@@MrFazerlogin I agree. At start seeing more balance changes was refreshing, but atm it seems more like a failure on the balance team. This wasn't a thing with Ben Brody at the top...
Hearthstone is an *online* card game. Blizzard (or any other company, be it WotC or Riot or whatever) can't possibly simulate an entire meta with internal testing. In my opinion, a failure to have consistent balance changes would be the biggest mistake Blizzard could make- its ability to be changed and improved on the fly is HS's most helpful attribute. As time goes on, more and more, the Ashes of Outland expansion cycle is swiftly becoming my favourite. Blizzard isn't afraid to try new things, to admit their mistakes, and to continue with progressing the game in a way Brode-era Hearthstone never did. Brode's philosophy of bare-minimum balance changes and strictly sticking to design principles sometimes held Hearthstone back, while the Year of the Dragon often pushed balance to far and forced older archetypes to become utterly obselete. Finally, Blizzard seems to be striking an effective balance between pushing the game forward and keeping it consistent. Obviously DH's release was a disaster, but that's fine, it's better now.
A couple years ago I couldn't imagine so frequent balance changes. Team 5 changed for the better and I appreciate that very much. Makes the game way more enjoyable for me.
Eh, it still feels like they are purposefully releasing cards that are too strong just to nerf them later. I don’t even play strong decks, but not knowing when or if your deck is going to be nerfed makes me less interested in playing the game. Blizzard isn’t getting any of my money ever again.
@Christina Azarian the most annoying thing i face when i play hanar is that priest legendary that copies everything you played last turn so hanar + all the secrets
Interesting bit on blackjack stunner: I played a lot of highlander rogue when the set first dropped, and was running secret synergies in it. Blackjack stunner as it was (with the sap and increase cost by two) was used more often than not just to bounce a zephrys back to my hand for another battlecry. With it only increasing cost by one, this is now also usable on dragonqueen alexstraza. Not sure how often that'll get used, but something to think about if you ever play a similar deck due to how helpful that extra dq battlecry can be.
@@anamshah4421 Nagrand Slam isn't even that good. The most popular hunter decks, highlander and dragon hunter don't even include it in their lists more often than not.
I play it on turn 3 and draw my Stonetusk boar as a 4/4 with charge. now a 3/3 with charge. The problem is now if you hit a 2 attack minion you're left with just 1 hp now and mage is already too strong to allow it to be able to clear it with Hero power instead of it soaking a spell. I don't mind it being nerfed tbh, I do mind Hunter lacking a viable heal option with Life Drinker gone.
Or, if you've been playing the game and have a functioning memory, you already know exaaaactly what stats these dreaded cards currently have. Not to mention he literally describes all the changes from the pre-nerf to the nerf, so again, work on that memory.
As far as Rogue goes. If you consider that prep was nerfed, I'm not sure why blade flurry hasn't been moved to 3 mana. It really hasn't been relevant since it cost 2 and did face damage. Edit: If you have been following grandmasters, It's clear that rogue is the 3rd or 4th weakest class at the moment. It is supposed to be the tempo class, but it seems too fair compared to how other classes can cheat mana. It feels bad when you realize how reliant the class is on Galakrond. Every rogue deck is just better with Galakrond.. even quest rogue. I feel it is too dependant on Gala right now and struggles to maintain its identity as the "tempo class" especially with the introduction of Demon Hunter.
Rouge player here i haven't followed the grand master or championship but i understand where are you coming from without galakrond Rouge cannot play for much value or catch up nevermind staying alive longer without a bunch of taunts
Damn these nerfs and buffs look amazing. Finally my man Thrall might actually be able to kick ass on the ladder and demon hunter has the slightest chance of actually being worse which is great. I'll take what I can get if that means dh MIGHT be worse
@@IAmAdamTaylor Nerfed cards can be disenchanted for their full dust value (the amount needed to craft it) for a couple weeks after the nerf. I'll disenchant the rogue cards, since I don't play rogue except for arena. Probably the warrior ones too, for the same reason. So if you hit a new expansion, open a bunch of packs, don't disenchant any extras if they seem like they might be nerfed. Rich players don't hit the mass disenchant option ever; they just wait for nerfs.
@@iliaslerias7374 yea but you can disenchant extras for full value. Like having 5 crimson sigil runners(3 extra) nets you 150 dust instead of 15 when the nerfs go
The Stunner change can also be a bit of a buff, considering you can use it on your own minions as a pseudo-shadowstep instead of killing them outright.
