Blizzard is once again entering a round of card rebalancing, due to hit servers (maybe) sometime this week. Ten cards are coming under the knife. Some are needed changes. Some are confusing. Some seem unnecessary.
Let's cover the no-brainers first. Changes we were all expecting to see made.
Pyroblast is seeing an increase in its mana cost from 8 to 10. A lot of the current commentary is suggesting that Blizzard should have tackled the root of the problem, Ice Block.
My feeling is that with Pyroblast now costing 10 mana, Ice Block actually becomes less useful a card to the Mage's current strategy. The reason being, most mages are dead on turn 7 through 9 except for Ice Block. Now that Pyroblast can't be used until turn 10 (or 9 if they have Coin), they'll have likely burned through their two Ice Blocks by the time they can play Pyroblast, and at that point it's too late for them. Most mages are not going to survive turn ten and eleven to fire off their two Pyroblasts.
This seems like an appropriate fix. Pyroblast is the root of the problem, not Ice Block, and they've correctly identified that.
Blood Imp's card text and stats are changing. It will now be a 0/1, and its text will now read "Stealth. At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Health."
Blood Imp's have been overpowered for some time now. They are the backbone to any Warlock rush deck. They also mitigate a lot of area of effect (AOE) damage by taking advantage of odd health buff mechanics in Hearthstone.
This is still going to be a no-brainer in almost all Warlock decks, but that it will no longer buff the entire board will help to mitigate Warlock rush to a good degree.
This is a good change.
The previous nerf to Unleash the Hounds made the card almost useless in a Hunter deck. It really neutered Hunters to a large degree, making them one of the weakest classes in the game. So roll back the big nerf, the mana cost of Unleash will be reduced to 2 mana.
This will make the Hunter pseudo-AOE card more likely to find its way into decks, and a more likely to have a noticeable effect on the board.
Another good change.
Warrior OTK (one-turn kill) decks were the next to get hit by Blizzard and two cards came under the knife. Most of the current commentary suggests Blizzard should have tackled the root of the problem, Molten Giants. The commentary might be right in this regard. Whereas they do neuter Warrior OTK, other decks, such as Warlock Giants, remain untouched.
Charge will now cost 3 mana and its new card text will read "Give a friendly minion +2 Attack and Charge."
Warsong Commander's new card text reads "Whenever you play a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge."
Both changes are going to severely neuter Warrior Giant/OTK decks. What is obvious from these changes, Blizzard do not want players sitting back, not interacting with the board, until they have their kill condition. They want games decided by the battle of minions on the board.
Most of these other changes range from confusing to baffling to unnecessary. One thing seems clear. If a card is overly popular, Blizzard will assume that it is overpowered and will nerf it. By doing so, hoping to reduce its popularity. All of these other changes were made due to popularity, versus any inherent or game-breaking problems with the cards.
Sylvanas Windrunner will see an increase to 6 mana. Which makes my last article, The Sylvanas Windrunner Brawl, almost entirely moot.
Was a change needed on this card? Not really, in my opinion. Under most circumstances, the card was easy enough to play around, neutralizing its deathrattle effect. As much as it was a popular card, it was not as effective or powerful as perhaps Blizzard believes.Considering how simple to was to avoid Sylvanas' deathrattle, I would expect this card to start seeing far less play. It is simply not worth 6 mana for 5/5 stats, and that's what the card is 70% of the time.
Defender of Argus is now a 2/3.
Again, I'm not sure what problem this solves. I don't see this card being any less popular than it is currently. People use it to create buffed taunts. The card will still do that as effectively. The only thing being lost is a point of potential damage on subsequent turns. Argent Commander remained as popular after its nerf, I expect nothing different from Defender of Argus.
Dark Iron Dwarf's card text will now read "Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack until end of turn."
This is a serious nerf to this card. A one turn buff. I would expect to see the popularity of this card drop quite a bit.
I'm not sure this was a necessary change. Just because a card is popular does not warrant a change, in my opinion. There will always be cards that are more popular than others. Perhaps Blizzard should look at increasing value of unpopular cards, rather than nerfing popular cards?
Another unnecessary change. Novice Engineer's stats will change to 1/1.
