Blizzard changed the Quest system again and it is even better than it was. For real this time. There's also some balance changes.
Quote from BlizzardPatch 29.4.2, launching today, brings the following balance changes, Weekly Quest updates, and more!
Weekly Quest Updates
Before the Weekly Quests changed in Patch 29.2, we didn’t adequately communicate the changes that were coming, or our reasoning for them. That’s something we’ll keep improving on.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been listening to your experiences and looking at our data, and it’s clear that the new Weekly Quests didn’t do their job of rewarding you for your time playing the game. Going forward, we want to strike a much better balance between your time spent in Hearthstone and the rewards given by Weekly Quests.
So we’re making some more updates in this patch, reducing the requirements on the Weekly Quests that seem to be blocking player progression for many of you, while leaving the increased XP where it is. We hope these new changes will still reward you more while keeping Weekly Quests an attainable and fun goal for all players. We look forward to seeing how this iteration works out. Please keep the feedback coming! Thanks for playing, and we’ll see you in the Tavern.
- Tyler Bielman, Game Director
Win Games of Ranked
- Old: Win 10 games of Ranked Hearthstone.
- New: Play 10 games of Ranked Hearthstone.
Win Games of Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Battlegrounds
- Old: Win 10 games of Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Battlegrounds.
- New: Play 5 games of Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Battlegrounds.
Play Miniaturize or Mini cards
- Old: Play 32 Miniaturize or Mini cards.
- New: Play 10 Miniaturize or Mini cards.
Spend Mana
- Old: Spend 750 Mana.
- New: Spend 650 Mana.
Hearthstone Updates
Dev Comment: It’s early after the launch of the Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions Mini-Set and the metagame is still developing, so we’re making just a few balance adjustments in this patch, aimed at addressing early outlier decks. All three of the target decks are a little too good at flooding the board too early and too efficiently. The Molten Giant change slows Warlock down slightly and also makes the play pattern a bit more dangerous, allowing more room for a counterswing. Showdown is an enabler for Zilliax, Sea Giant, and Prismatic Beam in Paladin, so we think it could be less efficient for that deck. Finally, Thirsty Drifter is another strong swarming card, particularly at higher levels of play, and our data indicates that deck would likely trend upwards if we didn’t adjust it here, too.
Showdown
- Old: [2 Mana]
- New: [3 Mana]
Thirsty Drifter
- Old: [6 Mana]
- New: [7 Mana]
Molten Giant
- Old: [20 Mana]
- New: [22 Mana]
The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 29.4.2. (Core Set versions of cards can’t be crafted or disenchanted; access the craftable version of Molten Giant by selecting the “Legacy” filter in the Collection).
Battlegrounds Updates
Minion Pool Changes
The following minions have been removed from the minion pool:
- Kindly Grandmother
- Sly Raptor
- Gentle Djinni
The following minions have been added to the minion pool:
- Manasaber
- Rat Pack
- Lil’ Rag (with updates, see below)
Battlegrounds Card Changes
Rylak Metalhead
- Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecry of the minion to the left of this.
- New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecry of an adjacent minion.
- Dev Comment: If there are Battlecry minions on both sides of Rylak, it will randomly trigger one. This is primarily a quality-of-life change after lots of reports from players frustrated that they or their Duos partner accidentally put Rylak in the wrong position and got no effect.
Pokey Thornmantle
- Old: 4/5. At the end of your turn, your Blood Gems give an extra +1/+1 this game.
- New: 6/7. At the start of your turn, your Blood Gems give an extra +1/+1 this game.
Party Elemental
- Old: 4/2. After you play an Elemental, give a friendly Elemental other than it +1/+1.
- New: 3/2. After you play an Elemental, give a friendly Elemental other than it +2/+1.
Deadstomper
- Old: 2/6
- New: 4/11
Whirling Lass-o-Matic
- Old: 9/5
- New: 7/4
Scrap Scraper
- Old: 5/5. Battlecry and Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.
- New: 6/5. Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.
Winged Chimera
- Old: 1/5. When this takes damage, give a frliendly minion of each type +1/+1. (3 times per combat).
- New: 1/6. When this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1. (Twice per combat).
Deep Blue Crooner
- Old: 4/4
- New: 2/2
Spellbound Seafarer
- Old: 4/6. After you buy 4 cards, get a random Tavern spell.
- New: 3/5. After you buy 3 cards, get a random Tavern spell.
Gunpowder Courier
- Old: 2/6. After you spend 5 Gold, give your Pirates +1 Attack.
- New: 1/6. After you spend 4 Gold, give your Pirates +1 Attack.
