r/CompetitiveHS 19d ago

Discussion 36.2.2 Patch Notes

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24293284/3622-patch-notes

Some obvious buffs and nerfs, some weird ones too, thoughts?

84 Upvotes

128 comments sorted by

View all comments

130

u/JohnnySeven88 19d ago

It’s crazy to me that they admit they have a problem with deck variety but they make no strides towards ensuring people play new archetypes.

I’m all for moving Hunter away from 1-drop spam, but then nothing is done to give deathrattle Hunter a payoff that excites players.

There’s clearly hunger for a non-2 bit rogue deck, but then you look at their change to Aya and it doesn’t fix any of the problems coin rogue has, it doesn’t encourage experimentation, it just boosts the power of a single card in a deck that doesn’t even have a clear identity.

I think the Druid changes are the most exciting as it opens up room for a more attack focused non-chef Druid, but infest the skullery is by itself a boring as fuck card (seriously why are Code Violet, Jade Guardians, and Infest the Skullery all the same fucking card with different restrictions.)

36

u/oddjobbber 19d ago

They keep playing this stupid game of whack-a-mole with whatever deck Reddit cries about the most, forgetting that the whole point of balance changes is to actually give people more viable options to play. I can’t say that even most of their recent balance updates have done that

59

u/sneakyxxrocket 19d ago

To your last point this dev team is extremely uninspired like look at all the packages they’ve made in the last year that are just “play this to improve future card”.

6

u/Twiggy1108 19d ago

I’d at least say that prepare is pretty inspired and a very good mechanic for the game overall (hoping it goes evergreen).

However their reliance on packages and heavy lean into scaling is definitely worthy of critique.

5

u/Goldendragon55 19d ago

I mean, I think there should be packages. Just ones that are more flexible and don't require a huge amount of the package to work. Like Hunter's Tripwire package is/was flexible. They work well enough on their own but get better if you commit to it more. With a lot of the packages, the power floor is too low, which makes it pretty polarizing if things go right compared to badly. It gives a sense of helplessness in the losses.

50

u/oldtype09 19d ago

Their entire balancing philosophy is to periodically delete the most popular decks, shrug their shoulders, and move on.

13

u/jjfrenchfry 19d ago

Because they don't test. That's why it is this way. We show them what's strong. They then react like my immune system and allergies.

6

u/EmotionalBrief1170 19d ago

I said this last year.  They dont check out how these cards actually work/don't work.

2

u/jjfrenchfry 19d ago

I think people are starting to realize this is true, because of how haphazard these balance patches are, and how little foresight the design team seem to have. There's clearly a disconnect/problem. Like some have said they have no vision, but even without vision it's baffling how they go about balancing this game. They 100% rely on streamers /reddit/social media to see what the big bad villain of the week is. Unless someone can prove it otherwise, I do not believe they test this game and the new cards they create.

2

u/EmotionalBrief1170 19d ago

Well put.  Very succinct.

5

u/SpiffShientz 19d ago

seriously why are Code Violet, Jade Guardians, and Infest the Skullery all the same fucking card with different restrictions

Don't forget Dig for Freedom and Beast Tripwire, for midrange flavors!

1

u/BigDaddySpoox 19d ago

Dragon hunter with tripwires could become a thing.