Hearthpwn

IMO the fault in design of this card is the added unlisted effects that make him valuable to everyone:

1 card summon 3 minions is pretty OP with knife juggler since that is as good value for mana as you can get late game at 2.33 per minion.

1 card summon 2 death rattles is OP with undertaker since you wouldn't expect so much instant value in a single card for an aggro deck.

Therefore I suggest changing doctor boom to 7/7 for 7 Battlecry deal 2-5 damage to 2 random enemies.... (Sounds pretty OP right, but that is in effect a direct nerf) if you want the card to stay in control decks and be removed from aggro decks.

Or boom bots 0/1 if you want him gone from control decks since that gives the control player less control opposing the deck construction goal.

I faced Boom some times, and I have never seen a game where Dr. Boom won the game. It either was won before him, or he and their bombs did nothing to save him, I think this guy is crazy, but should be nerfed? Don't know really.

A few ideas:

1. Nerf the stats to 7/6 or 7/5, that way more damage removal options for Mage and Druid come into play.

2. Nerf the bots' deathrattle to only hit enemy minions. If none are available, the bomb just fizzles.

3. Nerf the bots' damage to 1-3 instead of 1-4.

4. Nerf the bots' stats to 0/2 instead of 1/1. That way they can't be easily triggered, but could still be useful as a target for taunt effects.

5. Leave the bots' stats at 1/1 but add the Rag text that they can't attack, thus they'd have to be triggered other ways.

6. Change the bots to 0/1, but instead of a deathrattle (so they don't trigger Undertaker or Feign Death) have them set to "At end of turn, destroy this minion and deal 1-4 damage to a random enemy."

7. Change the bots to deal damage to any random target, but lower the damage range to 1-2. This could introduce synergies with wanting to damage your own minions, but might be overnerf, I think the previous options would probably be better.

Any one or more of these would likely work and still keep Dr. Boom and his Boom Bots valuable, but not as OP because of the sheer power or the synergies with other cards.

I care about balance. A lot. I honestly think he is op. I haven't read any arguments yet that have shown me he isn't op.

(1) To everyone that says he is not OP because of Big Game Hunter... I can't buy this argument for two reasons. (a) because BGH isn't in every deck. If it MUST be included now because of the popularity of Dr. Boom, then this is a red flag, if anything. (b) And honestly, when I play Dr. Boom and it gets Big Game Hunter'd, then I smile and play my greater threat (Ragnaros, Molten Giant, whatever) next turn. And guess what? Dr. Boom still has potent tokens on the field. Dr. Boom is basically baiting removal in the worst case scenario.

(2) To everyone that says he never "wins" the game. When he is played, it takes a lot of cards to take him (and his effect) down. His threat level is just a little too high for his cost. While you may not win the turn he is played, or even the turn after, he can potentially snowball the match heavily into your favor, resulting in the win.

The reason this card is op is because its included in every single control or mid-range deck. But you can almost say the same for Sylvanis.

When the card was first released (and the text for the boom-bots hadn't been revealed) I automatically assumed the boom-bots could backfire and hit your own minions/face (as with all other goblin explosives). If they were to nerf it and change the text to hit any target, it would not longer be an auto-include. (I hope they don't though cause I like the card as is).

The best way to fix Dr. Boom is simply have the bombs read 'deal 1-4 damage to a random character'. This would also be more true and consistent with GvG's RNG fun. No longer would Dr.Boom be 'power creep' to war golem either since the battlecry isn't a guaranteed benefit (Spare me the 'what if you enrage your opponents grom hellscream' or other situational you know what). This isn't as big a nerf as one thinks either because it just makes Dr.Boom more situational. It means when your opponent has many minions he's good, and bad if vice versa. Doing this just means no longer when playing Dr.Boom on an empty board  is he a devastating 'win-more' monster. So he'd still fit into control decks but just require some thinking before playing him since currently he's almost always the 'right choice' to play. Also I'd like to question the balance-devs line of thinking on this one because what I just suggested (im sure others have to) is the same approach blizzard took with mechanical yeti already. Mechanical yeti is not power creep to yeti because the deathrattle could give your opponent a better spare part - its situational so that's why mechanical yeti usually only gets used (over piloted shredder or vanilla yeti) in decks involving antonidas/gazlowe  So say mechanical Yeti gave a part only to it's owner - THEN it would be strictly better then vanilla yeti and follow in the steps of current Dr. Boom and vanilla yeti would be like war golem. So Blizzard HAS considered all this. definitely a brain fart.

