Blizzard is Considering Options for Druid - More Information this Week
Hearthstone's Game Director, Ben Brode, tweeted this afternoon that we'd be seeing information from Blizzard this week on the problematic Druid class. Stay tuned! To the ground with you!
Quote from Ben BrodeThanks for the feedback regarding Druid. We've been considering options and should have more to share this week.
i'm tired about a community that just complain, is so boring. Jade druid is the first real cancer hearthstone have. People playing aggro reduced the population of Quest Rogue, a little nerf was necessary, btw quest rogue was manageable but after the nerf the archetype is unplayable. The new nerf wave is ok for some reason, Aggro decks will be slower, but a slower aggro make a ramping jade druid happy, i really hope you guys are righ, but i see Big Priest shit coming.
Actually, I don't see that big of a problem with druid... Since knights of the frozen throne I played mostly a midrange hunter and something like a controll mage. With the hunter I have a winrate of 45% against druid and with my magedeck 57%.
Yeah, druid decks are good and a lot of people play it but it is definitely not unbeatable and I don't think that Ultimate Infestation is the problem. When I loose it's most likely because I don't draw my Skulking Geist or my Deathknight on Curve and loose in the endgame against big jades. Another problem are aggro decks, but that's not only druid specific...
So if it's going to be nerfed I think they should nerv Spreading Plague or Strongshell Scavenger because that combo is too strong.
What if they maybe changed Jades to be summoned at the end of your turn? Would that make a difference? I haven't really thought about it, just popped into my head. Someone critique this suggestion please.
Basically, it's zero difference, because you couldn't attack with them anyway. Maybe tiers down cards like Earthen scales, but you have a ton of better target, like Fandral, to get out of Pain target area.
One serious upside when Aya gets killed and you can't kill the golem in the same turn (because it summons at the end of turn), nor freeze it up (with blizzard, if aya dies in it), so it's like a charger to your face. And for mage, it'd help druid, because even Doomsayer+nova couldn't stop the golem spam and the enemy can just throw Aya into it for fix damage.
Second thing what comes into my mind is crypt lord. Bad side that it can't get HP instantly, which is not a matter because that minion is never threatened to die. But, if you are drawing it up when Gadgetzan gambling, the golems from the idols or spells can give it +HP. Both case is marginal.
And some more niche stuff you might could do, but the only that worths mentioning is that jade rogue might can use the more temporary space or like you can buff the Jade behemoth with the guy what gives +2|+2 for all taunt even if 5 scarab on the board, then trade in with the scarabs, one dies and you still get the golem.
Yeah, good points. I realised soon after posting it made 0 difference. Thanks.
Keep it as it is BUT make it LEGENDARY 1 per deck.. though that's not the problem...
That is how Blizzard gonna nerf (imo) Ultimate Infestation :
Not viable. The first option is simply a 10 mana Firelands Portal...too much of a nerf. I believe that removing the 5 Armor would be enough
If this was a 8 mana card, it would be perfectly viable, it is either worth 7 mana aka fireland portal with a guaranteed 5/5 or 10 mana sprint + shield block. As long as it isn't worth 17 mana anymore, i'm happy with this card. Then another nerf-bat to jade idol and i'm happy.
5/5 body and dealing 5 damage are worth 10 mana somehow?
Should be Choose Two instead, to go with the 5+5=10 theme.
Granted this would make it nuts with Fandral synergy, but Fandral is a soft Taunt minion and is going to Wild soon anyway so no skin off the teeth.
Take the card draw away. The rest can stay the same.
I have a simple suggestion for the Druid problem: unnerf Force of Nature. This way I can see a Combo Druid deck appear, with Savage Roar. This may help Druid to finally get a viable deck in this meta.
the problem isn't that druids aren't viable enough m8...
Ultimate Infestation greatest problem is the card draw. they should be nerf or better delete the card draw and buff 1 dmg, 1 armour. 6 dmg 6 armour and 5/5 minion is a good kazakus potion for 10 Mana.
Spreading Plague should be summon 1/3, is also good and can be cleared by many board clears.
Innervate should be refresh mana, not extra mana
Jade Idol i don't know. Maybe more mana or only summon a golem.
I agree. Although personaly I would make Jade Idol choose one: summon a jade golem or Shuffle three jade shards (token spell which would just summon a jade golem and not shuffle more copies) into your deck. That way you still have a fatigue advantage (up to six extra cards but you will have to be more careful about how many cards you draw - thus providing somewhat of an indirect nerf to Ultimate Infestation.
Jade Idol does summon a Jade Golem.....
Both the instant-ramp of Innervate and the long-term ramp of Wild Growth and Nourish are incredibly strong mechanics. With Warlock, the incredibly strong hero power is balanced by having weaker class cards. That's why Cho'gall was never good: warlocks don't have spells worth casting because their hero power requires their spells to be weak. With druid, there clearly hasn't been the same sort of class-weakening to balance the strong core mechanics. On top of this, Wild Growth and Nourish don't have large opportunity costs, since if you draw them late in the game instead of early, they turn into cycle.
This is why, for pretty much the entire history of Hearthstone, Druid has never been a bottom-3 class. They haven't always been a top-3, but they've never really been bad.
My nerf ideas would be the following, perhaps not all of them need to be done:
1. Cap Jades at 8-mana 8/8s. It's probably still nearly unmanageable, but if they cap out at the size of Giants, that just seems fair, and will help keep the mechanic from getting out of hand in Wild as time passes. There's a lot of things in the game which can kinda deal with 8/8 minions (Warrior quest hero power, for example), and incremental damage and stall can work (the spell Blizzard), but stuff really breaks down if they get to 12s and 13s.
2. Hall of Fame for Nourish. It's too versatile, and also has a Rag-like issue. Any other mana ramp or draw effects for druid are going to be worse than this. No one will play Lunar Visions if Nourish exists, because it's worse for draw, and it's worse for ramp. Adding new cards with different ramp and draw mechanics will help keep druid interesting and fun, help keep them feeling different, as time passes. Beyond balance, I think that's a good thing for the game.
3. Change Innervate to reduce the cost of your next minion by (2). Basically, Preparation but for minions. It'll still allow a druid to ramp out minions (the core theme of the class, which should be preserved), but there won't be the same high-tempo plays from getting faster spells or squeezing in extra hero powers.
4. I'd probably let Ultimate Infestation roll for the time being. It'll rotate out. I think it's a better idea for classic cards to be touched, since Blizzard decided that they should have a permanence within the game. The baseline should be made fair, since every upcoming set will have to work within that framework. I like the all-4s nerf, I like the 3 cards/4 damage/5 ghoul/6 armor suggestion I've seen a few places, but I think they're less vital than addressing the permanent core of Druid.
5. I'd consider changing all the druid 1/5 taunts into 1/4 taunts (from the 2-mana minion, Spreading Plague, and the DK hero). Going from 5 to 4 health is a pretty big breakpoint in terms of the difficulty of removal and trading, but I think all the cards would still be good for their mana costs.
6. This doesn't mean that other classes don't need a touch on some of their core mechanics. If Blizzard hadn't gone with a permanent Classic set and permanent Hall of Fame/Wild pool, but instead had cards that would rotate in and out of the format, I'd definitely say Ice Block needed to rotate out for a year. Maybe it'd need to come back, but it'd be good to see if Mage could withstand losing it. I'm hesitant in a world where nothing has come back from the Hall of Fame or from Wild sets, but it stands out to me as something that might need to be looked at.