Matt Place on the Power of Patches the Pirate
PCGamer's Tim Clark had a chance to talk with Hearthstone Designer, Matt Place, to discuss Patches the Pirate.
What are your thoughts on our many-patches friend?
Quote from Matt PlacePatches the Pirate
- It took almost two years to get balanced and ready for play.
- Currently, Patches may hold the record for the longest development cycle for one card.
- They felt comfortable releasing Patches once One-eyed Cheat and Ship’s Cannon rotated from Standard.
- It also helped that he fit in well with the Gadgetzan theme.
- Dave Kosak, who recently joined the Hearthstone team and was previously on the WoW team, came up with the idea for Patches' final form.
- The idea he has more eyepatches than most pirates even have eyes.
- Matt thinks Patches probably should have said "Aye aye aye aye aye!" when he attacks.
- Patches is meeting expectations in a lot of ways, but they'll have to wait and see how it plays out.
- Many players forget to attack with Patches when he is summoned.
Older Iterations of Patches
- At one point, Patches was a 2/1.
- One cycle saw the card as a Warrior class card, jokingly named Dean's First Mate after Dean Ayala.
- Originally not a Legendary, which meant you could have two copies - too much early power.
Misc
- Drakonid Operative's ability was original intended for League of Explorers, but not as a Dragon card.
- Kun the Forgotten King's Mana refresh was a separate thing before the idea of Choose One came into play.
I'm getting real tired of people saying Pirates are broken. I play Pirate Warrior and Rogue on ladder and these decks are easily countered. Any weapon removal, taunts, or heals craps on the deck. You play Reno, and they concede on the spot.
While patches in most cases simply survive a turn just to deal 2 total damage,
Small-Time Buccaneer is the only way to deal with coin/T2 Doomsayer
Should Small-Time Buccaneer get a nerf to gain only 1 attack (little crippled vs some of 1 drops, but is here to be the pirate drop) OR, most likely to be 1/1 (3/1 with weapon) to be able for some classes to deal with 3DMG thread much more easily - then pirates get in the quite much more balanced spot, maybe even really balanced.
Are you even serious? I'm playing Reno lock/priest at rank 5 right now. Even when I get Reno and ooze at the start I still may loose. And u know why? Because I die before I can use it, I often die by turn 5. Reno priest has almost no chance without perfect draw. Yeah, I've played pirates myself and I know their weak sides, like if you don't crash your opponents face by turn 5-6, you'll probably run out of cards soon, but hey pirates are still BROKEN. And Patches is one of the reasons. Man, I've got killed today by pirate shaman BY TURN 3(!). It's just ridiculous.
are these guys retarded? Can't they realize Patches would be op even if it was a 1/1 without charge?
Charge mechanics in general are just broken, I think. It's a serious balance issue to let Charge minions attack the hero on the first turn they are played; it enables a lot of 20+ damage OTK mechanics that put the lie to the game being "interactive".
It would be a remarkably different game if charge mechanics only allowed you to hit minions. Of course, if that were the case, health or attack would need to be upped. Otherwise they'd just be the equivalent of an underpowered spell that was limited by taunt. No reason for them even to exist.
I'd need to think it through, but at first glance, at least, I'm liking the idea.
The real problem is Blizzard decided almost every usable charge minion must have more attack than health, and the ones that don't are typically understatted. (Actually, they're all understatted, hence why people only use ones with high attack). So instead of using charge minions for value, people use them as bursty finishes or just like a direct damage spell.
They needed more charge minions that are focused on value. They feebly tried with the hogriders and failed miserably thanks to the stupid activation conditions.
The hogs are supposed to be flavorful arena cards more than constructed staples
Isn't this like atleast the third news post where this exact same thing (how Patches was created) is discussed. How fucking many do we need? Some things not previously mentioned are here, but still.
Anyway, pirate warrior is easy to beat because we have a TAUNT WARRIOR SO OP !
Or reno decks in general? Reno warlock is probably the current strongest deck.
I'm sorry to tell you bud, but if you can't see why this card is op as fuck you're new or really bad at understanding the game.
"Many players forget to attack with Patches when he is summoned."
Lol that's why blizzard doesn't want to open more deck slots
I don't understand?
Play a one-mana card, press 'end turn' is a very normal thing to do. I have to keep telling myself to wait.
It was hilarious seeing pro streamers forget to attack with Patches.