24.4.3 Patch Notes - Balance Changes For Constructed & Battlegrounds
Blizzard just released the Patchnotes for the upcoming Patch. It features Balance changes for Constructed & Battlegrounds.
Quote from BlizzardPatch 24.4.3 is a data-only client patch, scheduled for October 13, that includes the following updates and bug fixes:
Hearthstone Updates
Dev Comment: The meta is relatively stable right now, with just a few outliers. Our goal with this patch is to reduce frustration and give weaker decks a bit more breathing room by reducing the overall power level of Hunter.
The one notable outlier that is not getting changed, but which we are keeping a close eye on, is Prince Renathal. He is powerful and popular, but we don’t want this patch to completely shake up the meta, because we have something fun coming in Patch 24.6 and we want to see how Renathal performs in the next expansion before making changes to him.
The following cards have been adjusted down in power:
Theotar, the Mad Duke
- Old: Costs 4
- New: Costs 5
Dev Comment: Theotar is a defining card in the current meta. He plays an important role in giving players agency against powerful late-game plays, but he can also be very frustrating to lose to. We don’t want him to be one of the most popular cards in the next expansion, and our goal with this change is to lower his playrate across all ranks. If his playrate doesn’t drop significantly with this change, we’ll evaluate further changes at the next opportunity.
Stag Spirit Wildseed
- Old: 5 Attack, 4 Health
- New: 4 Attack, 3 Health
Bear Spirit Wildseed
- Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health
- New: 2 Attack, 4 Health
Harpoon Gun
- Old: After your hero attacks, Dredge. If it’s a Beast, reduce its cost by (3).
- New: After your hero attacks, Dredge. It it’s a Beast, reduce its cost by (2).
Dev Comment: Hunter has been the most popular and arguably the most powerful class in the game for some time, especially in lower ranks. These changes are meant to address some of the sharper play patterns this class is capable of, while simultaneously lowering the overall class power level.
The above craftable cards, as well as Spirit Poacher, Stag Charge, Wild Spirits, and Ara’lon will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 24.4.3.
Battlegrounds Updates
Dev Comment: This is a smaller update, as we’ve spread our recent changes across the last few hotfix patches. Battlegrounds players should expect a bigger Battlegrounds update with the next major patch, Patch 24.6.
Hero Update
Fungalmancer Flurgl – Gone Fishing
- Old: Passive: After you sell 4 minions, get a random Murloc.
- New: Passive: After you sell 5 minions, get a random Murloc.
- Fungalmancer Flurgl has been moved from Armor Tier 1 (0 Armor) to Armor Tier 4 (4-7 Armor)
Quest Reward Update
The Smoking Gun
- Old: Your minions have +5 Attack.
- New: Your minions have +4 Attack.
- The Smoking Gun is now easier to earn.
Minion Updates
Nether Drake
- Old: [Tavern Tier 2] 0 Attack, 4 Health
- New: [Tavern Tier 3] 1 Attack, 5 Health
Twilight Emissary
- Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 4 Attack, 4 Health
- New: [Tavern Tier 2] 3 Attack, 3 Health
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Dark Force Malygos was not able to be claimed or equipped.
Yes but you still get the benefit of adding your opponents sir Denathrius to your hand and there quest rewords to your hand.
Sure, but most quest rewards do nothing for you. Denying it to the opponent is what makes them quit.
They need to change the logic of Theotar, the Mad Duke to discover duplicates also (right now if you have 2+ same cards in hand, it will be shown as 1 of 3 options in discovery). Also as someone else mentioned, the card you will swap from your hand should be random. I think, that people would be satisfied with this change and it could stay 4 mana even.
blizzard you uh you forgot to fix theotar oops haha
can't wait for his actual nerf
Maybe in the next 4 months.
I wouldn’t mind Theotar as much if you Discovered the card you steal but the card you give away was random. Always losing your best card (if not your win condition) and always getting something barely usable is a ridiculously annoying way to lose, especially since it’s neutral, so every deck that can run it does. Since it’s the only card in Hearthstone with a hand-rip effect that lets you choose the card, there should be something other than moderate tempo loss to make it less omnipresent.
I think this fits even more with his intended "madness".
Theotar will never fall out of favor unless they remove all single-card win conditions from the game. They would also have to avoid creating any strong combo archetypes until he rotates out. As long as any of these exist, Theotar will be prominent.
Theotar really isn't fixed. They just nerfed it so they could flag it for refunding so most people using it (it's the highest inclusion rate of any crafted legendary in the game currently) will refund it and thus not use it. Even in their text they say the only goal is reduction of use rate. The toxic effect apparently is just fine for them.
missed impending catastrophe, neptulon, denathrius, insatiable devourer , uninteractive dew process
is this some out of season april fools joke?
I cant believe Relic Demon Hunter wasn't touched that deck just seems to never run out of reloading huge boards
Could have changed duke to swap from decks instead. Atleast you can try to draw the good stuff before its too late..
Sweet, now I can run Theotar, the Mad Duke with Vanndar Stormpike and play him for (2) mana haha.
Ug, now I will see him more.
Expected nerfs.
I doubt these nerfs will change anything
Hunter Nerfs are huge.
Hopefully it will open lanes for other decks now.
getting a 2/4 taunt (dormant 2 turns is crap now) or playing harpoon into a 4 mana bear/hidrolodon on curve was bonkers
These changes will definetly bring back hunters winrate
Blizzard is once again too slow to make changes, and too timid when they eventually do. I think these nerfs will do very little to change the shape of the meta. They certainly won’t make the unplayably bad classes and archetypes (e.g. secrets rogue) any more fun or playable.
What we need are redesigns of several cards from this expansion . We also need core set cards that actually matter, so that when we have major fails in the design of an expansion, a class can fall back on the core set.