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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Team5 has repeatedly stated new content is planned a year to a year and a half in advance. It's shocking how people find a way to weave Ben into literally anything Hearthstone-related.
True that they would usually plan expansions a year+ ahead of time. But the main issue here is to be able to constantly/regularly review the meta and/or the power level of certain cards (or cards with potential design issues), and not wait for 9-month to a year to make the necessary changes. Be it buffs or nerfs. And not to be overly afraid of refunding dusts to players, who need the dusts (desperately) to craft cards that they really want.
That's just one of the main problems that makes people frustrated about playing the game. If more regular reviews were performed and executed, it would be awesome.
I don't want Jungle Moonkin without the Beast tag, expecting nerf dust.
Entitled much? The fact that YOU don't want it without the tag means nothing to them.
New demon card, and it has synergy with portal. nice.
These are interesting changes. Maybe some new cards in the next expansion have some kind of new interaction? Tinfoil level: 10
I wasn't aware brode had left. Must have happened this year then? (Took a break after January season till Mid June 2018. Seems I missed some big news.)
Rip Bone Drake and Bonemare
Hmm? How come?
Bone Drake is a DRAGON, you fool. Notice how it has the word DRAKE in the title? If that were to go through, then Sindragosa would also be affected, since she also is an Undead minion, albeit one that's also a Dragon.
One big source of 'Tribe Inconsistancy' I'd like to have looked at is Plant & Fungal Creatures. In WoW they were pretty much always Elementals. But in HS it's kind of hit and miss (mostly miss). Ixlid and Bog Shaper are Elementals, but most are not.
Why is a ghost dog (Arfus) a beast then? Witchwood Grizzly’s new artwork is literally a downgrade, ugh.
8/8 Lifesteal for Frost Lich Jaina. Thanks for making mage even more miserable. KFT rotation cannot arrive soon enough!
Cool little things like these actually show (alongside some good nerfs a while ago), that Blizz is seemingly taking Hearthstone a bit more seriously. I like that, tbh.
agreed. this meta is probably my favourite (that I played at least.. well obviously, LoL) due to the diversity of decks being played, and that all classes have something that works.
Usually there was at least one class each meta that sucked compared to the others. It doesn't seem to be that way now.
Very true, although it has to be said, that it's a bit rock/paper/scissors, but generally it's ok. I remember Midrange and Aggro Shamans, Flamewaker Tempo Mage, Pirate Warrior (didn't play in the Secret Paladin and Undertaker Hunter era), and it's waaay better now.
It was only slightly retarded before rotation when it was Aggro Pala vs Secert Mage vs Cubelock, a bit too much rng in general, but it's way healthier and enjoyable now.
GUYS WHAT ABOUT SEA GIANT???? BTW Grizzly's art is way better as it is, don't change it blizzard
is not an elemental, Molten giant it's Fire/Earth Elemental, Mountain Giant it's a Earth Elemental (cause is a giant Rock), Sea Giant it's just a big Meat Crature, so, is not an elemental.
Change Sea giant's art to match its name and make it a water elemental
Most likely it is a secondary thing that a small part of the team puts a bit of time into here and there. Nobody is doing this as their main job.