Sister Deathwhisper
- Old: 4/10. After a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+3 permanently.
- New: 5/9. After a friendly minion is Reborn, give your minions +1/+3 permanently.
Trigore the Lasher
- Old: 8/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1 Health permanently.
- New: 5/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1/+1 permanently.
Iridescent Skyblazer
- Old: 3/8. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+1 permanently.
- New: 3/7. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+2 permanently.
Murky
- Old: 6/4. Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +10/+10.
- New: 4/4. Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +4/+4 for each one you control.
Hungering Abomination
- Old: 6/7. Avenge (1): Gain +1/+1 permanently.
- New: 4/5. Avenge (1): Gain +1/+2 permanently.
Molten Rock
- Old: 3/2
- New: 3/3
Flourishing Frostling
- Old: [Tier 4] 1/1. Has +1/+1 for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).
- New: [Tier 5] 2/1. Has +2/+1 for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).
Lil’ Rag
- Old: [Tier 5] 6/6
- New: [Tier 4] 4/4
Roaring Rallier
- Old: 3/4. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+2.
- New: 3/5. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+1.
Amber Guardian
- Old: [Tier 3] 3/2. Start of Combat: Give another friendly Dragon +2/+2 and Divine Shield.
- New: [Tier 5] 7/7. Start of Combat: Give another friendly Dragon +7/+7 and Divine Shield.
Timecap’n Hooktail
- Old: 2/5
- New: 1/4
Impulsive Trickster
- Old: 2/3
- New: 3/3
Oozeling Gladiator
- Old: 1/2
- New: 2/2
Wrath Weaver
- Old: 1/3
- New: 1/4
Backstage Security
- Old: At the start of your turn, deal 1 damage to your hero.
- New: Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to your hero.
Fire Dancer
- Old: 5/2
- New: 6/3
Defiant Shipwright
- Old: Whenever this gains Attack, gain +1 Health.
- New: Whenever this gains Attack, gain +1 Health permanently.
- Dev Comment: This means it will now keep Health gained with this effect during combat.
Fiery Felblood
- Old: 3/2
- New: 2/1
Underhanded Dealer
- Old: 4/4
- New: 6/6
Bream Counter
- Old: 5/5. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+2.
- New: 4/4. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+3.
King Bagurgle
- Old: [Tier 5] 6/3. Battlecry: Give your other Murlocs +3/+3.
- New: [Tier 4] 5/3. Battlecry: Give your other Murlocs +2/+2.
Cloning Conch
- Old: [Tier 5]
- New: [Tier 4]
Dreamer’s Embrace
- Old: [Tier 4]
- New: [Tier 5]
Scavenge for Parts
- Old: [2 Gold]
- New: [3 Gold]
Plunder Seeker
- Old: Steal a random card from the Tavern. Repeat for each friendly Pirate.
- New: Steal a random card from the Tavern for each Pirate you control.
Duos-Only Card Changes
Orc-estra Conductor
- Old: 4/2. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+1. (Upgraded for each Orc-estra your team has played this game).
- New: 4/4. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+2. (Upgraded for each Orc-estra your team has played this game).
Man’ari Messenger
- Old: [Tier 4] 8/5
- New: [Tier 5] 9/6
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- [Battlegrounds] Removed Drakkari Embalmer from the Professor Putricide Hero Power pool due to an undesired interaction.
- [Collection] Fixed a bug where Standardized Pack wasn’t showing under the “NEW” tab in the Collection.
In another reality, I would argue that Giant have a pretty specific effect, and are weirdly one of the, if not the most structurally consistent cards in terms of mechanics. They are all Epics, they are all 8/8s, they don't have any Keywords and they have an effect that only reduces their Cost by (1) in base of an specific condition. So they all should have similar text.
But then they printed Storm Giant and they threw all that away. So now you can't even justify that.
Still not fixing chat in mobile clients I see, they either can't identify the problem or they couldn't solve it.
Technically Molten Giant is getting nerfed.
Practically it won't change anything.
laughable 'nerfs'
Did you actually play any of the decks running this card??? The card was terrible at 25 mana, when they changed it from 20->25 the card was killed , nowdays with many decks dealing 15+ dmg from hand ,this is a decenet nerf to not kill the card
I play this card since 2017. it was terrible at 25 mana when we didn't have Prince Renathal.
Nowadays you don't even feel the hp missing when you play a 40 card deck.
This nerf was because of the The Demon Seed, and 2 mana more nerfed NOTHING for that deck!
