During Rise of Shadows, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius honestly didn't feel meta-breaking. It was included in every single Warrior build that there was, regardless of the archetype, but it didn't feel completely stifling.
With the Saviors of Uldum dropping yesterday, however, it feels like it's time for a change. The power level of the Warrior class in general, coupled with Dr. Boom, Mad Genius, already feels oppressive.
To that end, I'd like to discuss changes that the Hearthpwn community believe would balance the card. I have two suggestions that I would like to put forth that would accomplish both diminishing the power level of the card, yet keeping it in tune as one of the best legendary cards in the Warrior set.
First suggested change - move the card from 7 mana to 9 mana.
This card implements so many big changes to the match. It adds armor, it places a multitude of useful hero powers at your disposal, and it slaps the rush mechanic on to all mechs you play. This much of a power swing doesn't belong in mid-game for a primarily control oriented class. Moving it to 9 mana doesn't take away any of the removal or tools that a Warrior has at their disposal, but it keeps them from hitting the "I win" button quite so early and makes the game more sporting and technical for both players.
Second suggested change - remove the added effect of rush to all mechs.
With so much value coming from one card, and in a class that has solidified itself as the Hearthstone "king of removal", the added rush effect on all mechs is just too over the top. Other classes have to actively work to get rush for one turn to a few minions; whereas this card allows the effect for the rest of the game from turn 7 onward. The power swing is enormous, and presents what is already starting to shape up to be an almost-insurmountable advantage for the class.
Thank you for taking the time to read over my ideas. I would love to hear your own thoughts on the card, along with any ideas for nerfs (if you they feel they are needed). It's a fun card that does a lot of cool things, but I believe that a few tweaks to it would be very good for the game, while still retaining its' flavor and usefulness.
The card won't have its mana cost changed from 7, because Dr. Boom always had a strong relaitonship with 7. 7 mana, 7 armor. Also, Dr. Boom wasn't strong in the past when other DKs were around. Now it's his time to shine. So please, do yourself a favor and accept the situation, don't waste time with proving how powerful he is because as you can see, it doesn't matter to Blizzard. Look on the bright side: he'll rotate out of standard in April 2020.
Increasing the manacost of the card probably fits the best as a possible outcome. Blizzard has stated before in an interview (regarding Fiery War Axe) that they rather change the manacost of a card then the mechanics/stats itself.
“The other option we considered for Fiery War Axe was to lower its attack to 2, but that change didn’t feel intuitive enough. Generally, changing the mana cost of a card is less disruptive, because you can always see the mana cost of cards in your hand.”
I as a matter of fact, wouldn’t increase the cost to 9 but 8 mana instead if the card really MUST be nerfed. This way Dr.Boom can still be played on turn 10 with the option to use the heropower in the same turn.
Removing the Rush effect from the card would absolutely gut it like previous cards in the past. In my opinion I think it’s best to HoF Dr.Boom instead of nerfing the card. But that might come over as lazy to some people.
I play a casual recruit warrior deck in Wild which also runs Dr.Boom. He isn’t even close to being broken in that kind of deck and a nerf would hit it pretty hard. Calling for a nerf might have a bigger impact then some people think. But if he gets HoF’ed people can still enjoy this card in all its glory without being broken. (Let’s be real here, there’s alot more broken shit in Wild then a Dr.Boom).
I don't like the idea of sending it to the HoF, because it truly is a fun card with a lot of flavor, and it is a staple in every Warrior build. I have it and play it, but Warrior is not a particularly fun class for me despite it having one of the best win rates for me. When I play it, it has a very "busted' feel to it. When I play against it, it suddenly becomes a death race to rush down the opponent now that they've triggered their win protocol.
Swing turns in most CCGs involve careful deck building, planning your turns and cards, and setting things up. With Warriors, the swing turn that the entire game hinges on is when/how early you can drop the doctor. The problem with the card having that kind of power level is that it comes out in mid-game, and that it puts mech synergy in to hyperdrive to a point that few classes/archetypes can compete with, even with the power level of the SoU cards that have been introduced.