People put this card into their decks for the card draw, not for the stats. Yes, it will be easier to remove now. Yes, it won't be quite as effective in rush decks. But it's popularity will remain high due to its value as card draw.
Our last card only receives a slight wording change to bring it in line with the new wording on Dark Iron Dwarf.
Abusive Sergeant will now read "Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack until end of turn."
The major change is that it can now buff enemy minions, which adds it to the list of cards that can synergize with Big Game Hunter.
Sylvanas Windrunner not OP?! ROFL! Only the best card in the game, post nerf!
All the nerfs were smart, and well done aside from one, the warsong commander. It seems borderline crap now, and didn't even address the real issue, which was molten giants.
Ineffective nerfs include Sylvannas and Defender of Argus. These nerfs accomplish little to nothing, but they are at least a recognition of issues.
yeah i feel imp serves a double purpose while it is a nerf. it address the glaring issue with where if you would deal more damage then the card its buffing has health the imp would die first and the bonus would stick around long enough to ensure everything barely scrapped by not really doing anything about it.
Sylvanas Windrunner not OP?! ROFL! Only the best card in the game, post nerf!
Sylvanas only has the potential of being OP. Most of the time, card text value is never achieved (since it is so easy to play around), making it a less effective card than Chillwind Yeti.
I'm really confused by what cards you think had suitable changes, and the ones you think didn't.
Pyro:
Seeing as you spent more time talking about ice block than Pyro, surely you'd agree that ice block was the problem, yes? With pyro being so terrible, mage will completely lack the finishing power they need and cannot play any of the current decks they use. The only viable option for mage now is rush, which already got nerfed last patch with the freeze changes. Mage isn't very good at rush anymore, not without getting the perfect starting hand. It's not as bad as the hunter nerf last patch, but I'd say mage is going to fall down to priest status now.
Blood Imp:
Agree
Unleash the Hounds:
Unleash the hounds did take a big hit, but it was still a very useful card that was taken in just about every hunter deck. The combo it had with starving buzzard, hyena, cult master, timber wolf, etc. (not necessarily all at once) was pretty strong. I agree that it was probably too expensive, but halving the mana cost was too severe. 3 mana cost would have been great, but halving the mana cost was a shortsighted knee-jerk response.
Sylvanus Windrunner:
I can't believe so many people think that card was balanced. She wasn't nerfed because she was popular, she was nerfed because she was BULLSHIT. Sure, she could be played around, but that doesn't mean she isn't OP. Every card CAN be played around, but Sylvanus was really expensive to play around. You either HAD to silence her or empty your board to kill her. And even if you DO silence her, it doesn't punish it. 5-5 for 5 was still effecient. Playing a silence isn't free, you are spending mana inefficiently and playing a minion with poor stats, not to mention you won't have a silence when your opponent plays Ancient of War in two turns. And if you didn't happen to have a silence, oh, well then forget it. You just cannot play any minions until she's dead, or you have to kill the enemy player before she dies. She was by no means impossible to beat, but she was still miles above most other cards. Compare her to Cairne; Cairne is a 4-5 for 6 with a slightly less impactful deathrattle. If you silenced him, the player who played him actually loses tempo. With Sylvanas, you didn't really lose anything.
Defender of Argus:
If a card is that overpowered, almost any nerf is a good nerf. It may not make it balanced, but at least it's a step in the right direction. I think slow and steady balance changes is the best way to do things.
Dark Iron Dwarf:
This nerf is not as heavy as you make it out to be. Most of the time that Dark Iron is played, the minion he buffed dies that turn anyway. Also, this is another card that was really popular for a reason. Trading 1 HP to give a permanent 2 attack bonus to another minion is very strong. This change makes Dark Iron dwarf both slightly more and slightly less risky to have in your deck. If you don't have a minion you'd like to buff, the battle cry is wasted. On the other hand, you can now play it on an open board without buffing an enemy minion.
