change? Paladin's getting its best early game wrecked so I'm expecting less aggro and more librams from them, with secrets. Warlock and priest just got their best clear option nerfed, priest might still include it in but warlock might cut it out. Mage got its best card taken out, but with Incanter's Flow untouched means its essentially doing little else but slowing down the deck's offense. My prediction would be tempo dhunters go up, priest comes down, druids go up, mage go down, rogue go up (secrets especially), and shaman stays at the bottom until the midset because I'm certain the buffs did fk all. On top would be hunter, paladin, and warrior.
One thing I find interesting about the nerfs is that they affect cards that aren't worth dusting.
One rare, three commons, and an uncraftable card. Nobody is going to quibble about dust amounts or anything because I doubt anyone is going to dust any of these. They're all still playable, and will likely see play. They are worth more than their dust value, for sure.
Varden has to compete with Jaina for the frost mage spot. I suspect they'll shift Jaina to something else to try to push Varden's theme, but I'm not sure I'd support it (not that it matters much).
Jaina is actually confirmed to be a boss. I belive it was from the IGN interview.
The example path they showed had King Mukla as the final boss, and we know he's also a playable mercenary, so it looks like we will unlock characters after defeating them as bosses.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (The Resurrection Attempt)
I think I'm going to visit other hearthstone sites and advertise this game to get some new blood around here....
Zoo Cute Warlock - Post Barrens Buffs & Nerfs Patch
I just came to say that I accidentally just queued this in wild and beat a secret Hunter. (on an related note, don't you wish there was a warning for that like the is for doing the opposite??)
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Buffs Featuring N'Zoth
Most of these buffs feel useless, but I'll hold off on making any judgements until the meta is set. That said, the nerfs don't really make me hopeful that things will change; Paladin will probably remain strong, might just shift to a more midrange build with the Crabrider and First Day of School nerfs.
The only interesting buffs for me are N'zoth, Deck of Chaos, Lilypad Lurker, and Tidal Surge. The rest feel pointless because the devs just adjusted their stats, which won't really do anything.
The N'zoth buff opens up some interesting possibilities. You can play it and give your minions rush with Animated Broomstick. You can also run this in Demon Hunter with Illidari Inquisitor for a massive late-game bomb that could fill your board AND damage your opponent's face.
My biggest gripe with HS...
Maybe it's a better long term solution to embrace the emotes than to try and abolish them? It really makes me sad when I witness people who are offended sometimes for days in a row by the smallest slight that comes from other people.
I grew up in a very safe and positive environment. It was rare that someone was ever rude to me. After high school however I worked a lot of hard blue collar jobs and also got mixed into harder drugs. Suddenly people weren't as polite. Did I get my feelings hurt? Of course I did.
From reading a lot of hearthstone forums over the years it's obvious to me most people have had it a little softer than I have and therefore are a bit more sensitive. I just want to throw it out that it is pretty laughable to me to get offended even the smallest by... An emote of all things
Maybe it's good that people hear them so they can work on not being so offended by other people being people?
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Nerfs Including Crabrider
I played the 2 main paladin decks (Secret and Aggressive) for about an hour this afternoon, and I quickly realized that First Day of School is now very awkward -- you'd rather have a playable minion in the early to mid game. I reduced it to one copy in the Secret deck, and cut it out entirely in the Aggressive version.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Nerfs Including Crabrider
Was really hoping they would take a stab at Warlock.
Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch
I'm still surprised how much people underestimate mana curve nerfs. The nerf to First Day of School is devastating to all tempo decks for Paladin. The main purpose of the card was to enable a turn 1 play when they don't find their main 1-drop. The most busted thing about it is that it simply didn't cost any card advantage whatsoever. They simply spent no mana to gain an extra card and played one of those cards while maintaining their starting hand size and enabling their early game curve. The fact that they can't play this on turn 1 and drop a minion on the board means that they will have a really hard time curving into some of their strongest early game plays (1-drop into Hand of A'dal). This will buy a lot of time for other decks to pressure them or find answers to their plays. I can't say much about the other changes as i'm no longer playing constructed and i haven't played against those cards. I'll still share my opinion on the buffs though.
