We've got a pretty big patch coming later in the week! Aleco Pors, Final Design Lead on Hearthstone, posted on the Blizzard forum (via community manager GnomeSaying) that a "really big balance patch" is coming later in the week. It looks to be affecting around 30 cards, with both buffs and nerfs, as well as some Wild changes.
According to Aleco, the patch aims to increase player agency and reduce the impact of powerful cards that have little to no interaction, like Timewinder Zarimi, Reno, Lone Ranger and Wheel of DEATH!!!. According to the post forum (liked below), "too many of these lower-agency designs were allowed to become powerful meta contenders".
Quote From Blizzard Hey everyone!
We’ve got a really big balance patch planned for later this week, with changes to around 30 cards, including buffs and nerfs—and a few Wild changes. Since this patch has different goals from most other patches, I’d like to provide you all with some more context as to what we’re thinking and how we got here.
In this patch, we are attempting to address issues which have cropped up with the overall health of Standard, as opposed to correcting issues with the health of the specific meta like we normally do. Alarm bells started to go off within the design team when we noticed that the power level of Hearthstone didn’t seem to drop much (if at all) after the recent annual rotation. This sparked a lot of internal discussion about certain gameplay patterns in the current meta – particularly hyper-efficient AoE board clears, “OTK” style decks that lack sufficient counterplay, and powerful Legendary cards like Zarimi, Reno Lone Ranger, and Wheel of Death, which tend to either end the game on the spot or create such a dramatic swing in the game state that the game can feel like it is effectively over. While these cards are a lot of fun for the players playing with them, it was clear that those playing against these cards often felt they had little agency in their ability to affect the outcome of the game.
Increasing the overall feeling of player agency is our key focus with this patch, and it will continue to be our key focus in future patches until it feels like the trend of powerful low-agency cards and archetypes has been reversed. We think it’s fine for there to be exciting, dreamy, and lower-agency cards in the game, but not if they’re also the most powerful cards in the game.
In the latest expansion, too many of these lower-agency designs were allowed to become powerful meta contenders. As the lead of Final Design, it’s ultimately my responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen. We hope that this upcoming patch will be a big step towards course-correcting a few of these mistakes, and that by closely monitoring feedback from our players after big changes like this, the game will be a great spot for future expansions in the Year of the Pegasus.
Are you excited for these changes? What do expect to get hit aside from the cards mentioned? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
I only play Standard, so I'm not sure how relevant these potential changes might be for Wild.
I have definitely been on the receiving end of some Wheel of DEATH!!! shenanigans, but I'm not sure how it should be changed. The problem is that after playing it, they play the 15/15 Lifesteal Taunt for free, then shuffle Symphonies into the deck.
I haven't encountered Timewinder Zarimi even once, so I'm not sure what the issue is here, although I can obvisouly see how it could be abused.
I love Reno and I don't think it needs a change. Yes, it's a powerful swing card, but it does not win games on its own. Plus, it can be defeated by shuffling Plagues. Also, you can play around it by not overcommiting to the board.
Speaking of "player agency," I LOVE that the current special event allows you to choose the Hearthstone path or the Battlegrounds path. As a player who avoids Battlegrounds entirely, this is very welcome!
It's the fact that Reno is most successful in non-highlander decks that is the issue, not the effect itself. Also, please let me get the pocket of the meta where Zarimi is not played, it's probably the deck I face most often in Legend.
At the moment I don`t play Standard (the meta it is too slow for my taste), but I have fun with Shadow Surimi Priest in Wild (became Legend this weak).
Normally I am always happy about nerfs because -> free dust.
At this point it is very difficult to "balance" Wild: When one very strong deck is nerfed, another deck takes its place. In Wild there are always some decks, which feel "op".
At the moment there is no such deck, so Wild is "pretty balanced" at the moment. Still there are some decks which could be nerfed to give Wild a little bit of "fresh air" -> I think Bomb Rogue, Aggro Priest, Quest Mage, Even Paladin and Quest Warlock are candidates. We will see which decks get nerfed...
While this news is promising, we need to know the scope of the changes to make a complete decision. I'd be in favour of more nerfs than buffs personally. Also I do wonder what metrics Blizzard use to determine the power level of the first expansion per year. I personally found the metas of Forged in the Barrens, Sunken City and Festival of Legends somewhat boring and slow but maybe that's the power level Blizzard want to reach. We'll know on Thursday I guess but hey, 30 card changes can mean a lot of dust if most of them are nerfs.
Best Hearthstone news in ages! I should have been suspicious when I enjoyed the new Standard meta so much that I've played Tempo DH to legend - whenever a Wild main likes the Standard meta, nerfs are almost certain :D
That said, I'll stick to the Wild side of these news.
All in all I'm hyped for this and I hope I won't get disappointed again. The reasoning behind the nerfs sounds amazing, lets hope the devs live up to their own standards. Worst that could happen is a bunch of dust lol
Will meta-balancing & tune-ups matter if the player-base is abandonning the ship?