Novice Engineer:
On the contrary, I think this card got gutted! I don't see why anyone would use it anymore. Think about it, the draw isn't really draw. You are spending 2 mana to play a 1-1... Sound familiar? *cough* SILVERHAND RECRUIT*cough* Novice engineer is now exactly on par with a hero power. Hero powers are meant to be bad temp, but decent value. That way you don't get completely punished for not playing something during your turn. With novice being no better than a hero power, I don't understand why you would run it at all. Why not just have a card worth playing instead? If you never put it in your deck, you pretty much get the card it would have drawn. Loothoarder is so seldom silenced, that I see people simply using it instead. Besides, with loot hoarder, if it baits out a silence it's usually worth it.
Tbh, every nerf they do i've disliked so far because while the cards they nerfed were very strong they nerfed them in a way that removed the play styles as apposed to simply making it weaker. It feels like Blizzard hate the idea that if a deck can win in any way other than simply duking it out on then board then that style must be removed which to me is bad, a good card game should have a diverse amount of play styles. There's nothing wrong with OTK, Combo, Aggro, Ramp, Control etc. decks as long as they are challenging and interesting to play/play against and instead of making these decks viable in this way they simply remove them all together.
On top of that as you've said they seem to assume popular = overpowered which isn't the case, there nerfing cards based on the amount there used as apposed to the actual strength of a card. A particular card could become popular because of a discussion thread, it fits better in the current meta, a streamer used it etc. not just because it's OP and these sort of nerfs just make no sense and only reduce the amount of diversity in the game. Also what's with all these nerfs that take a strong card and make it worthless? Dark Iron Dwarf will be used by almost nobody now because there are wayy better uses of 4 mana than a 4/4 that gives a +2 for 1 turn... This is just so dumb imo.
Overall Blizzard should point there changes more towards Bringing other play styles to the same strength as the current ones to allow more deck diversity to appear instead of nerfing everything that currently works until there is only one play style left... I guess next patch we'll see Paladin healing, Druid ramp and rogues pressure be nerfed and then maybe Shaman control will become OP so that will be nerfed and so on... Until eventually every cards special effect is so weak that it makes next to no difference and diversity is gone all together.
The problem wasn't so much Pyro alone. And the problem wasn't so much Ice Block alone. It was the combination of the two cards on turn 7 - 9. Increasing the cost of Pyro pretty much eliminates Pyro-Ice Block decks. Ice Block will be used in different ways now, which will likely be more manageable for an opponent to deal with. The jury is still out, we have to see how the meta develops.
Novice Engineer:
The main reason for using the card is the card draw. And it's still far better than Silverhand Recruit. I don't think we'll see its use decrease that much. But I do think it was an unnecessary change. I'm not defending the change, I just don't think they've done much to hamper its appeal. I don't think Blizzard should be nerfing based on popularity. They should be buffing cards based on unpopularity, asking "How can we make this unpopular card more attractive?"
Dark Iron Dwarf:
You're probably right about Dwarf. Most times you were buffing for an immediate suicide run, not for long term gain. As you say, the popularity of the card will likely remain.
Sylvanas Windrunner:
You may be right again. I'm just annoyed that the change cancels out one-turn Sylvanas/Brawl synergy. That was such a fun mechanic. I'm not really to bothered by her bump to 6 mana overall. I don't think it was necessary, but then only my Warrior deck is put out by the change.
Defender of Argus:
I still think this change was wholly unnecessary and pointless. It's a nerf based on popularity. When I think Blizzard should be looking at some buffs based on unpopularity.
When I think Blizzard should be looking at some buffs based on unpopularity.
^ I agree with this whole heartedly. However, Argus is another card that's popular for a reason. That reason being that it's OP. Some cards are really popular, but aren't OP at all such as Faerie Dragon. As you can see, they aren't getting nerfed. Popularity is generally a good measure of the balance for a card, but Blizzard understands that it doesn't necessarily mean it needs a nerf.
Novice Engineer:
Could you explain why you think it's better than a silverhand recruit? Outside of rogue combo and gimmicky stuff like questing adventurer, I'm not seeing it.
