Datamined Balance Changes for 22.2 - Sorcerer's Apprentice - Rapid Fire - Rogue Changes & More!
After some sites jumped the gun, here are the Balance changes as datamined from an upcoming Patch, before Blizzard reveals them in the Patchnotes scheduled for tomorrow. Notable is that The Rapid Fire change for Hunter is not just a cost increase but also a Damage increase and that on top of all the nerfs, there is a buff to Rokara, the hero, going from 5 armor to 10 armor.
Quote from HearthPwn[EX1_608] [Sorcerer's Apprentice] [MODIFIED] COST: 2 => 4
[DAL_373] [Rapid Fire] [MODIFIED] COST: 1 => 2 (note: not just the cost was increased, damage too, from 1 to 2)
[DAL_373ts] [Rapid Fire] [MODIFIED] COST: 1 => 2 (note: not just the cost was increased, damage too, from 1 to 2)
[BT_002] [Incanter's Flow] [MODIFIED] COST: 3 => 4
[DMF_512] [Cloak of Shadows] [MODIFIED] COST: 3 => 4
[SW_028t] [Create a Distraction] [MODIFIED] QUEST_PROGRESS_TOTAL: 2 => 3
[AV_202] [Rokara, the Valorous] [MODIFIED] ARMOR: 5 => 10
[AV_203] [Shadowcrafter Scabbs] [MODIFIED] COST: 7 => 8
[AV_298] [Wildpaw Gnoll] [MODIFIED] COST: 5 => 6
[AV_298] [Wildpaw Gnoll] [MODIFIED] ATK: 4 => 3
Mage Changes
Hunter Changes
Of note, not just the Cost was increased, so was the Damage, from 1 to 2.
So does the flow and still got hit...
Why Paladin must have stongest decks?
Now ladder is gonna be all questlock again
Bukaki Mage meta incoming?
I like how no one is surprised that Incanter's Flow was justified in having a second smack with the nerf bat. It's almost like card cost reduction is really powerful in a card game or something! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
damn not many card i can get dust from only wildpaw i have extra lol 6x normal 1x golden
still 1200 dust not bad but could have been better of it had hit some more i had extra off :D
who cares ?
These seem like entirely the wrong nerfs. Well, pirate quest requiring an extra step seems good in general, nice to see that slow down. But the core problems were insane card draw and un-interactive gameplay which all remain.
Gnoll is the perfect example. The problem wasn't that it was a 5-mana 4/5 that could be reduced to 0 by a burgle rogue. The problem was that the Maestra interaction reduced the cost without effort and the high level of card draw in Rogue. Making a Maestra Rogue--who already trades a lot--trade an extra card for free 3/5 gnolls is a very minor nerf, but it's also deleting the card for a theoretical fair Burgle rogue that's actually just playing burgle stuff.
Meanwhile, the rogue OTKs with Garrote and Guild Trader is entirely intact. An extra mana on the stalls probably has zero actual impact on the deck. Mozaki OTKs are intact in Standard. The same problems with uninteractive gameplay fueled by layers upon layers of card draw will still be there after these balance changes.
The OTK with Guild Trader is very slow and was not the reason people were complaining about Rogue.
Two 4/5 Rush minions on turn 2 were the reason people were complaining about Rogue. There's nothing wrong with Maestra's interaction, and there's no reason to kill that card now that the gnolls are fixed. The pandas are a little scary but much easier to deal with than the gnolls.
The OTK is a problem only for slow decks. The gnolls were a problem for literally everyone. The gnoll is still a very good card, but now it will be played as a later game board control card instead of the aggressive pressure it is being used as now. I suspect the current usage was completely unintentional, considering the similarities with Warlock's gnoll card.
I'd much rather have 4/5 Gnolls that someone had to earn by actually playing burgle cards than 3/5 Gnolls that are entirely unearned--just play Maestra in the deck and draw stuff. That's some seriously horrible design right there. Heck, I'd have rather seen them become 5/5s that you had to work for. A good and worthy payoff to genuine burgle rogue.
Fix the Maestra interaction, and you've saved the card for Burlge (it's beyond garbage now without Maestra bullshit), but you've also spared decks from freebie early gnolls. Meanwhile, I'm not convinced that early gnolls even are fixed by this change, which is again, the problem. Since there were turn 2 gnolls when they cost 5 mana, there will easily be turn 3 gnolls now that they cost 6. That's not shifting Gnoll to midgame board control, it's still steamroll potential. Changing the Maestra interaction would have eliminated the highroll potential, and left the stats better for mid and later game.
Meanwhile, OTK *IS* a problem for everyone, because when OTKs lock decks that can deal with early Gnolls out of the metagame, that means the early Gnolls are far more possible. Plus, the OTKs that exist are consistent and non-interactive, which is down right toxic.
I'm glad Rogue was targeted for nerfs. I'm not sure these nerfs will accomplish the goals most folks want them to accomplish. I mean, if one Spell only were to go up in mana cost, there's no way that Cloak of Shadows is the better pick than Secret Passage. That's a huge part of the absurd card draw potential that makes all of these things--whether aggro and steamroll, or OTK.
I agree. I can't believe the Maestra discounts those cards being intended, but here we are. If they had to earn the discount fairly I would have no problem with the card as is.
Wildpaw Gnoll was #1 on my list of needed nerfs, so I am glad they are addressing it.
I would've preferred "cost cannot be reduced below (1)" for Sorcy, but this'll do I guess.
Rapid Fire looks very specifically aimed at Odd Quest Hunter.. which.. is like 95% of Quest Hunters in Wild, so..
At first blush the Warrior Quest change just looks like a small speedbump (it'll now be 3-3-2 instead of 3-2-2), but we'll see.
poison rogue will still be just as strong. Not sure this will shake up much of the meta actually.
Poison Rogue uses every Rogue card that was nerfed, including Wildpaw Gnoll, so it will definitely feel the sting. This greatly weakens its ability to clear Taunts.
They murdered Sorcerer's Apprentice? This feels like overkill to a card that has been in the game since it was created...
It's also a card that's been doing busted OTKs since the game was created, so this is a good change.
Good. It was about time. They even removed the card from Standard because they kneow how stupidly strong the card is, but they care less about Wild, so it took this long for them to properly address the core problem of the decks that utilize the card.
This wont fix rogue problem, It can stil draw all the deck in 7 turns with the wep, secret pasage and trades this is a joke
A single class being hit by three nerfs in one swing isn't something I'd classify as a "joke", especially in Standard. Considering how tenuously Rogue is holding in there against Warrior, Paladin and Hunter in terms of win %'s, this seems pretty substantial to me.