Patch 16.6 - Balance changes - Battlegrounds - Tavern Pass and more!
On top of all the other news today, Blizzard also dropped a patch with Battleground changes, Card Balance changes, and more! Check out everything below:
Quote from BlizzardWe have a few updates in today’s patch, which you can read about below. There are also several goodies you can unlock today by pre-purchasing Ashes of Outland. But first. . .
Log in to get Kael'thas
Kael’thas Sunstrider, a Legendary neutral minion, is breaking free from Ashes of Outland and entering Hearthstone a month early! Starting March 17, all players can log in to receive* the Lord of the Blood Elves, who is playable immediately, and explore his unique power—with Kael’thas in play, every third spell each turn is free.
*Limit one per account. Must log in by June 29 to claim.
Introducing the Tavern Pass
With the release of Ashes of Outland, we’re introducing the Tavern Pass—an all-new way to access Perks for Battlegrounds. Available for $19.99 or 2500 Gold, the Tavern Pass includes four Arena Tickets and the following Battlegrounds Perks for the duration of the Ashes of Outland expansion cycle: advanced stats, visual emotes, a third and fourth hero to choose from at the start of a game, and early access to new Battlegrounds Heroes (subject to the release schedule of new Heroes).
If you currently have Battlegrounds bonus stats, choose from 3 Heroes, or visual emotes unlocked—you will get access to the equivalent new perk starting on March 26. Battlegrounds Perks earned from collecting Descent of Dragons packs (including the new perks such as choosing from 4 heroes) will expire once Ashes of Outland is released. With the introduction of the Tavern Pass, which is included in the Ashes of Outland Mega Bundle, players will no longer have to purchase card packs in order to unlock Battlegrounds Perks.
Pre-Purchase Ashes of Outland
Purchase one or both of the pre-purchase bundles available for Ashes of Outland, available in-game and on the Battle.net web shop through April 6!
Ashes of Outland Mega Bundle
The Mega Bundle includes 90 Ashes of Outland card packs, the Lady Vashj Shaman Hero, the Serpentine card back, and a random Ashes of Outland Golden Legendary card! You’ll also get 4 Arena Tickets and Descent of Dragons Battlegrounds Bonuses right away! The Battlegrounds Bonuses included in the bundle will upgrade to the Tavern Pass at the launch of Ashes of Outland.
Ashes of Outland Bundle
Includes 55 Ashes of Outland card packs, the Serpentine card back, and a random Ashes of Outland Golden Legendary card.
Card Changes
- Spiteful Summoner
- Old: Costs 7 mana → New: Costs 6 mana.
- Call of the Wild
- Old: Costs 9 mana → New: Costs 8 mana.
- Lesser Emerald Spellstone
- Old: Costs 6 mana → New: Costs 5 mana.
- Raza the Chained
- Old: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game. → New: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (0) this game.
- Yogg-Saron, Hope's End
- No longer stops casting when he leaves the board.
- Sludge Slurper
- Old: 1 Attack / 1 Health → New: 2 Attack / 1 Health.
Battlegrounds Hero Pool Updates
- Ragnaros, Sylvanas, and Patches have been removed from the pool.
- NEW HERO - Fungalmancer Flurgl added to the pool.
- Gone Fishing:
- [Passive] After you sell a Murloc, add a random Murloc to Bob's Tavern.
- Sir Finley Mrrglton added back to the pool.
- Adventure!:
- [Passive] At the start of the game, Discover a Hero Power.
- Professor Putricide added back to the pool.
- Rage Potion:
- [Passive] Give a friendly minion +10 Attack for the next combat only (targeted).
Battlegrounds Balance Updates
Heroes
- The Lich King
- Reborn Rites:
- [Cost 1] Give a friendly minion Reborn for next combat only. → [Cost 1] Give a friendly minion Reborn for next combat only (targeted).
- Ysera
- Dream Portal:
- [Cost 1] Refresh and add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern. → [Passive] At the start of your turn, add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern.
- Pyramad
- Brick by Brick:
- [Cost 1] Give a random friendly minion +3 Health. → [Cost 1] Give a random friendly minion +4 Health.
- Millhouse Manastorm
- Manastorm:
- [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 2 Gold. → [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 3 Gold.
- The Rat King
- King of Beasts, Mechs, Murlocs, Demons and Dragons:
- [Passive] Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon/Dragon, give it +1/+1. → [Passive] Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon/Dragon, give it +1/+2.
