Warsong Commander Nerf Incoming
Grim Patron isn't going to be the same. The patch will go live next week.
Quote from ZeriyahThe following balance change will be made in an upcoming patch:
Warsong Commander now reads: Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.
Over the course of the short but impactful history of Hearthstone, we’ve taken a strong stance that we’d like to make changes to cards only when they are completely necessary. The direction of gameplay and the metagame should be defined by our players, and as the meta is evolving, many different types of decks can emerge. Cards that were once impactful in the meta can be less so once new strategies emerge, and that change is brought on by the constant need and drive for innovation by our players.
Innovation is just one way a game can evolve, and the best way to shake up the meta and innovate in Hearthstone is by introducing new cards into the game. Introducing new cards to Hearthstone is our preferred method of changing the current state of the game. It’s exciting to discover a deck that may have an advantage over a popular deck out there, and new cards lead to the discovery of new combinations, and new conversations. Hearthstone thrives off of stories about enjoying a fast-paced, fun game with friends that’s full of delightful surprises.
Going forward, we will continue to stand by our stance that we will only make adjustments to cards when we feel it is completely necessary and allow the injection of new cards into the game help our players define what the meta evolves into. In the case of Warsong Commander, we felt this change was necessary to help expand both future design space and to stand by our overarching game philosophy that battles between minions and fighting for board control is what makes Hearthstone fun and compelling.
The patch that includes the Warsong Commander change is currently planned for next week. (Source)
Customers POV: Blizz, pls nerf Patron warrior so we can enjoy not being hit by 20+ DMG combo. This makes the game MORE FUN.
Blizzard's POV: they want a nerf. Why not NUKE the card so as to satisfy their demands and open up the meta for new expansion cards in the future. This way they'll be happier and pay for the next expansion. This means MORE MONEY for us.
The goals of players and devs are different. So Blizzard might as well nuke the card. They can only win. Look at Buzzard. That pissed a lot of people off, yet there was no giant desertion of HS. We will be subject until the big streamers just stop playing and granting Blizz free publicity where they can more or less fool with cards with impunity due to the streamers pulling in new players on a daily basis. Which , think about it, will streamers E.g. Kripp, Amaz, Trump, Noxious and saltyman Reynad stop playing?
Hey I've got an idea. While you're at it why don't you make leper gnome to 1 mana: deals 30 to face when it dies...? Because you are surely favouring aggro with this one.
Seriusly,do the math Aggro paladin vs Patron what gives Blizz the best amount money as a tier 1 deck...? Nevertheless this chance WOULD be good if it was accompanied with alot more anti-aggro tools that are NOT legendary (why souldn't there be an efficient common card as anti-aggro) not saying as good as the legends but still sth to make peope being even a tiny bit sceptical about bringing face decks to tier 1, because there would be ways that even the F2P could cope with aggresion. (this face hunter scourge at the start of each seasson has to end)
all you'd be asking for is for bots to make a come back and that would create a demand for better cheat detection study and aversion. that and a mass exodus of ftp players which WILL impact p2w players when they all have to repeatedly put up with each others' shit in long ass 20+ minute matches where a loss in this game (unlike most other games) is a total waste of time since you get ziltch for a loss. which also encourages botting btw. along with creating a pissy 'BM' 'community'. if they create an environment hostile to new and ftp players it sends the message that it's clearly "just another p2w pos and that the rng makes it so no matter how much u grind or are more 'skilled' than the p2w'ers you may as well bot this one and actually play something else". that's bad for everybody, blizzard could fund a game like that and create the ilussion of a game that isn't dying unlike some other companies, but they would pass the cost onto the paying players which isn't good for anybody.
No what I would be asking is to play a game I actually enjoy...for some bizzare reason it seems that there are A LOT of people who actually enjoy playing something other than face decks...and anyways bots are easier to thrive in an envirnment that all that minions have to do is go face. Also the message given now is "f2p either put ut your waallet or go away!" because u need naxx to play aggro, a lot of legendaries to play control and to play midrange u need both. Soooo...the joke's on you, an aggro infested meta does nothing to increase or even stabilize the number of f2p players. Your logic has faults all over so my guess would be that it was intented as an answer to something else because it doesn't even counter my arguments...that being said, I considerably doubt that it counters ANY well phrased arguments at all.
Probably getting nerfed because:
A: Patron War was cheap to craft
B. Didn't need any TGT casrds
C. Was still the top deck and discouraged buying new cards.
Hahaha, indeed xD Greedy Blizz...
exactamundo dude. and exactamundo nerfs where he pleases.
Many reasons they chose WSC.
1. Why nerf two cards when you can nerf one?
2. Patron and Berserker are paid-for cards, and nerfing a card after someone's paid for it is somewhat unfair. Warsong is a basic card so it doesn't have that problem.
3. Patron and Berserker are powerful but not broken without Warsong, emphasizing that it had the potential to turn future card designs into broken/OP cards when they didn't have to be.
4. Grim Patron is already almost exclusively played in Warrior, so nerfing it would just make it more of a warrior-only card.
5. This nerf specifically targets the two most problematic advantages of Patron Warrior, which were one-turn kills from an empty board and punishing players for having low-attack minions on the board. It leaves the rest of the deck intact and frees up a slot for other useful cards, so the deck will still be playable though not as overpowered.
So overall, removing the charge granting ability from Warsong Commander was the best choice they could have made. However, I have to agree that Blizzard's insistence on keeping the "identity" of Warsong Commander intact resulted in an extremely underpowered card when they could have used this opportunity to give Warrior a boost in arena or give them some other viable archetype besides Patron and Control.
