Upcoming Hearthstone Balance Changes - Wild Growth, Nourish, Level Up!, Saronite Chain Gang, Leeching Poison CHANGES ARE NOW LIVE
Five card changes are coming to Hearthstone on December 19th, which is... today!
- [Discuss this Change] Wild Growth now costs 3, up from 2.
- [Discuss this Change] Nourish now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Level Up! now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Saronite Chain Gang now summons another Saronite Chain Gang, instead of a copy of the minion.
- [Discuss this Change] Leeching Poison now costs 1, down from 2, and only gives Lifesteal for 1 turn.
Check out Blizzard's post below for more information on each of the changes.
Quote from BlizzardIn an update scheduled to arrive December 19 PST, the following cards will be changed.
Developer’s Note: This balance update is focused on improving the long-term health of both Standard and Wild. We've opted to make these changes earlier in the expansion cycle than we normally consider; we'd like to hear your feedback on the timing of this update, in addition to what you think of all the individual card changes.
Wild Growth – Will cost 3 mana. (Up from 2)
Nourish – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Wild Growth and Nourish have been present in every mid-range, combo, and control Druid deck since their introduction in the Basic and Classic set. When cards from the Basic and Classic set are too powerful, they can have negative long-term effects on the game. Continuously playing against these cards can start to feel repetitive, and they can feel so mandatory that they stifle creative deckbuilding decisions. By increasing the mana cost of both cards by one, we expect them to be considerations in late-game control Druid decks, but more difficult to fit in strategies that don’t directly take advantage of ramping mana.
Level Up! – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Odd Paladin has consistently been one of the most powerful and most played decks since its introduction in The Witchwood. By removing Level Up from Odd Paladin, we still expect it to be a competitive board control deck, just with more consistent damage output that should be easier to play around.
Saronite Chain Gang – Now reads: Taunt. Battlecry: Summon another Saronite Chain Gang.
Shudderwock brings an interesting combo to the table, but playing Shudderwock multiple times in a single game can be frustrating. Changing Saronite Chain Gang makes playing multiple Shudderwocks in a game much more difficult. Shudderwock should now exist as a powerful one-turn effect rather than constantly copying itself with Saronite Chain Gang’s Battlecry.
Leeching Poison – Will cost 1 mana. (Down from 2). Now reads: Give your weapon Lifesteal this turn.
We love the fantasy of building a powerful weapon over the course of a game with Kingsbane, but granting it a permanent Lifesteal effect with Leeching Poison resulted in an endgame with few weaknesses, as well as conflicting with our philosophy that Rogues should not have persistent self-healing effects. Making the Lifesteal effect only active for one turn should address some of the power level issues with Kingsbane Rogue’s late game.
Kiwii's Thoughts
Resident deck architect Kiwiinbacon had some thoughts on the nerfs.
I was surprised Big Priest didnt get a nerf with this, that's another deck you are totally powerless to stop if turn 4 goes well for them.
Typical conversation in Bli$$ard headquarters...
Developer 1: So, we eat money, drink money, take bath with money... but that's not enough! We somehow need to begin to shit with money. How should we do that?
Developer 2: Hmm... I think, I have an idea! The last 2 expansions we made in Hearthstone didn't affect the meta. The meta is stable, players have crafted all the legendaries they need to play with meta decks. Let's nerf them!!! The decks, not the legendaries!
Developer 1: I don't get it! How would we make money out of it?
Developer 2: Easy-pizzy! We nerf Leeching poison, but not Kingsbane, Saronite Chaingang, but not Shudderwock or Grumble, Level up, but not Baku, Wild Growth and Nourish, but not Hadronox, Ultimate infestation, sir Oakheart, Floop, Malygos, ToggleWoggle or Hakkar. Our Bli$$ard boys have spent their money and dust on that legendaries, but now they are off meta! LOL! So now they have to buy more packs to craft new legendaries for the new meta!
Developer 1: Wow! That's really cool. Now we will definitely shit with money! I love it! But are you sure, that players will actually buy more packs and give us their money once more, in 2 weeks after the expansion has launched. They have already given us plenty for Rastakhans Rumble preorders.
