Upcoming Balance Change to Undertaker
Undertaker will be receiving a change in an upcoming patch. No longer will it gain increased health.
Quote from ZeriyahAfter the release of Goblins vs Gnomes, we kept an eye on the state of game balance as more matches were played with the new cards we introduced to Hearthstone. After careful consideration we have decided to make a balance change to the card Undertaker.
The following balance change will be made in an upcoming patch:
Undertaker now reads: Whenever you summon a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1 Attack.
- Undertaker was frustrating to play against. It often gained both Attack and Health stats significantly above those of other inexpensive minions very early in the game. With this change, we expect Undertaker will still be better than other 1-Mana minions when played in a deck with a Deathrattle theme, but more likely to die in combat against other minions.
The golden version of Undertaker can be disenchanted for its full cost for a limited time once this balance change goes live.
We will continue to make balance changes to Hearthstone when we feel they are necessary in order to increase the variety of cards seen at all levels of play, with the goal of making Hearthstone a more fun and interactive game for everyone.
It's really early to figure it out as it mostly depends on how people will react in picking their Decks.
If it implies a shift towards a slower meta, then that's great because you can now run only webspinner as a 1-drop and keep playing on higher curve afterwards (mix between my Midrange and Control Hunter).
However, if it only implies people shifting to zoo and mechmage, well this kinda screw Midrange Hunter (or maybe Mech + Beasts which is already decent but weaker than Deathrattle + Beasts in Undertaker current state), which I'm a bit afraid of =S
In the end I think Aggro Hunter will still be fine with running Undertaker as they mostly use it for face, not especially for trading (like I do with Midrange Hunter or even my Legendeath Rogue) ... I hope I'm wrong but the more I'm looking at it the less conviced I'm about this =S
Without Undertaker, Zoo is loosing one of their most efficient minions to trade.
Mech Mage is the only Aggro deck that stays really efficient. You might be right about undertaker in face hunter, but Mech Mage is probably the next huntard ;). The Mana Wrym is now better than undertaker.
Control decks are more expensive, you probably will meet many of these at higher ranks.
What is the biggest problem of midrange Hunter vs Mech Mage?
Hehe, maybe we see a comeback of flare :D. (and an increase to 3 mana)
Yeah Mechmage is already in a good shape and even better with this nerf, it can probably be the new go-to aggressive ladder Deck ^^
From experience, I don't really like playing against Mech Mage as Hunter although the match up is kinda coin flip, their minions tends to have a bit too much health for yours.
Flare won't help because only version running Secrets were along with undertaker and mad scientist, which will probably disappear in favor of pure Mech variants ;)
would be about 33% better then Mana Wrym
Anyway, I'm fine with that, we'll no longer be forced to tech Zombie Chow in classes lacking answer to him ^^
Btw guys, here is some first thoughts about the nerf and a decklist with which I had a lot of fun tonight : http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/179284-spark-full-beast-call-pet-post-nerf-hunter-talk
A bit too survivable for a minion that is really easy to buff up three times by end of turn two, while also having other (good) bodies on the board. Drop one minion and suddenly undertaker is a 2/3 for 1, which is already amazing value (zombie chow is the same with the 5 health downside and is considered very good). Turn 2 rolls around, drop two more death rattles: 4/3 for one. Still extremely powerful especially considering all the minions played to get it that high are also pretty good.
2 attack is fine. Worst case it trades even with a 2 drop which is still excellent value. Best case you can still snowball it but it can be actually stopped at any point in the game. You can't make it have pairty with mana wyrm because:
A. Mana Wrym is a class card, and therefore designed to have innate advantage
B. Spells are less valuable than deathrattle minions, especially early game spells for mage - they don't put a threat on the board, are more expensive (usually), and the deathrattle effect enhances a minions abilities to almost always be pretty damn good anyways.
It having 2 health vs 3 reflects that it is a neutral minion and also reflects the fact that it's main buff mechanic involves playing cards that already make your board scary/easy to snowball.
I don't disagree with an undertaker nerf really. However, the possibility that Blizzard has finally yielded to clamor of the nerf mongers is worrisome.
I see what you're saying about Blizzard giving in to the complaints. But, you have to step back and consider the common sense factor. At the end of the day, is it better to be technically right and piss off the majority of your customer base or is it better to be technically wrong and give your customers what they want? UT is the most hated card in HS and it had single handedly has driven a large number of people away from the game because of the meta it created. It makes sense that Blizzard would re-balance the card. Let's be honest, a 1drop that could grow endlessly was bad design to begin with.
Better for who? Activision stockholders? Sure. But for the long term health of the game, following the dictates of the capricious masses is a pretty miserable strategy. We've seen this play out in d3 and wow. Once again I don't necessarily disagree with the nerf itself. The precedent it potentially sets is depressing. Just read the comments, people are already rubbing their hands together about Dr. Boom.
They only did this so people have to by the stuff for mechmage instead teh month after the new expansion mechwarper will be nerfed
"Bring out your Nerf."
Except in this case, you do. The card needed nerfing, they've monitored it's high rate of use and decided it was excessive - about time too.
I like how this implies that Undertaker wasn't blatantly broken.
You mean they looked at there 99.999% full wallet and thought we need more money now
Right, keeping the game balanced is only a money grabbing move.
They didnt nerf mechwarper or boom both just as or more unbalanced
The question is WHEN?
It should've been done long time ago. But I am finally glad to hear it.
Now it dies to a two-turn ping of Mage, Rogue, Druid :D
true.. yet you still spend 4 mana (2 in rogue's case) to clean 1 drop and take dmg to the face meanwhile ..