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Ben Brode has spoken about changes in classic set

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/hearthstone/topic/20752669377?page=2#post-24 https://us.battle.net/forums/en/hearthstone/topic/20752669377?page=2#post-33

TL:DR - we might nerf or rotate additional cards from classic/basic set to Wild, if they are too commonly used (at the beggining of each rotation year?), probably no buffs for classic set - every rotation should feel different

E2: Ben Brode has spoken... again. On reddit this time

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/5msd5h/please_leave_the_classic_legendaries_alone/dc61fht/

E: Longer analysis after reading those posts few times

1)One of the reasons to keep classic/basic unchanged are returning players, so they don't start with no cards in new rotation. And new players can experience iconic cards like Hogger or Arcane Missiles (not Huffer :C).

2)Real goal of standard is to have each year feel different and basic/classic set is not really helping achieve this.

3)Blizzard is watching meta. Aside from radar jokes, it seems that first year of Standard was a test year, they nerfed some cards from classic set, so that cards from Old Gods will not be stopped from being played by them. It seems, that at the beggining of each year, there will be nerfs (sadly not buffs, it seems) or classic/basic cards rotating to the Wild like Old Murk Eye. No word about rotating cards from Wild into classic set, to fill those empty places or printing new classic set cards.

4)Powerful cards should be in expansions, not classic/basic set. So it's risky to buff cards from classic/basic set, because nobody will be playing new cards.

Opinion Time: Team 5 seems to target something like this - Classic/Basic as Core set, with boring cards that are skeleton of the deck and Expansions/Adventures with fancy cards as muscles and skin. They will probably render other cards from classic set unplayable through nerfs or just cast them out to Wild and pretend they never existed. Each year should feel different, so they will probably invent new keywords or mechanics and not support old ones, like Old Gods or Jade Golems. Also no buffs, better print more Evil Hecklers or Pompous Thespians.

  • Ben Brode
    Posted 9 years, 9 months ago (Source)

    We did this in 2016 when we nerfed 12 classic cards and it made a huge difference in how much the meta was able to change with the release of Old Gods (instead of just continuing to be Druid Combo). New players were able to reach legend without spending money after that change, and I expect that will be continue to be true if we change a few more cards in 2017.

  • Ben Brode
    Posted 9 years, 9 months ago (Source)

    If you're curious about some of the challenges and other thoughts about buffing bad cards, I made a video a while back about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ioY1KO79A

  • Ben Brode
    Posted 9 years, 9 months ago (Source)

    Blizzard doesn't like that F2P players are using classic/basic cards all the time and when making their decks so they want to nerf those cards to oblivion in order to force them to spend money/gold on adventures/expansions pack.

    That's just not true. Some players like it when Hearthstone has a fresh meta, where you can explore new deck types. It's one of two reasons we introduced the Standard Format (the other was making sure new players wouldn't have to collect every card ever made to be competitive). Wild is going to change a lot less often. Some players like that too. But we have a commitment to keep Standard fresh and ever-changing. We've been hearing a lot of feedback that Classic and Basic as they currently stand are a real threat to that.

    And then when F2P players finally found a way to reach Rank 1 with a cheap OTK Warrior deck, they decide to nerf Charge while saying "omg guiz u have no idea how gud dis iz!!!11".

    I see you took the time to look up my exact quote! :) We nerfed Charge (the spell) because we knew the upcoming Grimy Goons mechanic in combination with Enraged Worgen and Charge was not really fair or fun. There have always been F2P players at Legend, and there have continued to be since that change.

    Almost all cards that get nerfed (or "changed" as Blizzard likes to put it) never gets played again.

    Maybe you're intentionally exaggerating, but you can count 'em and it's not "almost all". And not every card is targeted at competitive play. We do intentionally make bad cards. Here's a video, if you're curious about some of the reasons why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ioY1KO79A

  • Ben Brode
    Posted 9 years, 9 months ago (Source)

    The entire point of classic was to have a stable base set on top of the basic set.

    There are close to 400 cards in Basic and Classic. Nerfing a few of them, or moving them to Wild, still keeps a stable evergreen set. Also, that isn't the entire point of Classic. It introduces players to the game at a slightly lower complexity level. It lays a baseline for generic Warcraft flavor (Hogger, Mukla, etc).

    Now you are admitting that retaining classic was a mistake, and instead of rotating it out. We are just going change cards and bend it to where it is no longer a complete set by rotating out random cards and... what!? Just rotate Classic out!

    We believe there are real benefits to an evergreen basic and classic set. What we are talking about is very similar to the 12 nerfs we made when Standard launched, to help it succeed in its goals. Standard needs to be fresh each year.

  • Ben Brode
    Posted 9 years, 9 months ago (Source)

    We have a core set - it's called Classic. Is there something you're pitching that Classic isn't doing for us?

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