Pyroblast:
I don't see ice block being used in different ways. Do you have extra mana and/or are about to die? Play iceblock! My point is that pyro would be much weaker without having iceblock to back it up, but it would still leave mage with decent finishing power. With the current change, pyro and iceblock still both take a hit, but mage cannot play the late game effectively anymore. Ice block is a huge problem because it simply has no counterplay unless you are a hunter with flare. By itself, pyro has coutnerplay. You can take the mage out before she takes you out, or you can heal while getting a slight tempo advantage. Iceblock rendered those options impossible when in play and turned mage games into a coinflip. Did I draw iceblock and enough direct damage to kill you by turn 9? If yes, I win, if no, I lose. With this change, mage will need to find a totally new way to win, but won't have any strong cards left to supplement it.
P.S. Holy crap, we are having a legitimate discussion about balance and I haven't been called a whiner or been told to L2P yet. I don't understand... I mean... you even read my whole post and conceded where you thought I made a good point. WHAT IS HAPPENING!?!?!
Could you explain why you think it's better than a silverhand recruit? Outside of rogue combo and gimmicky stuff like questing adventurer, I'm not seeing it.
Does Silverhand Recruit give you a free card draw? Are you under the impression that they removed the card draw from Novice Engineer?
Could you explain why you think it's better than a silverhand recruit? Outside of rogue combo and gimmicky stuff like questing adventurer, I'm not seeing it.
Does Silverhand Recruit give you a free card draw? Are you under the impression that they removed the card draw from Novice Engineer?
Yes, but silverhand doesn't cost a card. You have to spend a card to play novice engineer, but gain one as well.
Could you explain why you think it's better than a silverhand recruit? Outside of rogue combo and gimmicky stuff like questing adventurer, I'm not seeing it.
Does Silverhand Recruit give you a free card draw? Are you under the impression that they removed the card draw from Novice Engineer?
Yes, but silverhand doesn't cost a card. You have to spend a card to play novice engineer, but gain one as well.
0+0=0 and -1+1=0
You obviously miss the entire point of card draw in a card game.
I don't see ice block being used in different ways. Do you have extra mana and/or are about to die? Play iceblock! My point is that pyro would be much weaker without having iceblock to back it up, but it would still leave mage with decent finishing power. With the current change, pyro and iceblock still both take a hit, but mage cannot play the late game effectively anymore. Ice block is a huge problem because it simply has no counterplay unless you are a hunter with flare. By itself, pyro has coutnerplay. You can take the mage out before she takes you out, or you can heal while getting a slight tempo advantage. Iceblock rendered those options impossible when in play and turned mage games into a coinflip. Did I draw iceblock and enough direct damage to kill you by turn 9? If yes, I win, if no, I lose. With this change, mage will need to find a totally new way to win, but won't have any strong cards left to supplement it.
The problem with nerfing iceblock instead of pyro is that it's not uncommon to know when they have lethal! Thus, your nerf did next to nothing!
Could you explain why you think it's better than a silverhand recruit? Outside of rogue combo and gimmicky stuff like questing adventurer, I'm not seeing it.
Does Silverhand Recruit give you a free card draw? Are you under the impression that they removed the card draw from Novice Engineer?
Yes, but silverhand doesn't cost a card. You have to spend a card to play novice engineer, but gain one as well.
0+0=0 and -1+1=0
You obviously miss the entire point of card draw in a card game.
Oh, really? Would you care to elaborate? The only point I can see in card draw like that is making your deck 2 cards thinner. However, that comes at a price. You must play play that novice engineer before you get the card. If you had another card instead of novice engineer, you wouldn't have had to spend 2 mana on a 1-1 if you didn't want to.
Novice engineer will still be ran, as it was never used due to the body (which is just an added bonus) but because it helps cycle your deck. the purpose of most draw cards are to make your deck have less filler cards and get to your key cards faster. A mage will not care if the engineer dies, as they just want to cycle through until they get iceblock/pyro. A druid simply wants to stall and draw their big beefy minions, and the same is true for most other classes. On the rare occasion where novice engineer actually traded for a card (leper gnome, argent squire, etc.) it was just an added bonus, and not something that you should be using the card for in the first place.
The person above me says that Novice will still be ran to cycle for card draw, but that is just the same as running a deck with only 28 cards. You will get to your cards with the same probability. In other words, playing novice is no better than summoning a 1/1 for 2 mana.
