Ben Brode: Purify Will Not Appear in Arena
Ben Brode has clarified that Purify will not be appearing in Arena in the latest episode of Hearthstone Designer Insights. We've recapped below!
- The card was not intended to be powerful.
- Internally they tried Silence any minion but they're trying to cut back on Silence to see what the game feels like without it.
- Purify was 1-mana at one point but was changed due to play testers using it just to cycle through cards.
- Ben acknowledges they messed up with the timing on Purify with the community's current views on the Priest class.
- Purify is good for the game, but maybe better in a set with flashy, exciting Priest cards.
- Ben has hopes for Dragon Priest.
- Purify will not show up in Arena. This is due to them not having a system in place where they can balance card appearances individually but do have one which can remove cards completely from the draft. "It won't solve Arena balance but it's a step in the right direction".
It actually is, you just have to be lucky enough to get good opening cards. For example velen's chosen is just OP when you cast it on your 1 or 2 drop minion and keep healing it each turn. Shadow world pain and death best removals ever and if you can keep the tempo you can easily win late game with Mind Control.
On average, Priest is easily the worst class in arena. Like, we're talking TGT-era Warrior level of garbage here for the vast majority of priest decks. That said, the good Priest decks are REALLY GOOD. Like, brutally, crushingly dominant. The apex of what a Priest deck can be in arena can faceroll some of the best arena decks you'll ever see in other classes. This is mostly due to the hero power being obscene from a board control perspective, and combined with the wide array of small heals and buffs like Velen's Chosen Priest can obtain vast amounts of value from its minions, retaining a level of board control that no other class can really keep up with. Holy Nova, CoH and the like combined with hero power let priest keep its minions healthy through trades, getting 3 for 1's and the like.
But as I said, this god-tier Priest is a SEVERE outlier. In the vast majority of times you pick Priest you wont get near this sort of deck. And if you don't, well I hope you like the taste of 0/3, cause that's what's happening to you
I kinda agree with you but i mostly play with priest in arena and on average my win rate is 4-5, next time i play arena with priest i will record the game from card picking until the end and put on youtube. You would be amazed how choosing some specific cards can be so impactful on games.
Since they let abominations like Secret Paladin untouched for a whole cycle and then introduced cards like 4mana7/7 and Call Of The Wild, saying that 1 mana purify was a op is laughable at best.
I like BBrode in general but they should admit that they fucked up badly and they will tweak the card at least if not remove it entirely.
THISSSSSSSSS BBrode argument dies with this
4/7/7 ok i guess...
Cotw yeah we can release that...
1 mana purify no, too op, nerf it
If we compare purified eerie statue to flamewreathed they both took two mana next turn but priest have to have both cards and cycle one, while shamans need only one card to play
Magic Duels changes cards based on game balance. Just sayin, Blizzard. Just sayin'.
So the explanation behind silencing only your minions is 'we trying to see what game feels like without a lot of silence right now'??
What? Like what universe they live in? There's only 1 silence which is used at all in the game - Earth Shock, and it's used maybe in 1 shaman deck out of 10. There's literally no silence effects in the game after you gutted Keeper of the Grove and Ironbeak Owl. That excuse makes no sense.
And mind you, that is the argument for card, which outright stated to be 'fun, not strong', so zero competitive expectations.
It is irrelevant.
Who in the right mind pick priest in arena?
Ben Brode will pick
We made it because some players like winning with Bad Cards. Oh Ben Brode. Ohhhhhhh Ben Brode....Ohhhhh Ben Brode....
If you can't make it silence any card because your pulling back on silence. If you can't make it 1 mana to cycle cards. Guess what, you can't make the card. I get it. You had an idea. You tried it out. For several reasons it didn't work. So you printed it anyway. If it didn't work that is ok, but you have to print a DIFFERENT card.
"The ideal is that every class has multiple archetypes all with a 50% winrate. The reality is that the system is very complex, depending on what the meta is doing."
The system has been dumbed down so much. All combo decks save some spotty Malygos and Freeze Mage decks have been nerfed into oblivion and Control has been neutered by a meta with a nearly-perfect curving 4 mana 7/7.
The only viable archetypes that remain in competitive ladder are aggro and tempo. You need to keep Priest with a healthy Control toolkit to keep the meta in check so it doesn't go off the rails with insanely fast and tediously non-reactive aggressive decks. Ladder play is just boring now. Dragon Warrior, Agro Shaman, Mid-Range Hunter, and if things are really crazy, maybe a ZooLock. Six more months of this. Yawn.
No, I don't think he got his point.
He is trying to fix it giving free win to every priest:
I keep hearing Ben Brode talk about "Dragon Priest." Does he mean Dragon Warrior?
Will be better if it not appearr in game.
Even better than a hot shower with vigorous scrubbing! PogChamp
Behold:
Tempo swing for priest (compare to mark of yshaarj), can be used on northshire to become 4/3 if you no longer need the passive (to trade better with zoo/totem golem for example) or destroy any 4 attack minion while silencing it before it dies, since priest have no way to deal with 4 attack minions, whilst cycling through your deck at the same time.