In grand scheme of things, i would agree with you, but at the same time, the last year they did make some big steps towards that and this looks like they want to keep going in that direction, which is good for players and obviously good for them, they want to grow their playerbase, or at least maintain it, when old players leave, new come in. They cant just do what they have been doing and keep the game sustainable that way.
I was of the same opinion, especially considering it would be more fitting for a smaller set like this, but Frosty made an astute observation, when patch hits, you would see all the cards in the crafting menu anyway, so it wouldnt be much of a surprise, they would get spoiled in advace either way. I mean obviously, this could be dealt with on Blizzard's side, but that would maybe require a patch on the release date and would bring back old launch day issues, maybe it could be solved some other way, dunno. Guess we will see in the future.
They want to tell a story, so they had to make a compromise imho, also it actually helps players with small collections, so it is more new player friendly.
But realy, i think its a fair nerf, the card will definitely still be playable. I think what most ppl dislike about the card from the start, and especially now, is that its a legendary just for the sake of costing more. The stats and effect could have been on a rare and no one would bat an eye lol. Tho i guess being able to put only one off in a deck does solve some balance issues too.
Grand Lackey Erkh (1): This card is not only draft dependent, but also card pool dependent, if there are no Lackey generators, this does nothing. It can get insane and carry you, but you have to get a pretty lucky draft in a proper setting.
Sky Gen'ral Kragg (1): Im honestly not sure, if he will even be in the pool, but the wording suggests that it should work with Sidequests, so maybe? It would give you incentive to actually pick some of the Sidequests, since then this would be a pretty good play, but other than that, horrible.
The Fist of Ra-den (3): While there is a lot smaller chance that this will get Ooze'd than in constructed, there is also a smaller chance you will get (good) enough spells to get mileage from this. Not only do you not get that many spells in an arena deck, plenty of shaman spells you dont want. Not to mention that shaman spells are relatively low cost because of Overload. Obviously Eye of the Storm is a dream scenario, that can happen, but i think at least for arena, this card might look better than it is.
Epic
Boompistol Bully (4): Decent stats and an ability that can be pretty annoying for your opponent, having them play suboptimally. Pretty good.
Chaos Gazer (5/5): Good stats for a 3-drop, demon synergy and a pretty great effect, forcing your opponent into an awkward turn or losing his card. It could just do nothing or corrupt a card they were going to play anyway, but you are not giving up anything in terms of tempo to potentially screw with your opponent, so that is a good deal.
Escaped Manasaber (4): Good 4-drop with Stealth, that alone is pretty nice. The ability is certainly a cool one, can help you accelerate your mana curve, which can help you get on top. Nothing you cant do without, but it is a nice card for sure.
Shadow Sculptor (3): Can be quite powerful, especially if you can combo it with The Coin, but i feel like it might not be as easy to use in Arena, i guess we will have to see. Definitely better in a low curve deck, thats for sure.
Rare
Air Raid (3): pretty decent card overall for the value it provides, nothing too flashy, but you wont be sad to have to pick this.
Bomb Wrangler (3): This should end up being at least 3/4 combined stats with a 1-4 damage on token's deathrattle. Pretty good deal for a 3 drop, but it does take a while until you get full value off it and the damage distribution might end up being negated. Not a bad card, just not as amazing in the end.
Dark Prophecy (3/5): Discover is always powerful effect and getting +3 Health on a 2-drop will make it worth 3 mana investment easy. Tho there is a relatively high chance on a dud, lots of weak stat battlecry minions in the mix, depending on the arena pool.
Chopshop Copter (3): Even without the ability, this is a barely passable 3-drop, if you have any mechs, this skyrockets in value.
Cleric of Scales (3): You need dragons and you need spells in your deck, if you have both, this card is insane. But very draft dependant.
Frenzied Felwing (4): Win more card, but an early win more card, pretty easy to get this to 1 mana just by playing a 2-drop and going face. Early tempo is a powerful thing and this can help you get it. Sucks in topdeck mode or when ur behind, but i think the potential to steal games from early turns is good enough to pick this up almost always.
Licensed Adventurer (3): Standard 2-drop with an upside, good. Will make quests suck a bit less, which is nice.
Risky Skipper (3): This card might end up being super busted … or not, but the potential is there. Problem is, you are damaging your board as well and you pay more cards to do it, but sometimes that can be useful (Bomb Wrangler). I think it will be just a good card overall with relatively good versatility, sometimes all you need is 1 dmg to clear the tokens and then you can trade it off before playing other minions, which is fine for 1 mana card.
Rotnest Drake (5): You need a dragon, obviously, but then it is a free Deadly Shot on top of a 6/5 body. That is preeeeetty good!
Scalelord (5): The stats alone make this an excellent card, not to mention the dragon tag, the ability is just a bonus, that can actually become insane, if you can muster some murloc friends.
Steel Beetle (3): Average 2-drop with some synergy, but to be honest, id rather not get 5 Armor and not tell my opponent i have (or dont have) a 5+ cost spell in my hand, so not sure how much will i be actually picking this. But if you need 2-drops, go ahead.
