Molten Giant & Mountain Giant to Become Elemental + More Minion Changes
Five minions of Hearthstone are receiving type changes and one art change!
- Molten Giant becomes an Elemental.
- Mountain Giant becomes an Elemental.
- Witchwood Piper becomes a Demon.
- North Sea Kraken becomes a Beast.
- Jungle Moonkin is losing Beast.
- Witchwood Grizzly is receiving new art.
Quote from BlizzardIn our ongoing quest to make Hearthstone more consistent and intuitive, we always pay close attention to what our players are saying about the game. In an upcoming update, we’re taking some steps toward improving consistency by making some small tweaks to certain minion types, based on your feedback.
Some minions in Hearthstone are categorized into Types, like Demons, Beasts, or Elementals. We’re going to be making changes to a few cards to make their Type match what you’d expect based on their art, fantasy, and where they fit in with Warcraft lore.
The following changes will be included in the next major Hearthstone update:
Molten Giant & Mountain Giant
Both Molten Giant and Mountain Giant will be reclassified as Elementals. This adds some additional options in Elemental-type decks, but also makes more sense from a visual standpoint—these lumbering towers of magma and stone are the epitome of Elementals.
Witchwood Piper
Witchwood Piper will be considered a Demon. This satyr minion is rather demonic in nature, which is in keeping with Warcraft canon, and so it makes sense to acknowledge that in Hearthstone. This is the first* time we have introduced a satyr to Hearthstone, so we want to associate them with their proper minion classification.
North Sea Kraken
In line with the fantasy of a giant, boat-smashing terror of the deep, North Sea Kraken will become a Beast. Just don’t call it calamari.
Jungle Moonkin
While visually very Beast-like, Moonkin are in fact intelligent humanoids. We currently have two collectible Moonkin in Hearthstone—Darkmire Moonkin and Jungle Moonkin—and one was a Beast and the other wasn’t. We agree with the overall community feedback that Moonkin should not be Beasts, so, for consistency’s sake, Moonkin will no longer be classified as Beasts.
We also discussed how to address spectral beast cards like Witchwood Grizzly and Arfus. Are they Beasts or not? For Witchwood Grizzly, we liked the gameplay interactions that it had with Witching Hour and Kathrena Winterwisp. We decided to update its art to make it look like a beast instead of a ghost. Arfus meanwhile, is seeing a lot of play because he is being Discovered by Deathstalker Rexxar, which is really fun, so we're leaving him as is for now.
As a follow up to our recent explanations regarding our refund policy, we would also like to clarify that minor consistency changes—such as name changes, templating updates, art updates, or Type changes that do not significantly affect the power level of a card—will not offer a full Arcane Dust refund.
In this case, since power levels remain essentially unchanged, we will not offer a full Arcane Dust refund.
If you’ve noticed any other minions that seem like they should be a different Type, let us know in the comments, or on Facebook and Twitter.
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I meant Frost Giant but dunno why I can't edit my post
And dunno why it posted 2 times the same comment. A bit weird
I get the impulse for consistency across the Giants, but I do think that Sea Giant and Frost Giant are clearly of a different kind of being in WoW than the others. They're both huge humanoids, and though they reflect their environments, I don't think they rise to the level of elemental the same way a giant being of lumbering rock or snow does.
How do you figure? The Sea Giant is literally dripping water with elements of the sea on it. They also come up out of the water in WoW, so again, seems right. And the Frost Giants are the icy descendants of the Titans. So they should also be.
Lorewise, this change in a vacuum doesn't make sense. We can only hope that Blizzard finishes leveling these off for consistency.
My guess would be that, from the art on those cards, neither look they're "made" of elements - Sea Giant looks like a merman and Frost Giant looks like a giant dwarf (oxymoron though it may be)? Whereas Blizzard notes, the other giants are simply "towers of magma/stone".
The art on the cards definitely depict something different than what you'd find in WoW. Though, in WoW, they don't call those giants either. I get why the addition of elemental tags, but I don't think it fits that well as Hearthstone thinks...
Actually, yes, they do. Feel free to load up and go hit Azshara (if it still exists these days) and head for the coastline with a Hunter. Get 'em to flip on Track Giants.
It's nice that they're trying to flatten some things and give them some consistency. But I do not, for the life of me, understand why they'd do this in steps/stages/a graduated rollout. Figure out the appropriate targets, like say *all* the giants, then apply it. Figure out the other undead or rotting creatures of the past few sets while you're at it. This is just going to seem halfassed to the player base, myself included.
So elemental hand warlock would be a thing?
I meant Frost Giant but dunno why I can't edit my post
Sea Giant and Frost Giant, by the artwork, are clearly big humanoids (ie made of muscle, bone, etc.)
Snowfury Giant is clearly made of snow, ie Elemental. So no probs with Blizzard's classifications on any of those.
Wait... but... Sea Giant and Snowfury Giant? D:
They're not elemental...
Snowfury is already an elemental.
As for Sea Giant, it’s a sea monster thing, not made of elements like other elementals, hence why it’s not an elemental.
Okay, so why is Bone Drake a dragon while Bonemare is not a beast?
Obligatory "Small Indie Company" meme. In all honesty, it seems like they are himing and hawing over what undead minions should be. Maybe they want to add an undead type? Who knows.
Ice block/molten giants with DK Jaina could be a super fun swing turn in wild.
Chances that broken elemental synergy is found that uses the giant changes?
Whether or not it's broken, it's still going to be quite useful. For example, Book of Specters/Ruby Spellstone Elemental Mage often already runs Mountain Giant, so adding in that synergy is going to be a nice perk.
I like all of these changes. Nothing of value is lost. Also, Kibler's elemental mage just got a buff, which is neat.
All makes logical sense to me but they have a long way to go making everything consistent