So there was a little bit of a kerfuffle recently, when, instead of sending out the expected hotfix to deal with ongoing issues, Blizzard set the wrong patch to go live on Asia servers, and players got a brief glimpse of the future before it was taken away from them.
Quote From Blizzard 8/12 Update:
Earlier today, a different patch version was inadvertently set live briefly. This resulted in game crashes, as well as players seeing incorrect versions of certain cards. That patch version has now been rolled back, and those issues should be resolved.We will continue to update this post as we get more information.
Aside from the news of people's games crashing (especially in Battlegrounds), the big headline of this little whoopsy-daisy was that some players got to see the adjusted versions of several cards before they were all properly announced. Following up on Twitter, Aleco (Final Designer on Hearthstone's Team 5) has confirmed that these sneak peeks at planned balance changes were, in fact, accurate. We also learned exactly when we are going to see the upcoming patch - more or less as expected, this coming Tuesday, August 16. It's very possible that the full patch notes will become available a little earlier.
Teased Standard and Wild Balance Changes - Nerfs & Buffs
In case you weren't one of the lucky players with a ghost in their machine, Aleco has also spelled out just what those intended nerfs were. As for the buffs, he mostly stayed silent but hinted that there's hope for the underused classes: while it wasn't certain before, we now know for sure that the balance patch will also contain improvements for Paladin, Demon Hunter, and Warrior.
Quote From Aleco Due to a small oopsy-doopsy, a patch planned for next Tuesday was partially pushed early. Some clever sleuths were able to spot a handful of card changes before things were reverted, and I can confirm that the changes seen on live are accurate. But, there's much more!We're doing a small number of nerfs this patch. Vile Library loses the base +1/+1, Stag Spirt Wildseed will make a 3/2 weapon, Snowfall Guardian becomes base 5/5 but no longer grows based on minions frozen, and Celestial Alignment will no longer affect the opponent.
In Wild, Kobold Illusionist will cost 5 mana.
In addition to these nerfs, we're also doing a substantial number of buffs! Some of these have already been discovered (Edwin will be a 3 mana 3/3, Relic Vault to 2 mana), but the majority of these buffs were likely not spotted.
For the rest of the buffs, stay tuned for the patch notes early next week
Paladin, Demon Hunter, and Warrior fans should have a lot to look forward to.
I hope you all enjoyed our impromptu "preview"!
So, we've got four fairly big nerfs to some of the most oppressive archetypes in the game right now: Implock gets a slight nerf to the baseline of Vile Library, Control Shaman no longer gets to build big Birds by repeating the Battlecry of Snowfall Guardian, Wildseeds get a little weaker with the change to Stag Spirit Wildseed, while in Wild Kobold Illusionist dies for the sins of Neptulon the Tidehunter.
However, most important of all: Celestial Alignment is being significantly reduced in power. While Druids can still have all the Lady Anacondra fun they want, their opponents no longer have to come down with them to 1 Mana, then watch as they ramp back up in no time at all.
As for the buffs - while only Edwin, Defias Kingpin and Relic Vault got a honorable mention above, we saw some players claim that they were able to spot other improvements (in this case, extra stats for Magnifying Glaive and Bibliomite). Perhaps we'll stumble upon even more 'spoilers'! Such as:
Quote From Aleco This isn't the only Rogue change
There are rumors about Halkias getting Stealth, but don't take it for granted.
We also happen to know which cards are NOT getting changed for the time being, with Aleco addressing a couple of 'leaks' that apparently popped up across Reddit:
Quote From Aleco Kael'thas and From the Depths are not getting changed this patch.
Sensible. We'll take those other healthier ways of buffing Warrior.
Leaked Battlegrounds Balance Changes
Unstable Battlegrounds games weren't the only unintended result of this brief too-soon-patch. Players were also able to spot a number of curious changes:
- Evolving Chromawing - base stats set to 1/4, but +1/+0 for each dragon on tavern level up (instead of the current +1/+1).
- Lil' Rag - Tavern Tier 5 (currently Tier 6).
- Lieutenant Garr rejoins the minion pool.
- Removed Grease Bot returns, but without Divine Shield.
- Elise Starseeker changed - Hero Power no longer passive, but an upgradeable (for Gold) Discover effect.
- Some Darkmoon Prizes adjustments.
None of this has been officially acknowledged by members of Team 5, however, so we are not going to be absolutely certain until the patch notes arrive.
Have an opinion about these upcoming changes? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Comments
I just took this Renathal Mech Paladin deck from Diamond 10 to Diamond 2, including a ten game win streak.
With some of the other classes getting nerfed, & Paladin getting buffed Tuesday, this deck should be even stronger on Wednesday.
