Hearthpwn

So here are some screenshots i came across the Hearthstone subreddit:

I think it's quite obvious that in the first two pictures, the creators of the respective spells were Polymorphed and Hexed, respectively. If you can't read it, the third picture says Dollmaster Dorian was "Created by Fire Plume Pheonix". From what the OP of the pic tells me, the opponent played Face Collector and got Dorian, then Evolved the Collector, which resulted in the Pheonix and the text bellow the card.

Why is this happening? I have an explenation, but keep in mind that it's just speclation, since I have no idea how the game is programmed, only that it's made in Unity. Here goes:

Before the patch, transform effects would remove the existing game object (obviously without triggering destroy effects) create a new one with the desired attributes and replace the old one. Now, however, they simply change the attributesof the card.

Think of it this way: imagine the minions are paper forms, the kind you get at a DMV and such. Before the patch, the game would simply remove the old "form", print a new one, complete it with the data needed (the minion tag, cost, attributes, text etc) and put it into play. Now they simply change the data on the already exsisting "form".

"Wait," i hear you say, "wouldn't this take more time?" On the contrary, not only is it faster, it's also a lot more memory efficient (in theory, again, no idea how the game was made).

"What does this have to do with the new bugs?" I think before the patch, the game would memorise somewhere what card generated what, then put it in the history tab. Now, however, it takes that info from the "form" that is on play, a form that has been modified, so the information taken is wrong.

This would also explaing the Faceless Manipulator. Before, the game would play the manipulator, remove it, and summon the minion you copied (or rather summon the minion then remove the Facelles, since i've seen bugs wehre both were on the board), which is why the Druid Quest counted it. I bet if you played a buffed Faceless, the Quest counter would've gone up by two (imposible to test now, sadly). Now, however, the Faceless simply changes it's attack, not counting for the Quest, much like how giving a minion attack doesn't work. Choose one transform effects, however, still work, since the minion isn't played until you choose a form.

Again, this is all speculation, so don't take what i've said with a pinch of salt, but this is the most logical explaination I can think of without knowing how the game is made. If there are any question, or if there's an interation i may have missed (which there shurely are), feel free to ask and I will try to answer the best i can.

VERY interesting, thank you for that theory.

Makes me wonder if this has caused other side effects.  Changes, even minor, are VERY hard to calculate in card games.  We have so many interactions between cards that it's easy to miss a few oddballs due to even the smallest of changes.  

I never even realized this when I played HS.  Thanks for the theory!

Quote from iandakar >>

VERY interesting, thank you for that theory.

Makes me wonder if this has caused other side effects.  Changes, even minor, are VERY hard to calculate in card games.  We have so many interactions between cards that it's easy to miss a few oddballs due to even the smallest of changes.  

 

Quote from GrillaGamingYT >>

I never even realized this when I played HS.  Thanks for the theory!

 ♪What can i say except: You're welcome!♪ Also, thanks for the kind words.

You don't know life if a sheep never gave you a fireball, boy.

Quote from beardfasse >>

You don't know life if a sheep never gave you a fireball, boy.

Surely it should be a boar if it is an ArcHAMge

It just came to my atention that Elementals are also afected here. If you poly or hex an Elemental, the chain is broken. This leads me to believe that, the way this works, the hand looks for cards that were played at the start of your turn to check if any had the lemental tag. Now, however, because the tag has changed, there's no elemental that was played last turn, so the chain breaks.

Edit: I bet that if you played a card and that isn't an elemntal and then turned it into an elemental, it would actually count towards the chain. Pretty easy to test with Unstable Evolution.

Quote from NiRaSt >>

It just came to my atention that Elementals are also afected here. If you poly or hex an Elemental, the chain is broken. This leads me to believe that, the way this works, the hand looks for cards that were played at the start of your turn to check if any had the lemental tag. Now, however, because the tag has changed, there's no elemental that was played last turn, so the chain breaks.

 If so that sounds like a bug since it's about the last elemental you PLAYED, not what it died as.  

Just tested it: if you evolve a minion into an elemental, it will NOT re-link the chain. Which means my explination for how the game checks if you play an elemntal is wrong.

These changes are probably why elemental chains are broken if the elemental played is silence/transformed. Seems like a really bad side effect. 

Quote from jbagels1 >>

These changes are probably why elemental chains are broken if the elemental played is silence/transformed. Seems like a really bad side effect. 

 A confirmation of a bug.  If anyone has seen it in action go to twitter and let blizzard know of it.  Unless we get confirmation that they WANT it to work this way it's best to assume it's an unintended side effect that they need to fix.  Never assume that something is intended unless you get Blue text telling you otherwise.

(I feel uneasy to go report something I've only seen second hand)