Blizzard is constantly adding content to their vast array of titles, and Hearthstone is far from an exception. This year has already seen a massive addition of content with the latest Ashes of Outland expansion, bringing Illidan and other Burning Crusade era characters to prominence.
Of course, with so much being added, balancing the content is always a journey. The developers found quite a few issues to fix, from bugs to balance and everything in between.
The first change to discuss is the bug fix coming to Ethereal Conjurer, which was responsible for breaking a few games. After being played, games would sometimes bug and become stuck in a single phase, essentially ending a match.
This new bug fix aims to fix that issue. Blizzard states that the Ethereal Conjurer will now function correctly and that players shouldn’t have to worry about their game phase being locked.
In terms of balance changes, we have twelve overall, with the last eight being eligible for a full dust refund until June 1st. Players should expect the following changes to have taken place when the patch arrives:
- Aldor Attendant: Cost decreased from 2 to 1, Attack/Health changed from 2/3 to 1/3.
- Torrent: Cost decreased from 5 to 4.
- Shattered Rumbler: Attack/Health changed from 4/6 to 5/6.
- The Lurker Below: Attack/Health changed from 6/3 to 6/5.
The following eight cards are eligible for a full dust refund for players that spent dust crafting them before the changes:
- Priestess of Fury: Attack/Health changed from 6/7 to 6/5.
- Crimson Sigil Runner Attack/Health changed from 2/1 to 1/1.
- Scavenger’s Ingenuity: Draw a Beast, give it +3/+3 mechanic changed to +2/+2.
- Shadowjeweler Hanar: Attack/Health changed from 1/5 to 1/4.
- Blackjack Stunner: When the Stunner’s Battlecry is activated, the opponent’s minion will now cost 1 more instead of 2 more.
- Imprisoned Scrap Imp: +2/+2 buff after Dormant decreased to +2/+1.
- Bloodboil Brute: Attack/Health changed from 6/8 to 5/8.
- Bloodsworn Mercenary: Attack/Health changed from 3/3 to 2/2.
All of these changes are going to have a decently radical change on the way that decks are being built. Though some seem to be relatively minor changes, the reduction of a single stat can make a card go from invaluable to being outclassed by dozens of others.
Aldor Attendant will undoubtedly fit into plenty more decks now, however, as the card becomes a bit more valuable as a 1-drop despite the change to its damage. On the other hand, Scavenger’s Ingenuity might be taken away by many players to bring in a card that can give a stronger buff.
Regardless of what meta changes may come of this patch, players should expect these changes to be active at the launch of 17.2.1 on May 18th.