Sylvanas Windrunner Hrm, I would wholly prefer a nerf in stats than in mana cost, 6 mana really desynergizes from all the good 5 mana cards. Using and playing against her I don't feel she was more overpowered than other legendaries, then again, the community complains about her the most so she gets nerfed.
Sylvanas Windrunner Hrm, I would wholly prefer a nerf in stats than in mana cost, 6 mana really desynergizes from all the good 5 mana cards. Using and playing against her I don't feel she was more overpowered than other legendaries, then again, the community complains about her the most so she gets nerfed.
Yah, best legendary in game isn't OP! Everyone is using it just to fap to the image obviously!
Loot Hoarder will likely see an increase in use, while novice sees a decline (not completely gone though). The issue with them is they die to hero powers. That's why novice was better, well that and you got a card now, rather than later.
Blizzard is once again entering a round of card rebalancing, due to hit servers (maybe) sometime this week. Ten cards are coming under the knife. Some are needed changes. Some are confusing. Some seem unnecessary.
Let's cover the no-brainers first. Changes we were all expecting to see made.
Pyroblast is seeing an increase in its mana cost from 8 to 10. A lot of the current commentary is suggesting that Blizzard should have tackled the root of the problem, Ice Block.
My feeling is that with Pyroblast now costing 10 mana, Ice Block actually becomes less useful a card to the Mage's current strategy. The reason being, most mages are dead on turn 7 through 9 except for Ice Block. Now that Pyroblast can't be used until turn 10 (or 9 if they have Coin), they'll have likely burned through their two Ice Blocks by the time they can play Pyroblast, and at that point it's too late for them. Most mages are not going to survive turn ten and eleven to fire off their two Pyroblasts.
This seems like an appropriate fix. Pyroblast is the root of the problem, not Ice Block, and they've correctly identified that.
Blood Imp's card text and stats are changing. It will now be a 0/1, and its text will now read "Stealth. At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Health."
Blood Imp's have been overpowered for some time now. They are the backbone to any Warlock rush deck. They also mitigate a lot of area of effect (AOE) damage by taking advantage of odd health buff mechanics in Hearthstone.
This is still going to be a no-brainer in almost all Warlock decks, but that it will no longer buff the entire board will help to mitigate Warlock rush to a good degree.
This is a good change.
The previous nerf to Unleash the Hounds made the card almost useless in a Hunter deck. It really neutered Hunters to a large degree, making them one of the weakest classes in the game. So roll back the big nerf, the mana cost of Unleash will be reduced to 2 mana.
This will make the Hunter pseudo-AOE card more likely to find its way into decks, and a more likely to have a noticeable effect on the board.
Another good change.
Warrior OTK (one-turn kill) decks were the next to get hit by Blizzard and two cards came under the knife. Most of the current commentary suggests Blizzard should have tackled the root of the problem, Molten Giants. The commentary might be right in this regard. Whereas they do neuter Warrior OTK, other decks, such as Warlock Giants, remain untouched.
Charge will now cost 3 mana and its new card text will read "Give a friendly minion +2 Attack and Charge."
Warsong Commander's new card text reads "Whenever you play a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge."
Both changes are going to severely neuter Warrior Giant/OTK decks. What is obvious from these changes, Blizzard do not want players sitting back, not interacting with the board, until they have their kill condition. They want games decided by the battle of minions on the board.
Most of these other changes range from confusing to baffling to unnecessary. One thing seems clear. If a card is overly popular, Blizzard will assume that it is overpowered and will nerf it. By doing so, hoping to reduce its popularity. All of these other changes were made due to popularity, versus any inherent or game-breaking problems with the cards.
Sylvanas Windrunner will see an increase to 6 mana. Which makes my last article, The Sylvanas Windrunner Brawl, almost entirely moot.
Was a change needed on this card? Not really, in my opinion. Under most circumstances, the card was easy enough to play around, neutralizing its deathrattle effect. As much as it was a popular card, it was not as effective or powerful as perhaps Blizzard believes.Considering how simple to was to avoid Sylvanas' deathrattle, I would expect this card to start seeing far less play. It is simply not worth 6 mana for 5/5 stats, and that's what the card is 70% of the time.
