Upcoming Hearthstone Balance Changes - Wild Growth, Nourish, Level Up!, Saronite Chain Gang, Leeching Poison CHANGES ARE NOW LIVE
Five card changes are coming to Hearthstone on December 19th, which is... today!
- [Discuss this Change] Wild Growth now costs 3, up from 2.
- [Discuss this Change] Nourish now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Level Up! now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Saronite Chain Gang now summons another Saronite Chain Gang, instead of a copy of the minion.
- [Discuss this Change] Leeching Poison now costs 1, down from 2, and only gives Lifesteal for 1 turn.
Check out Blizzard's post below for more information on each of the changes.
Quote from BlizzardIn an update scheduled to arrive December 19 PST, the following cards will be changed.
Developer’s Note: This balance update is focused on improving the long-term health of both Standard and Wild. We've opted to make these changes earlier in the expansion cycle than we normally consider; we'd like to hear your feedback on the timing of this update, in addition to what you think of all the individual card changes.
Wild Growth – Will cost 3 mana. (Up from 2)
Nourish – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Wild Growth and Nourish have been present in every mid-range, combo, and control Druid deck since their introduction in the Basic and Classic set. When cards from the Basic and Classic set are too powerful, they can have negative long-term effects on the game. Continuously playing against these cards can start to feel repetitive, and they can feel so mandatory that they stifle creative deckbuilding decisions. By increasing the mana cost of both cards by one, we expect them to be considerations in late-game control Druid decks, but more difficult to fit in strategies that don’t directly take advantage of ramping mana.
Level Up! – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Odd Paladin has consistently been one of the most powerful and most played decks since its introduction in The Witchwood. By removing Level Up from Odd Paladin, we still expect it to be a competitive board control deck, just with more consistent damage output that should be easier to play around.
Saronite Chain Gang – Now reads: Taunt. Battlecry: Summon another Saronite Chain Gang.
Shudderwock brings an interesting combo to the table, but playing Shudderwock multiple times in a single game can be frustrating. Changing Saronite Chain Gang makes playing multiple Shudderwocks in a game much more difficult. Shudderwock should now exist as a powerful one-turn effect rather than constantly copying itself with Saronite Chain Gang’s Battlecry.
Leeching Poison – Will cost 1 mana. (Down from 2). Now reads: Give your weapon Lifesteal this turn.
We love the fantasy of building a powerful weapon over the course of a game with Kingsbane, but granting it a permanent Lifesteal effect with Leeching Poison resulted in an endgame with few weaknesses, as well as conflicting with our philosophy that Rogues should not have persistent self-healing effects. Making the Lifesteal effect only active for one turn should address some of the power level issues with Kingsbane Rogue’s late game.
Kiwii's Thoughts
Resident deck architect Kiwiinbacon had some thoughts on the nerfs.
Well, it is unfortunate for that one card, but it was the one piece that made Kingsbane ridiculous.
It definitely is a hugely negative nerf for the card but at least now it’s reasonable to run 2 copies, as opposed to the previous state where running 2 was super redundant.
I don't know. A 12HP heal for 1 mana still seems pretty good.
Good, more hunters now.
There must always be a hated class.
I am not happy with nerfing every basic or classic cards. I feel it like something unfair. It is not fair to players and it is not fair for the game itself. For me it is kind of destroy of the spirit of this game.
I understand needs of a ballance, but I do not understand this way of basic/classic nerfs..
Blizzard should meditate about every card before and after the nerf. For example Wild Growth. The card itself loose every reason to use it.It is too expensive now for one more crystal. It is like playing "nothing" on turn 3. And with 10 mana crystalls? 3 mana for drawing another cards? The card is gone.
Very sad. Sorry. I will not celebrate this nerf. From my point of view - the only Level Up! nerf is good. I understand this and more - the change is very interesting - new oportunities for even decks.
This isn't about balance, they left spell hunter unchecked at the top, head and shoulders above the rest.
This is about money. Blizzard wasn't making enough money on the new expac because it wasn't world shaking enough.
Well then, fuck you Blizzard and suck my spell hunter.
Also, you can now put Keleseth in your Druid decks. So it's sort of a buff now.
That´s karma!
Same
Kingsbane is still good in Pirate Rogue.
My primary gripe with these nerfs is why does it take so damn long for them to get the memo? They see better data than any of us and it's not like Odd Paladin just recently became powerful with the latest expansion or that ramp Druid became powerful with the last expansion (and they'd already had some nerfs for that).
Good nerfs and ~2000 dust. Nice christmas gift. Hope hunter doesn't completely dominate now
I am quite amazed at how quick blizz was to implement these changes, and this will definitely affect the meta in many ways!
I made a video analysis of these changes and I really hope you all enjoy.
nice video... where'd you get the background graphic?
LUL!! YUH BREW WHEW CWARES AWAYWERRRS?
I'm aware that Wild exists, but that doesn't change the fact that Wild isn't played nearly as much as Standard is played.
As a Hunter player, Can't be happier
Yeaaaah come oooon you did it Blizzard best nerf ever at last you did something right
Wow, I did t even read this article, just logged in to see the changes. Guess they’re no longer announcing the announcement to the announcement anymore.
But really, these are all very healthy changes. I’m glad they’ve touched on many of these cards that have been causing too much broken interactions. I do agree that it’s unfortunate they didn’t touch any hunter cards seeing as they are most definitely going to be the frontrunner of this expansion with the 5+ archetypes they have. But I’m not one to dwell on negativity. These changes are welcome, I’m actually glad they decided to do them so early. Also gives hope that we may still have a second set of balance changes mid expansion as well if hunter does become the overlords we all expect them to become