Winged Guardian (5): Ok, we have a new powerhouse on the horizon, a bog creeper with a beast tag, that cant be targeted by spells or hero powers and spawns another 6/1 elusive taunt. Holy cow. Evasive Drakonid was almost game over when droped in a situation where you were just a bit ahead. This will be a GG on the spot, if your opponent does not have a board.
Common
Aeon Reaver (5): Big removal with a decent body attached to it, this card is very good, even if it does not kill a minion outright, it is going perform as Cloud Prince without the trigger condition most of the time at least.
Arcane Amplifier (5): Amazing card, busted even. Decent stats to stick around and making your hero power deal 3 damage is pretty insane. If you can get it to stay for more than a turn, this can snowball very quickly into an insane card advantage, or even a win. Note the wording, multiple stack!
Animated Avalanche (3): Super draft dependant, in the right arena setting, this card will be one of the strongest in the pool, but not right now. If you can activate it, the card is insane.
Boom Squad (5): Cheap discover card that gives you a huge selection of options to choose from and at the same time supports multiple tribe synergies that you can pick depending on a given situation. Pretty great and versatile card. Not to mention anything that discovers dragons is pretty strong these days.
Explosive Evolution (5): This card will be a gamble, but upping your minion by 3 cost is a huge jump, you can have a 4-drop on T2 for example, but it will be a strong play at any time. Good thing its never a dead draw, you can play a random 4-drop for 4 mana with your hero power too.
Eye of the Storm (5): Very costly, but a huge hammer drop. Such a taunt wall will not be easy to get through and even the best of AOEs will have problems clearing this up. This card will easily trade for multiple cards from your opponent or just solidifies your board position. This one is quite scary.
Fiendish Servant (3): Above average 1-drop, aggressive statline and transfers at least +2 Attack to another friendly minion, plus a demon synergy. Pretty great.
Fresh Scent (5): Obviously you need to have beasts, but if you do, this card is beyond insane. Extra Arms were reverted back to 3 mana, just cause how strong the card was. This is exactly that for beasts. At worse, this is a Blessing of Kings for beasts, but so much better, if you can land it on an early drop and carry the momentum.
Hailbringer (3): Assuming the tokens just have the Water Elemental text, this is a pretty decent card overall, swarms the board with annoying tokens that will not only eat an attack, but negate another attack from the same minion, slowing the opponents board progress. It will be pretty annoying card to deal with, especially for non-ping classes, and even then, Druid and Rogue will have to skip their next hero attack. It will be soooooo annyoing for a weapon class to lock them down with a 1/1 weenie :D
Rising Winds (5): Great, versatile card. Play a 2-drop if you need it, or just cycle it for another card, if you dont. Twice!
Shotbot (5/5): Basically Shielded Minibot 2.0, instead of pinging first, you will ping second :)
Skydiving Instructor (1): Even if you have 1-drops, this isnt that amazing, i mean it pulls a bad draw out of your deck, which is nice, but still. And if you dont have 1-drops, this is abysmal.
Skyvateer (2): This card will be pretty good in regular pirate decks, but for arena this is kinda meh, i mean it has potential to do all kinds of stuff and it cycles itself, but honestly? Id rather have Novice Engineer in its place.
Twisted Knowledge (5): You get two cards for 1 and for just 2 mana. Yes, it can give you crap, but more often than not you will be able to get some powerful cards. Superb value card for its cost.
Waxmancy (5): Its literally as if this card transformed into a battlecry minion and you can play it instead, but better, since you get to choose from 3 options. A discover card that is not anti-tempo? Hell yeah.
In grand scheme of things, i would agree with you, but at the same time, the last year they did make some big steps towards that and this looks like they want to keep going in that direction, which is good for players and obviously good for them, they want to grow their playerbase, or at least maintain it, when old players leave, new come in. They cant just do what they have been doing and keep the game sustainable that way.
I was of the same opinion, especially considering it would be more fitting for a smaller set like this, but Frosty made an astute observation, when patch hits, you would see all the cards in the crafting menu anyway, so it wouldnt be much of a surprise, they would get spoiled in advace either way. I mean obviously, this could be dealt with on Blizzard's side, but that would maybe require a patch on the release date and would bring back old launch day issues, maybe it could be solved some other way, dunno. Guess we will see in the future.
They want to tell a story, so they had to make a compromise imho, also it actually helps players with small collections, so it is more new player friendly.
What i dont like about this change is how awkward and technically inaccurate the wording is now. But nothing is perfect i guess :)
Ouch, that is a pretty big oversight. Thanks for letting us know, this is a very important piece of information for sure.
PS: Thread moved to Arena.
New, updated crafting list-one that will be kept up to date now-can be found here: https://outof.cards/forums/hearthstone/card-discussion/2449-dod-legendary-tier-list-and-crafting-guide.
Archiving this.
Its a Reno card, with how they decided to evolve his character over the year, you can bet this will be some goofy shit :D
Well, fluff me, this feels awesome! :)
3200 dust weeeeeeeee!
But realy, i think its a fair nerf, the card will definitely still be playable. I think what most ppl dislike about the card from the start, and especially now, is that its a legendary just for the sake of costing more. The stats and effect could have been on a rare and no one would bat an eye lol. Tho i guess being able to put only one off in a deck does solve some balance issues too.
Neutral
Warrior
Warlock
Shaman
Rogue
Priest
Paladin
Mage
Hunter
Druid