Defender of Argus is now a 2/3.
Again, I'm not sure what problem this solves. I don't see this card being any less popular than it is currently. People use it to create buffed taunts. The card will still do that as effectively. The only thing being lost is a point of potential damage on subsequent turns. Argent Commander remained as popular after its nerf, I expect nothing different from Defender of Argus.
Dark Iron Dwarf's card text will now read "Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack until end of turn."
This is a serious nerf to this card. A one turn buff. I would expect to see the popularity of this card drop quite a bit.
I'm not sure this was a necessary change. Just because a card is popular does not warrant a change, in my opinion. There will always be cards that are more popular than others. Perhaps Blizzard should look at increasing value of unpopular cards, rather than nerfing popular cards?
Another unnecessary change. Novice Engineer's stats will change to 1/1.
People put this card into their decks for the card draw, not for the stats. Yes, it will be easier to remove now. Yes, it won't be quite as effective in rush decks. But it's popularity will remain high due to its value as card draw.
Our last card only receives a slight wording change to bring it in line with the new wording on Dark Iron Dwarf.
Abusive Sergeant will now read "Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack until end of turn."
The major change is that it can now buff enemy minions, which adds it to the list of cards that can synergize with Big Game Hunter.
(original article)
Poetic.
Sylvanas Windrunner not OP?! ROFL! Only the best card in the game, post nerf!
All the nerfs were smart, and well done aside from one, the warsong commander. It seems borderline crap now, and didn't even address the real issue, which was molten giants.
Ineffective nerfs include Sylvannas and Defender of Argus. These nerfs accomplish little to nothing, but they are at least a recognition of issues.
yeah i feel imp serves a double purpose while it is a nerf. it address the glaring issue with where if you would deal more damage then the card its buffing has health the imp would die first and the bonus would stick around long enough to ensure everything barely scrapped by not really doing anything about it.
Sylvanas only has the potential of being OP. Most of the time, card text value is never achieved (since it is so easy to play around), making it a less effective card than Chillwind Yeti.
Poetic.
I'm really confused by what cards you think had suitable changes, and the ones you think didn't.
Pyro:
Seeing as you spent more time talking about ice block than Pyro, surely you'd agree that ice block was the problem, yes? With pyro being so terrible, mage will completely lack the finishing power they need and cannot play any of the current decks they use. The only viable option for mage now is rush, which already got nerfed last patch with the freeze changes. Mage isn't very good at rush anymore, not without getting the perfect starting hand. It's not as bad as the hunter nerf last patch, but I'd say mage is going to fall down to priest status now.
Blood Imp:
Agree
Unleash the Hounds:
Unleash the hounds did take a big hit, but it was still a very useful card that was taken in just about every hunter deck. The combo it had with starving buzzard, hyena, cult master, timber wolf, etc. (not necessarily all at once) was pretty strong. I agree that it was probably too expensive, but halving the mana cost was too severe. 3 mana cost would have been great, but halving the mana cost was a shortsighted knee-jerk response.
Sylvanus Windrunner:
I can't believe so many people think that card was balanced. She wasn't nerfed because she was popular, she was nerfed because she was BULLSHIT. Sure, she could be played around, but that doesn't mean she isn't OP. Every card CAN be played around, but Sylvanus was really expensive to play around. You either HAD to silence her or empty your board to kill her. And even if you DO silence her, it doesn't punish it. 5-5 for 5 was still effecient. Playing a silence isn't free, you are spending mana inefficiently and playing a minion with poor stats, not to mention you won't have a silence when your opponent plays Ancient of War in two turns. And if you didn't happen to have a silence, oh, well then forget it. You just cannot play any minions until she's dead, or you have to kill the enemy player before she dies. She was by no means impossible to beat, but she was still miles above most other cards. Compare her to Cairne; Cairne is a 4-5 for 6 with a slightly less impactful deathrattle. If you silenced him, the player who played him actually loses tempo. With Sylvanas, you didn't really lose anything.
Defender of Argus:
If a card is that overpowered, almost any nerf is a good nerf. It may not make it balanced, but at least it's a step in the right direction. I think slow and steady balance changes is the best way to do things.
