"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.
How do they plan to slow the meta if Reno will go to Wild and Pirate decks will lose nothing but Finley?
It seems they will change small time buccaneer, at the next release if not before...
Probably with a 5 mana taunt gimmick like Second-Rate Bruiser. They keep printing that kind of garbage anti-aggro cards, and (apparently) accidentally giving aggro decks insanely powerful cards.
Wow that's weird. I mean until now Blizzard devs stated several times that Expansion-Adventure-Expansion sistem is not gonna change in near future. However, now Ben Brode doesn't seems so sure and it seems that we might see some change to this sistem this year !
I feel better playing against a card thats going to be nerfed soon.
The ironic bliss of getting my face wrecked by my own Yogg when I knew it was getting nerfed compares to nothing else in life.
On the topic of nerfing: Why not start with a small nerf, let it get tested by the community as a whole, and then reevaluate after a month? Seems more like they are looking for a permanent/one-time fix instead of letting the community decide what is and is not fair play.
My proposition for small nerfs to start would be:
Small-Time Buccaneer only gets +1 attack for controlling a weapon.
Spirit Claws only has 2 durability. There is not a real way to fix the RNG from rolling a spell power totem, so this feels like a decent first stab at a small nerf.
Another card to consider nerfing would be Drakonid Operarive as he is incredibly undercosted. Even just a small change of being a 5/5 is a step in the right direction.
Just my thoughts. Good luck and grind on,
-Wings
Small-Time Buccaneer: I agree with this one. It would be worse stats than Enchanted Raven, but would be a neutral as well as have Pirate synergy (pulls out Patches, activates Pirate synergy cards, etc.)
Spirit Claws: I'd make it +1 with SP instead of +2. It lowers the effect of RNG to only 1 attack, and with SP it's still a 1 mana 2/3, well above budget (Argent Lance is 2 mana and requires a Joust, arguably worse RNG).
Drakonid Operative is going to die with BRM, and I don't think it needs a nerf as Priest doesn't seem terribly overpowered right now. Personally even with the Pirate changes I'm more worried about Kabal decks with Reno rotating out. Not sure anything else needs nerfing either now.
This sticks out as a sore thumb. If it's indeed a direct quote.
The same goes for Blade Flurry
Sucks to be the Buc.
Alright so I'm gonna have a break in Hearthstone and play Yugioh - duel link until Hearthstone is balanced because it seems like we are in beta mode right now. Call me back when Hearthstone is finished alright?
WTF is this bullshit ? So, whenever they will "think that" that Standard isn't going to change enough, they will nerf well designed and overal good card to a oblivion ?
In his answer to the question about rotating cards to Wild instead of nerfing them to death, every point he made for why they went the path of nerfing to death was word for word the reasons why they should've rotated them to Wild.
Ok call me fool but i really believe they want to fix the Broken parts of the Meta! Though they want to sell sets and packs and make new players cash in and win and rank up fast if they get enough dusts and cards. I always believe that Blizzard Cares for their players!
Agree about C'thun. Designing the whole set of cards was a really good and certainly difficult job. Perfectly playable in its own time and not too OP. That is a rare thing these days.
Now where have I heard this before.......
I think they said something like this about the inspire mechanic.
it's unlikely to slow because the three sets rotating out are not that high in terms of power level. mean streets is like fucking GVG on drugs. the next adventure set is probably going to be like blackrock mountain where it likely see no play whatsoever until a year and a fucking half. now the meta has slowed down during the Wotog and karazhan expansion (BRM cards saw play, midrange shaman was tier 0). in some point in time in 2019 the meta is more likely to slow down, when MSoG rotates out.