Patch 17.4 - Pirates in Battlegrounds, New Heroes, Shifting Minion Pools, Adventure!
Blizzard has just announced Shifting Minion Pools and Pirates in Battlegrounds as well as the Felfire Festival and other changes. New small BG changes added.
Quote from BlizzardThe Felfire Festival is nearly here! The festivities begin on June 9 with the release of patch 17.4, which welcomes a salty new crew of minions to the Battlegrounds—Pirates! On June 17, the Trial by Felfire Solo Adventure will unlock, followed by Trial by Felfire Challenges on June 24. Beyond that, we’ve got some special Tavern Brawls and legendary quests lined up to mark the occasion.
Check out the full Felfire Festival announcement here!
Battlegrounds Shifting Minion Pools
At the start of each game of Battlegrounds, five of the six currently available minion types (Beasts, Demons, Dragons, Mechs, Murlocs, and now Pirates) will form the recruitment pool for that game. The active minion types will be displayed while you’re selecting a Hero—you can also check anytime during the Recruit phase by hovering over Bartender Bob’s deck. To keep things fair, Heroes designed with synergies around specific minion types will sit out if their corresponding minion type is unavailable.
Pirates will always be available in the minion pool until they join the rest of the shifting minion pool in a future update.
Battlegrounds Hero Pool Updates
Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the following new heroes before they’re formally released on June 23.
NEW HEROES
Captain Eudora
Buried Treasure [Cost 1]
- Dig for a Golden minion! (4 Digs Left)
Skycap'n Kragg
Piggybank [Cost 0]
- Gain 1 Gold this turn. Increases each turn. (Once per game)
Captain Hooktusk
Trash for Treasure [Cost 0]
- Remove a friendly minion. Discover one from a lower Tavern Tier.
RETURNING & UPDATED HEROES
Queen Wagtoggle [NEWLY ADDED TO PATCH NOTES]
- Updated to include Pirates.
Patches the Pirate
Pirate Parrrrty! [Cost 4]
- Get a Pirate. After you buy a Pirate, your next Hero Power costs (1) less.
REMOVED
- Professor Putricide has been removed from the hero pool.
- Holy Mackerel has been removed from the minion pool.
New Battlegrounds Minions
UPDATED MINION [NEWLY ADDED TO PATCH NOTES]
Lightfang Enforcer
- Updated to include Pirates.
Trial by Felfire Solo Adventure & Challenges
Follow the story of Aranna Starseeker (Elise Starseeker’s crafty younger sister) as she embarks on a thrilling journey of self-discovery, assembling a motley crew of outcasts and teaming up with Illidan to take on the mad architect of the Rusted Legion itself: MECHA-JARAXXUS! All five chapters of this Solo Adventure will be available for free on June 17. Complete the Trial by Felfire and you’ll also earn the Rusted Legion Card Back!
Before the adventure unlocks, Aranna Starseeker will enter Battlegrounds on June 16 as an early-access Hero for players with Battlegrounds Perks to try out before she formally joins the fray on June 30!
Aranna Starseeker
Demon Hunter Training [Passive]
- After you Refresh 7 times, always see 7 minions in Bob's Tavern.Finally, Trial by Felfire Challenges will unlock on June 24, where players will create a deck and battle Outland’s baddest bosses!
Face off against the likes of Doom Lord Kazzak, Supremus, and Mother Shahraz in a gauntlet of iconic raid bosses from the Burning Crusade! Complete all challenges to earn Golden Kael’thas Sunstrider!
Legendary Quest Line
Starting on June 17 there will be a new Legendary quest unlocking weekly with pack rewards!
- June 17, 9:00 a.m. PT: Complete Chapter 1 in the Trial by Felfire adventure and earn 1 Ashes of Outland pack, 1 Year of the Dragon pack, and 1 Rise of Shadows pack.
- June 24, 9:00 a.m. PT: Play 4 Trial by Felfire Challenge games and earn 1 Ashes of Outland pack, 1 Year of the Dragon pack, and 1 Saviors of Uldum pack.
- July 1, 9:00 a.m. PT: Play 4 Tavern Brawl games and earn 1 Ashes of Outland pack, 1 Year of the Dragon pack, and 1 Descent of Dragons pack.
Game Improvements and Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug on mobile where your opponent’s mana crystals would be displayed in the side bar during their turn.
- Fixed a bug where Zephrys the Great would not offer Windspeaker in the case where Windfury on an un-targetable minion was highly valuable.
I mean, you are given a solo adventure that ends with a card back. Not everyone enjoys solo adventures, especially those with little reward. People want value out of the money they spend, not things they don't need.
I think it's better to have a free "optional" adventure than a "Give me money and I will give you cards"
edit: downvoting someone defending good free content? Ya'll are toxic lol
That Southsea Strongarm is THICC
I want her in my rogue decks. BLIZZ PLS
Glad to see the mackerel go... but wait couldn't they just have reworked it entirely? It is a Battlegrounds original card they could have done anything with it.
Issue is, Murlocs are now down an entire strategy, now it really is just Brann+Megasaur.
Or do Murlocs just need a rework entirely? I think so. Neither losing or winning with or against them seems fair.
Whenever they remove a card/hero, it acts like a temporary patch up. Putricide has had a few incarnations, and I'd bet other removed heroes like Gallywix, Brann and Rag are getting reworks in the backgrounds while retired. Patches, Sir Finley and Lich Baz'hial are all heroes who've been temporarily retired but have/will returned, so have faith that some of the removed heroes will return!
In terms of Mackerel, that card was by far the best Battlegrounds card ever printed. Its big problem was that it didn't even fit into Murloc builds, unless you had a dedicated Divine Shield Minion for it or you gave all your Minions Divine Shield with Megasaur. Two Mackerels with Poisonous counted as a Divine Shield build, something Unstable Ghoul was supposed to hard counter.
Imo, Murlocs need a complete overhaul. They aren't consistent at all and making them somewhat consistent would break the game. Megasaur and Toxfin need to go. Then cards like Scalelord can more comfortably come into the fray.
mackerel dont really hurt murloc build... mackerel was a divine sheild build that was to strong...
Yes I agree, Mackerel was stupid and broken but they could have just altered the card text completely as it is exclusive to the Battlegrounds.
Completely agree. Imho a big problem is that allmost all cards of the archetype are non-original cards. They can't really do anything here other than just adjust Tiers. But if you tier them down for more consistency, they would become broken. Imho they should replace all Murlocs with original ones, except for maybe the Tier1 Grower as that is somewhat in line with the other tribes, and the Token one if you want to keep that mechanic.
Murk-Eye even has Charge, which does nothing in Battlegrounds. Not good game design. Every part on a card should be there for a reason.
Murlocs need a complete Battlegrounds makeover, just like what Dragons and Pirates received. I can't wait to see what they do for Murlocs!