The buffs won't help Shaman. If the class is struggling because of card draw, making those cards better Tempo plays means absolutely nothing when you can't draw consistently enough to have them available on curve every game.
Lowering the cost of N'Zoth is okay but what the card needs mostly is a better selection of cards to summon. That will come with later expansions but the buff will help a lot once the pool of minion is slightly better.
Xanesh could be interesting to experiment with but it probably won't be a big deal because Priest's own corrupt cards are completely whatever which makes Y'sharrj not very attractive as a win condition.
The change to Deck of Chaos could be scary if it wasn't a Warlock card. The card suffers from similar issues as Luna's Pocket Galaxy before its buff. Only when that card got buffed and broke the game that people realized that the pay off was worth the risk of skipping a turn to enable it. The main difference in this case is that Warlock just slowly kills itself with the Hero Power throughout the game which makes the class even more vulnerable to aggression than Mage. Greedy cards like this are more easily punishable in Warlock so lowering its cost probably won't do anything to improve its viability. Also, Fiendish Circle won't save Zoolock unless they plan on releasing some powerful token synergy cards with the mini-set.
Shieldmaiden is a lot better as a 5-drop. It's now a decent card to play on curve that also comes with a small health boost to mitigate damage from incoming attacks. Whirling Combatant was already a good card and now is a premium defensive 4-drop. Slower Warrior decks are going to benefit a lot from these buffs.
Earn 2 Free Hearthstone Card Packs Through Twitch Drops in the Quilboar Battlegrounds Brawl Today
Refreshed the page and got the 2 drops available to claim!
Weird issue but free packs anyway. Yay!
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Buffs Featuring N'Zoth
The only buff here worth mentioning would be Nzoth and Deck of Chaos. Everything else here is either too weak, or serves little purpose.
Xanesh's 'buff'in particular is really just a slap in the face. Poorly stated, can't be realistically tutored and there's only 1 of her. I mean, you can easily make her a 4/6 and she still wouldn't be riding her worm to the dizzying heights of tier 2, so why the hell not? Besides, it would be nice to be able to play corrupt priest for a change, and actually do something proactive.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Buffs Featuring N'Zoth
I had a nice Even Warlock deck with N'Zoth that I'll have to overhaul now.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Buffs Featuring N'Zoth
I don't mean to nit-pick, but I really, really hate it when people say they have OCD when really they just mean they are bothered by small details or like to wash their hands a lot.
OCD is a mental disorder not a personality quirk. Can we please stop with all of the "oh I have 5 gold and it's triggering my OCD" nonsense. Being bother by little things doesn't mean you have OCD and I wish people would stop acting like it does.
Again, sorry if I sound like I am making a big deal out of nothing. But this seriously bothers me.
Anyone else have incorrect "tavern regular" progression levels?
It's probably because you are counting level 1 when you shouldn't be.
Starting from level 1 and getting to 350 would mean you leveled up 349 times. And similarly this season you are on level 134, but because you started on 1 you would have leveled up 133 times. Which would add up to 482.
Group Therapy! Need to blow off some steam? Mega salty? Here's the place!
Which smoothbrain dev thought Oh my Yogg was a good idea...
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Nerfs Including Crabrider
I can totally relate. I remember holding my umbrella with my right one fine morning and as soon as it turns to rain I got so pissed I held the umbrella up with my left.
Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch
I just want to mention, a lot of people struggle to see it when a control card is overpowered. This was a turn 3 board clear most of the time. it absolutely deserves a nerf.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Nerfs Including Crabrider
...because I know something you don't know ... I am not left-handed!
Anyone else have incorrect "tavern regular" progression levels?
