Surprise! Blizzard has released a Friday balance patch with no warning today. We've got a nerf to Edwin VanCleef, one of Hearthstone's original legendary cards, and to Boggspine Knuckles, a problematic Shaman weapon. We've also got a change to Elistra the Immortal in Battlegrounds. Read on for more details!
Update: Cora has stated that the change does not mean Edwin won't be Hall of Famed and potentially unnerfed if they determine he should be moved there in the future. This is good to hear as Edwin has been on the desired Hall of Fame list for quite some time.
Update 2: Alec says that Edwin is rotating this year and he will be unnerfed.
Update 3: Please read our dedicated post concerning Edwin and the new year.
Quote From Cora You can only run from us for so long, Edwin.
In all seriousness, I'm seeing questions about why we would nerf Edwin instead of moving him to HoF. This nerf doesn't mean he won't be moved, and potentially even unnerfed at that time if it's the right call. This is a fix for now.
Quote From Alec Dawson Also sorry this didn't get into the notes but: Yes Edwin will still rotate later this year and yes we will be reverting the nerf (along with others) at that time.
Quote From Blizzard We’ve got a small balance patch with a few big changes planned for release this Friday, January 8!
Standard Balance Updates
Edwin VanCleef
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
- Dev Comment: The last few weeks have been the best Edwin has ever performed as an individual card (the highest win rate card in multiple Rogue archetypes). Alongside cards like Foxy Fraud and Shadowstep, the frequency of early 8/8 or 10/10 Edwin VanCleefs reached a point we are no longer comfortable with. We want to evaluate how the rest of Rogue's kit performs without this very powerful iteration of Edwin. Cards like Foxy Fraud, Swindle, and Prize Plunderer are important pieces for future expansions and card interactions, so we'll be keeping close tabs on how they perform with the influx of new cards and Edwin's nerf.
Boggspine Knuckles
- Old: 4 Attack → New: 3 Attack
- Dev Comment: We're lowering the attack on Boggspine Knuckles in order to cut into the fluidity of Evolve Shaman, increasing the required investment of playing a 5-mana weapon without a free Dread Corsair, and reduce the overall damage output the deck is capable of over multiple weapon charges. This change lowers the amount of explosive plays available to Evolve Shaman and should create an overall healthier meta.
Edwin VanCleef and Boggspine Knuckles will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 19.2.1 patch goes live.
Battlegrounds Balance Update
Elistra the Immortal
- Old: 7 Attack, 7 Health → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where Infinite Toki’s Temporal Tavern would not function correctly with the New Recruit Darkmoon Prize.
- Fixed a bug where Ysera’s Dream Portal, when used with the New Recruit Darkmoon Prize, would not offer a Dragon when Bob’s Tavern is full.
Comments
They should have touched Sword Eater tho, just like they touched Dinotamer Brann
Finally after all those years of complaining about Edwin VanCleef
Re: Edwin - Seems fair, considering a single previously played card turned him into a 3 mana 4/4. Now being a 4 mana 4/4 with a single card is "fair" but often he'll still be something like a 6/6 or 8/8 for 4 mana. A necessary nerf given the current power cards available to rogue.
Re: Boggspine Knuckles - Not sure this will do much. Yes lowering the attack makes it less able to trade, less able to aggressively finish an opponent (given that shaman will use loot hoarder to re-equip them, this effectively makes it so you take a total of 8 less damage over the course of a match.) And removes the ability to combo it in a single turn with Dread Corsair, however I still think the crux of the issue is giving weapons powerful "swing" abilities instead of battlecry or deathrattle abilities.
We've slowly seen weapons powercreep through the ages. I think they need to go back to not making weapons crazy. A weapon is inherently a mana investment over several turns if not removed. Truesilver champion used to be the standard for a "good weapon". Now it's crazy to think that Truesilver doesn't even make the cut in a deck unless it's attached to a free body. Weapons like Wrenchcalibur and Boggspine Knuckles feel extremely overtuned, and I'm honestly surprised they haven't nerfed Wrenchcalibur (but at this point too late, considering it rotates in a few months).
Honorable Mention: I'm surprised that they nerfed Elistra in BG's. She seemed strong-ish under certain circumstances but a welcome addition to Tier 6 minions. She was excellent at countering elemental cheeze with Whirling Cyclone (or whatever the 3-star unit is called that has windfury). I'm more than a bit disappointed that they nerfed her stats, and they seemed to have gone overboard. Making her a 7/7 and reducing her down to a 4/4 is a huge stat swing for a tier 6 unit, and I'm afraid that despite her excellent passives, her stats will be so poor that she won't be worth the unit.
A Edwin VanCleef nerf was a solid candidate everytime they announce nerfs. Anyway increasing his cost instead changing, for example the +2/+2 into a +1/+1 seems a little too much for me.
Van Cleef is top tier legendary since long time ago but not really comfortable with changing it this way.
I feel bad for Edwin even though I not play it and don't even like to play it but I aprecciate the gimmick.
I think he should just get sent to the Hall of fame and de-nerfed.
Hof and unnerfed is waht should happen to most basic/classic cards
and unnerfs should happen way more in general and be a standard thing for wild, a card rotates it gets unnerfed with few exceptiosn if relaly enscarly;
I don't know how much impact the Boggspine Knuckles nerf will have solely because the efficiency of Shaman to get the weapon out of their deck and re-equip it once it breaks. It will totally reduce the ability for Shaman to blow through moderate taunt/threat minions on the board while transforming their board into a more aggressive standing.
The nerf to Edwin VanCleef is completely necessary. The fact that it is entirely possible to have a really explosive T2 and drop a scary VC that not many decks can deal with is all too common. It can still happen when Foxy Fraud drops and you have a Shadowstep, albeit that will be more rare as it would require having all three of those in your first hand and couple of draws.
they should be nerfed more
NO not at all.
we dont need to go to back to a enrf? card will enver ever ever ever in anyth format ever see any play styke nerfs at all.
And with how rarely blizz buffs:Unnerfs its Better they do smaller steps instead of make card unplayable and then it stays that way forever.
So you're basically saying that they should be nerfed to a point where they will not see constructed play? the point of the nerfs that blizzard makes these days are to reduce the power levels while also still being strong enough to still see play.
"Published 2seconds ago" damn i'm fast!
Those nerfs were definitely needed, though i think more of them might have been in order? Still, it's a step in the right direction!