Crimson Sigil Runner is so going to get cut. It kills Altruis turns so often, and now that its bad early game DH might just play a better statted one drop.
That libram change is powerful, but we all know that libram paladin has more weakness than this buff tries to cover. Maybe some new cards may put them at T1 spot. Meanwhile, enjoy the little buff.
i never understood why they didnt make select pros play test for a couple weeks maybe even a month and then makes nerfs/changes before the public has even seen them, to me its leechy of them to release these cool op cards that obviously people want, spend money to build, and then it becomes almost weak from the nerfs out of nowhere, im not saying these nerfs are bad, they are needed, but maybe figure most of this stuff out before releasing? just a thought
Yes, that's what I've been waiting for since the beginning of Ashes of Outland. Finally I can get a full dust refund for golden Sigil Runner that I opened in my first pack of this expansion 😅
Shattered rumbler buff idea. Change its ability to be “deal 2 damage to all other minions. If you played a spell last turn, instead deal 2 damage to enemy minions.” Keeps with its theme but makes it more flexible
I like this buff to Pure Libram Paladin. Gonna test it dor sure after the change, but what the deck really needs, more than anything else, is being expanded upon. If they support it further in the next expansion, it might end up really good, but if it is another one shot, it won't survive. Still, them doing this buff gives me some hope that they want it to work, which could mean setting up for finally supporting it after launch.
I love all of these, I hope Libram Pally gets to be a somewhat strong deck, Demon Hunter is still a huge problem so the nerfs are still deserved if you ask me, and Hanar nerf is the best thing I've ever heard because honestly, he had the same stat line as the old miscreant but with an effect three times as strong. Yes, Hanar is a problem lmao
I'm glad Shattered Rumbler still hits your own minions because it's clearly supposed to be encouraging a more control oriented shaman deck which is good so it doesn't just get jammed into a midrange Galakrond/Quest shaman deck that already has strong cards and been prevalent in the meta before.
Pure Librams can now Call to Adventure their Aldor Attendant which I think could be a huge deal. bc you more consistently get some of your discounts out(granted the worse of the 2) but it is still really sweet.
With all the Nerfs to Demon Hunter I'm surprised they didn't pick up how powerful it was going to be when finally released. I get that it needed to be good to just be on an even keel with the other Classes but jeez. Good board clears, card draw, efficient minions, good weapons. The only thing it's bad at is single target removal.
Finally nerfs and buffs that aren’t just adding or subtracting a mana. It shows actual thought; too bad I stopped playing two expansions ago and now play vicariously through you Regis ^^
I think Priestess of Fury now dying to Aeon Reaver is a bigger deal than it no longer surviving Soul Mirror. Bloodsworn Mercenary at 2 health means it gets killed by Risky Skipper one card sooner, which is a 3/1 their combos often just happened to leave on the board that is now gone.
I like the direction Blizz have taken with nerfs lately. Back in the day they didn't tend to re-balance problem cards. More like take them behind the shed and shoot them.
i like the libram buff a lot. I am spamming it in Standard, cause i got the legendary for it, but it feeled kinda slow at first. Rly good changes to make it faster to Keep up with tempo decks.
Remember cinder storm? it was 5 random dmg, 3 mana. Still played frequently. Arcane missiles: 3 for 1. If priestess summoned two random 1 cost minions it would be OP, so how come throwing two 1 mana spells isn't? Despite all the damage combo cards, AM is still rarely a bad thing to play for free. So don't cry if priestess was your favorite card, you'll still be hated for playing it ;)
The stress I used to have from the imbalances in standard went away when I stopped playing all standard and wild and now solely play battlegrounds. Sure Bgs aren’t perfect but feels more balanced and less stressful for me.
Shaman and Paladin will see an increase in their win rates. I feel Rogues and Demonn Hunters will still dominate the meta. Crimson Sigil runner will never be played again
Although I'm happy to see a small buff to Libram Paladin, its unlikely to see much more play. Paladin has more issues surrounding the cards they currently have, that small buffs won't fix. Though making equality 2 mana again might help. Not sure who they think is going to complain if they backtrack on that, nobody even asked for that nerf in the first place.
Torrent: deal 8 to a creature for 4 and can be casted for 1. Flame lance: deal 8 to a creature for 5. Just Heartstone way to balance things over years.