# Class: Paladin
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Hydra
#
# 2x (1) Click-Clocker
# 2x (1) Prismatic Jewel Kit
# 2x (1) Righteous Protector
# 2x (2) Amalgam of the Deep
# 2x (2) Annoy-o-Tron
# 2x (2) Deeprun Engineer
# 2x (2) Radar Detector
# 2x (2) Seafloor Savior
# 2x (2) Security Automaton
# 2x (3) Alliance Bannerman
# 2x (3) Azsharan Mooncatcher
# 1x (3) Brann Bronzebeard
# 2x (3) Gorillabot A-3
# 1x (3) Prince Renathal
# 2x (3) Stonehearth Vindicator
# 2x (4) Bubblebot
# 1x (4) Theotar, the Mad Duke
# 1x (5) Ini Stormcoil
# 2x (6) Mothership
# 1x (7) The Leviathan
# 1x (8) Goliath, Sneed's Masterpiece
# 1x (8) Lightforged Cariel
# 2x (9) Insatiable Devourer
# 1x (10) Sire Denathrius
#
AAECAZ3DAwipgQTgiwSwsgTsugTp0ASY1AS42QSX7wQQ8PYDqvgDw/kDyaAE1qAE+aQEkrUE4bUE3rkE47kE1L0EssEE2tME2tkE4O0ElKQFAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
Just to note that we've been updating this article since its publication, in case you've missed it - especially the buff section towards the end. There's been some more 'leaks' regarding these other buffs to Demon Hunter and Rogue (yes, Edwin isn't the only one).
Update: Plus a handful of Battlegrounds changes some players caught within that short window.
Please let the current Shudder Shaman die with this change! I'm so damn sick of that deck getting one-sided board flips for ridiculously low mana. Sad to see Illusionist go but it really had to with the way Rogue's been playing recently. Smokescreen dream is still there at least. The imp nerf is perfectly reasonable but I don't think it's gonna slow the deck too much. The card draw needs some attention. Curious if they can pull DH out of the shit but I doubt it. That class is so behind on everything it's almost like it was a bad design from the get-go.
Okay, nerfs, and a small part of buffs revealed. My opinions;
- Vile Library nerf is small, very small, but to be expected. Early game this card easily snowballs, but implock being so easy to play against that Im not surprised that team5 only lightly tapped it on the hand. However, I think implock will continue to be that day 1 deck that at some point team5 would probably be forced to nerf it again, if only because the deck keeps traditional board classes like paladin unplayable. We'll see.
- Snowfall Guardian nerf is necessary, because the mirror matches are getting absolutely atrocious to handle. I think the real culprit here is macaw, but technically this forces shamans to deckbuild in a different direction, so I guess its fine. No more auto wins against board decks.
- Celestial Alignment may never recover from this. Good. I would prefer if team5 were to design the druid class away from that feast or famine identity, but this is a good decision nevertheless.
- Stag nerf unnecessary. Quest hunter will continue to do what they do, and face hunter is only ever on fringes especially the higher up you go. Hopefully the dust refunds affect all its cards.
As for buffs, I think I'll touch on it when the full list comes out. But out of the bat I feel team5 is making a mistake with buffing edwin. Rogue is already scamming wins as we speak, and while overall their win rate may not be as good as it seems, Im getting tired of losing to a deck that essentially highrolls itself to victory. We already have druid bs to contend with, we certainly dont need another class doing it.
Apart from anything else, the correct set of buffs for rogue should be getting would be to their secret package which stink so hard you can smell it three rooms away 4 years ago. Is it so hard to make Kidnap prevent battlecries? Because that card is so underwhelming its comical.
I knew keeping all those kobold illusionist cards from the past was a good idea. Nice payoff after merely 5 years of waiting.
I heavily disagree that the Stag nerf was unnecessary. Getting 8-damage for as little as 2-mana is kind of nuts and makes Hunter way more dangerous.
Face Hunter is carried hard by Stag at the moment and even the other Hunter decks still appreciate extra reach (or just removal). Sure, it's not gonna make Quest Hunter balanced all of a sudden, but it'll have an effect.
3 turns wait + the fact that getting stag isn't guaranteed? In my opinion, if there was a card that needed a nerf it would be Wild Spirits, a card that's practically carrying all versions of hunter including quest, which really shows how good the card is.
Face hunter already lost their cheese owing to the hotfix, and Im only afraid this change makes it twice as hard against renathal decks, pushing all hunter players towards quest instead.
So, I've been playing Face Hunter quite comfortably and never actually pulled off the double Collateral because I just never needed it so I feel like it's safe to say the deck didn't rely on cheese to win. The Stag nerf will hurt it, but that is probably good because quite frankly, it's not all that interactive of a deck. Might even make the deck slow down enought to include Tavish or something.