I don't like the idea of sending it to the HoF, because it truly is a fun card with a lot of flavor, and it is a staple in every Warrior build. I have it and play it, but Warrior is not a particularly fun class for me despite it having one of the best win rates for me. When I play it, it has a very "busted' feel to it. When I play against it, it suddenly becomes a death race to rush down the opponent now that they've triggered their win protocol.
Swing turns in most CCGs involve careful deck building, planning your turns and cards, and setting things up. With Warriors, the swing turn that the entire game hinges on is when/how early you can drop the doctor. The problem with the card having that kind of power level is that it comes out in mid-game, and that it puts mech synergy in to hyperdrive to a point that few classes/archetypes can compete with, even with the power level of the SoU cards that have been introduced.
But that right there is the exact problem; the current Hero Cards do NOT require much thought. Zul'jin, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Hagatha the Witch should all be HoF'd, like all the Death Knights. Just watch the game open up at that point.
In my honest opinion, Hero Cards were a very bad idea in general, no matter how fun they are.
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Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
I don't like the idea of sending it to the HoF, because it truly is a fun card with a lot of flavor, and it is a staple in every Warrior build. I have it and play it, but Warrior is not a particularly fun class for me despite it having one of the best win rates for me. When I play it, it has a very "busted' feel to it. When I play against it, it suddenly becomes a death race to rush down the opponent now that they've triggered their win protocol.
Swing turns in most CCGs involve careful deck building, planning your turns and cards, and setting things up. With Warriors, the swing turn that the entire game hinges on is when/how early you can drop the doctor. The problem with the card having that kind of power level is that it comes out in mid-game, and that it puts mech synergy in to hyperdrive to a point that few classes/archetypes can compete with, even with the power level of the SoU cards that have been introduced.
But that right there is the exact problem; the current Hero Cards do NOT require much thought. Zul'jin, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Hagatha the Witch should all be HoF'd, like all the Death Knights. Just watch the game open up at that point.
In my honest opinion, Hero Cards were a very bad idea in general, no matter how fun they are.
I could get on board with that, though it pains me to say it. As much fun as Zul'jin can be, it's often an auto-win, even if I played poorly or my opponent played perfectly. Hero cards don't reward good play or punish misplays; they are just a dust-sink in return for a massive power spike, and none more so in the meta right now than Dr. Boom, Mad Genius. Going back to KotFT, there's no argument any longer that cards like Frost Lich Jaina, Deathstalker Rexxar, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan were busted as hell.
I don't like the idea of sending it to the HoF, because it truly is a fun card with a lot of flavor, and it is a staple in every Warrior build. I have it and play it, but Warrior is not a particularly fun class for me despite it having one of the best win rates for me. When I play it, it has a very "busted' feel to it. When I play against it, it suddenly becomes a death race to rush down the opponent now that they've triggered their win protocol.
Swing turns in most CCGs involve careful deck building, planning your turns and cards, and setting things up. With Warriors, the swing turn that the entire game hinges on is when/how early you can drop the doctor. The problem with the card having that kind of power level is that it comes out in mid-game, and that it puts mech synergy in to hyperdrive to a point that few classes/archetypes can compete with, even with the power level of the SoU cards that have been introduced.
But that right there is the exact problem; the current Hero Cards do NOT require much thought. Zul'jin, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Hagatha the Witch should all be HoF'd, like all the Death Knights. Just watch the game open up at that point.
In my honest opinion, Hero Cards were a very bad idea in general, no matter how fun they are.
100% agree.
Even comments like: They should give all classes Herocards. Doesn’t solve the problem.
From the DKs we know Blizzard has shown only some of them generated seemingly endless value. ( Uther was only later viable as a fringe otk, and Garosh was a okish aoe) . So in order to be equally powerful as Dr. Boom and Hagatha they would also have to create stuff out of thin air. That would be pretty boring imo, since the game came down to who draws his Hero first...
