Patch Notes 19.6 - Balance Changes, Pre-Purchase, Book of Heroes & More!
Blizzard just published patch notes 19.6 featuring balance changes for all modes, new expansion pre-purchase, Book of Heroes, and more!
Quote from BlizzardThe 19.6 patch brings pre-purchase for Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Forged in the Barrens, along with balance updates for Battlegrounds, Duels, and one card in Standard—High Abbess Alura.
Standard Balance Update
High Abbess Alura
- Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]
Dev Comment: High Abbess Alura is going to 5 mana in order to push out the swing turns she enables. When an individual card contains a large amount of a deck's winrate, as Alura does, it breaks the promises of a Hearthstone match. Instead of having a natural back-and-forth flow between players, games with a turn 4 Alura can create seemingly insurmountable board states too early in the match. At 5 mana, Alura's identity as a big spell buildaround card remains intact but the change will give more room for games to occur before the swing and for responses to be ready after her Spellburst trigger.
High Abbess Alura will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 19.6 patch goes live.
Battlegrounds Updates
- The Darkmoon Prizes Battlegrounds event has come to an end.
- Instead of checking for triples after each minion is summoned, all minions will now summon first before any triples are generated.
HERO POOL UPDATES
Y'Shaarj
- Captain Hooktusk has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero pool.
- Embrace Your Rage
- Old: Start of Combat: Add a minion from your Tavern Tier to your warband. Keep it.
- New: Start of Combat: Summon a minion from your Tavern Tier. Add a copy to your hand.
Elise Starseeker
King Mukla
- Lead Explorer
- Recruitment Map cost reverted to 3 Gold.
- Bananarama
- Big Banana drop rate increased to 1/3.
Akazamzarak
- Prestidigitation
- Ice Block can now only be Discovered once per game.
MINION POOL UPDATES
- Elistra the Immortal has been removed from the Battlegrounds minion pool.
Rabid Saurolisk
- Old: 4 Attack, 2 Health. After you play a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+1.
- New: 3 Attack, 2 Health. After you play a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+2.
Waxrider Togwaggle
- Old: 1 Attack, 2 Health.
- New: 1 Attack, 3 Health.
Yo-Ho-Ogre
- Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health.
- New: 2 Attack, 6 Health.
Molten Rock
- Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health.
- New: 2 Attack, 4 Health.
Arm of the Empire
- Old: Whenever a friendly Taunt minion is attacked, give it +3 Attack.
- New: Whenever a friendly Taunt minion is attacked, give it +2 Attack permanently.
Champion of Y’Shaarj
Junkbot
- Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health.
- New: 4 Attack, 4 Health.
Kangor’s Apprentice
- Old: [Tier 5]
- New: [Tier 4]
- Old: 3 Attack, 6 Health.
- New: 4 Attack, 8 Health.
Duels Balance Updates
- Gattling Gunner has been removed from the Active Treasure pool.
- Mage Armor is now a Neutral Active Treasure (formerly Mage).
Frost Shards
- Old: [Costs 1]
- New: [Costs 2]
Men at Arms
- Old: [Costs 6]
- New: [Cost 4]
Humble Blessings
- Old: [Cost 5]
- New: [Costs 3]
Fluctuating Totem
- Old: Attack 0, Health 3.
- New: Attack 1, Health 4.
Spiked Arms
- Old: Attack 4, Durability 1.
- New: Attack 3, Durability 3.
Demonizer
- Old: [Costs 3]
- New: [Costs 4]
Killmox, the Banished One
- Old: [Costs 6]
- New: [Costs 7]
Pre-Purchase Forged in the Barrens
The Barrens are the anvil upon which the Horde as we know it was founded: A literal crossroads where the tauren, trolls, and orcs came together for the first time. Heroes are made here. Perhaps you, too, shall be Forged in the Barrens!
Forged in the Barrens will launch worldwide this Spring with 135 new collectible cards! You'll be able to find the full schedule for card reveals and see which cards were announced today by visiting the card library here after the Hearthstone Deep Dive at BlizzConline. Check back frequently—the list will be updated with new cards as they’re revealed!
The Forged in the Barrens Mega Bundle includes 80 Forged in the Barrens card packs, 5 Golden Forged in the Barrens packs, two random Forged in the Barrens Golden Legendary cards, the Hamuul Runetotem Druid Hero, the Hamuul Runetotem card back, and Battlegrounds perks**!
The Forged in the Barrens Bundle includes 60 Forged in the Barrens card packs, two random Forged in the Barrens Legendary cards, and the Hamuul Runetotem card back!
**Battlegrounds Perks are available upon purchase and expire at the end of the Forged in the Barrens expansion cycle.
Log-in for Shadow Hunter Vol’jin & 30 Years of Blizzard Card Back
Log into Hearthstone after the 19.6 patch goes live to receive the Shadow Hunter Vol’jin Legendary minion for free, available to play immediately!* And, to celebrate Blizzard’s 30th anniversary, all players will be able to claim the free 30 Years of Blizzard card back from the in-game shop until March 2, 2021!*
*Limit one per account.
Bug Fixes & Miscellaneous Updates
- Fixed a bug where completed Weekly Quests would not show awarded XP on the Rewards Track without relaunching Hearthstone.
- Fixed a bug where Transfer Student would not have a unique ability on the Darkmoon Faire gameboard.
- Fixed a bugged interaction between Bright-Eyed Scout and Shenanigans.
- Fixed a bugged interaction between Holy Wrath and Shenanigans.
- Fixed a bug where Sightless Watcher’s Battlecry would not offer a second copy of Sightless Watcher if one was in your deck.
- Fixed a bug where Keywarden Ivory’s Spellburst would only give one additional spell after Discovering two spells when played with Brann Bronzebeard.
