23.4.3 Patch Notes - Balance Changes in Constructed, BG and Mercs & More
With some targeted Balance Changes to DH and Control Warrior variants and a big change to Lightning Bloom, Blizzard is setting up for the late Sunken City Meta.
Patch is LIVE!
I want to quickly highlight that roughly half of the cards in this patch are being changed primarily because of how they *feel*, rather than being changed because of their *balance*. We’ve done this in the past, but may want to do this more often going forward. 2/25
— Aleco (@AlecoGereco) June 16, 2022
Quote from BlizzardPatch 23.4.3, launching June 16, includes balance changes to Standard, Battlegrounds, and Mercenaries, plus more!
Card Updates
Dev Comments: We have a lot of big Standard balance changes coming this patch (and one for Wild!) which are attempting to accomplish a few different goals. First, we want to lower the power level of the most powerful decks in the current metagame - Fel Demon Hunter and Control Warrior variants. Roughly half of the changes in this patch are balance-motivated and intended to target the winrates of these decks directly.
The rest of the changes in this patch are not primarily motivated by power level, but are instead focused on improving the play-against experience of some of the more polarizing cards in the game.
The following cards have been adjusted to have their power reduced:
Shield Shatter
- Old: Deal 5 damage to all minions. Costs (1) less for each Armor you have. → New: Deal 4 damage to all minions. Costs (1) less for each Armor you have.
Tidal Revenant
- Old: Battlecry: Deal 5 damage. Gain 8 Armor. → New: Battlecry: Deal 5 damage. Gain 5 Armor.
Nellie’s Pirate Ship (the Colossal appendage summoned by Nellie, the Great Thresher)
- Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They Cost (1). → New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They Cost (1) less.
From the Depths
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
Dev Comment: Both Charge Warrior and Control Warrior variants have been overperforming on the ladder, and trend towards higher and higher winrates the further up the ladder you climb. These decks share several key cards, and this batch of changes is intended to lower the winrates of both those archetypes. We don’t want or expect these decks to disappear entirely after the changes, but we do hope that some of the more frustrating plays that they are capable of (such as Nellie creating 1-cost Mr. Smite) will be removed or weakened going forward.
Caria Felsoul
- Old: [Costs 6] 6 Attack, 6 Health. Battlecry: Transform into a 6/6 copy of a Demon in your deck. → New: [Costs 7] 7 Attack, 7 Health. Battlecry: Transform into a 7/7 copy of a Demon in your deck.
Battleworn Vanguard
- Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
Dev Comment: Demon Hunter has been the other standout winrate class since the release of the latest mini-set. Although we’re happy to see the new and improved Xhilag making a splash, we aren’t as excited about Caria being used to cheat out a copy of Xhilag ahead of schedule. In addition to slowing down that interaction, we’ve shaving one Health off Battleworn Vanguard in order to lower the odds that it sticks early and snowballs the game.
Wildpaw Gnoll
- Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 3 Attack, 5 Health
Dev Comment: Rogue has been one of the most played classes in Standard, and it didn’t feel right for us to hit the other popular classes without taking a small amount of power out of Rogue. Wildpaw Gnoll has been a tricky card for us to get right, but we’re optimistic that the latest change to it will leave both the card and the class in the right place.
Lightforged Cariel
- Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]
Dev Comment: We are happy to see hero cards pack a late game punch for their classes, but felt like Cariel was providing that power a turn earlier than she should have been. Paladin is in a pretty healthy spot in the current metagame, and with the rest of the changes we are seeing in this patch, we expect things to stay that way.
Spitelash Siren
- Old: [Costs 4] 2 Attack, 5 Health → New: [Costs 5] 2 Attack, 6 Health
Dev Comment: Spitelash Siren is a fun and interesting card for Naga mage decks, but we felt that it was capable of effectively ending games in a way that didn’t leave enough room for counterplay. We are hoping that by moving this effect back one turn, opponents of the card will have more time to interact with the wide boards it is capable of generating.
Earthen Scales
- Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]
Dev Comment: Druid hasn’t been a dominant class since the mini-set, but it can still be quite frustrating to lose to. We felt Earthen Scales was doing too much for a one-mana card, and that increasing its cost by 1 the class should be a little easier to attack in the mid-game.