So yeah I hope if they ever come up with a new one, the Heropower should be almost irrelevant and the battlecry be manageable.
Warrior needed doctor boom mad genius to be a playable class again, that is not a joke. I agree that losing to the roll of the dice(hero power) sucks alright it does, it sucks so bad getting shit on in this game by RNG you, nor your opponent can control and having a hero card that is an auto-include in any deck for deckbuilding also sucks, maybe bliz has learned this, so many people thought rogue would get a togwaggle hero card in saviors of uldum and they didn't, i think this is a good sign for the future, it's obvious that if they hall of famed doctor boom mad genius right this very second the class would lose it's playerbase again. Everyone knows the new quest is bad. I've said it before and i'm saying it again warrior needed a busted hero card, but he should have got it in KFT like all the other classes, he didn't he got "lose the game garrosh" the only benefit of the card was the battlecry sounded like nixon from futurama:
Warrior needed this to be a playable class again because he got aids when everyone else got gold in KFT, Kobolds, and witchwood, FFS he didn't even get anything good in rastakahn(RoS is too early to say but it's lookin grim)
The card is annoying to lose against shitty "OPPONENT ALWAYS LUCKY" but so is fucking burgle rogue and no one complains about that shit.
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Those who are given more in life, must not cling to it, but risk it all at every moment!
Alright now that i have settled down, my proposed GRAND SOLUTION to the terror that is DOCTOR BOOM MAD GENIUS is this:
Every turn the hero power still shifts, except now it's in a set order and not a random one, so you don't get shit on by RNG as much, the order does not start when you play the hero card(every time you play the hero card it's not gain armor for example) but that roll is random, after that it follows a set order, this order will be based on win rate and hero power use, hover over the hero power will tell you which hero power will come after that one. Instead of ALL MECHS having rush, now only the first mech you play each turn will have rush, the microbots from the microbot hero power will still have rush and do not interfere with this ruling, most of the problem with the rush is summoning mechs that summon mechs on deathrattle, this quashes that. The hero card will remain at 7 mana, since this is a doctor boom staple, however the randomness will not remain since that is a BOOMBOT staple and not tied to the original card.
I imagine this doesn't kill the card enough for the whiners out there, but it does stab it several times to where it's on it's knees but still looking to fight back. AKA still playable.
Instead of ALL MECHS having rush, now only the first mech you play each turn will have rush
I like this a lot, actually. Hadn't thought about it.
I also really like the suggestion above that the hero power go in a certain order, rather than random. That makes the Warrior player think tactically, rather than praying to RNG-sus.
The delivery drone option being limited to one mech that's 3 mana or less is a very good suggestion, as well.
Warriors in last expansion were the only reason i totally stopped to play standard. Then they swung the nerf bat and didnt even touch it. That was really wtf...
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During Rise of Shadows, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius honestly didn't feel meta-breaking. It was included in every single Warrior build that there was, regardless of the archetype, but it didn't feel completely stifling.
With the Saviors of Uldum dropping yesterday, however, it feels like it's time for a change. The power level of the Warrior class in general, coupled with Dr. Boom, Mad Genius, already feels oppressive.
To that end, I'd like to discuss changes that the Hearthpwn community believe would balance the card. I have two suggestions that I would like to put forth that would accomplish both diminishing the power level of the card, yet keeping it in tune as one of the best legendary cards in the Warrior set.
First suggested change - move the card from 7 mana to 9 mana.
This card implements so many big changes to the match. It adds armor, it places a multitude of useful hero powers at your disposal, and it slaps the rush mechanic on to all mechs you play. This much of a power swing doesn't belong in mid-game for a primarily control oriented class. Moving it to 9 mana doesn't take away any of the removal or tools that a Warrior has at their disposal, but it keeps them from hitting the "I win" button quite so early and makes the game more sporting and technical for both players.