Dark Iron Dwarf:
This nerf is not as heavy as you make it out to be. Most of the time that Dark Iron is played, the minion he buffed dies that turn anyway. Also, this is another card that was really popular for a reason. Trading 1 HP to give a permanent 2 attack bonus to another minion is very strong. This change makes Dark Iron dwarf both slightly more and slightly less risky to have in your deck. If you don't have a minion you'd like to buff, the battle cry is wasted. On the other hand, you can now play it on an open board without buffing an enemy minion.
Novice Engineer:
On the contrary, I think this card got gutted! I don't see why anyone would use it anymore. Think about it, the draw isn't really draw. You are spending 2 mana to play a 1-1... Sound familiar? *cough* SILVERHAND RECRUIT*cough* Novice engineer is now exactly on par with a hero power. Hero powers are meant to be bad temp, but decent value. That way you don't get completely punished for not playing something during your turn. With novice being no better than a hero power, I don't understand why you would run it at all. Why not just have a card worth playing instead? If you never put it in your deck, you pretty much get the card it would have drawn. Loothoarder is so seldom silenced, that I see people simply using it instead. Besides, with loot hoarder, if it baits out a silence it's usually worth it.
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Tbh, every nerf they do i've disliked so far because while the cards they nerfed were very strong they nerfed them in a way that removed the play styles as apposed to simply making it weaker. It feels like Blizzard hate the idea that if a deck can win in any way other than simply duking it out on then board then that style must be removed which to me is bad, a good card game should have a diverse amount of play styles. There's nothing wrong with OTK, Combo, Aggro, Ramp, Control etc. decks as long as they are challenging and interesting to play/play against and instead of making these decks viable in this way they simply remove them all together.
On top of that as you've said they seem to assume popular = overpowered which isn't the case, there nerfing cards based on the amount there used as apposed to the actual strength of a card. A particular card could become popular because of a discussion thread, it fits better in the current meta, a streamer used it etc. not just because it's OP and these sort of nerfs just make no sense and only reduce the amount of diversity in the game. Also what's with all these nerfs that take a strong card and make it worthless? Dark Iron Dwarf will be used by almost nobody now because there are wayy better uses of 4 mana than a 4/4 that gives a +2 for 1 turn... This is just so dumb imo.
Overall Blizzard should point there changes more towards Bringing other play styles to the same strength as the current ones to allow more deck diversity to appear instead of nerfing everything that currently works until there is only one play style left... I guess next patch we'll see Paladin healing, Druid ramp and rogues pressure be nerfed and then maybe Shaman control will become OP so that will be nerfed and so on... Until eventually every cards special effect is so weak that it makes next to no difference and diversity is gone all together.
Pyroblast:
The problem wasn't so much Pyro alone. And the problem wasn't so much Ice Block alone. It was the combination of the two cards on turn 7 - 9. Increasing the cost of Pyro pretty much eliminates Pyro-Ice Block decks. Ice Block will be used in different ways now, which will likely be more manageable for an opponent to deal with. The jury is still out, we have to see how the meta develops.
Novice Engineer:
The main reason for using the card is the card draw. And it's still far better than Silverhand Recruit. I don't think we'll see its use decrease that much. But I do think it was an unnecessary change. I'm not defending the change, I just don't think they've done much to hamper its appeal. I don't think Blizzard should be nerfing based on popularity. They should be buffing cards based on unpopularity, asking "How can we make this unpopular card more attractive?"
Dark Iron Dwarf:
You're probably right about Dwarf. Most times you were buffing for an immediate suicide run, not for long term gain. As you say, the popularity of the card will likely remain.
Sylvanas Windrunner:
You may be right again. I'm just annoyed that the change cancels out one-turn Sylvanas/Brawl synergy. That was such a fun mechanic. I'm not really to bothered by her bump to 6 mana overall. I don't think it was necessary, but then only my Warrior deck is put out by the change.
Defender of Argus:
I still think this change was wholly unnecessary and pointless. It's a nerf based on popularity. When I think Blizzard should be looking at some buffs based on unpopularity.
Poetic.