- Fixed a bug where Dreaming Drake would not retain in-deck and in-hand modifications when Corrupted.
- Fixed a bug where history tiles were not showing after activating Spellburst for Glacier Racer and Imprisoned Celestial.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where minions added to the warband via Embrace Your Rage would not be summoned by Bob’s Burgles the following recruit phase.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where three Golden Faceless Taverngoers used on the same minion would combine to form another triple.
- Fixed a Duels bug where Staking the Claim would not count Keywarden Ivory as a Discover card.
- Fixed a Duels bug where Scrapmetal Demolitionist’s card text would not update throughout a run.
- Fixed a Duels bug where Instructor Fireheart would play two voice lines simultaneously.
- Duels Signature Hunter Treasure Bow of the Beast has been renamed to Carrot on a Stick.
- The Silas Darkmoon login reward will now be granted if you own a pack from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and go to the Open Packs menu.
- Increased the font size on mobile devices for the XP bar on the Rewards Track.
- Search results for any minion type in the Collection Manager will now include Circus Amalgam.
Book of Heroes Valeera – March 2
Retrace Valeera’s path to becoming an expert assassin in the next installment of Hearthstone Book of Heroes, releasing on March 2! Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Rogue pack, containing only Rogue cards from Standard!
Our next major update will include an Arena rotation and new Duels Treasures! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on the latest releases!
March 22
Untill when the pre-purchase will be available to purchase?
So they did a very unecessary nerf to the third mage hero power and left the 0 mana destroy a minion and summon 2 treants from druid untouched.....the heck blizz?? the heck?
its 2 mana
today i have one brann and one golden khadgar , just give me one tripple bug or doesnt work?
It has been changed, it is even in the patch notes...
What is "Battlegrounds perks"?
You are able to chose from 4 heroes instead of 2 at the start of the game. When the new hero is released, there is like 1-2 weeks early access for players with perks, so you don´t have to wait that time to touch the newest heroes. Also you can buy this feature separately for 2000g or 2500g (not sure) or 10 bucks in the in-game shop.
plus it lasts within the expansion cycle, meaning u have to buy "Battlegrounds perks" again when a new major expansion comes
The image showing the basic bundle is wrong and misleading:
The Forged in the Barrens Bundle includes 60 Forged in the Barrens card packs, two random Forged in the Barrens non-golden Legendary cards, and the Hamuul Runetotem card back!
So they nerfed Illucia, cause 2 Mana 1/3 wich is super risky to play because it can backfire so fucking hard was too OP, but a 6 Mana 8/8 wich destroys 5 Cards of your deck is fine.
They gave Priest a useles 8 Mana 8/8 Legendary that draws 2 and fucks yourself - while Warlock got a perfect 5 Mana Legendary Wincondition for control decks. You know how this card should look like ? Draw 2 Cards and heal yourself equal to its cost OR give both cards Heal yourself for its costs when played.
Priest got a 5 Mana 3/3 taunt wich gets +1/+1 for every spell in your hand, so you need to have at least 5 Spells in your Hand to get an 8/8 Taunt. Paladin get's a 5 Mana 5/5 + Divine Shield wich gets +3/3 and taunt and all you have to do is to play... a 6 Mana Card. Im saying this just to compare how shitty Priest Cards are in general compared to other classes.
They nerfed this 100% useless fake Priest Legendary cause this card is nuts in.... Paladin
They nerfed Cabal Acolyte cause it was too OP with 6 HP. But 1 Mana Draw 4 Cards for Rogue is super balanced.
They took away every single opportunity for priest to cycle the deck, while Rogue, DH, Druid and whatever often draw 10-15 cards more thant priest atm since turn 8.
Priest cant finish the opponent even with 1 HP left - the only way to kill someone is A - Minions on the Board or B - Zephrys. So Blizzard still wants Priest to be a class wich has only one wincon: Survive and bore your Opponent to death or get him to concede instantly when he gets Priest as an opponent.
As always when it comes to Priest, i get downvoted because the forum is full of Rogue & Tickatus players atm.
Puck Friests!!!! I hate this class since I started playing HS back in 2015..., it is so boring to play as and play against... It is just removal after removal and infinite value or stealing your cards KEKW... only time I had fun with priest was with some miracle and heavy card draw combo decks and those decks were not even Tier 2, otherwise I enjoy your tears #peace
I agree with some stuff you mentioned how Tickatus is super non-interactive, it was also Illucia and Tick is not fine either.
Secret passage should not be printed at first place, interesting mechanic, but not for 1 mana.
I play mostly board oriented decks (midrange/control), so I hate priest due to their infinite number of removals and value generators.
True, and as we can see, they are unable to create good priest card set, and creating illucia just confirms this. You can't play your own game with your shitty cards (compared to cards from other classes), so just give them to the opponent and play his good cards trying to disrupt their game.
Dafuq is this change?
Not a fan of the Alura nerf. Not debating a nerf itself is justified. In my opinion, they do too much mana dependent nerfs instead of mechanical nerfs. The problem with Alura is that it's an extremely high variance card and you can tutor out big spells like Cheese Paladin does. So why not impose a limit to the mana cost of the spell she casts or let her only cast certain buff spells?
She fit in very well in the 4-mana slot for Pure Paladin, whereas there already are Aldor Truthseeker and Blessing of Authority for 5 mana. The nerf was mostly because of Cheese Paladin I guess, but I think it will hurt Pure Paladin a lot as well.
Because they only want to weaken, not kill the deck.
Priest got 2 nerfs already. Thats makes many people happy. I guess. It's just disgusting that Blizzard is bullying too
I got Nightslayer Valeera from the lvl 50 reward and then they add 2 cool new skins for her smh
cool as a priest player i will gert back my 3600 dust for a useless (golden) Priest legendary