We were just looking at a fairly calm and uneventful week for Hearthstone, settling into the rhythm of the newest patch with whatever impact its accompanying Mini-Set might've had, tolerating Diablo's presence (plus evil lags) within Battlegrounds, and exploring another special limited-time event for the Mercenaries mode on the side. It's also been almost a full week since we've had any instances of bug fixes to report. 

As it turns out, meanwhile Team 5 has been diligently working on resolving a number of outstanding issues all at once, while also throwing in a number of Arena adjustments for good measure. As well as allowing poor Lord Barov to enter the tavern once again, now that Diablo decided that a brief weekly stay was more than enough. Not every Hell denizen can afford Bartender Bob's rates.

By now, Patch 23.4.2 should be active across all regions. Once more, it's just a server-side hotfix - no additional downloads are necessary, so you should be able to see the results of all fixes and improvements outright.

And if you ever need to recall what came before, here are our previous notes: 

Arena Adjustments - Throne of the Tides

Starting with the most notable set of entries as it concerns the status quo of one entire limited format playground. As you might recall, this is pretty much the Modes team honoring the promise made about a month ago when we welcomed the return of more regular Arena attention:

Quote From Blizzard

  • Removed Goblin Bomb, Naval Mine, Helmet Hermit, and Frozen Mammoth from the Arena Draft Pool. Made several appearance-rate adjustments to impactful Neutral cards and to Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, and Shaman classes.
 

Wait, weren't some of the four cards listed above already removed from the drafting pool? Well yes, but ultimately no. Naval Mine and Frozen Mammoth were indeed (mosty) gone for a brief period of time, then re-added with the release of Patch 23.4. We've explained the reasoning behind that move back then. In the end, it looks like the whole experiment was destined to be rather short-lived. 

Naval Mine Card Image Frozen Mammoth Card Image

Admittedly, this is a very brief patch note above; with (as usual) not many other details to spare. Luckily, Modes Design Lead Matt London was (also as usual) kind enough to provide us with additional developer insights:

Quote From Matt London
We had two goals with the composition of sets for this Arena meta.

1.) Focus on more recent sets (and all of Standard) to ensure modern design principles (fewer bad cards)

2.) Choose sets that had interesting synergies with the most recent set, Voyage to the Sunken City.

Quote From Matt London
A few cards that had previously been removed due to low power level were re-added. Magnetic on a Naval Mine seemed spicy! But alas, impact remained low. We've re-removed those cards. Our goal is to create fewer non-picks for drafters. 

There was a bug with Helmet Hermit. Oops! Now it's "really" gone.

 

Goblin Bomb Card Image Helmet Hermit Card Image

Quote From Matt London
For balance adjustments, we have changed the appearance rates of even more cards than last time, and the percentage shifts are greater than ever before. Effectively, some Commons will now be as rare as Epics.
 

Do you also believe that spells Gangplank Diver among other common suspects? 

Quote From Matt London
The win rates of Priest, Hunter, Demon Hunter, Druid, and Mage should be increased. Shaman, Paladin, and Rogue should be decreased. 

Shaman has proved to be a strong outlier in this new meta, and Priest has underperformed. Ideally, these adjustments will bring the classes on the poles closer to the middle.

As the format evolves following these changes, we will monitor the power level of Discover effects, which have impacted drafting, power spikes, and game length.

 

If you've recently lost your run to any 'insert powerful Legendary or game-changing card here' random Discover pick, you know that pain. Personally, I've found it very discouraging; to the point of greatly reducing any Arena entries in the now-previous meta and saving the funds for later. 

Quote From Matt London
Is there even an option about something being done in that regard ? Other than removing/changing the offering of the card doing the discover that is.

Maybe. Costly to implement but might be worth it. Depends also on if we’re comfortable having different unpublished rules for Discover between Arena and other modes. Slippery slope.

 

Last but not least, keep this in mind for the time being:

Quote From Matt London
You’re likely to face opponents with decks from the old meta, so proceed with caution until those runs end. ⚠️
 

Battlegrounds - Diablo Out, Lord Barov In 

Quote From Blizzard

  • Added Lord Barov back to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.

No great surprises here, we knew well in advance the return of Diablo to Battlegrounds was meant to be very temporary. Lord Barov has suffered enough, not being able to place any wagers on the demonic entity meanwhile. Or anyone else for that matter.

Diablo Card Image Lord Barov Card Image

The Lord of Terror clearly couldn't take it anymore, what with the vast majority of the Internet complaining about the evil micro-transactions of the newly released Blizzard's title, semi-mobile Diablo Immortal. 

Besides that, one little bug got squashed: 

Quote From Blizzard

  • Fixed a bug where a Golden Minion received off Mr. Bigglesworth’s Hero Power would not offer a triple reward.

Other Bug Fixes - Mercenaries & Cards

Two cards have received the necessary treatment (although Immolate might still not be correctly showing what was burned in the history tile). 

Quote From Blizzard

  • Fixed a bug where playing Immolate caused subsequent chain effects (multiple effects on the same trigger, such as Mass Polymorph) to lag.
  • Fixed a bug where Shattershambler affected non-minion entities (like Deathrattle weapons).

Immolate Card Image Shattershambler Card Image

And a respectable list all about the Mercenaries: 

Quote From Blizzard

  • Fixed a bug preventing the Y’Shaarj Mercenaries Bounty from dropping Y’Shaarj Coins (note: there still remains a visual issue where the Y’Shaarj Coins are not shown, but they are still being awarded to your account).
  • Fixed a bug allowing Bleed effects to trigger while a Mercenary is on the Bench.
  • Fixed a bug preventing the Divine Intervention Bounty Treasure from functioning.
  • Fixed a bug preventing Xuen’s Task 17 from tracking correctly.
  • Fixed bugs related preventing Hooktusk Tasks from progressing when using Cutthroat Negotiations and Shiver Their Timbers alternate versions.
  • Fixed a bug preventing Mulgore Might from granting Heal Power.
  • Fixed bugs causing the Chain Heal Ability to not function properly.
  • Fixed a bug where the Earthmother’s Fury Ability had Cooldown 1 instead of Cooldown 2.
  • Fixed a bug where Holy Judgment’s Freeze effect would trigger without satisfying the Holy Combo condition.
  • Fixed a bug where Brann’s Extra Spirit Equipment unlocked at Level 4.
 

Happy to see any bug fix in particular here? Hope you also have your Arena tickets ready to see whether things might feel better now!