Does Dr. Boom Need to be Nerfed?
Poll: How do you feel about Dr. Boom?
Ended Aug 5, 2016
Poll: Do You think 5/5 - deathrattle 1-3 bots > current Dr.Boom
Ended Aug 5, 2016
Ended Aug 5, 2016
Ended Aug 5, 2016
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There are two problems even in this well constructed paragraph.
The problem isn't the best case. It's the average case: On average, the boom bots deal 2x(1 dmg(attack) + 2.5 dmg(effect)) = 7 dmg if not dealt with separately by a spell (that also costs mana). Which happens to be exactly the dmg needed to kill bgh and something the size of a yeti, which both happen to cost 7 mana together, too. Of course, the boom bots don't always hit in the right combination, but on the other hand, these are two cards vs one card. So if they do, you end up with actually an advantage.
And that's the thing: The allegedly "best way to deal with boom" will ON AVERAGE just slightly break even, and sometimes it even still ends in a total blowout. That's no counter.
Especially against aggressive decks, you often end up in a position where it's nearly impossible to recover from thanks to the bots; explode in the face and they can finish you off, explode on the board and they keep tempo.
I don't have a single deck where I don't have Dr Boom, no matter whether it's a super fast deck that shouldn't want to use such an expensive minion (but so much free dmg AND an unignorable threat in a single card!) or a slow deck that wants to avoid 7+ attack minions altogether to counter the bgh-spam (but so much value in a single card!). I even tried it, but every single deck ended up being much better with boom. If you can't NOT use a card without losing effectiveness, no matter the deck, then there is clearly something wrong with it.
Imo, the health should be significantly reduced (like 5, or 4 at most), so that it still stays just as strong against BGH, but can be dealt with advantageously by other cards. Because I actually kind of like that there is at least one 7+ attack card that isn't completely countered by bgh, I just don't like that there isn't really any truly reliable other way. And so that its stats reflect how strong the bots are on average.
Preach it my brother.
I actually didn't particularly like Rag either, so it's kind of moot to go there. He basically used to be super strong but only barely not OP due to his randomness, that's just not the kind of design I like. Anyway, he costs a mana more and is less reliable, especially in the current meta. And Ysera also costs more, also not very reliable and is generally just super-slow, I have very rarely situations where I lose because of here. She's so easy to ignore, and Awaken doesn't really help you if you are rushed down, just like the drake (and nearly all other cards you can draw from her). And if you play the kind of deck that can't ignore her, you usually have cheap and strong removal, so you very often win tempo when dealing with her. Both cards are not nearly as common as Boom for good reason.
And Mysterious Challenger is in a completely different ballpark, just as Antonidas. Aside from being class-specific, both are cards that I'd call "strategy-enablers" : They require you to heavily modify your deck to truly get full value from them, often even with cards that would be relatively bad otherwise. That makes it OK if they are slightly OP because it's balanced by forcing you to play an otherwise suboptimal deck. If the deck as a whole then ends up being OP, then that still needs to be fixed of course. But it doesn't make sense to look at those cards in a vacuum since their effectiveness depends so heavily on the deck. Boom on the other hand can and should be but into nearly all decks and his effectiveness only depends on the deck in a very minor way.
Let's apply this logic to something else.
Well, Murder is bad, but I don't think we need to do anything about it, because there are also rapist, torturers, bankers, etc..
Yes! Dr.Boom is out of control! Make it a 6/7.
hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe...
As for Antonidas and Mysterioys Challenger, those cards need a deck built around them to work. That is not comparable to a single card.
Yes, every successful deck is based on being "unfair". The difference is that every "unfair" play made is a combination of cards, in a deck that is built to accomodate exactly that play. With Dr. Boom you get an all-in-one card AND tempo advantage regardless of what the rest of your deck is doing!
Nerfit
So would that. The point of Dr is that the Bots aren't something you just ignore, if they were collectible cards they would probably be played for 2 mana. If it's going to get nerfed, reducing the health to 6 (or doing anything to Dr itself) would be the right thing to do. However, IMO they should just make more powerful late game cards that could compete with Dr. Especially 7 drops. Maybe something more powerful but also more situational.
AND SRY FOR STEALING THIS THREAD, BUT ILLIDAN 6/6!!!!! ::DDD
Why the hell would you nerf Dr Boom?
Paladins can drop the equivalent of Dr. Boom + belcher for 6 mana these days. If you nerf Dr Boom, they'll feel like they have no worthwhile turn 7 plays.
Yup Tirion was supposed to be a great class legendary, maybe the best one. Yet the neutral Boom costs one mana less and is still better. Perfectly balanced obviously.
But think of the poor paladins. They'd be completely lost on what 7-drop to pick. I say we up him instead.
Make him an 8/8 for 7 mana. Make the Boom Bots 2/2, rename them to Ragna-Bots and change their Deathrattles to "Deal 8 Damage to a Random Enemy". Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take an antacid, because writing that made me sick ._.
The ironic part is that he'd hardly be any better what so ever, because playing him onto an empty board is what wins the game -- and the problem is not the 9/9 stats, but the fact that there's nothing you can do about attackers, except playing taunts.
As player 2, I've got Dr. Boom in hand -- but used my coin on turn 5.
On turn 6 -- I've got to trade to clear the board.
I've got Dr. Boom in hand.
If he's got a 5, 6 or 7-drop other than Dr. Boom -- I win with my Dr. Boom.
If he's got Dr. Boom -- I lose, because he gets to deal 9 damage to my face first. Plus 9 damage to my minions + 2-8 damage randomly assigned on my board.
...
Boom Bots should simply hit RANDOM targets -- not random enemy targets.
Yeah I agree with that. Never understood why they didn't damage friendly characters as well, like Mad Bomber or Madder Bomber.
With the recent Warsong nerf, my hope of an impending Boom nerf(maybe after Blizzcon?) is renewed. 78 pages of posts on this thread is proof how broken OP Boom is. Of course people will defend Boom as they defended their broken Patron Warrior deck. The question is will Blizzard see how much Boom restricts design space? What's the incentive to buy card packs for the class legendaries when you can just run Boom in every deck instead? I would not be surprised to see Boom costing 9 mana or getting the madder bomber treatment.
Doubt they will. If they nerf it then people will just DE for full value and be done with it. There's nothing beneficial for Blizzard.
Also adding 7 drops that can compete with Dr Boom would increase card and deck diversity.
I am baffled by the amount of people that have suggested this.
Was adding more OTK combos the way to fix the Patron problem?
Was adding more 1 mana 4/5s the way to fix Undertaker?
How is fixing a mistake with more mistakes a good idea?
I would make him a 7/6 battle cry: summon one boom bot