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Druid going to suck now?

These nerfs really seem to further the trend of Hunter dominence

Awesome changes.  Druid gets slowed down a bit (needed) and Odd-pally / shudder-shit shammy get destroyed.  Kingsbane rogue was on its way to becoming to much - Kingsbane was maybe 20-30% of my rogue matches before rasta and was 90%+ after rasta, it moved in power way to much and needed dialed back.

Serious question time.  Formerly, Druid would run no 1-drops, just double Spellstone double Naturalize, because they could go Wild Growth on 2 and Branching/Oaken/Coin Nourish on 3.  With Wild Growth not coming down until 3 or at best on 2 with the coin (so...half of your games) and the inability to follow it up with Nourish, will this massive hit to tempo mean that Druid has to start running real 1-drops? 

They nerfed every popular deck that destroyed hunter and they left hunter untouched. How is Emerald Spellstone balanced in their eyes? If you nerf all the decks that countered hunter, nerf hunter too. This will create huge disbalance in the meta, hunter will be clearly a top class now, with few effective ways to counter it.

I feel like yeah, Kingsbane still takes a massive hit. But saying it'll be unplayable is a bit of a stretch. The deck may not heal every turn for crazy amounts, but the 1 cost spell still allows you to burst heal through tough situations and just requires the deck take on more resource management skills instead of humping through win streaks while bashing my head against the wall. With a little revamping, it could still be a viable control deck I feel.

KEEP IN MIND. Some of the classes that were the reason people needed to constantly be healing with Kingsbane to survive just also took hefty nerfs. 

I may be wrong but this is what my immediate thought was I brushed through ranks 20-6 using Kingsbane before I swapped decks, and it was literally the most brain-dead EZ Mode game-play and unearned progression ever. THIS NEEDED TO HAPPEN.

Quote from schammo >>

Wild Growth and Nourish really deserve this spot. They are much more in use than any other class card. 

Not really, they are in use much more than other cards because every Druid archetype uses Ramping mechanic due to Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague which are the real culprits.

Basically, KoFT made most Druid decks identical in 50%, creating a, so to speak, staple Druid starter kit. Then you finish off with either Token package, or Taunt package, or Beast package, whatever - the pillar of the deck is still the same.

However, once Mammoth retires and we'll no longer have Un'Goro, Knights and Kobolds, Druids will lose a lot of those staple cards. Suddenly, neither Nourish, nor Wild Growth will remain problematic (unless new expansions bring some seriously bonkers Druid cards, _again_). Generally speaking, nerfing Basic/Classic cards is walking on thin ice - nerfs to expansion sets are short-term as the sets rotate over time, but Basic/Classic changes are forever.

TL;DR
Nourish hasn't always been a staple, far from it.
Wild Growth is just essential to the ramping class identity.

Sick Druid cards from KoFT and Kobolds are to blame, not the two cards that have been around forever and wouldn't be auto-included of the Druid decks if not for the aforementioned expansions.

Level Up, Leeching Poison (although I play Kingsbane) seem like reasonable nerfs.  

Saronite makes no sense, if you're targeting Shudderwock and it's incredibly boring and frustrating animation Grumble should've been the target.  Would much rather have one more Shudderwock on the board then sit through another tedious 5 minutes of a second Shudderwock being played.  Stupid, stupid nerf.  

Nerfing two classic cards from one class is somewhat ridiculous.  Neither of those cards were really a problem imo.

On the whole I'm disappointed, these aren't very good.

Oh man. I’ve been waiting for this day...

I HOPE ALL OF YOU CRAFTED KINGSBANES, DRUID CARDS, AND ODD PALLY SYNERGIES. Have fun collecting a small amount of that dust back for jumping the gun and diving into crafting before the meta even settled. Great nerfs, made total sense for both standard AND wild! Maybe now we will get to see some new cards in decks (shocker). Blizzard, you have restored my faith.

Quote from Maximal18 >>

They nerfed every popular deck that destroyed hunter and they left hunter untouched. How is Emerald Spellstone balanced in their eyes? If you nerf all the decks that countered hunter, nerf hunter too. This will create huge disbalance in the meta, hunter will be clearly a top class now, with few effective ways to counter it.

Hunter already IS a top class.  It probably gets a bit better, since Odd Paladin was a tough matchup for Cube Hunter.  But it won't make much difference.  You will be Hunted Down.  Your death will be quick and painless.

Nerfs to aggro decks don't mean that aggro decks go away. It means the door is opened for new aggro decks to take their place. 

Aggro always drives the meta. 

Quote from scorpyon >>

Quote from CookieFamous >>

What you gonna do, make it 11 mana? Zul'Jin is fine.