I hit 350 last expansion and am currently working toward 135 in barrens progression. That would be my tavern regular should be 350+134= 484? Instead it says 482. I know that's minor at the cheaper high levels but would gate me at the even caps at some point.
Earn 2 Free Hearthstone Card Packs Through Twitch Drops in the Quilboar Battlegrounds Brawl Today
I had the same issue, refreshing the pages finally fixed it and allowed me to claim.
Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch
My opinions. I'm trying to keep things short, so I apologize in advance over the crappy writeout.
Some of these changes I was not expecting, like how Crabrider is nerfed. Basically this card is niche now, as a sort of tempo clear option, but in no way ever going to be good enough for an aggro deck since the attack is simply too low. That unfortunately means you won't be seeing this small guy anywhere anytime soon, except as a surprise clear option.
Others are pretty much in line with expectation. Nerfing Refreshing Spring Water was necessary and expected, though with flow still at 2 means the deck is by no means dead, just much slower. Mankrik's wife is now 7 health, which is still a good, so no changes here. First Day of School hit is brutal, might spell the death of this card, because this is no longer a turn 1 play. We might still see it, perhaps in slower paladin decks like librams.
And finally the best surprise nerf today; Hysteria. Basically this card is reactive, so much hasn't been said on how bs this card can be. In so many cases this card is simply too good, so I'm glad they're finally hitting warlock where it hurts - the removals - instead of where it doesn't (Yes Tickatus, that's you)
Buffs. Nzoth, Whirling Combatant, and Deck of Chaos is interesting. The others are pretty meh. Nzoth's mana reduction means that its a genuine threat on curve now, instead of being just another turn skip (because anything that doesn't kill you by turn 10 is likely to be able to either ignore or deal with it).
Why the others are meh to me? Lilypad Lurker's additional +1+1 wouldn't change anything. If you're playing elementals, you'll play this card for a tempo swing. A 4/5 is already a decent body. The problem has always been the elemental chain, and there being no good targets for the hex effect on 5. Playing Unbound Elemental means you're playing overload cards, which are generally not good, Razorboar's additional attack really doesn't do anything since the best deathrattle deck in my opinion plays big not small. Shieldmaiden is still too slow, Fiendish Circle is still too weak, and Xanesh's buff looks more like an April fool's joke come around rather than substantial.
So what will change? Paladin's getting its best early game wrecked so I'm expecting less aggro and more librams from them, with secrets. Warlock and priest just got their best clear option nerfed, priest might still include it in but warlock might cut it out. Mage got its best card taken out, but with Incanter's Flow untouched means its essentially doing little else but slowing down the deck's offense. My prediction would be tempo dhunters go up, priest comes down, druids go up, mage go down, rogue go up (secrets especially), and shaman stays at the bottom until the midset because I'm certain the buffs did fk all. On top would be hunter, paladin, and warrior.
Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch
Hah, I did dust Hysterias too. Then recrafted them again because it was still way too powerful of a clear. Probably still will be. And mmm, dust.
Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch
It didn't really read as salty, so I'm not sure why they would've deleted it. Everyone will have their own takes on these.
Get a Random Standard Legendary and 5 Standard Packs in a New Hearthstone Store Bundle
Portraits that have already been in the shop:
Portraits that are most likely to be up next due to bundles/promotions:
Pre-order portraits, if that's the route they're going to take:
Other options, most likely after the pre-order portraits:
Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch
I don't play OTK, I play Aggro DH
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Mid-May Forged in the Barrens Card Nerfs Including Crabrider
One thing I find interesting about the nerfs is that they affect cards that aren't worth dusting.
One rare, three commons, and an uncraftable card. Nobody is going to quibble about dust amounts or anything because I doubt anyone is going to dust any of these. They're all still playable, and will likely see play. They are worth more than their dust value, for sure.
Mercenaries Roles Speculation
The example path they showed had King Mukla as the final boss, and we know he's also a playable mercenary, so it looks like we will unlock characters after defeating them as bosses.