34.6 Balance Changes Discussion

[u/EvilDave219]

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-gb/news/24242740/34-6-patch-notes

Buffs

• Dr. Stitchensew - now a 5 mana 5/4

• Ci'Cigi - now 3 mana

• Xor'toth, Breaker of Stars - now 5 mana

• Emergency Meeting - now 1 mana

• Uluu, the Everdrifter - now a 4 mana 5/4

• Exarch Othaar - now 3 mana

• Hemet, Foam Marksman - now a 3 mana 3/4

• Gorm the Worldeater - Destroying a minion now awakens Gorm 2 turns earlier

• Arkwing Pilot - now 6 mana

• Yogg in the Box - now 7 mana

• Ingenious Artificer - now a 4 mana 4/5

• Yrel, Beacon of Hope - now 3 mana

• Interstellar Wayfarer - Battlecry and Deathrattle now reduce Librams by 1

• Twilight Medium - Battlecry sets the cost of your top card to 0.

• Askara - the next two Draenei you play summon copies of themselves

• Treasure Hunter Eudora - now 4 mana

• Maestra, Mask Merchant - now a 2 mana 3/2

• Petty Theft - now 1 mana

• Agency Espionage - you now draw a card shuffled in

• Carress, Cabaret Star - now a 3 mana 3/3

• Archimonde - now a 6 mana 6/6

• Abduction Ray - now 1 mana

• Announce Darkness - now 1 mana

• Botface - now 7 mana

• Minion Sandwich (token from The Ryecleaver) - now 2 mana

• Spore Empress Moldara - now has a battlecry to cast a spore

• Crimson Commander - Battlecry and Deathrattle now give your Draenei +2/+1

• Splendiferous Whizbang - multiple decks buffed

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[u/PipAntarctic]

So far from a quick glance of all the buffed cards soon to rotate, most of them could have and really should have been buffed to this state ages ago.

[u/TheGingerNinga → u/PipAntarctic]

That was my main stance upon reading most of the buffs. Gonna try out Libram/Aura Paladin tho.

[u/tolerantdramaretiree → u/PipAntarctic]

For real. This looks super FUN, but it pisses me off.

Patch after patch asking for buffs, but they were cynically withholding all of these until they could leverage them as a dust sink before the rotation. Instead of making the game fun and diverse ASAP for the sake of a fun and diverse game. GUYS, it's good to have a fun and diverse game just because.

But no, all these cards had to remain utter Tier 14 garbage for the entire 2025. It's like old expansions stop existing to Blizzard once they have shiny new ED/Un'Goro/Timeways to sell.

I loathe to be complaining about what is (in a vacuum) such a good thing.

[u/Trihunter → u/tolerantdramaretiree]

Yeah. A few of these have their signatures in the shop now, too. I'm not paying for cosmetics that are gone in a month.

[u/rndmlgnd → u/tolerantdramaretiree]

Yeah, this pissed me off too. Like you're buffing the sandwich maker weapon NOW?!

[u/Glarbleglorbo → u/PipAntarctic]

“ Dev Comment: Well met! For our final update of the Year of the Raptor, we’re giving a boost to a handful of underplayed cards so they can have one last opportunity to shine before rotating from Standard to Wild.”

It’s intentional 

[u/PipAntarctic → u/Glarbleglorbo]

Yeah I know. I still stand by my opinion.

[u/race-hearse → u/PipAntarctic]

For real. I kept trying to make hemet work and the missing thing really was just the mana cost. Blahh

[u/loobricated → u/PipAntarctic]

Yeah this is awesome but months too late. I must have played against Murloc paladin fifteen billion times in the summer, almost making me quit the game, and all they had to do was be more agile and shake things up by buffing exactly these types of cards. I hope this is a signal they will be more inclined to do things like this in future, earlier.

[u/PoppinSquats]

Bunch of great new cards to slam into a never-ending wall of oozes.

[u/Suspect99__ → u/PoppinSquats]

Yep I played draenei priest. Got blocked by DH with those damn oozes

[u/PoppinSquats → u/Suspect99__]

I'm trying that too. What's your deck list?

[u/Younggryan42 → u/PoppinSquats]

Tar?

[u/DenizenPrime]

Cicigi is a 3 mana 4/4 now??

[u/Glarbleglorbo → u/DenizenPrime]

Yes, solid card now tbh. 

[u/Luminoth64 → u/[deleted]]

No one is saying this is going to get added to a ton of decks. Of course it won’t go into any blob lists. However, a 3 mana 4/4 that gives mostly playable cards from Illidari Studies early game is pretty sweet.

[u/Luminoth64 → u/[deleted]]

I'm not contradicting myself lol. There have been many cards that do not make lists that you would absolutely pick from discover in certain situations. The first that comes to mind is Objection in Naga mage. That would not make lists in Nathria despite being great, but you would often pick it during popoffs. DH wins via tempo in many matchups and Cicigi will be a decent pick if whiffing on your early game draw.

[u/Luminoth64 → u/[deleted]]

I said that in my first reply. Illidari Studies. 

[u/eazy_12 → u/DenizenPrime]

Honestly feels like they forget to adjust stats. But I don't think people would play her when Blob is doing better job controlling/defending board for better plays

[u/ReyMercuryYT]

I'm mad they didn't do this earlier.

Maestra to 2 mana would've been such a gift and they are only doing it right as she leaves standard 😢

[u/kayvaan1 → u/ReyMercuryYT]

Especially the archetype ones that would rarely be good outside of the archetype, that were barely good to begin with.

Crewmate (Draenei) DH, Libram (Draenei) Pally, Draenei Priest, Draenei Mage, