Chris Sierra has taken to reddit to let us know about a small patch that's rolling out for Hearthstone right now. Despite it not being a major update, it contains some big information for Arena and Battlegrounds. Here's the full post.
Quote From Chris Sierra Hey Folks,
We’re currently in the process of rolling out a small 16.0.3 server-side update (meaning you won’t need to download anything) to address a few issues. Here are the changes:
- Fixed an issue that could cause Sidequests to prevent Questing Explorer from drawing a card.
- Fixed an issue where Storm Egg had Rush.
- Fixed an issue with the Happy Hallow’s End quest that could prevent players from completing it.
- [Tombs of Terror] Fixed an issue that could cause the Battle Scars anomaly to prevent the player from progressing after ending a plague lord encounter with a tie.
- [Tombs of Terror] Fixed an issue with Murky's Battle Horn that could cause both heroes to be destroyed.
- [Arena] Dragonmaw Poacher is no longer draftable.
- [Arena] Lightforged Zealot is no longer draftable.
- [Hearthstone Battlegrounds] Primalfin Lookout has been moved from Tavern Tier 4 to Tavern Tier 5.
Cheers,
Chris_Attalus
Comments
They obviously knew before release, since they've publicly stated many times that it takes at least 2 weeks to push a client side update. That means they've been planning this since before the new expansion went live.
It's a server side update.
Sorry, got this mixed up with another article... There's a client update with balance adjustments coming within the next week.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/e9xt5z/info_on_upcoming_descent_of_dragons_balance/
thank god they fixed arena. everybody was asking for a nerf there. or was it for standard? sure lets balance Battlegrounds and Arena but we need more "DATA" to see if shaman is really overppowered.
jokes aside i think they will fix it within 10 days so we can play ladder like it was supposed to be
As easy and quick as it is for Shaman to invoke, Dragon's Pack is extremely broken. Two 5/6 taunt minions on turn five is extremely difficult for most classes to remove. Even worse when they drop a second one on turn 6. I honestly believe the card would have been better as a single 2/3 with a +3/+3 after invoking twice. Maybe after invoking once as a vanilla 2/3 taunt for 5 is pretty anemic. Waiting to see how Blizz responds though.
It is not Dragonpack that is broken, but rather shamans ability to get easy Invoke-Buffs early that makes it broken. The solution would be to increase shamans ability that he can't abuse it....
5 mana 5/6 is just bad in general, what I think they should do is make it 4 mana summon 1 5/6 if they are going to change this card, that way its still not bad but its not bonkers.
The Dragon's Pack would be more OK if Shamans didn't have a way to invoke twice with a single card. The design of the Dragon's Pack is meant to require more than one card to enable it; I have no idea how it got through testing with a double-invoke card in the same set. 10/12 of taunt stats on turn 5 or 6 is just way over the line powerful.
In what I believe is the fastest response to a meta since the beginning of Hearthstone (mods?), Chris has now confirmed that balance changes are coming "within the next week"!
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/e9xt5z/info_on_upcoming_descent_of_dragons_balance/
edit: now confirmed by the PlayHearthstone account on twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayHearthstone/status/1205318038444077058
Looks like team5 did not expect shaman to take center stage. I think the problem is that both quest and Galakrond are being placed into the same deck.
Galakrond quest shaman invokes twice as fast, tempo swings so ridiculously with double battlecry invokes, and if you manage that 9 mana Galakrond with double battlecry it places 4 8/8 with rush on board.
Judging from experience the mana cost for a few cards would likely go up. Contenders: Dragon's Pack & Corrupt Elementalist
Oh, and increasing mana cost or decreasing buff to Dragonmaw Poacher would be most helpful. I saw no dragons in the first 10 matches and the first one was malygos.
The bg change seems well warranted. Murlocs have been riding high since their last adjustment. Hopefully this is a nice middle ground.
Chris also confirmed on reddit that this is not the last patch before Blizzard's staff go on Christmas break.
They should have made Shaman no longer draftable in Standard.