Blackjack Stunner will still be too strong imo - especially with snowball cards like Hanar. I agree with Regis that you could remove the cost penalty on its target entirely; it's still an amazing card without that.
I stopped playing cause the power level and swing potential was just huge in so many classes. Everything felt unfair and unbalanced. Really happy to see these changes. Good job Bliz for keeping things well balanced Thanks Regis for your reviews. Happy to jump back in.
I'm sure the additional cost for the blackjack stunner effect was so players would continue to use it as a sap instead of bouncing back their own minions.
I wish Blizzard would do something to Priest's more annoying resurrect cards. Priest isn't like tier 1 or anything but I would rather lose to 5 Demon Hunters in 5 minutes than lose to 1 priest in 10 minutes because they keep resurrecting the same damn cards.
The buffs and nerfs are amazing, but I think they could do something with demonhunter instead of just nerfing it again and again, because a lot of nerfs don't target only Tempo DH but also other Demon Hunter decks, so Tempo DH will just cut those cards and other types of demon hunter decks will just fall out even more.
I wonder if Legends of Runeterra has something to do with Blizz being more active with balancing than they ever have before. I wouldn't be surprised of Riot's commitment to monthly balance patches, and the competition in general, lit a fire under Team 5's ass. Edit: As much as I miss Ben Brode and his massive cheerful personality (also that laugh), I feel Team 5 has become much more willing to be nimble and make changes since he left.
When they will nerf Heistbaron Togwaggle. All I see is draw 3 cards-0 mana. And combined with Galakrond is overwhelming. It should be ,,get a random treasure,,.
I am quite the demon hunter player so normally this should scare me... But I'm actually flattered instead... This actually changes things up for me now
As a shaman player, I think these changes are scary. I think they will help shaman a little now, but blizzard will still try to push shaman hard next expansion. It seems like they are trying to push a sort of midrange shaman deck that is really good against aggro. I think if they push this archetype any harder it will be absolutely nuts and have no real counters. It does well against aggro with cards like lurker below, shattered tumbler and serpent shire portal, as a midrange deck it should be able to play multiple turns on board and eventually overwhelm control (value probably generated through totemic reflection and evil/mana tide totems), and with specifically torrent it’s also good against midrange. Hopefully they push in a more value oriented direction because I think pushing it this way will cause these buffs to go right back to where they were in the first place (maybe not witn lurker below)
seems good i do like that they are trying to keep cards playable by messing with stats instead of mana and i really like the buffs it is amazing what small things change the power of a card and possible a whole archetype. having a good turn 1 play that sets up your deck. i wouldn't be surprised to see 5 -10% win rate increase with paladin also am i the only one that thinks the rumbler buff is specifically to make it trade with priestess of fury?
I think the bloodsworn merc change isn’t really going to change much at all. I mean what makes the card good is the copy....I hardly ever saw a game where it’s own stats is what made the difference
I like the demon hunter changes, I don't know if it's going to be enough to take down DH from the #1 deck in the meta but it's a good start for sure. I do think Shaman and Paladin need a little more love than this but also a good start. I would love to see something that makes demon DH decks good while moving away from just tempo decks but who knows what Blizzard will do in the future. A guy can dream. :P
Agree with the analysis except for the sigil runner, I think the card is now too weak to be playable, due to the outcast constraint. You have card draws which can make this card stuck between others, and a 1/1 stat is meh to play as is. And of course it challenges very few things early game now. So recycling a 1/1 ? Yeah better to have another card like consume magic or mana burn.
rather saw taunt on the aldor attendant, or switch her health to 1 so you can pull her easily with salhet's pride, you either have to dig deep or often you don't have the librams discounted early enough that it kinda gives you some dead cards in hand. The 1 attack only proves usefull for wild since we no longer have acces to crystology
I feel.... Relieved... thanks :) OK I was hoping for a HOF for Altruis, skull and priestess (followed by some new more balanced cards of course). The buffs were a very positive surprise. We need more control shaman/paladin in the meta and less OP tempo plays. DH is obviously still broken and the biggest problems are skull and Altruis (IMO), but keep up the good work blizzard ;)
@@niklaslaur9209 It's a weaker Galakrond that doesn't require building half of your deck around it. I don't agree with that nerf idea but the card is bonkers.
@@stickydusty what are you talking about ? The deck is literally built around lackeys , and you have at least one at almost every stage of the game , especially after galakrond gets played . Not to mention the possibility of drawing 7 0s in one turn which is about 25% of your deck , which happens way too frequently .
