Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't a good idea to print Spreading Plague and Ultimate Infestation after all? If they weren't so powerful, there would be no point in nerfing ramp for Druid. It was balanced for 4 years straight before these two cards pushed it too far.
Hmm... this is a bad change? Cos Druid can't really do much in the first 3 turns, except for Aggro. Druid real play is from turn 4 onwards. That's why there's Wild Growth on 2. But this change and the Nourish change... the tempo now has greatly shifted. Blizz better print good 1-3 mana cards for the next expansion for the next cycle.
But Wild Growth on 3 does open the space for Prince Keleseth on turn 2. Overall, I don't feel too good about this nerf reasons due to rotation coming in 4 months time.
Playing this card at turn 2 feels like cheating, but at the same time, playing this card on turn 3 feels too slow. This means there is only for one good reason for this nerf: they can make more dangerous late game card, so the ramp will still be relevant I think... like Ultimate Infestation.
Ramp is a dangerous mechanic in this game so it probably deserve a nerf. But again, this is part of Druid's identity, yeah... I think new cards are the only hope for Druid to make himself viable again with new early game cards (And of course, not making himself being broken at the same time).
Ramp was something that you couldn't counter in any way (other than Zihi I suppose) and seeing a Druid go Wild Growth into Nourish into Wild Growth into a Lich King the next turn or something was just unfair to play against. Druid can still ramp if they want too, but it's slower now and more risky, which seems more fair given the massive advantage it can give.
I think you don't understand the purpose of this nerf.
It's not just to reduce Druid'S overall power, but also to open up design space.
Wild Growth always had two major effects on deckbuilding:
a) it basically defined the proactive 2-mana slot for every Druid deck that wasn't full aggro (or Spiteful)
b) it also severely reduced the relevance of the 3-mana slot, as ideally you'd want to skip the 3-mana curve and go straight into 4-mana
As a result Druid 2-drops rarely ever saw play, because the downsides of not using Wild Growth is far greater than the disadvantage of not playing a 2-drop on curve. Moreover, it also meant that any Druid 3-drop would have to be ridiculously powerful (or a reactive tool) to justify running in a deck that ideally never wants to be at 3-mana. Wardruid Loti for example is an insane card iin terms of flexibility, but right now you barely see her pllayed even in decks that can run her, simply because there is little need for an actual 3-drop.
Effectively this change makes it so they can design better 2- and 3-drops for Druid, allowing for more midrange deckbuilding possibilities and also being able to create stronger expensive cards, since ramping is more difficult now.
People seem to be so obsessed with Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague being overpowered, when the real reason why these cards are so ommnipresent is simply because of how seamlessly they go along with the current ramp options.
That being said, if they do not seriously up the powerlevel of upcoming Druid cards then the class might just drop to Old Gods Priest level of unplayable. Then again, everyone else had their turn, so I can't feel too bad about it.
The only 3-mana cards which see regular play at the moment are Savage Roar, Ferocious Howl and... yup, nothing else. There is Greedy Sprite but it saw daylight only when Big Druid was a thing. And Power of the Wild or Wrath are nowhere near as omnipresent as Wild Growth. Hopefully this change may shake up the current state of Druid which feels like "choose 10 cards to build around the never-changing core set of 20 cards"...
If it was just a ramp card, it would be a bad Jade Blossom but since it actually draws you a card if you're 10 mana, the +1 mana nerf isn't that bad actually.
The problem with Wild Growth is its ubiquity in druid decks since day 1 in Hearthstone. Blizzard doesn't want cards that áre must run in a class. With Wild Growth nerfed, they can print other 2 mana, more conditional ramp spells
On the other hand: I don't know. They kinda kill the whole "ramp core identity" of druid. I always liked the idea of the basic cards giving the class some kind of stable identity.
People seem to be so obsessed with Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague being overpowered, when the real reason why these cards are so ommnipresent is simply because of how seamlessly they go along with the current ramp options.
Ramping also costs a card AND a turn, leading to both card and tempo disadvantage. If both of those weren't made completely negligible by Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague, Druids would need to think before dedicating deck slots to ramping. So, speaking of card design, both Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague limit future design space much more than ramping mana, all the while also ruining Druid class identity, which was mostly about choose one and ramp, after all.
I almost would have preferred to just see this removed from the game. The 3-mana cost is very big, but I'll be honest, I'm not sure it's enough. It's still probably played in every druid forever, right?
Positive of the nerf for everyone else: No more T1 pass, T2 WIld Growth, T3 Branching Paths/Oaken Summons/Coin Nourish, T4 Malfurion, T5 Lich King. The early game took a huge hit.
Positive of the nerf for Druids: Can now run Keleseth or possibly make Odd Druid a thing.
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Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't a good idea to print Spreading Plague and Ultimate Infestation after all? If they weren't so powerful, there would be no point in nerfing ramp for Druid. It was balanced for 4 years straight before these two cards pushed it too far.
I think nourish nerf would have been enough. We'll see. Only this time I selected NO. Druid = wild growth. 3 mana is too much.
Exactly this.
Wild Growth is the basic ramp tool. Nerf the others, but not this one...