The comparison to War Golem is not fair; Dr. Boom is a legendary and can only be played once in a deck versus two of any non-legendary. It should be better than its vanilla counterpart. How much better is what is up for debate.

It hasn't been stated by Blizzard lol. It's been stated by random people on forums who can't comprehend that rarity (in particular, legendary status) should be at least somewhat better than any vanilla comparison.

Anyways, I think that the bombs should have a chance to hit any target when they die. Or, they can be 0/1 with the same deathrattle. Still very good, since it provides your board with good AoE "protection" of sorts.

There's ways to play around Dr. Boom. Several ways. I've never lost (yet) just because of him being played on the opponent's side. He is annoying, and his threat level is through the roof. But, if you have board presence, those bombs are less likely to hit your face. Their AoE ability isn't reliable. Maybe if they were changed to "Deal 1-2 damage" or something, less people would cry.

Since this is a controversial, I might as well give my 2 cents. Anyhow, I believe that Dr. Boom isn't really OP because he can be dealt with fairly cleanly. However, I feel that the Boom Bots that he summons are a bit too strong for what they do as they can clear a board of fairly low health minions, or hell one shot Yetis, with relative ease. If Blizzard wants to nerf the card, a very slight nerf to the Boom Bots, preferably to make the damage 1 to 3, would do.

If Dr. Boom's attack is changed to 6 that may be a buff as BGH would no longer remove him.

This card should not be nerfed.

Quote from Ubiiiiii »

This card should not be nerfed.

^I Agree^ dealing with dr. boom makes for a very fun and interesting turn. There is so much to consider.

ah .... Dr. Boom , that card is truly good , but would i say it is op ? i don't really think so , it is just a nich that Blizz added to the game ,as good 7 mana minion wern't availble , and this one just fills the spot ... The nerf isn't needed at all , a 7/7 can be BGH'd , Hex , poly , fireball .. any king of hard removale , and the boom bots relies on heavy RNG , as it can just screw you up or just get a minion or two ... just compare those to Ragnaros the Firelord , the concept is the same , if it hits the minion , you'r good to go , but if misses the minion  , then you migth have some trouble following that up , since rag will likely just die without doing a proper job .

Brief vent:  God damn you boom bots.  I had 5 life left, there where 6 targets for you to explode on, and you go for 4 to my face so the last boom bot could finish me off.  Eat a chode boom bots.

Also... Nabil Dr. Boom lives through a fireball.  And "just a minion or two" on a card that already draws prime removal makes it a 2 or 3 for 1 trade minimum.  There's really nothing the boom bots can do to screw you up sans triggering a deathrattle you would rather it didn't.  

There was a time when Novice Engineer used to be a 1/2, and most decks ran two copies. It got nerfed for that reason, "excess of popularity".

Having 80% of the decks run a card is a pretty good indication that the card is too strong / versatile, and honestly, 9/9 of stats with 2/8 damage deathrattle for 7 mana is way too much value for a neutral. I mean, it's better then Malorne and at least on par with Neptulon, both of which are class specific, even though Neptulon costs effectively 10 mana.

Dr boom only needs a small adjustment and I'm surprised no one has suggested it so far, and no it's not nerfing stats or damage.

The bombs need to deal damage to any random character. This way the bombs can back fire potentially hitting the doctor or your face as well. Dr Boom is a goblin and these are bombs. They need to be less reliable without lowering their potency.

Quote from RockJohnAxe »

Dr boom only needs a small adjustment and I'm surprised no one has suggested it so far, and no it's not nerfing stats or damage.

The bombs need to deal damage to any random character. This way the bombs can back fire potentially hitting the doctor or your face as well. Dr Boom is a goblin and these are bombs. They need to be less reliable without lowering their potency.

War Golem thanks you. 

THIS card needs a nerf SO BAD. It 3 for 1s at its best.

Quote from dismal79 »

In perfect flavor with the randomness of GvG, boom bots should also be able to hit friendly characters, that's a soft nerf that could work, and could create sinergies with cards like mech bear cat, acolyte of pain, northshire cleric, hell i don't know.

I was thinking about that one as well , i guess it is the best we could do really , just following the randomness of GvG since he's a goblin .