Second suggested change - remove the added effect of rush to all mechs.
With so much value coming from one card, and in a class that has solidified itself as the Hearthstone "king of removal", the added rush effect on all mechs is just too over the top. Other classes have to actively work to get rush for one turn to a few minions; whereas this card allows the effect for the rest of the game from turn 7 onward. The power swing is enormous, and presents what is already starting to shape up to be an almost-insurmountable advantage for the class.
Thank you for taking the time to read over my ideas. I would love to hear your own thoughts on the card, along with any ideas for nerfs (if you they feel they are needed). It's a fun card that does a lot of cool things, but I believe that a few tweaks to it would be very good for the game, while still retaining its' flavor and usefulness.
The card won't have its mana cost changed from 7, because Dr. Boom always had a strong relaitonship with 7. 7 mana, 7 armor. Also, Dr. Boom wasn't strong in the past when other DKs were around. Now it's his time to shine. So please, do yourself a favor and accept the situation, don't waste time with proving how powerful he is because as you can see, it doesn't matter to Blizzard. Look on the bright side: he'll rotate out of standard in April 2020.
Have a beautiful day!!
Boooo!
Let me Farm those Warriors with my quest Pally. ( Also i guess they would never change the mana cost, he’s Dr 7 .., )
Increasing the manacost of the card probably fits the best as a possible outcome. Blizzard has stated before in an interview (regarding Fiery War Axe) that they rather change the manacost of a card then the mechanics/stats itself.
“The other option we considered for Fiery War Axe was to lower its attack to 2, but that change didn’t feel intuitive enough. Generally, changing the mana cost of a card is less disruptive, because you can always see the mana cost of cards in your hand.”
(source: https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/21029448/upcoming-balance-changes-update-91-9-12-2017)
I as a matter of fact, wouldn’t increase the cost to 9 but 8 mana instead if the card really MUST be nerfed. This way Dr.Boom can still be played on turn 10 with the option to use the heropower in the same turn.
Removing the Rush effect from the card would absolutely gut it like previous cards in the past. In my opinion I think it’s best to HoF Dr.Boom instead of nerfing the card. But that might come over as lazy to some people.
I play a casual recruit warrior deck in Wild which also runs Dr.Boom. He isn’t even close to being broken in that kind of deck and a nerf would hit it pretty hard. Calling for a nerf might have a bigger impact then some people think. But if he gets HoF’ed people can still enjoy this card in all its glory without being broken. (Let’s be real here, there’s alot more broken shit in Wild then a Dr.Boom).
If they weren't willing to nerf the card or HoF it before the expansion, they're never going to. They will just let it rotate out naturally.
Also, these exact nerf ideas have been suggested many, many times in reddit and on the official forums.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
Thank you everyone for your feedback thus far.
I don't like the idea of sending it to the HoF, because it truly is a fun card with a lot of flavor, and it is a staple in every Warrior build. I have it and play it, but Warrior is not a particularly fun class for me despite it having one of the best win rates for me. When I play it, it has a very "busted' feel to it. When I play against it, it suddenly becomes a death race to rush down the opponent now that they've triggered their win protocol.
Swing turns in most CCGs involve careful deck building, planning your turns and cards, and setting things up. With Warriors, the swing turn that the entire game hinges on is when/how early you can drop the doctor. The problem with the card having that kind of power level is that it comes out in mid-game, and that it puts mech synergy in to hyperdrive to a point that few classes/archetypes can compete with, even with the power level of the SoU cards that have been introduced.
But that right there is the exact problem; the current Hero Cards do NOT require much thought. Zul'jin, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Hagatha the Witch should all be HoF'd, like all the Death Knights. Just watch the game open up at that point.
In my honest opinion, Hero Cards were a very bad idea in general, no matter how fun they are.