Lightning Bloom
- Old: Gain 2 Mana Crystals this turn only. Overload: (2). → New: Refresh 2 Mana Crystals. Overload: (2).
Dev Comment: As we tracked gameplay following the mini-set, we noticed concerns about game experiences in Wild, particularly when it comes to Big Shaman decks. These decks can sometimes ramp out big threats very early, which could make games feel like non-games. We quickly identified Lightning Bloom as the card which was creating the most problems for the format both in the short-term and long-term, so we are making an aggressive adjustment to it.
Mr. Smite
- Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 7]
Dev Comment: Mr. Smite is a powerful, game-ending card that doesn’t need to be quite as powerful as he is on curve. This change will hopefully make the card a little more tolerable in the mid-game, while also slowing down the various combos he is involved in.
School Teacher
- Old: 5 Attack, 4 Health → New: 4 Attack, 3 Health
Dev Comment: Though we’re generally happy with the kinds of gameplay that School Teacher provides, a card with a premium Battlecry effect doesn’t also need to have premium stats. We expect this card to still see plenty of play, but we hope that it won’t be quite as ubiquitous as it is now.
Any craftable versions of the cards listed above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 23.4.3 (Core Set versions of cards that are in the Core Set, and the Golden versions of School Teacher that were given as part of the Voyage to the Sunken City Rewards Track, are not craftable).
Battlegrounds Updates
Hero Power Updates
Onyxia Broodmother – Broodmother
- Old: Avenge (4): Summon a 2/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately. → New: Avenge (4): Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.
Ozumat – Tentacular
- Old: Passive. Start of Combat: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle with Taunt. (Upgrades after you sell a minion!) → New: Passive. Start of Combat: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle with Taunt. (Gains +1/+1 after you sell a minion!)
Dev Comment: This is not a functional change; this change is just for clarity.
Pyramad — Brick by Brick
- Old: [Costs 1] Give a random friendly minion +4 Health. → New: [Costs 0] Give a random friendly minion +2 Health. (Gains +1 Health each turn you don’t use this!)
Tamsin Roame — Fragrant Phylactery
- Old: Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to four friendly minions. → New: Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to five friendly minions.
Armor Tier Updates
The following heroes were adjusted to have more armor, and are now in the following armor tiers:
- Al’Akir, Ambassador Faelin, Galakrond, Malygos, and Vol’jin are in Armor Tier 2.
- C’Thun is in Armor Tier 3.
- Bru’kan, Edwin VanCleef, Fungalmancer Flurgl, and Queen Azshara are in Armor Tier 5.
- Deathwing, Elise Starseeker, Illidan Stormrage, Lord Jaraxxus, and Tess Greymane, are in Armor Tier 6.
- Aranna Starseeker, Cariel Roame, King Mukla, Overlord Saurfang, Rakanishu, The Curator, and The Rat King are in Armor Tier 7.
The following heroes were adjusted to have less armor, and are now in the following armor tiers:
- Alexstrasza, Death Speaker Blackthorn, Ini Stormcoil, Maiev Shadowsong, Patches the Pirate, Shudderwock, The Lich King, Trade Prince Gallywix, and Xyrella are in Armor Tier 1.
- Reno Jackson is now in Armor Tier 2.
- Dinotamer Brann is now in Armor Tier 3.
Minion Updates
Bubblette
- Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health → New: 5 Attack, 4 Health
Tarecgosa
- Old: Tavern Tier 4 → New: Tavern Tier 3
Coldlight Seer
- Old: Tavern Tier 4 → New: Tavern Tier 3
Shoal Commander
- Old: 1 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health
Waverider
- Old: Spellcraft: Give a minion +1/+1 and Windfury until next turn. → New: Spellcraft: Give a minion +2/+2 and Windfury until next turn.
Critter Wrangler
- Old: 5 Attack, 6 Health. After you cast a Spellcraft spell on a minion, give it +2/+1. → New: 5 Attack, 7 Health. After you cast a Spellcraft spell on a minion, give it +2/+2.