AND I PLAY WILD WARLOCK 90% OF MY GAMES. I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I AM SAYING. this 2 mana nerf is laughable.
sorry for the outburst. I got a little emotional there.
but in regards to the warlock quest, it really changed nothing.
Play 10 games instead of Win 10 games? Is this heaven?
Rel.
This change does nothing to Molten Giant, I can't believe it, a reword of the card would have been more effective
The weekly quest changes are ok. The play instead of win is better even if its still 10 games of ranked. One change I would like to see is to the Spend Mana quest. Simply change it to Spend Mana or Gold. That way you can complete the quest while playing Battlegrounds.
Yes, it would be nice to complete the Mana quest in Battlegrounds. Would also like to see the "play 10 holy or fire spells" (and equivalents) changed to "play x spells" for the same reason.
Playing 10 games is definitely better than winning, though it's still quite a lot. I oftentimes end up winning 7 or 8 games in a row anyway, sometimes all 10 even, but with this change, I don't feel pushed to only play decks that I expect to win, and it is a lot less frustrating when games don't go as expected, especially when it's already Sunday evening.
Battlegrounds stat changes often feel a bit meaningless... How is cutting Timecap’n Hooktail from 2/6 to 1/5 going to correct the power of a a full board of divine shield 300/50 dragons?
It won't matter on turn 16, but it can matter on turn 7. Imagine losing 0 Health instead of 6-8.
This isn't exactly how these little changes play out, but pay attention to how many times you lose health in the midgame just because one or two enemy minions are left with one or two health. Some changes may seem trivial, but they can sometimes (not always) have a significant impact.
Likewise, small stat buffs won't make a card amazing, but maybe a little less punishing to pick when you can't find anything better.
Three half-assed mana changes for traditional Hearthstone, and a metric boat-load of actual changes for BGs (a format I don't care about or for). My disappointment is immeasurable.
Showdown!: Is busted because of Crusader Aura. They already indirectly nerfed this card with Prismatic Beam as a board clear awhile back, but seem to really want to keep the Aura interaction...
Thirsty Drifter: Should have "But not less than (1)" added to address what the card's actual issue is.
Molten Giant: This card's text has been misleading for a decade. Should also be changed to say "Costs (1) less for each Health your hero is missing". That said, a 2 mana change is somewhat ridiculous considering INFERNAL! is a card.
Thanks for reducing the effective reach of Even Paladin in Wild & Flood in Standard. Also thanks for reducing some of those quest requirements.
Thirsty Drifter adjustment is fine. I can live with it being a hair harder to get it on board. Molten Giant hurts Standard but means nothing to Seed 'Lock, so.
ohhhh praise the Lord for the mountain giant nerf....I can sleep well at night.
Said no one ever.
This weekly quest revert is nice and all, but I still have trust issues with Blizz after this, and that's not going to be rolled back this easily.
Lines were crossed.
But I will now buy the Mini Set (with gold) and we'll see how things go from there and if Blizz is going to mend this marriage or not or just fuck up again and ruin it.
You are not privileged upon playing a free to play game. Unless you spend hundreds of dollars each year your opinion and stance does not matter.
I spend hundreds of dollars each year on this game, and I agree with his stance. A little hole in your theory there.
It shouldn't even matter how much people spend. You play this game by spending money or time, and usually both. And a F2P game should still respect the people who pay with their time, because they still acknowledge your game, are opponents for those that do pay, and are still part of the larger community that supports this game, with attention and word of mouth promotion and spreading their social media profile, if not the game itself.
And these quest changes basically said "we don't care how much time you spend in the game or how much money, we want you to spend more time in the game than you do now." And that's fine, if the rewards get increased likewise, and probably more, because YOU the company want something extra from us and are making demands.
Instead we got shafted in the process.
And that's where the trust issues come in. IF you are willing to unilateraly make changes like this and make the game worse for everyone, paying or non-paying, than what else are you willing to do?
And that's not even getting into how fucking CYNICAL they approached this by first making outrageous changes and then walking them back a little, in a clear attempt to end up with the changes they had planned in the first place, while pretending they were listening to community feedback.
The total of that situation and how it was handled is what made me (and I spend hundreds per year too) basically stop playing the last few weeks and not purchasing the mini set or even logging in for it, beyond as part of my basic duties to deliver news for this site.
And apparently what me and others did in reaction was heard loud and clear. And I appreciate that at least which is why I did end up buying the Mini Set and will play again.
But not without in the back of my mind the thought that something like this might happen again and the thought that maybe I need to stop spending on this game if it is treating me like this. We'll see how that feeling evolves over the next few weeks as the next expansion starts looming.