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
I could get on board with that, though it pains me to say it. As much fun as Zul'jin can be, it's often an auto-win, even if I played poorly or my opponent played perfectly. Hero cards don't reward good play or punish misplays; they are just a dust-sink in return for a massive power spike, and none more so in the meta right now than Dr. Boom, Mad Genius. Going back to KotFT, there's no argument any longer that cards like Frost Lich Jaina, Deathstalker Rexxar, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan were busted as hell.
100% agree.
Even comments like: They should give all classes Herocards. Doesn’t solve the problem.
From the DKs we know Blizzard has shown only some of them generated seemingly endless value. ( Uther was only later viable as a fringe otk, and Garosh was a okish aoe) . So in order to be equally powerful as Dr. Boom and Hagatha they would also have to create stuff out of thin air. That would be pretty boring imo, since the game came down to who draws his Hero first...
So yeah I hope if they ever come up with a new one, the Heropower should be almost irrelevant and the battlecry be manageable.
How about just a small change to the most problematic of his hero powers? changing the delivery drone to "discover a mech that costs 3 or less"
It's also more flavorful, since a drone probably can't carry very heavy loads
And maybe most importantly, it puts Omega Yeti out of reach
Warrior needed doctor boom mad genius to be a playable class again, that is not a joke. I agree that losing to the roll of the dice(hero power) sucks alright it does, it sucks so bad getting shit on in this game by RNG you, nor your opponent can control and having a hero card that is an auto-include in any deck for deckbuilding also sucks, maybe bliz has learned this, so many people thought rogue would get a togwaggle hero card in saviors of uldum and they didn't, i think this is a good sign for the future, it's obvious that if they hall of famed doctor boom mad genius right this very second the class would lose it's playerbase again. Everyone knows the new quest is bad. I've said it before and i'm saying it again warrior needed a busted hero card, but he should have got it in KFT like all the other classes, he didn't he got "lose the game garrosh" the only benefit of the card was the battlecry sounded like nixon from futurama:
Warrior needed this to be a playable class again because he got aids when everyone else got gold in KFT, Kobolds, and witchwood, FFS he didn't even get anything good in rastakahn(RoS is too early to say but it's lookin grim)
The card is annoying to lose against shitty "OPPONENT ALWAYS LUCKY" but so is fucking burgle rogue and no one complains about that shit.
Those who are given more in life, must not cling to it, but risk it all at every moment!
Alright now that i have settled down, my proposed GRAND SOLUTION to the terror that is DOCTOR BOOM MAD GENIUS is this:
Every turn the hero power still shifts, except now it's in a set order and not a random one, so you don't get shit on by RNG as much, the order does not start when you play the hero card(every time you play the hero card it's not gain armor for example) but that roll is random, after that it follows a set order, this order will be based on win rate and hero power use, hover over the hero power will tell you which hero power will come after that one. Instead of ALL MECHS having rush, now only the first mech you play each turn will have rush, the microbots from the microbot hero power will still have rush and do not interfere with this ruling, most of the problem with the rush is summoning mechs that summon mechs on deathrattle, this quashes that. The hero card will remain at 7 mana, since this is a doctor boom staple, however the randomness will not remain since that is a BOOMBOT staple and not tied to the original card.
I imagine this doesn't kill the card enough for the whiners out there, but it does stab it several times to where it's on it's knees but still looking to fight back. AKA still playable.
Those who are given more in life, must not cling to it, but risk it all at every moment!
I like this a lot, actually. Hadn't thought about it.
I also really like the suggestion above that the hero power go in a certain order, rather than random. That makes the Warrior player think tactically, rather than praying to RNG-sus.
The delivery drone option being limited to one mech that's 3 mana or less is a very good suggestion, as well.
...make his hero power cost 7 mana
Blizz will probably just nerf a classic card like brawl to 6 mana and let Boom rotate out in several months.
Warriors in last expansion were the only reason i totally stopped to play standard. Then they swung the nerf bat and didnt even touch it. That was really wtf...