Developer 2: Of course I am! They bought 80-bucks Mecha Jarraxxus skin and 50-bucks King Rastakhan skin. They will throw their money to us in monitor once more! They are so nice!
Developer 1: So, how should we, actually, do it?
Developer 2: I think we shouldn't tell them, that any changes will take place until the very last moment.
Developer 1: But why?
Developer 2: So they will think that we, once again, will be lazy as fuck and won't nerf anything for a couple of months after the new expansion. Boys, who still didn't craft meta legendaries and epics, will craft them, and loose their dust, because they didn't know about the nerfs! LOL!
Developer 1: You're a genius! Let's do it! For the GREED!
Typical opinions on Hearthpwn's forum...
Bli$$ard boy 1: You just don't get it! They are changing the meta to make the game healthy!
Bli$$ard boy 2: If you don't like the game, then what are you doing in this forum? Just don't play it and write nothing here cause it insults me to read your whines!
Bli$$ard boy 3: How is it that the game is rigged? The adjustments of % of appearance of cards in the Arena don't tell me that they do it in constructed. I don't believe you. Just give me statistics of 10000 games and only then I will consider your opinion.
Bli$$ard boy 4: Blizzard price policy is good. Companies exist to make money. Blizzard is making money. Just change your job and stop being poor! LOL!
Well formatted satire, although the content is unoriginal, to say the least.
At the end of the day, if you value your own personal success over the competitive health of the game I have no pity for you. Your insane rationalizations to try and justify your anger is just...sad.
M8 This is masterpiece;) Awesome story!:)
Yeah I don't think you know what you are talking about. For instance, OW is hardly on the verge of dead.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/618035/number-gamers-overwatch-worldwide/
Yeah, Blizz should've posted the nerf notification at least a week in advance, as they did every single time before that. I didn't craft any new legendaries or decks lately, and had a lot of time to enjoy the ones I made before, so I'm not affected by this at all. But I feel bad for those who spent their dust on a deck for the new expansion only to get it nerfed almost right away. Making a nerf patch go live less than two weeks after a new expansion feels scammy.
Leeching poison was nerfed because rogue isn't spposed to heal
*ACTIVISION-blizzard is commiting suicide
Get a job and then u won't complain about "Greedy Bli$$ard". I crafted Kingsbane for wild during K&C. It is unusable now. Am I crying about Bli$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ard making money? lol no, I just work an hour and buy myself another 50 packs xD
How would you even go about nerfing a legendary card without it becoming an entirely new card with old art
Change the cost? that doesn't fix the problem much
"Bli$$ard," huh? Grow up.
Fuck your mill decks, you infest wild like the plague so don't act like this this wasn't going to happen. And Hunter in wild? LOL.
Kingsbane players tears are so delicious :D
This nerf was NEEDED for standard, I get it. But Kingsbane was the most anti-combo deck for Big Priest. After Kingsbane being nerfed and Big Priest being untouched, can you imagine what it will look like in wild? If you are a standard player you may not even care but there are us, the wild players, who want this shitty Big Priest to end. We are totally mad about this as Big Priest have been in wild for years. And no control / aggro deck can stop it, some can but its a pretty small amount, thats why Kingsbane was an important part in wild. Think about it like a counter system where Paladin counters Rogue, Rogue counters Priest and Priest counters Paladin. When you remove rogue, meta will only be filled with 1-4 types of decks, mostly being control and other combo decks which have a little chance. I guess you and those who liked may not know about this, but if you are saying this while knowing the situation in wild then have fun with your shitty deck.
Hot shower tears, dude!
No they didn't kill it.. they made it balanced and not just flat out unstoppable. You can still make a 15/3 weapon and give it lifesteal for 1 turn, 1 mana heal 10+ is pretty good, not sure if leeching poison will still be played though
People are whiny and entitled, in short... Now they feel they should get refunded for the whole archetype if one card gets nerfed, lol.
wild lul
Exactly we are fucking doomed