Let's nerf the 2 cards that made Druid relevant in any meta ever and not the card (UI) that was stupid since it's inception.
Hmm... this is a bad change? Cos Druid can't really do much in the first 3 turns, except for Aggro. Druid real play is from turn 4 onwards. That's why there's Wild Growth on 2. But this change and the Nourish change... the tempo now has greatly shifted. Blizz better print good 1-3 mana cards for the next expansion for the next cycle.
But Wild Growth on 3 does open the space for Prince Keleseth on turn 2. Overall, I don't feel too good about this nerf reasons due to rotation coming in 4 months time.
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druid cards always get nerfed since plague from 5 to 6, innervate give 2 mana to 1 mana
Playing this card at turn 2 feels like cheating, but at the same time, playing this card on turn 3 feels too slow. This means there is only for one good reason for this nerf: they can make more dangerous late game card, so the ramp will still be relevant I think... like Ultimate Infestation.
Ramp is a dangerous mechanic in this game so it probably deserve a nerf. But again, this is part of Druid's identity, yeah... I think new cards are the only hope for Druid to make himself viable again with new early game cards (And of course, not making himself being broken at the same time).
I like elementals and totems.
Ramp was something that you couldn't counter in any way (other than Zihi I suppose) and seeing a Druid go Wild Growth into Nourish into Wild Growth into a Lich King the next turn or something was just unfair to play against. Druid can still ramp if they want too, but it's slower now and more risky, which seems more fair given the massive advantage it can give.
I think you don't understand the purpose of this nerf.
It's not just to reduce Druid'S overall power, but also to open up design space.
Wild Growth always had two major effects on deckbuilding:
a) it basically defined the proactive 2-mana slot for every Druid deck that wasn't full aggro (or Spiteful)
b) it also severely reduced the relevance of the 3-mana slot, as ideally you'd want to skip the 3-mana curve and go straight into 4-mana
As a result Druid 2-drops rarely ever saw play, because the downsides of not using Wild Growth is far greater than the disadvantage of not playing a 2-drop on curve. Moreover, it also meant that any Druid 3-drop would have to be ridiculously powerful (or a reactive tool) to justify running in a deck that ideally never wants to be at 3-mana. Wardruid Loti for example is an insane card iin terms of flexibility, but right now you barely see her pllayed even in decks that can run her, simply because there is little need for an actual 3-drop.
Effectively this change makes it so they can design better 2- and 3-drops for Druid, allowing for more midrange deckbuilding possibilities and also being able to create stronger expensive cards, since ramping is more difficult now.
People seem to be so obsessed with Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague being overpowered, when the real reason why these cards are so ommnipresent is simply because of how seamlessly they go along with the current ramp options.
That being said, if they do not seriously up the powerlevel of upcoming Druid cards then the class might just drop to Old Gods Priest level of unplayable. Then again, everyone else had their turn, so I can't feel too bad about it.
I tried having fun once. It was awful.
^ well said
The only 3-mana cards which see regular play at the moment are Savage Roar, Ferocious Howl and... yup, nothing else. There is Greedy Sprite but it saw daylight only when Big Druid was a thing. And Power of the Wild or Wrath are nowhere near as omnipresent as Wild Growth. Hopefully this change may shake up the current state of Druid which feels like "choose 10 cards to build around the never-changing core set of 20 cards"...
If it was just a ramp card, it would be a bad Jade Blossom but since it actually draws you a card if you're 10 mana, the +1 mana nerf isn't that bad actually.
The problem with Wild Growth is its ubiquity in druid decks since day 1 in Hearthstone. Blizzard doesn't want cards that áre must run in a class. With Wild Growth nerfed, they can print other 2 mana, more conditional ramp spells
It's not like druid is out of ramp or something (Biology Project, Gloop, Greedy Sprite).
Wild Growth in Odd Druid? Yeah, maybe.
On the other hand: I don't know. They kinda kill the whole "ramp core identity" of druid. I always liked the idea of the basic cards giving the class some kind of stable identity.
I also don't want to imagine a 1 mana Backstab or 4 mana Animal Companion. Just feels strange.
But people will probably get used to it.
Nope.
Ramping also costs a card AND a turn, leading to both card and tempo disadvantage. If both of those weren't made completely negligible by Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague, Druids would need to think before dedicating deck slots to ramping. So, speaking of card design, both Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague limit future design space much more than ramping mana, all the while also ruining Druid class identity, which was mostly about choose one and ramp, after all.
I'm gonna try out Biology Project in Taunt Druid, not giving up on that archetype just yet ;)
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It will still get run at 3 mana, its always been there to get you to 7 - 10 mana first
I almost would have preferred to just see this removed from the game. The 3-mana cost is very big, but I'll be honest, I'm not sure it's enough. It's still probably played in every druid forever, right?
I think Druids will still run this and Nourish.
Positive of the nerf for everyone else: No more T1 pass, T2 WIld Growth, T3 Branching Paths/Oaken Summons/Coin Nourish, T4 Malfurion, T5 Lich King. The early game took a huge hit.
Positive of the nerf for Druids: Can now run Keleseth or possibly make Odd Druid a thing.
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Jade Blossom doesn't draw you a card on 10 mana.