Mistress of Pain and Auchenai Soulpriest Combo to be No More!
Thanks to a post this afternoon from Keganbe of the Hearthstone Community team, we're learning that Auchenai Soulpriest will not be wreaking havoc on heroes anymore thanks to some upcoming changes in Knights of the Frozen Throne; It will only trigger once with the Lifesteal mechanic!
In addition to this change, two cards will be changed to instead have Lifesteal on their wording. These cards are the aforementioned Mistress of Pain and the relatively new Wickerflame Burnbristle.
Quote from KeganbeGreetings!
In Knights of the Frozen Throne, we’re introducing a new keyword, Lifesteal, that summarizes the previously existing card text “damage dealt by this also heals your hero”. We’re looking forward to showing off more new cards with the Lifesteal keyword in the coming weeks.
Two cards currently exist with the Lifesteal ability in their text box: Wickerflame Burnbristle and Mistress of Pain.
In Knights of the Frozen Throne, we’ll be updating their card text to say “Lifesteal” rather than their current “damage dealt by this minion also heals your hero” text. You can check out what that will look like by clicking the links above!
Stop Hitting Yourself
Auchenai Soulpriest and Mistress of Pain have had a very interesting relationship. Their current interaction results in a continuous loop of healing and damage that results in a rather grisly end to the current game. In Knights of the Frozen Throne, we will be changing the interaction between Auchenai Soulpriest and all minions with Lifesteal so that the Auchenai Soulpriest ability will only trigger once.
We hope you are looking forward to our next chilling expansion!
I've had a similar thing happening to me. I was playing vs a priest (I was a paladin) and he stole my Wickerflame Burnbristle with an Auchenai Soulpriest on his board.
It's not a "fix". The card was never broken. It worked as intended for 2 years and 8 months.
"Is this a bug or a feature?"
"Yes."
Well when your playerbase can't comprehend more than 9 deck slots for so long, god forbid they can handle fun and niche interactions like this one without feeling overwhelmed. I mean why bother reading card text, just go face while sitting on the toilet!
It's more likely to do with the fact that there are so many random effects in the game that many players who do not play priest may end up with an Auchenai Soulpriest on their side of the board and no knowledge of the interaction. Cards like Ironforge Portal, Evolve, Devolve, and Master of Evolution are all in Standard and all give non-priests Auchenai Soulpriest.
Maybe the random Effects are the Problem then.
Random effects in Hearthstone are absolutely a problem. Not only do cards get changed around because of them, but new cards are added to the game specifically to balance them. It's ridiculous. Blizzard prints cards that no one will ever use to try and give random effect cards highs and lows.
For example, take a look at Jeweled Macaw. In the same set that we got Jeweled Macaw, Blizzard had to release Verdant Longneck, Clutchmother Zavas, Chittering Tunneler, Ultrasaur, Sabretooth Stalker, Emerald Hive Queen, and Thunder Lizard. With the exception of Clutchmother Zavas, none of these Beasts would ever see play on ladder. Most of them aren't even that good in Arena. But we need to make sure Hunter has some risk when he plays Jeweled Macaw, otherwise it will always just help him win the game straight up off a class card.
Another obvious example is Big-Time Racketeer being released in order to deal with Moonglade Portal, but also to make Evolve Doppelgangster a greater risk as well.
We also had Ironhide created even though a warrior would never choose to use this card, simply so that priest and rogue had a chance to steal it against pirate warrior and possibly cheese out a win with as little mana cost as possible. Blizzard is wasting design space on highs and lows for RNG effects in every expansion and it is a real problem.
No mention of Embrace the Shadow? Will that be changed too?
Blizzard is saying: "If any obscure interaction becomes popular, we'll make the game more inconsistent so players won't be frustrated".
How the hell did you come to that conclusion? They took an obscure mechanic, decided it didn't work with their vision of the game and made it consistent with all cards of that type. Most people don't even understand why this mechanic kills you or that it even exists. Lifesteal is different from, "whenever your minion does damage heal for that much." They are replacing an old mechanic for a new one so all cards are consistent. Being inconsistent would be leaving these cards the way they are and adding lifesteal.
... why?
Instead of fixing bugs slowly, Blizzard now deliberately introduces bugs and inconsistent interactions in Hearthstone. Gj.
a meme dies. Farewell, old friend, your deeds will forever be remembered in funny HS compilations on youtube and in our hearts.
HAHAHAHAAHAH!!! I have never seen this combination before and just Youtube'd it. That is just hysterical!
Given how slow Blizzard is at patching bugs, for them to be desperate enough to patch this (even though it technically isn't a bug), might mean that there will be alot of Neutral minions with Lifesteal, or Priest will be getting a lot of cards with Lifesteal effects (maybe it has something to do with Anduin's Death Knight hero card?).
Drain Life really should have been changed as well. I know that right now it only heals for two (meaning the heal doesn't scale with spell power) but that would be an easy yet small buff that could be done to put another card in the lifesteal category.
Agreed. Not to mention it totally fits the Lifesteal theme.
say it after it will be combined with malygos on handlock :DD
and upped by 1 Dmg would be fair