- Milificient Manastorm
- Tinker:
- [Passive] Mechs in Bob's Tavern have +1 Attack. → [Passive] Mechs in Bob's Tavern have +2 Attack.
- Deathwing
- ALL Will Burn!:
- [Passive] ALL minions have +3 Attack. → [Passive] ALL minions have +2 Attack.
- Reno Jackson
- Gonna Be Rich!:
- [Cost 4] Make a friendly minion Golden. (Once per game.) → [Cost 3] Make a friendly minion Golden. (Once per game.)
Minions
- Savannah Highmane
- Old: Tavern Tier 5 → New: Tavern Tier 4.
- Herald of Flame
- Old: 4 Health → New: 6 Health.
- Golden Old: 8 Health → Golden New: 12 Health.
- Steward of Time
- Old: 2 Attack → New: 3 Attack.
- Golden Old: 4 Attack → Golden New: 6 Attack.
- Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect
- Old: 2 Attack / 8 Health → New: 4 Attack / 12 Health.
- Golden Old: 4 Attack / 16 Health → Golden New: 8 Attack / 24 Health.
- Nathrezim Overseer
- Old: 4 Health → New: 3 Health.
- Golden Old: 8 Health → New: 6 Health.
- Twilight Emissary
- Old: Tavern Tier 5, 6 Attack / 8 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +3/+3 → New: Tavern Tier 3, 4 Attack / 4 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +2/+2.
- Golden Old: 12 Attack / 16 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +6/+6 → Golden New: 8 Attack / 8 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +4/+4.
- Transformation animations when playing a minion from hand will be sped up during the Recruit Phase, cutting down on the amount of time players are left waiting for animations to resolve.
Updates Planned for March 26
- Dr. Boom, Mad Genius
- Old: Cost 9 mana → New: Cost 7 mana.
- Giggling Inventor
- Old: Cost 7 mana → New: Cost 6 mana.
- Raiding Party
- Old: Cost 4 mana → New: Cost 3 mana.
- Reckless Experimenter
- Old: Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at end of turn. (Cost can't be reduced below 1.) → New: Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at end of turn.
- Card Pack Changes, Hall of Fame, Priest Update, updated returning player experience, and free deck for new and returning players - Read more here.
- Illidan Stormrage enters Battlegrounds.
- Wingmen:
- [Passive] Start of Combat: Your left and right-most minions attack immediately.
The new Ranked system kicks off on April 1! You can read more about it here. Follow us on Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to stay up to date on the latest.
Not yet
Its still in beta. After release it will get changes way less
Misinformation. Their plans are to release a major update with each set release and keep pushing small changes in between.
Do we know when the iOS version will appear? I updated on my computer, but then I couldn’t play on my iPad because it says my account is on a newer version...
old yogg is back, I'm a happy boy ^^
Yogg hero unchanged
Card not hero
Battlegrounds constantly get revitalized. I hate the tavern pass thing, though.
"revitalized" cobalt still on 3, that mode wont be fun until they get rid of cobalt
(double commented by mistake because of lag.)
And the crowd goes WILD!
Yogg-Saron, Hope's End
Gotta hand it to Blizzard on that one. Returning the Master to his former glory was a great move that I didn’t think they would do!
He never leaves the board, if you play as him.
MonkaS
so BG will be p2w or what does this mean ?
Battlegrounds is still effectively free. It looks like to me that the Tavern Pass is just another way to get the perks of Battlegrounds like emotes and extra hero choices. If you don’t play regular Hearthstone much but you want the perks, then you can get the pass instead of buying a ton of packs. It also gives you arena tickets, so you get a few tries in that mode as well
Yes, absolutely P2W, you need to pay 3 coins for a unit.
As far as I understand this, it's not another way to unlock perks, it's the only way to unlock perks. So if you dont wanna get 2 heroes to pick instead of 4 like the rich kids do you will have to spend 2500 gold per expansion to play battlegrounds...
Certainly not "P2W" and the stats and emotes is not a big thing. I never used the emotes, and the stats are really more for fun, like how many minions you've ever killed etc. But if you don't want to buy the tavern pass, only being offered 2 heroes is kind of a downside. You can do well with almost every hero, but some are better than others, and if you are given two equally unappealing choices, you might want to buy the tavern pass, just to not being forced playing a weaker hero.
I don't care about emotes ( I don't use them at all), but being able to pick from 2 or 4 four heroes is quite a difference. And having to pay for this every expansion (if this is correct) then 2500 gold is quite expensive, I'm not talking about money since I will never buy something for money again in HS