Hearthstone's Next Balance Update Goes Live on May 22
We've now got official confirmation that the upcoming balance changes will be going live on May 22. When we first got word balance changes were on their way, it was stated we'd see them after the conclusion of the summer playoffs but we didn't think it would be that soon!
Quote from BlizzardUpdate: These balance changes are currently scheduled to go live on May 22 PDT.
The Nerfs
For those out of the loop, here's the nerfs that are coming in the update.
- Naga Sea Witch - Cost is now 8, up from 5.
- Spiteful Summoner - Cost is now 7, up from 6.
- Dark Pact - Now restores 4 Health, down from 8.
- Possessed Lackey - Cost is now 6, up from 5.
- Call to Arms - Cost is now 5, up from 4.
- Crystal Core - Effect now makes all minions in your deck 4/4, down from 5/5.
We've got dedicated threads available to discuss each card nerf.
(EDIT: I misread your comment originally. I'll leave my original text here, as it concerns the topic of publishing cards.)
If "they KNEW" it was going to be a problem, why did they publish it then? If someone knows it's going to be an issue, then it means their actions are purposeful. And if their actions are purposeful, that means that they either wanted to be intentional malicious, or they wanted to help the games end quickly or crazily.
That, or they didn't actually know, and you're just assuming things. Small Indie Company, amirite? I think this has more to do with the development team being smaller and not having as extensive/thorough a playtest of the library that existed at the time. With a team of people playtesting the game, they must have overlooked the power of what they were producing, and if they overlooked Warsong Commander as they had, it means the game was rushed.
Either the game was rushed out the door because of an expected delivery on the part of someone at the company, or they wanted it like this intentionally. Cross reference these logics with the Naga Sea Witch change that made Giants broken and you'll see the problem clearer than before. Consider the following: Brode went on record to state that the Naga Sea Witch interaction with Giants was intentional. I believe the part that wasn't intentional was making Giants specifically/intentionally stronger. Concerning things coming out stronger than expected, refer back to the part where I mention a design oversight of this nature suggests that they rushed development, as taking great care with balance concerns total time spent hammering out even the small details.
Wow im surprised they are applying this quickly. im looking forward to next week.
Quickly?!
Most of this should have happened five months ago.
Good thing I reached legend with the naga warlock deck! Phew! Just in time! ^_^V
Depends, good ole' HSreplay.net will show me the way as usual! :D
Why the downvoting? You all so jelly?! Jelly in the belly?! ^_^v
he is jelly, his collection sucks his father was absent and no1 loves him
So you are saying wild is an inferior mode right?
So who is actually taking this game seriously now?!
ROFL? PWNED
I took a month break from HS after playing this expansion due to exactly these problems. So much of the game is determined by a draw, be it lackey + pact (easier to draw 2 given hero power), or CtA, or Spiteful. It doesn't make the game unbalanced, but it creates situations where you absolutely cannot be outcomes oriented. You may indeed make all the right plays and deck building decisions, only to lose because your opponent drew spiteful on 6. I don't find this style of play fun, and I'm glad they are making these adjustments. I plan to play more after these changes come into effect.
burst mage top tier? what zone of the ladder are you playing mate?
>It's not going to change anything
You're not much for paying attention, are you?
>Burst Mage will still be top tier
Do you play outside of NA servers? Something is off here.
the simple rule is, nerf something and then something else becomes OP, it has been true for every single nerf and it benefits us rich player and blizzard for their sales, the noobs that are crying for nerfs are the most hit with the changes because they cant keep up with the changes.
Is it May 22nd yet?
Sadly no. However today is the 18th which is National Pizza Party Day (not to be confused with the National Pizza Day which is the 9th February), so if you want a party because of the new nerfs, go get yourself a pizza.
At least that will take off one day...
Are the nerfs really needed? Thats the question.
On the start of each expansion , there are some cards that we already excepted that would be too good (ex: KFT – Spreading Plague 5 Mana cost, Ultimate Infestation, etc ) and another ones that were a surprise – K&C made the strongest deck with Cube + Nzoth.
When an expansion is released, the first days are the madeness in ladder for those who love to experiment new strategys and new combos. Thats the most exciting part of playing HearthStone, and thats why we have 3 expansions per year to get the game competetive and not stuck in time (people tired of playing the same decks each day)
Now we got the new year, the Raven.With the rotation, a lot of cards that we loved to play leaved the game leaving a meta undefined. Andfor me , thats cool!
In the first 2 weaks of the expansion, we saw each class with different decks with different archtypes. Aggro, mid range and control, we have everything. So why Whitchood has the lowest impact in meta? Looking at the numbers we think that. But the truth is that some cards of the newest expansion defined the new and old decks like Baku and Grennmayer. Thats the point of an expansion, not everycard needs to be good, we just want that they crush the previous meta or improve it. Thats what happen. I never saw the fisrt weaks of this expansion like the others. After a weak, we already knew which decks were the best but on this new one we didnt. Hunter was so good on the begging..... Shadowacker was insane( at least people thought ). Hagatha was played.... Goffrey was the MASSIVE REMOVAL. That was so fun for me.
But now the meta stablished. We have Paladin with his Aggro/Mid Range decks with the best Win Rate, but we have counters for it. We have Cubelock or Control Warlock and we can beat them. Everyclass in this moment has decks that counters them and they are from almost each class. Yes i know, you “cant” beat warlock so easily. And aggro are also difficult to beat. And Taunt Druid and Warlock are complicated. Oh Spitefull on turn 6, you are so insane.
But lets face it. We all care about winning , and if we get the match that we are not good vs it , we “cry”. When it ´s good , we BM the others one. That´s the meta. Thats the comeptitive style.
So why the changes after all? Are the ladder so hard to beat? Dont we have already so many counters? Thats why i dont think this nerfs are good. You need to study the meta to beat the meta. If you play for fun u have CASUAL.
Now the nerfs are going to hit, and we will knew a new meta. It will be as good as i think it is , or it wil be worst and you wont undo what you ve done Blizzard?
Let´s see what will happen. Good games to everyone!