@@djordjelalic8041 i mean it's rogue that half of the deck it's low on cost due to play combo card significantly so it's not a big deal in the first place that's why blizzard put that draw 0 think in rogue card even in galakrond . Did you think it's compare against destroy or summon 8/8 rush if it's not 0 mana draw ? If you got treasure that full your hand thing that means most the time you got bunch of garbage such as backstab or preparation even if you got galakrond it's unplayable , honestly it's useless treasure for rogue .
most happy about the dh changes, sigil runner turn 1 was such a strong play at all times 1 mana minion that can trade that replaces itself in your hand and very synergistic with Altruis just a headache when the demon hunter player draws that kinda nuts vs your control deck Priestess nerf makes more common answers to bigger cards applicable while it still has a big impact on the board on play you now just don't die if you can't immediately answer turn 4 fel summoner into turn 5 priestess (a 7 health minion)
Did ANY of you guys really suffer from people using scavengers ingenuity? Cause that was pretty much one of the only good hunter cards that was released in the expansion.
Then maybe we SHOULD rotate the stupid pig to the hall of fame instead of nerfing class cards cause the exact same damm thing happened with rogue and necrium hepoticary last expansion.
Mario Ruiz nah pig is fun , the otk is fun even through it’s sucks in high rank . And the problem doesn’t go with the pig , the is that blizzard as done some humongous hand card buff that don’t even care if the pig is there , scavengers ingenuity decks doesn’t even run him and with the necrium guy it’s was only a card that can be put in the deck but didn’t have a great in game impact
@@stukaju-8763 Dragon Hunter with Boar and the 3 4/3 that copies actually was kinda busted... Dragon hunter getting an additional 8 burst for 2 Mana or a 5/6 secret beast... it definitely was pretty strong
Wouldn’t Blackjack Runner actually be an even stronger card if you removed the ”It costs(1) more.” text? Because of it you always hesitates to use it on your own minion but removing the text would give you a 1 mana Shadowstep instead.
As nice as the Libram buff is, the only way Paladin is going to see play is if it gets an improvement to the classic set or it gets some dumb tempo swing cards in a future expansion.
OH, they hurt galakrond secret rogue really hard, if your opponent can just play the dragon queen again it's going to be massive. Hannar can be eviscerated and vendetta is an option, theres also that 4/4 with rush.
Thank fuck they nerfed blackjack stunner! That card is nuts if you can't deal with the secrets in a timely fashion! Also RIP my midrange DH deck, gonna get as much dust value as possible and see if I can build something new from the remaining DH cards I have.
2:18 Crimson Sizil Runner :D Also Regis could you please add a link to the dev post (in the video descriptions) where they announce the changes I like to read their ideas and reasons for the changes and it would just make it easier to access.
I'm surprised about Scavenger Ingenuity, I love the card I think it is savage but most of the time you really pay off if you dont draw a beast that actually deal something against the enemy board, Almost every class has a way to deal with buffed things, I hope this is enough to not kill the card I think +2/+2 is pretty good too so lets see how it works
It's still decent. Compare it to the paladin card that gives a minion on the field +2/+2 and draws which is really good. The Ingenuity buff comes out slower but in some ways not because you don't need a minion and it tutors. It was basically in every hunter deck and will remain in the decks that need it the most.
Nerfing demon hunter is fine to an extent as long as they keep in mind that demon hunter being a tier 1 deck is a good thing for the game and it dominating the meta is kinda a side effect of that. Because its always good that new players can have an easy access to a good deck. Personally Im an old mostly f2p that occasionally spends a little money so I have enough cards and dust to make other tier 1 decks so its not a big deal to me personally, just think its healthy for the game to have an easier time for the beginners.
OMFG I´m gonna get so much Dust. I managed to preserve pretty much all the duplicates from cards that are getting nerfed from my preorder. Those are the cards I have over 2 times: 1 golden and 6 normal sigil runners, 2x priestess, 6x Black Jack Stunner, 1x golden Bloodboil Brute 1x normal Bloodboil Brute, 2x Scrap imp, 9+x Ingenuity.
No Highlander nerfs...still not gonna re install. I have been playing since beta and this set rotation is the one that broke me. I would rather lose to an undertaker hunter in 2 min than lose to a high roll dragon queen after 20 min.
Same as you. Beta player here and this meta is disgusting af. This game makes no sense anymore, the meta reached insane lvls of braindead decks like Res Priest.