This April is definitely an exciting time for the Hearthstone fans.
We got a new expansion with 135 new cards, and what's more important - for the first time in history a completely new class, Demon Hunter. But, the thing is, DH came into the game as one of the strongest decks in history (almost all variations of it), and Dean Ayala, Hearthstone game designer, said that it's probably the strongest deck in Hearthstone they saw since Undertaker Hunter, back in 2014.
We already got one balance patch a week ago, just two days after the release of the expansion, and now we will get another. This was announced by Dean Ayala on Twitter. Nine cards are planned to be nerfed, and one buff.
Cards that will be nerfed are Battlefiend, Altruis, Glaivebound Adept, Kael'Thas, Bad Luck Albatross, Frenzied Felwing, Open the Waygate, Bloodbloom, and Sacrificial Pact.
How will they be nerfed? This is our prediction:
Battlefiend will start as 1/2 instead of 2/2.
Altruis effect will deal damage only to minions, not to enemy hero.
Glaivebound Adept will either deal less damage with battlecry (3/4) or will have a lower attack, but we think that mana cost will stay the same.
For Kael'Thas, they said they wanted to keep his uniqueness, so our guess is that he will simply be 1 mana more expensive.
Bad Luck Albatross is one of those cards almost no one expected to be this strong, and yet he is almost ubiquitous in the meta. People first started using it is a counter to Highlander decks, but now it is simply a good card do disrupt enemy card draws, which is really strong effect in Hearthstone. We are not sure what the counter will be, but given that the effect is so specific, we do not suspect that it will be changed. Instead, we expect the card to be more expensive.
Sacrificial Pact will probably cost 1 mana, up from 0, and it will no longer be able to destroy Lord Jaraxxus while he is a hero replacement.
For the problematic Wild cards, Open the Waygate and Bloodbloom, out guess is that we will simply have to wait and see. Open the Waygate will probably require more random effects to active, and Bloodbloom will maybe be more expensive, to stop some combos.
Buff to Libram of Justice probably means that it will have basic starting cost 5 instead of 6.
The changes will "will slow down a little after this" Dean Ayala confirmed, but he also assures players that they will "continue to monitor live game data and player feedback and make any further changes as necessary."
They also plan one larger Battlegrounds update around mid-expansion.
The second Ashes of Outland balance patch is planned for early next week. Looking to make changes to Battlefiend, Altruis, Glaivebound Adept, Kael'Thas, Bad Luck Albatross, Frenzied Felwing, Open the Waygate, Bloodbloom, and Sac Pact. Details will come later on official channels. pic.twitter.com/w3cQhXgQoC
â August Dean Ayala (@IksarHS) April 16, 2020