Now I wonder...will the Wildseed nerf gives us refunds for all of the Wildseed cards? Because that would be ultra-sweet
Snowfall Guardian nerf I don't like entirely. I wish they would have made it a 5-mana 4/4 instead so you can more easily combo it with Cheaty Snobold. I really want proper Freeze Shaman back and now that the guardian itself isn't a win condition anymore, it should at least be a better utility tool. It already sucks compared to Varden.
Library nerf is good I guess.
Alignment nerf is 100% feels based because the card is almost unplayable at the moment, but it's also 100% deserved because fuck that thing (also I want my 800 dust back)
There goes my hope to see Waygate Quest Mage getting hammered. Cheat Rogue is dead sure, and Priest need very lucky draw and dredge to pull turn 2 Neptulon. But no one can stop Mage now.
8 card requirements is a joke when there's plenty cheap cards synergies with it every expansion. They could easily nerf parrot to replay 6+ spells only.
yeah lets just kill the most central card to a very beloved deck that hasnt seen any success in any other variant since apprentice got nerfed and exodia died. not even close to a problematic deck right now, especially considering the high skill cap and the prevalence of decks like implock that annihilate it even with ice block.
Loved? LMAO. If you really want to play a one sided solitaire deck, where you can play each turn alone over and over again without any interaction, go play any single player game. You and your "loved" deck.
face it bud, theres literally always going to be comparatively uninteractive decks, because there will always be people that have fun playing them, as well as certain lists that require actual skill and critical thinking to play well with (e.g. pillager rogue, turtle mage, mill rogue, topsy priest etc.). just because you throw a hissy fit whenever you play against a certain deck doesnt immediately mean that deck needs to be stamped out of existence; it could mean more interaction with that deck's main mechanic should be printed (e.g. okani) or that you're playing the matchup wrong, or that your deck isnt very good in that matchup.
magic: the gathering's system of making it easier to interact with combo decks through counter-magic would serve as great inspiration for better combo interaction in hearthstone, though it would need to be balanced differently since combo decks in mtg can often afford to play into a counterspell due to being able to run 4 copies of each card.
either way though, quest mage is nowhere near as strong in this meta as it used to be, and to act like the mage quest is anything less than beloved is disingenuous. exodia mage was arguably the most beloved deck in the game before apprentice was nerfed and copying the reward became the norm.
No diea why theyre buffing edwin, a already good card over cards that arent good alreay /used for rogue, (like sprint if wanna buff draw, hooktusk if wnna push pirates)
And why are they not changing macaw, when that the big issue people have with it and snowfall, that ut gets repeated multiple times
Nothing about guff or their insane search/ramp package for druid and just alingment
Only wild seeds hit, but not quest hunter which is aslo tier 1 and is much more hated by the players
Also no skely mage nerf, when alll other tier 1 are being hit
Nothing else hit in wild at all, not even bigpriest, which has been around longer tne big rogue.
No questmage either, or twig + sphere for druid or anythign besides big rogue
Im hapyp changes are happening at all, but the nerfs do seem abit of avoiding the bigger/more problematic cards,
and seems they will contiinue with buffing already good cards you where alreayd happy to draw/see instead of the ones that actully coulld use/need the buff (like happend with wig/harpoon gun)
I think the Edwin buff is to help Rogue out with card draw. They don't really have many good options anymore and while Edwin is still a good lategame refill, you can rarely drop him earlier than turn 7 and expect to get decent value out of him. Now you can realistically just play him on 5 and have a chance to get at least one extra draw...also he's better with Shadowstep now.
Edwin is an already good card, that doesntt need the buff , and for draw rogue has other card draws that are bad, and actully need the buff like sprint, they could even buff silverleaf to 1, or shroud, or make double cross better (which woudl aslo help secret rogue)
And if its to help pirates aswell, could make hooktusk cheaper or ehck even cutlass coruer to 2 mana with less stats for that curve into swordfish
Rest in peace my sweet Kobold Illusionist. You were amazing while you lasted, but the nerf was necessary.
Boy oh boy, I'm glad they decided to go with buffs. Good to see DH and Warrior get some much needed love. I, for one, really hope the Pally buffs pull the class out of its current slump; I've tried what feels like everything in the class to very little success. It's even sadder when the only other Pallys I match into are playing Sunken City decks, which aren't even particularly good now.
Edwin VanCleef to 3 mana 3/3?
It felt like it wasn't that long ago that he was nerfed to a 4 mana 2/2 and then buffed back to 3 mana 2/2. And now there's this.
I believe you're thinking of the wrong Edwin: my assumption is they're changing the Edwin in Standard, Edwin, Defias Kingpin.
Kind of bummed that Snowfall Guardian got hit, but I get why the Battlecry was problematic (i.e: not really his fault; he died for the Macaw's sins :/ ). Freeze Shaman, you officially went from meme to the big leagues: who would'a thought one day one of your cards would be deemed worthy of the nerf-bat lol...