Ben Brode Discusses the Warsong Commander Nerf
A new Designer Insights vlog from Ben Brode discussing Warsong Commander has made it to PlayHearthstone's YouTube channel. We've recapped and embedded the video below.
Warsong Commander now reads (in the next patch): Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.
Quote from Ben Brode
- Warriors are already pretty low on the Arena tier list, and this change does take them down further. This will have to be addressed in future sets.
- Charge and Direct Damage are two of the least fun things in Hearthstone. You can't react to them, you must be proactive.
- They wanted to make the card less complicated because it is in the basic set.
- Warsong Commander was nerfed instead of Grim Patron or Frothing Berserker because the biggest issue now, and going forward, was Warsong.
- It was important to keep the identity of the card intact as much as possible.
- They tried 30 or 40 different designs to see which ones felt the best for the card.
- Dreadsteed was originally going to be released in Naxxramas as a Neutral Minion. Warsong Commander prevented that due to their interaction.
Neutral Spells - Card Design Competition Finalist Voting
For this week's Card Design competition, contestants ventured into contested territory as they were tasked with introducing Neutral Spells to the game... Okay, so creating a cute, punny ad for this competition theme is pretty difficult, but thankfully all of our finalists are more creative than I am, so come visit us over at the Finalist Poll Topic and vote for your favorite submissions!
Patron can't be dusted and Frothing Berserker is just a common card. I don't think they choose Warsong Commander due to that reason.
EDIT: Frothing Berserker is rare
Frothing Berserker is a common card?
Ups, its rare. My mistake ;) Still don't think that the dust was the reason. Patron nerf or Frothing Berserker nerf would just change Patron Warrior, but wouldn't change anything that future card designs are limited, since "give charge" is too mighty.
They nerfed Warsong because it destroyed design space, not because you can't get dust from it.
Okay, I understand the need for the nerf. Patron decks may not have been OP but they were definitely not fun to play against. There was an overbearing feeling of a ticking time bomb ready to go off around turn 7 or 8. But why are they replacing the wording with something so ineffectual that no one will ever play the card again? At least give Charge minions +2 -- then maybe it might be a tad interesting.
I wouldn't have understand the nerf if it would be just about weakening Patron, because this nerf destroys Patron. However, considering future card design this drastical nerf makes sense imo. Still i am not happy that the card is worse than Raid Leader or Dire Wolf Alpha. 2 Mana cost would have been fair.
Bye Bye patron warrior ...... i will miss you :(
"30-50 designs"
Suuuure, why do I get the feeling that's the worst design?
"less complicated because basic set"
The heck's wrong with it being basic? That's like saying we're dumb.
Nerfing the Patron wouldve made patron warrior weaker, nerfing the Warsong Commander the way they did just straight up killed the deck and made the card useless.
The root of the problem isn't Warsong Commander.
It's Emperor Thaurissan.
Um, Grim was released in BRM. And the reason for the nerf wasn't to kill Grim Patron decks. It was simply to increase interactivty. Like freeze mage and Mircale Rouge, Grim Patron decks was more like playing solitaire than playing an opponent.
Too bad they don't share the other ideas they had... most likely the community could help them chose wisely
there is no way to communicate with "the community", even the smallest kickstarter games found out that community feedback is a cacophony of noise with a ton of really bad ideas...including one or two "top" guys won't make a difference and it's just too much hassle, so better to rely on the in-house balance team.
Sharing these ideas might have given too much away. Since the stated reason for the nerf involved their ability to design future cards I suspect the testing was done with concept cards from the next adventure and maybe even the expansion set after that. Explaining in detail why one nerf or another wouldn't work might reveal those future cards and mechanics.
HAHA FUCK YOU GRIM WARRIORS.
"–because the biggest issue now, and going forward, was Warsong."
Yeah I had a feeling this was the case. Warsong Commander is ritual sacrifice to make way for newer cards. Warsong limited what 3-attack minions Blizzard could design.
I am interested to know what these upcoming cards are that needed Warsong dead to finally make an appearance...
He used Dreadsteed as an example. Said that was supposed to be released as a neutral in Nax
Bullshit.
Just add text to cards saying "Cannot charge."
Does this mean Dreadsteed will become a neutral card and warlock will finally get a useful TGT card?