 A much more simple option would be to limit the number of replayed spells likme literally every other card that's had a similar effect before.
Zul'jim is obviiously not fine unless you are literally blind.

 Bloodreaver is much worsethan zuljin

Shadowrisen's Journal:  December 19th, 2018

Druid carcass in alley this morning.  Shudderwock claw mark on burst stomach.

This game is afraid of me.  I've seen its true face.

The players are entitled children, and the forums are full of blood, and when the salt threads finally lock, all the Paladins will drown.  The accumulated filth of all their emotes and roping will foam up about their waists and all the rogues and shamen will look up and shout, "Buff us!"

And I'll whisper . . . lol

Quote from Salohcin >>

A bit sad to have just crafted kingsbane. But I get 80 dust back I guess :(

The meta needed shaking up. Not sure that no hunter related nerf should have been included. 

Druid nerfs seem to be overkill considering ultimate infestation is rotating. Kind of strikes at class identity. 

 Its really sad to get your legendaries Kingsbane and Grumble, Worldshaker trashed and only get refund for a common and a rare.

I'm happy with the nerfs, these nerfs are healthy for the game, but not healthy for my budget.

Quote from Highwayman37 >>

 

Nerfing two classic cards from one class is somewhat ridiculous.  Neither of those cards were really a problem imo.

 I agree. UI is the problem not the ramp. Ramping without having what to do with the mana is not a problem. Look back (even at the competitive scene), where they had to use Nourish for card draw every time, because there was no UI and the Ancient of Lore was nerfed.  I mean ok, you nerf Ancient of Lore (Classic Set btw) and then you print by far a strictly better version of it? And again the classic set is to blame? I don't see the logic.

Instead of nerfing the whole classic set they could simply do rotation of classic/basic set. 

Quote from Highwayman37 >>

Saronite makes no sense, if you're targeting Shudderwock and it's incredibly boring and frustrating animation Grumble should've been the target. 

 I agree to that too. Not only Saronite, but leeching potion too. They try to get away with the bad designing of cards/mechanics- Shudderwock, Keleseth, Kingsbane, Even/odd mechanics, Quest rogue (via Giggling)- by nerfing other cards to the ground. Instead of that they should not have printed these BS cards or nerf them later and get rid of them.

There are positives for sure. I will not see again a game decided by turn 4  by buffed saronite chain gang by keleseth, or see the 1 million shudderwocks being played without being able to do sth to prevent it, or a whole format being infested by mindless kingsbane rogue decks, but overall I don't know if I m excited by the nerfs or not.

Yep. I really couldn't stand either deck, but it is complete bullshit for them to nerf a lower cost card, that kills the common use of multiple legendary cards. 

Quote from Skyryser >>

I think these nerfs are kind of weird - I commented on the article and got downvoted to oblivion within like 9 seconds.

So I'll say it here:

Saronite is a weird nerf. I've never experienced the card to be oppressive, if it gets buffed and duplicates, it gets buffed and duplicates. The Warlock Omega card is virtually the same mechanic, so wtf is going on here.

Wild Growth - I hate druid, but it's a class identity card, didn't need a nerf. So is Nourish, but I don't think that nerf is anywhere near as bad as the T2 one for Druid, and now leaves a clear open slot for a few months for prince K.

Level Up! - sad that it'll be leaving my Odd Mech Pally build, but I sure as hell am going to have it in my already OP Even Pally deck. A better nerf would've been +2(or +1)/+1 and no taunt. Make it easily clearable.

Leeching Poison - Ok this one makes sense, decent nerf, but will probably be leaving Kingsbane Rogue players foaming at the mouth.

These are WEIRD nerfs. I think it's the first time I've complained about nerfs outside of the Tess one. Saronite just blows my mind. How did Saronite get picked over so many other cards that are so much more broken?

 Saronite isnt the problem, shudderwock is. Level up isnt as powerful in even as in odd, even paladin doesnt swarm the board easily like odd paladin.

These nerfs make absolute sense.

Loving the new Team 5.  They deliver a decisive improvement to the game and a stinging rebuke to the tier deck culture.   Hope every nerf is like this, no warning.  

I mean, I craft Zul'jin because I think he will fit in a number of possible decks, even if spellstone goes away, or they nerf something.  This is how collecting should go, not 'I saw some FotM tier deck on VS and dropped a bunch of dust'

lol another overkill standard druid nerf.

The Saronite Chain Gang nerf also hurts Soul Infusion indirectly, lots of Locks ran Chain Gang with the Doubling Imp.

Am surprised no has mentioned yet how it nerfed that Warlock archtype.