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Hearthstone Balance Update Sees Changes to Basic/Classic Cards, Yogg-Saron

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Blizzard has revealed balance changes coming as part of a forthcoming Hearthstone update, which targets several Classic and Basic cards, as well as the controversial Yogg-Saron.

“[W]e have to be acutely aware of the overall power levels of our cards contained within the evergreen Basic and Classic sets,” Blizzard explained in a blog post. “Since these cards do not rotate along with certain expansion or adventure sets each year for our Standard mode players, managing and monitoring their strength is of great importance to the overall health of the game.”

Blizzard acknowledged that, as of late, Shaman has been the most-played class and that it’s particularly powerful right now. It doesn’t mind some classes “fluctuat[ing] in power level,” but it wants it to “always feels like there are a wide variety of decks to play with and against.”

“We’re happy that Shaman has many deckbuilding options to choose from, but we are taking this opportunity to adjust two of the most widely played and frustrating Shaman cards,” it said. “In the short-term, we think these adjustments bring Shaman closer to the pack in terms of both population and power level. In the long-term, we think these changes will make playing against Shaman less frustrating and make the deckbuilding decisions for Shaman more interesting.”

Rockbiter Weapon, which Blizzard said is “one of the most widely played Shaman cards in Hearthstone’s history,” is increasing from one mana to two. And Tuskarr Totemic no longer has a chance to summon any random totem; instead, it can only summon a random basic totem. Blizzard noted that it considered changing Tunnel Trogg or Totem Golem instead of Rockbiter, but with those cards leaving the Standard mode rotation soon, it decided to go with Rockbiter to make a more permanent improvement.

Other changes include bumping up the mana cost by one for Call of the Wild (from eight to nine) and Execute (from one to two); reducing the damage of Abusive Sergeant (from two to one); and changing the behavior of Charge (it doesn’t give +2 attack anymore and can’t attack heroes on the turn it’s used).

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Finally come the adjustments to Yogg-Saron, which Blizzard describes as “the most controversial card” it’s ever made. “Some people LOVE Yogg, and others hate it,” it explained. “We felt like seeing Yogg in tournaments was not where we originally hoped it would end up. Yogg should be for players who want to have a lot of fun, but maybe not the card you see frequently in high-level tournaments. Yogg is relatively weak in power level for nearly every class at every level, but is slightly above average in two decks–Tempo Mage and Token Druid. We didn’t want to nerf it so much that it couldn’t still be a fun card for players who currently love Yogg. “

Yogg-Saron, who casts a random spell for every spell you’ve cast during the match, will now stop casting if one of several things happens during its battlecry. This includes it being destroyed, silenced, returned to the owner’s hand, or transformed.

“We tried a bunch of things and we think this is a significant enough nerf that it could reduce the amount it gets seen (especially in tournaments), while still maintaining the dream for people who love the card,” Blizzard said.

All of these changes will be made in the 6.1.3 update, which Blizzard said would go live before the Hearthstone Championship Tour’s Last Call events, which are scheduled for October.

Blizzard recently introduced the Welcome Bundle, a $5 collection of 10 Classic packs and a class Legendary card, and announced plans to remove cards from Arena mode.


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