A new patch has hit the download servers and brings us the Twin Slice card balance update and several balance changes to heroes and minions in Battlegrounds. Details on today's patch can be found below.
- Mobile players, the patch is not yet live. It will go live as soon as your store approves the update.
- The bugged legendary quest will receive a fix likely by early next week.
Twin Slice Changes
- The mana cost of Twin Slice and Second Slice is being increased to 1, from 0.
- The attack that is added to your hero is being been increased to 2, from 1.
Battlegrounds Changes
- Lord Jaraxxus' Hero Power costs 1 Gold, down from 2.
- Reno Jackson's Hero Power costs 2 Gold, down from 3.
- Millificient Manastorm's Passive Hero Power now grants mechs +1/+1 instead of +2 Attack.
- Maiev Shadowsong is receiving the following change.
- Dormant minions no longer reduce the number of minions you see when refreshing Bob’s Tavern (Unless you’re at Tier 6 and have 2 Dormant minions in play, then it will reduce by 1).
- Fixed two separate issues that caused the Hero Powers for Lady Vashj and Maiev Shadowsong to trigger unintended effects in the shop phase.
- Scavenging Hyena moved to Tavern Tier 1. Previously was Tier 2.
- Rabid Saurolisk moved to Tavern Tier 2. Previously was Tier 1.
- Monstrous Macaw moved to Tavern Tier 3. Previously was Tier 2.
- Fixed an issue where the Deathrattle for Sneed's Old Shredder was not summoning newly added Legendary minions.
Comments
Thanks for this, Blizz. I just played the most ridiculous game against an odd DH in Wild. I had things totally under control until he loaded himself up to over 20 attack solely with Twin Slices and Second Slices. Absolute baloney.
First - change for Twin slice for me is not nerf and not buff. Its change how it works. From outstanding 0 Mana spell (and 0 Mana always was problem in HS) to 1 mana very good and efficient removal. Yes if you compare Twin Slice to other cheap removal spells (Arcane Shot, Holy Smite) it might look bad as it require you to attack but in Demon Hunter that is not downside. Many many cards relate to you attacking and for 2 Mana you can deal 4 Face damage.
This is not bad at all.
Also I prefer that Blizzard done, its better to over tune new class at start and trim it later than make new class underpowered and weaker than anyone. That would kill hype faster than you can say "Vengeance!"
Demon Hunter is still strong class and I appreciate how often Blizzard now is making patch fixes and changes.
I'm only happy about this nerf because of Kael'thas Sunstrider
3 nerfs and still standing on top of the charts in hsreplay.
4th nerf and tempo dhunters go down? Not likely. It will falter in win rates for the first 2 weeks, but then someone will figure it out and before we know it it'll be on top all over again. Considering that this change barely registers as a nerf, I'm doubly sure of this.
Best thing to happen to an aggro deck is when everyone underestimates it.
Is it just me, or does it feel like Blizzard doesn't know what R&D is?
The change was necessary in some respects. It was getting a little too much, since its nearly impossible to play any 1-2 drops on turn 1-2 without risking it being destroyed with a zero mana spell.
The change doesnt prevent activating cards like satyr overseer and glaivebound adept on turn 3 and 5, since its possible to just hold on to a weapon, but at least its possible to see it coming now. Still, the change does make dhunter's burst damage potential kinda a little too high at first glance, and I won't be too surprised to see dhunters highroll themselves into victory from otherwise unwinnable states more often now.
I know a lot of people have had comments about how the team failed in the Demon Hunter launch and all because of the number of nerfs to the class in the first two months, but think of it like this: Blizzard had months and months of closed and open beta to eventually balance and release the game with the original nine classes. So this first few months of DH in the game were just like the "beta" period for the class.
But personally, I feel like this change is almost a buff than an nerf. As many have stated, Odd DH in wild definitely appreciates this change and I ended up winning my first standard game after the change because it gives 2 attack instead of just 1. Small sample size, but still... I think I personally value the increased attack over the previous 0 mana cost. Sorry, Altruis, but it's true!
I thougt Blizzard had stated that DH was intentionally more powerful. That way the class made in direct impact in the meta and they patched it after 2 days.
I think that was a great move.
It was definitely a move that can be justified, but it has had the unfortunate effect of making a lot of players dislike DH instead of being interested in a new class, at which point you have to question whether adding the class has backfired.
If it had been fairly weak everyone would have understood why and would have rooted for it as it improved over time. Instead, DH was immediately so powerful that a large section of the player base turned against it right from the start, and we've just been waiting for the class to be slowly brought in line ever since.
I would be interested to see a survey of how many players enjoy the game more/less now that DH is here. I know I personally find it harder to muster the motivation to play than I did last year.
To be fair, it is kind of a Blizzard tradition that newly introduced classes are overpowered or overtuned. Same thing happened with Death Knights, Monks and Demon Hunters in World of Warcraft when they were launched. Then, an expansion later, they were finally balanced, and enough players chose the new class as their main to be worth being implemented.
I know WoW has a PvP aspect, but for much of that game classes are not in direct competition with each other. Yes you might want to optimise your characters for high level raiding, but if you are avoiding PvP one class being overpowered does not make the other classes weaker.
Meanwhile HS is almost entirely PvP and 1 dominant class does directly impact how successful you can be with the others, and there are few options to avoid that problem. So Blizzard tradition or not, the approach of making a class overpowered to guarantee use while you balance it is much more destructive than it is in WoW.
Now, I don't mean to suggest DH is always going to be a problem (although I do think it's core design elements are very risky, especially mixing aggro with so much card draw), and I'm sure in the long run it will wax and wane like the other classes do. But so far I haven't seen a good reason for it to exist beyond generating a short-term spike in interest, which ended up being a very short-term spike because of how quickly it frustrated players.
AngryShuckie, you cant display your opinion as everyone's opinion. I enjoy DH and I think that it was a welcome change to the meta and I really hate to play against any 30 minutes match against Priest or Control Warrior in the past. There has to be aggro to counter that.
But I can understand that it can be very frustated to get killed with 16 hp left.
I did not mean to impose my opinions on anyone else, and my interest in a survey above was a genuine one so I had a fair idea of whether I am an outlier or not.
I don't mind aggro decks or even aggro metas. My frustration stems from aggro classes already existing, and if they ever gave rogue any burst beyond Leeroy and Eviscerate they could easily have made a DH-like deck without the fanfare and complications of a new class. Of course rogue doesn't have the lifesteal, AoE, minion sacrificing and big demons, but hey, warlock has all of that stuff.
I guess I'm just frustrated that an entire expansion cycle is overshadowed by the addition of a new class that has to be balanced slowly, when more or less the same decks could have been achieved by giving rogue and warlock a few cards. Then if they are a problem, we know very well how to balance that quickly without having to incrementally adjust 15 different cards.
Unleash the new Odd DH onto Wild