I agree with your reasoning but there would've been a couple of nerfs that would've done the job without making the card completely worthless. For instance they could've changed warsong to a 2/1 and changed the text to read "minions with 3 or less attack have charge." That would've broken the whirlwind combo and left it somewhat viable. That would've also prevented having to deal with alternating waves of patrons and frothing berserkers.
As for your argument that Patron is a paid card... yes and no. You got it from the expansion so it's not like you can craft it. Also, why should it matter if it's a paid card or not? That's the nature of the ccg genre as a whole. It doesn't matter if you're playing Hearthstone, or MTG, or hell even Pokemon. At some point someone is going to find a broken mechanic. At that point it is up to a responsible game designer to fix it. FIX IT, not drag it out into the back yard and pull an ole yeller on it.
Personally, I thought there were a lot of other cards that needed nerfed way before this one. Mad Scientist anyone? What's more broken than a card that is played, then killed on the opponent's turn by anything that does damage as a battlecry, then casts mirror entity for free, which just happens to give that guy a free copy of the battlecry minion five actions AFTER the Mad Scientist was destroyed?
Not saying they can't nerf a paid card if they have to, just that if they have a choice it makes more sense to nerf a free one.
I completely agree about Mad Scientist though. That's like if they make Piloted Shredder summon a random 3 cost minion instead of 2.
This is absolutely needed. This deck is by far the strongest deck around, and blows away just about any deck unless the opponent gets lucky. Yes you can win against it, however the odds were generally not in their opponent's favor. Do not act like the patron deck wasn't that good; if you try to, we all know you are one that plays it and are upset you can't keep winning easily. It is also a win condition for frothing where crazy damage came out of no where.
Also, it does suck that Patron was truly warrior's flagship deck (yes there are others, mainly control and fatigue, but you don't see much else), however it was just too strong. Judging by what Ben Brode stated, it seemed this card has been awkward for a while now, however. Either way, it is a welcomed change to all but (most likely) those who play the deck. RIP OTK warriors.
Hypothetically speaking... If Blizzard wants to run with this idea of giving charge minions +1 attack, then how about making Warsong Commander read: "Charge. Battlecry: Your charge minions gain +1 attack"? That way, it affects all your charge minions for the rest of the game (similar idea as The Mistcaller for shamans), and Warsong Commander herself has charge, making her "usable". That wouldn't make any "Charge Warrior" deck meta or even close to be viable, but it would be miles more usable than this nerf...
RIP card
I like this change, it brings about a new era of face warrior that will be unrivaled in skill-less axe swinging. LET US SHOW BLIZZARD WHAT THE MIGHT OF A REAL SMORC CAN DO! In all seriousness I'm glad that the meta of grim patron is over, I don't have issues with the strongest deck being the best, but it's strength was way above every other deck. The innate lack of counter-play was unacceptable and I'm glad that Blizzard listened just like they did with undertaker. The nerf is heavy, but that's because it's a nerf. Just like how rouge found a way to use prep sprint instead of gadgetsan, I'm sure warrior will find some other sick combo. No need for people to cry out when the patch hasn't even hit yet.
Boo hoo. Only face rollers are sad about this... any idiot can put this deck together and win. Thanks Blizz
WOW so many people do not get that an important part of this nerf is to "expand future design space". It's hard to design around a card that has such a powerful effect. Sad that Patron is getting butchered, but it's an understandable decision. I will miss patron warrior. RIP RIP
I'm happy/not happy with it either.
Really liked a healthy Grim Patron Warrior in the meta - at least in it's original incarnation. It was already an insanely powerful deck that took a lot of skill to play, was fun to play and fun to play against. For a top tier deck, that's all you can ask for, and hated watching everyone complain about it! But when the "deckbuilders" among us realized how much better it would be as a setup for crazy Frothing Berserker combos and - in rare cases - punishing you for playing minions, the deck did become a bit of a problem in the hands of the right players. Not as "toxic" as people made it out to be and INFINITELY better than Face Hunter, but a problem nonetheless.
However, no matter the rank, I RARELY faced it on ladder recently, and will miss the original incarnation of just summoning as many Patrons as you can and wrecking your opponent's board... because that form of it made for "an interesting meta call" that would eventually become powercreeped. For that, I do wish they would hit Frothing, plus Warsong + Angry Chicken was so much fun ;)
However, from the developer's point of view this is FANTASTIC. We've seen in other card games (Future Fusion comes to mind) how some old cards have to be hit to not be too overpowered in the future. So if this means more fun early game neutral minions and losing Patron, I certainly won't be losing any sleep :)
At least make the Warsong Commander cost 2 mana instead of 3, so it will be useable. Don't humiliate the Warsong Commander! Keep it's dignity in place.
R.I.P. Grim Patron!!! WHOO!
Here's the deal, Patron deck was one of THE HARDEST (!) decks to play already. I know that you are all whining about the frothling OTK but playing enough Patron I came to understand that unlike other decks 5-10 or even 100 games were not enough to master the deck properly, it required quickness of mind as well deep knowledge of the opponent's deck. Why are you not whining about freeze mage or Oil rogue while you'e at it. Or you could even start whinign about legendaries are too OP and they all need nerf. Play your game KNOWING there are better people around than you or that there always exist a deck capable of destroying your own. Don't whine because you can't find a way to beat it, I mean Patron Warrior isn't even that hard to beat ! Handlock smashes it to oblivion at ease and so does neo-Priests. I know that anything other than aggro is ahrd for you to grasp but seriusly I haven't played a game of "who will decrease his opponents life to 0" since the 2nd month I started playng the game. Grow up, stop delusioning and L2P !