RIP Patron Warrior, Warsong Commander Balance Change Incoming
by JR Cook - 9 years ago show comments
The days of Patron Warrior leading the meta as the top deck of top tier decks is finally coming to an end. There has been a lot of speculation on what Blizzard could do against a dominating deck that punishes opponents for playing minions and being able to push out 40+ damage in one turn. Some people thought nerfing Battle Rage and it’s cycling ability was the way to go, some people thought nerfing Frothing Bersker to only get attacks bonuses for damaged friendly minions is the way to go, and some people thought that Warsong Commander’s ability to give minions charge was what needed nerfed.
Well, Blizzard has now published the change and Warsong Commander will no longer give minions charge. Instead, she will give minions that already have charge a +1 attack.
There is currently no word on WHEN this change will occur, just that it will be in an upcoming patch. I find it likely to happen sometime in the next few days.
EDIT: the patch will go LIVE next week
The patch that includes the Warsong Commander change is currently planned for next week. https://t.co/jIY42eoBiV
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) October 13, 2015
You can read about the full change below.
The following balance change will be made in an upcoming patch:
Warsong Commander now reads: Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.
Over the course of the short but impactful history of Hearthstone, we’ve taken a strong stance that we’d like to make changes to cards only when they are completely necessary. The direction of gameplay and the metagame should be defined by our players, and as the meta is evolving, many different types of decks can emerge. Cards that were once impactful in the meta can be less so once new strategies emerge, and that change is brought on by the constant need and drive for innovation by our players.
Innovation is just one way a game can evolve, and the best way to shake up the meta and innovate in Hearthstone is by introducing new cards into the game. Introducing new cards to Hearthstone is our preferred method of changing the current state of the game. It’s exciting to discover a deck that may have an advantage over a popular deck out there, and new cards lead to the discovery of new combinations, and new conversations. Hearthstone thrives off of stories about enjoying a fast-paced, fun game with friends that’s full of delightful surprises.
Going forward, we will continue to stand by our stance that we will only make adjustments to cards when we feel it is completely necessary and allow the injection of new cards into the game help our players define what the meta evolves into. In the case of Warsong Commander, we felt this change was necessary to help expand both future design space and to stand by our overarching game philosophy that battles between minions and fighting for board control is what makes Hearthstone fun and compelling.
I both love and hate the change, the nerfing patron combo deck part is good. But why did they have to make a completely useless card? I mean if it costed 2 mana, the new Warsong would be at least playable, but at 3? I hardly see how you can get value out of that. Maybe put a bit more effort into it and make an interesting card that opens up a new archetype?
They should have made it played from hand cards get charge not summoned minions.
The charge mechanic is the problem though. Don’t expect any buff cards for it in future expansions.
Figure it out bliz. You cannot modify a card once released. You may ban/restrict a card but never modify. Bad, bad, bad, business practices for this sort of game. BTW, I do not, nor have ever used these cards, so its not a matter of me wanting the card to stay the way it is. It is a matter of what you can and cant do in a card game, especially ones where I have to pay for cards.
Actually it’s a more balanced way of doing things. Instead of outright saying you can’t use a card they keep it in the game. Beyond that when a card is nerfed they leave a window open where you can disenchant the card for full value so if you happened to pay for it you get full refund.
The ability to offer a full cost refund is essentially why they nerfed Commander. They cannot nerf Patron directly because it is an uncraftable BRM reward Berserker is warrior only and would leave the door for similar builds to possibly occur on other cards.
And for that reason the top comment is nonsense. Nobody paid for this card. Yet it’s also the reason it takes them a long time to act on perceived OP cards, which they get crap for too. They can’t win this particular debate.
I didnt mean that card specifically, I meant any card. I also understand they leave a window for free d/e or whatever. That does not change the fact in any way that you cannot be changing cards in a card game.
It’s a brand new world though, online is, no reason why you can’t and a large part of the community (well, the Reddit part anyway) has specifically asked for more of that. Brode however has mentioned before that they try to avoid this because they feel similarly to you, which is one of the reasons why this nerf was such a long time coming.
In the end, banning the card from ladder/tournaments would have had a worse result as at least it can be played now (yeah I know it’s vogue to declare it dead already anyway but let’s see) and since it’s a basic card, it’s not a huge deal if this one is changed as long as they limit themselves as they do.
Going to have to disagree with you. Magic The Gathering changes cards all the time, except they do with a name change in a new set. And the way they have planned obsolecence, banning cards every two years, they are essentially changing cards every two plus years, or sometimes re-releasing the exact same card with different flavor.
Instead of taking away cards that people likely spent money to collect every two years or so, blizzard keeps them around and makes changes when only absolutely necessary.
I guess you never played WoW.
Completely different types of games. You never modify a card after release. Never. Check any other card game ever released.
I understand your point, but because most card games are printed, it’s almost impossible to stop circulation of previously printed cards had they made a modification. The most they can do is ban them from competitive play like you said.
You need to take into account that Hearthstone is a PC game first and a card game second so they have the ability to change cards through patches if they want to. Look at Starving Buzzard and Undertaker from a bygone era.
Restriction is always an option. Restrict to 1 per deck. Part of the issue imo is 30 cards to a deck with 2 max cards instead of say 60 with 4 max.
They really need some more play types imo.
Restriction? Now you have a digital card that just sits there. It’s not even a collector’s item because it’s a basic card. 60 max cards? See, now you’ve completely changed the game to satisfy an arbitrary feeling.
You can try to avoid changing cards, but if doing so is the easiest way to fix it it makes no sense to take any of above options. Other TCG’s would do the exact same thing if their medium allowed it.
So you are more willing to change the fundamental rules of the game, restricting a non-legendary card to 1 per deck, rather than change one card?
I would have preferred changing the text to “Minions with 3 or less attack have charge.” Patrons would stay viable as a board clear and armor builder while Berserker would remain a threat but you’d have a change to kill it before it could one-shot kill you.
I agree that PW needed to be nerfed, but this was too much! If they made that text change AND a stats change, like 2/4 or 3/4, then it would have been great, but now you have a HERO CARD strictely worse than a neutral card, since Raid Leader gives +1 Att to all minions, not just the charged. It seems like if they think Water Elemental is too strong, rather than making him a 3/4 with freeze, they would prefer to make him a 2/1 without freeze costing 6. It was too much nerf for the card.
If they want to nerf Patron Warrior, why not nerf Patron Warrior? Instead they turn Warsong Commander into a card that will never, ever be played again. Sorry, FAIL.
I have to wonder about the hysteria this change has caused. Yeah I think the card was overnerfed a little and the timing is a bit suspect, but people are pretty much declaring warrior, the ladder and the game dead. I’m not even convinced the deck is dead tbh. Maybe it will be at the highest level of play, but it seems to me to combo’s still alive, just not from an empty hand.
However it works out, all these comparisons to other Blizzard games and “hope you like playing against only aggro on ladder” comments just seem incredibly circle-jerky. We’ve complained about this not happening for months. You may not agree with how they did it, but there’s as many different ways to respond as there were to nerf. Interesting so many chose to be just as heavy handed as Blizzard.