Corrupted Myrmidon
- Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 3 Attack, 3 Health
Tidemistress Athissa
- Old: 7 Attack, 3 Health → New: 7 Attack, 8 Health
Mercenaries Updates
Alexstrasza:
- Dragonqueen's Gambit {0}
- Old: Cooldown 2 → New: Cooldown 1
The Lich King
- Death Coil {0}
- Old: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown 0
Yu’Lon:
- Jadeflame Buffet {0}
- Old: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown 0
Tidemistress Athissa:
- Wave Crush {0}
- Old: Speed 7 → New: Speed 6
- Riptide {0}
- Old: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown: 0
Rexxar:
- Old: 11/72 Maxed Stats → New: 11/82 Maxed Stats
Xuen, the White Tiger
- Equalizing Strike {0}
- Old: Speed 7 → New: Speed 5
Captain Hooktusk
- Cutthroat Negotiations {0}
- Old: Speed 7 → New: Speed 2
Uther
- Blessing of Protection {0}
- Old: Speed 3 → New: Speed 1
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- Zarjira’s Upstart Acolyte Equipment Freeze effect will no longer trigger if the entire enemy board is already Frozen. This will be a temporary fix until the effect can be updated to read “The first time a friendly character is frozen each turn, Freeze a random enemy.”
- Fixed a bug causing Reno’s Treasure Inspector Equipment to occasionally have no effect.
- Addressed miscellaneous localization issues across modes and languages.
So is Warrior dead now? Like, what the hell am I supposed to play, I don't have any other classes.
Blizz needs money, my friend. You are supposed to open your wallet and pay! They don't give a fuck about the players. They are exploiting the angle of the unregulated microtransactions.
Well, I'm not going to do that.
(I might consider Shaman, with the Thunder King back in town, admittedly, that's a hero skin worth paying for - is Shaman any good?)
no fix about the nozdormu day? give us our 600xp plz !
"How they feel"
Mecha-shark has never felt good yet that is untouched.
Lol, tried to rework Recall Shaman post nerf. Unplayably slow. Thanks Blizzard.
This game become a circus in circle.
Lightning Bloom is the biggest middle finger. They fundamentally destroy the card, but until THIS expansion it wasn't a problem? Nonsense. It was always a problem, which is why they have been repeatedly nerfing ramp druid cards for months.
Maybe don't release broken cards in the first place!?
Yes exactly. "Maybe don't release broken cards in the first place!?" Theoretically yes, but they want to sell aggressively, so they need broken stuffs. And this is why the scam arises. Because people bought different stuffs. And especially when there are new expansions, when people have to decide whether to pre-order or not based on what they see and after 2 weeks of release, they nerf everything. This thing drives me crazy. It is an unregulated scam.
Funny how people complain about the nerfs after each expansion.
Years ago people complained about no balance patches after new expansions.
I guess people always find a reason to complain.
If you don't understand, it is quite simple. People only want the game in balance.
Years ago they were testing their game before releasing it. Which is why you had relatively balanced metas that didn't need constant balance patches.
Now they're releasing patches every few weeks that fundamentally destroy cards that have been out for months. They clearly are not testing anymore.
Blizzard: Nerf Bloom now that everyone has definitely disenchanted their 20 copies >:)
Not me, still had them all XD
nice
Oh yeah, you're right, the handbuffing aspect is pretty irrelevant, agreed.
In many match ups it is. Increasing your health by 50-100% is always relevant.
These mostly feel like nerfs for cards that shouldn't have been this powerful at release in the first place. I mean, the 1-cost pirates tied to a 2-minion body with taunt... how could they not have realized it'd very often lead to 1-cost Smite combos? Why would you release the card like that anyway? Free dust is good tho, so I'll quit my complaining.
Simple. They released them to sell. OP= Big sells. Now they nerf everything, so people need to buy other packs in order to build new decks and play. And then we can argue how unfair this policy is because people bought different things, but there are no laws to protect the consumers.
I've told this before, and I see this is a new time to say this again: Blizzard should be investigated by their scams and for sell fake products for their customers.
FBI should really dive into some form of investigation or the US government should start editing new cyber laws to prevent companies like this to predate on players, even thou some trash like to point out the choice of the players, not the scam of the company.