Blizzard have released a blog post detailing the changes that players can see in the Battlegrounds update rolling out today.
- Sindragosa, Elise Starseeker, Brann Bronzebeard and Sir Finley Mrrgglton are all joining the fight as new Heroes
- King Mukla, Giantfin, Millificent Manastorm and Lich Baz'hial are rotating out for the time being
- Four minions have changed Tavern Tiers for balancing
- The ranking system has been altered slightly to provide better rewards for wins after you've played many games
- Future plans are discussed, including a promise for continued balance changes and hero rotations, as well as new minions
Quote From Blizzard Bob the Bartender has been hard at work keeping the tavern tidy for Hearthstone’s heroes, and it appears that the news has started to spread. Hearthstone Battlegrounds is about to add some extra chaos—and a few Explorers—with a new update coming to the mode today.
Sindragosa, Elise Starseeker, Brann Bronzebeard, and Sir Finley Mrrgglton are the latest heroes to enter the Battlegrounds. Each one comes with a new hero power to give you more options to push toward a first-place finish. Read on for details on these new heroes, as well as some additional updates coming to Hearthstone Battlegrounds.
Please note that these updates do not require an additional download.
Heroes Entering the Battlegrounds
The following Heroes have been added:
- New Hero: Sindragosa
- New Hero: Elise Starseeker
NOTE: The "Recruitment Map" recruits a minion from your current tavern tier after upgrading Bob's Tavern.
- New Hero: Brann Bronzebeard
- New Hero: Sir Finley Mrrgglton
Heroes Leaving the Battlegrounds
To make way for new challengers, the Heroes below have left Hearthstone Battlegrounds for the time being. We may see them return in a future update.
- King Mukla
- Giantfin
- Millificent Manastorm
- Lich Baz'hial
Balance Updates
Minions:
- Primalfin Lookout
- Moved from Tavern Tier 5 to Tavern Tier 4
- Voidlord
- Moved from Tavern Tier 6 to Tavern Tier 5
- Junkbot
- Moved from Tavern Tier 4 to Tavern Tier 5
- Coldlight Seer
- Moved from Tavern Tier 3 to Tavern Tier 2
Developer comments: We wanted to buff both Demons and Murlocs, so we moved those minions down a Tavern Tier. Junkbot was a bit too strong for Tavern Tier 4 and often made it so mech players never had a good reason to upgrade to Tavern Tier 5. With these changes, we think the minion types are closer together in power level.
Ranking System
We’ve made adjustments to the number of points given for first place. In the original system, you got 240 points for a first place on your first game, and 24 pts for a first place on your 150th (or later) game. Now, you will get 190 pts for a first place on your first game and 95 pts for a first place on your 150th (or later) game.
Bug Fixes
- Infested Wolf
- The Triple version of Infested Wolf has been moved from Tavern Tier 2 to Tavern Tier 3, consistent with its base form.
- Rat Pack
- The Triple version of Rat Pack has been moved from Tavern Tier 3 to Tavern Tier 2, consistent with its base form.
- Plant tokens spawned from Adapt effects are now Tavern Tier 1.
- Snake tokens spawned from Snake Trap are now Tavern Tier 1.
Future Updates
As of today, we are planning our next Battlegrounds update for early December. Below is a brief preview of some of the things we’re working on.
- We’d like to continue balancing minions and Heroes based on how they’re performing. We don’t have the changes solidified yet, but we’ll be watching things closely and will have more to say soon.
- We’d like to continue rotating new Heroes into the game while rotating some existing Heroes out. We have some recognizable faces we’re working to include in December.
- We have two new minions in the works that we’re currently planning to include in the December update: King Bagurgle, a brand-new card, and Floating Watcher, which you may recognize from the Goblins vs. Gnomes set.
- We have been working on the first iteration of the Stats feature, to give you more insight into your performance. We’d like to surface some fun stats, like how many Triples you’ve created, your top five Heroes by wins, and more. An updated version of Stats will be available next year.
Comments
They do, his name is Nightmare Amalgam.
Floating Watcher incoming? "YEEEES!!"
Amalgam dodging the nerfs like its the freaking matrix... why does it feel like Blizzard always brings in good stuff but somehow always misses the crucial elements of it/something backfires horrifically?
Anyway, enough salt. The changes we did get were fantastic and will definitely shake up the meta! Murlocs can now become unstoppable fish monster thingies even faster, and Junkbot got... junked. Cobalt Guardian dodged another bullet, but whatever... looks like mechs are taking a huge hit regardless.
Eh, demons still die to a poisonous Amalgam, so its all good. I really have no idea how the Voidlord change will affect anything, it never really was a centerpiece in demon decks (you probably want to sell off Soul Juggler later on, so the tokens are really not that useful, apart from tanking a few poisonous hits). If you ask me, it just dilutes the pool even further and makes Junkbot harder to find, as well as the Battlemasters (the real Demon carries).
I’m also suprised to see Lightfang Enforcer not even touched upon. This unit is absolutely nuts, and I will enjoy collecting the free wins until this thing gets nerfed. Nerfing Amalgam will probably also slightly affect this unit’s viability, but we will have to see.
Moving on to heroes, I’m glad to see that the team is working on the gamemode so much, to the point where they are willing to rotate out heroes. Keeps the game fairly fresh. Also, rip to Lich Baz’hial. Epitome of a high risk high reward hero.
AFK not addressed at all? Polarizingly powerful in mid game where people always walk away losing ~9 hp due to rng is never healthy game design. Always feel so bullshit to fight AFK after she gets her power boost and you drop from 1st to like 6th place just bcs you had to fight AFK.
Donais recently said Amalgam is going to be nerfed to a 2/2. But that's likely in the bigger december update.
I agree about AFK. She is a very fun hero to play. But the issue is that she always 100% loses the first two rounds, then always 100% wins the next two rounds. Whenever you are paired with AFK within the first 5 rounds you automatically know what the outcome is, it can be boring to fight against her. The in the late-game she is nothing special.
She usually wins round three and four, but it's not 100%. I've beaten her, and I've been beaten when I discovered two cards with zero synergy. Overall I think it's a good entry-level hero design and makes you feel strong for a few turns. Nothing too fancy though.
I guess they're trying to put less of an emphasis on mechs and beasts, which is good to hear. Why hasn't Amalgalm been nerfed?
Floating Watcher will be so good with Wrath Weaver
"you got 240 points for a first place on your first game, and 24 pts for a first place on your 150th (or later) game."
Who thought that was a good idea?
190-95 seems reasonable... 2 times less not 10 times less...
I'm kinda sad Millie is gone, though she was broken as hell, and Giantfin who wasn't, but was kinda fun the few times I played him.
Back to praying I roll Jaraxxus. Not the best, but he's a giggle to play.
Do we know at what time "today" is?
It's out now for me.
Supposedly they're up already...but I haven't seen any of the new heroes yet :( Coldlight Seer is still in Tier 3, so I guess the update ain't out yet.
Millificent was my first-ever 1st place finish, so I have a soft-spot for her. Sad to see her go.
I don't think I ever got Millificent offered in my ~20 runs.
Managed to grab Mukla for a last minute spin before the update hits.