It's been almost two weeks since the first Constructed balance patch for Murder at Castle Nathria came to be, and there are already rumors of another one on the horizon. But we'll worry about what's next when the time comes, as for now we only have today left to act on the current set of dust refunds.
The initial balance patch for the newest expansion was largely focused on offering numerous buffs, with only a handful of nerfs happening in the process. And when it comes to collecting our arcane dust at full value, only the latter changes really matter here. As a quick reminder, the cards in question are:
- Celestial Alignment - No longer affects the opponent's Mana Crystals and cards (before it affected both players).
- Stag Spirit Wildseed - The equipped Stagpoint Wildbow is now a 3/2 (down from 4/2).
- Snowfall Guardian - Base stats are now 5/5 (but from 3/3), but no longer grows based on how many units it Freezes.
- Vile Library - Loses the initial unconditional +1/+1 (before it gave +1/+1 even if you didn't control any Imps).
- Kobold Illusionist - Cost is now 5 mana (up from 4).
Not a whole lot at a glance, but due to the entire Wildseed package (Spirit Poacher, Stag Charge, Wild Spirits, Ara'lon) also becoming affected by the lone Stag Spirit nerf, there's been a lot more to consider. Now would be the last moment to pull that disenchanting trigger in case you haven't yet done so.
Quote From Blizzard The above craftable cards […] will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 24.0.3.
The exact cut-off hour is rarely ever being specified in these cases, and sometimes there are random extensions - but if you want to be safe, best conclude all your dust refund business before the upcoming huge Battlegrounds patch goes live later today.
At least until then, all of the listed cards will remain disenchantable for their respective 'base craftable' dust values: 1600 per Legendary, 400 per Epic, 100 per Rare, 40 per Common. As usual, golden copies are worth far more here: with Legendaries going for 3200, Epics for 1600, Rares for 800, and Commons for 400.
Murder at Castle Nathria - Initial Nerfs
Back when the balance patch first dropped, we did talk about how the Wildseed collection of cards followed the route of Kargal Battlescar and Watch Posts during Forged in the Barrens, with all of them becoming available for dust refunds and technically craftable free of charge for these appointed 2 weeks. If you wanted to grind any of the relevant XP achievements, hopefully that's all been taken care of (as they can be rather time-consuming).
The same advice as before still applies - there is no real harm in dusting everything for its full arcane dust value, since you can always recraft any cards at no loss at a moment's notice. Or even pull some of them from your packs in the future, once this opportunity is long gone.
If you haven't actually found them in your expansion or Standard packs up until now, you could also choose to craft the Epics Stag Charge and Wild Spirits or Legendary Ara'lon, only to then disenchant them outright. By doing so, you would ensure the duplicate protection on said cards will be in effect going forward, and that you won't see them again in the future (until you own all other cards of the relevant rarity in the set, that is).
Chances are you are still going to need to rely on Wildseeds if you intend to play Hunter anytime soon. But if you don't, or just want to bank the free arcane dust until you can be absolutely sure if it's worth it - by all means, it's the best call to proceed with targeted disenchanting.
The only other card available to us from Murder at Castle Nathria is the Warlock location Vile Library. It's a Rare, so players stand a fair chance at having more than a couple copies by now. If you plan to open any packs in bulk for a final shot at some extra arcane dust, then the newest expansion seems like the safest bet.
Other Standard Nerfs
The two heavy ones remain with Celestial Alignment and Snowfall Guardian, respectively. Actually, both cards have already been nerfed once before, and some people might've never even recrafted their Epic copies of the Druid variety (I'd know, as I happen to be one of them). Unless you are a fan of the card or didn't own it before and only recently got anything from Forged in the Barrens or Standard packs, we are out of luck here.
On a side note, the trick mentioned above for the Wildseed cards also applies here - if you've never had any copies of Celestial Alignment and don't ever want to see them in your packs, just craft them and then disenchant instantly while the current dust refund is in effect. Hello, duplicate protection for the reliable future.
Now, Snowfall Guardian is much more useful for our dust refund hunting. Since it's of Common rarity, it hasn't been particularly difficult to pick up another set of spare copies over the past few months. From Standard packs alone, if not the expansion ones. Even now, opening Fractured in Alterac Valley packs is not such a bad deal - there are other cards in there that have been previously nerfed (just to mention Irondeep Trogg or Wildpaw Gnoll), and if you have never bothered to recraft them, they could make for a pretty good find alongside any bonus Snowfalls.
The Wild Case - Kobolds & Catacombs
Finally, we have one remaining card belonging to the Wild set, as far as any potential dust refunds are concerned. It does takes us back all the way to Kobolds & Catacombs expansion. Very fitting that Kobold Illusionist already shares the name with it.
For that reason, it's important to remember to choose the 'Wild Cards' filter when searching through the collection. If your default is Standard, this one could be very easily missed.
Now, if you've never owned any cards from this particular expansion, the chance to suddenly pick just the copies of one desirable Rare isn't perhaps the greatest. Don't expect wonders if you do try.
This is also a fine opportunity to remind everyone that if you've never opened packs from a certain set before (including Wild-type packs), you are pretty much guaranteed to get a respective Legendary within the first 10 (as well as an Epic). It might be worth it for that reason alone, or for the sake of expanding on your existing Duels collection.
Refund Command in the Collection Manager
One of our all-time favorite quality of life improvements is officially over a year old! And yet it's still worth talking about.
By typing 'refund' in the card collection search box, you will be able to easily locate all the cards in question and decide whether or not to turn them all into shiny arcane dust. You can use the 'Golden Cards' filter separately in order to view these precious copies of eligible cards as well.
Quote From Blizzard Searching “Refund” in the Collection will now populate with cards eligible for a dust refund.
P.S. Sometimes you may encounter a rare bug where refundable cards don't show as such or don't display full arcane dust values, even though the refund window is still technically active. Always restart your Hearthstone client and double check again in such cases.
How are your arcane dust coffers doing after this most recent set of card nerfs, all filled to the brim or not so much? Have you decided to do away with all Wildseed cards for the time being, or holding onto any for the future?
Comments
So it would seem that the dust refunds are still active for the time being (it took restarting the client once to avoid the bug not showing any). Always nice to see a little extension.