^ I agree with this whole heartedly. However, Argus is another card that's popular for a reason. That reason being that it's OP. Some cards are really popular, but aren't OP at all such as Faerie Dragon. As you can see, they aren't getting nerfed. Popularity is generally a good measure of the balance for a card, but Blizzard understands that it doesn't necessarily mean it needs a nerf.
Novice Engineer:
Could you explain why you think it's better than a silverhand recruit? Outside of rogue combo and gimmicky stuff like questing adventurer, I'm not seeing it.
Pyroblast:
I don't see ice block being used in different ways. Do you have extra mana and/or are about to die? Play iceblock! My point is that pyro would be much weaker without having iceblock to back it up, but it would still leave mage with decent finishing power. With the current change, pyro and iceblock still both take a hit, but mage cannot play the late game effectively anymore. Ice block is a huge problem because it simply has no counterplay unless you are a hunter with flare. By itself, pyro has coutnerplay. You can take the mage out before she takes you out, or you can heal while getting a slight tempo advantage. Iceblock rendered those options impossible when in play and turned mage games into a coinflip. Did I draw iceblock and enough direct damage to kill you by turn 9? If yes, I win, if no, I lose. With this change, mage will need to find a totally new way to win, but won't have any strong cards left to supplement it.
P.S. Holy crap, we are having a legitimate discussion about balance and I haven't been called a whiner or been told to L2P yet. I don't understand... I mean... you even read my whole post and conceded where you thought I made a good point. WHAT IS HAPPENING!?!?!
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Does Silverhand Recruit give you a free card draw? Are you under the impression that they removed the card draw from Novice Engineer?
Poetic.
Yes, but silverhand doesn't cost a card. You have to spend a card to play novice engineer, but gain one as well.
0+0=0 and -1+1=0
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You obviously miss the entire point of card draw in a card game.
Poetic.
The problem with nerfing iceblock instead of pyro is that it's not uncommon to know when they have lethal! Thus, your nerf did next to nothing!
Oh, really? Would you care to elaborate? The only point I can see in card draw like that is making your deck 2 cards thinner. However, that comes at a price. You must play play that novice engineer before you get the card. If you had another card instead of novice engineer, you wouldn't have had to spend 2 mana on a 1-1 if you didn't want to.
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Novice engineer will still be ran, as it was never used due to the body (which is just an added bonus) but because it helps cycle your deck. the purpose of most draw cards are to make your deck have less filler cards and get to your key cards faster. A mage will not care if the engineer dies, as they just want to cycle through until they get iceblock/pyro. A druid simply wants to stall and draw their big beefy minions, and the same is true for most other classes. On the rare occasion where novice engineer actually traded for a card (leper gnome, argent squire, etc.) it was just an added bonus, and not something that you should be using the card for in the first place.
Okay...someone please explain to me!! :(
The person above me says that Novice will still be ran to cycle for card draw, but that is just the same as running a deck with only 28 cards. You will get to your cards with the same probability. In other words, playing novice is no better than summoning a 1/1 for 2 mana.
Why not run Loot Hoarder? Can bait out possible Ironbeak Owl and can trade up against 3/2s like Acidic Swamp Ooze, Faerie Dragon, Knife Juggler etc?
Thanks FOO(The Banner God)!
So aside from Unleash the Hounds, which was terrible, every change is a Nerf/Rework.
Warsong Commander is terrible now, it only gives charge to weak minions, whoopee.
Blood Imp Goodbye, endless queue of Warlocks.
Sylvanas Windrunner Hrm, I would wholly prefer a nerf in stats than in mana cost, 6 mana really desynergizes from all the good 5 mana cards. Using and playing against her I don't feel she was more overpowered than other legendaries, then again, the community complains about her the most so she gets nerfed.
Yah, best legendary in game isn't OP! Everyone is using it just to fap to the image obviously!
Loot Hoarder will likely see an increase in use, while novice sees a decline (not completely gone though). The issue with them is they die to hero powers. That's why novice was better, well that and you got a card now, rather than later.
Mysticjbyrd bad for the hearthpwn community, don't act like ur always right...
I am though...
Bet $100, she is still in most decks.
Rarity has nothing to do with card value.
Poetic.