"Ben Brode on how long until Pirates walk the plank"
Tim Clark from PC Gamer had a chance to sit down with Ben Brode to talk about the recent Q&A, his philosophy about nerfing/buffing cards, the next Standard rotation, what they were thinking when Spirit Claws was printed and more!
Quote from Tim Clark and Ben Brode
- They don't want to announce a nerf too far out from it actually happening. If they would, people would feel bad losing against a card they know is going to get nerfed.
- Ben Brode agrees that Small-Time Buccaneer is the problematic card in the Pirate package, not Patches the Pirate. If they decide to change something, it would be Small-Time Buccaneer.
- They intentionally nerfed Molten Giant really hard because they didn't want people to play that card anymore as it was hurting the ability for Standard to change.
- Hypothetically, if they would ever decide to move Classic cards to Wild it would probably be cards like Ragnaros the Firelord because they limit the design space for their mana cost a lot and limit the ability for Standard feel more fresh.
- Ben is not sure if he agrees with Brian Kibler that cheap weapons are a problem in general or if it's only a problem with a few specific weapons.
- The team was a bit disappointed that Shaman got even more popular after Karazhan, as that was not their intention.
- For example, Spirit Claws was intended for a new type of Shaman deck, and not for the current Shaman decks at the time.
- Ben worries about a big expansion concept / theme failing to land.
- C'Thun was one of the most risky things they have ever done and it turned out perfect from a balance perspective.
- Ben thinks the Grimy Goons mechanic will be used more in the future, once the meta slows down a bit.
- They try to have a good balance in 'obvious' mechanics like Jade where you just put as much of them in your deck as you can, and cards that require a bit more deck building skill to utilize.
Ben Brode is an idiot
Nerfs slow cards (rag, molten)
prints more 1 drops
wonders why there is a problem
SMH /facepalm
Is there a problem? Kappa
Like Inspire?
"They intentionally nerfed Molten Giant really hard because they didn't want people to play that card anymore"
The hell....then why did you make the card if you didn't want people to play it anyone?? Now you have a card sitting in an epic slot that you ADMIT you made useless so no one would play it.
There is something seriously wrong with these peoples' design philosophy.
"The team was a bit disappointed that Shaman got even more popular after Karazhan, as that was not their intention.
For example, Spirit Claws was intended for a new type of Shaman deck, and not for the current Shaman decks at the time."
And stuff like this REALLY makes me question their competence. Are they seriously telling us they couldn't see any of this coming? A cheap weapon that has the possibility of being better than a fiery war axe and no one was going to use it? A weapon that can AT ANY POINT gain the 2 extra attack when spell damage appears wouldn't be used? If you didn't want it to be as good as it was you should have made the 2 attack bonus a battlecry and permanent rather than always adjusting when you throw down a drake or get lucky with your totem.
LUL Ragnoros isn't the problem. Dying turn 4 is!
''They intentionally nerfed Molten Giant really hard because they didn't want people to play that card anymore as it was hurting the ability for Standard to change.''
Why not just rotate the card out then? If you're going to essentially remove the card from the game, you might as well just move it to Wild - that way players can re-experience some of their favorite decks without it ruining Standard.
''Hypothetically, if they would ever decide to move Classic cards to Wild it would probably be cards like Ragnaros the Firelord because they limit the design space for their mana cost a lot and limit the ability for Standard feel more fresh.''
Well maybe you should think about making some better late game cards then, and less of the hyper-aggressive 1 and 2-drops - no one is going to play late game cards when they will get a better win-rate by just playing a deck with ten 1-drops that kill your opponent extremely fast.
I'd be sad to see Ragnaros the Firelord go as:
1. He's one of the few good neutral 8-drops (we won't start playing Boogeymonster just because you rotate Ragnaros out)
2. It's a really iconic card for the game that has been around since the beginning.
''The team was a bit disappointed that Shaman got even more popular after Karazhan, as that was not their intention.''
Well maybe it would help to stop giving them insane cards then...
The only problems that Shaman had pre-Karazhan was that they had a hard time removing small minions - which also was why ZooLock did well against them. Giving them Maelstrom Portal and Spirit Claws just removed any weakness the class had.
''Ben thinks the Grimy Goons mechanic will be used more in the future, once the meta slows down a bit.''
Then you WILL need to nerf Pirate decks, the only card that Pirate Warrior is going to lose with the rotation is Sir. Finley Mrrglton.
The meta won't slow down unless you start taking some more action - a deck that has potential to kill your opponent on turn 5 (which is both Shaman and Pirate Warrior) will keep the game in a state where it just doesn't ever slow down.
PLEASE don't relegate Ragnaros to Wild. If you absolutely have to, consider nerfing him to 9-mana before shipping him off to the forgotten land.
Paper and rock suck! Nerf scissors!
Whatever you say Ben, but until pirate/extreme aggro is toned down, I'm not coming back to play.
This xpac has *so* much promise that facing pirate war just made me leave the game as confirmation that you never had any intention of slowing the game down - you sped it up... a lot.
"Ben Brode agrees that Small-Time Buccaneer is the problematic card in the Pirate package, not Patches the Pirate. If they decide to change something, it would be Small-Time Buccaneer."
Oh I see, you will "nerf" him to just +1 attack and claim pirate war is now balanced. We all see it coming.
Confirmed!!
NERF = THESE CARDS NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF GAME AGAIN!
I'm actually really shocked they didn't obliterate Knife Juggler Almost everything else that got hit in that nerf wave was never seen again, and juggler is still usable.
Most pirates are not that good. If you have to include several meh cards to get a free 1/1 with charge it sort of balances out.
When the best neutral 1-drop in the game gives you a free 1/1 with charge it's more of a problem.
the problem is not small time it is spirit claws and n'zoth's first mate. so yeah I agree those need a nerf, but patches can either be crap or cool. a nerf makes him crap for now he is cool. the problem with him is that he is an aggresive legendary and he benefits off playing really good cards he is not just a good card who fits in a deck. he is a good card if and only if you play one strategy using cards that are really good.
Yes giving Small Time a nerf would help weakening pirates. For this purpose, they don't have to nerf the most broken card in a deck.
However this doesn't mean Patches is not problematic. It's still the most broken pirate card. For who hasn't seen the problem yet, ask yourself a question: if you can add additional one of these pirate cards into your deck, which one would you choose? Definitely Patches.
If you still don't understand, I'll give you another example. There's a #1 Legend Wild deck call Egg Druid. This aggro deck has Patches, and only two pirates (Bloodsail Corsair) to activate Patches. Why does a Druid use pirates? Is it because Bloodsail Corsair good for the class? No. The only reason is Patches. This card is so broken that even an aggro deck chooses it plus two so-so pirates instead of other good 1 mana cards.
"Ben worries about a big expansion concept / theme failing to land." Sorry Ben, start worrying. MSOG is the worst expansion and has utterly killed the meta. Piloted Shredder and Dr. Boom may have been auto includes, but at least in GVG you actually got to turn 7 to play Dr. 7. Games are over now before turn six.
my games are in three categories, 2 big decisions in 6 turns, 1 big decision in 12 turns or a decision almost every turn and the game goes to turn 15 or later.
I don't understand why they don't just rotate a selected few classic cards out each SEASON. Then the next season, they bring them back and just rotate out different classic cards. Then there would be WAY less of a need for nerfing classic cards or permanently rotating out classic cards. Plus the meta would be new every season which would make things much more interesting than seeing the same pirates OVER AND OVER again!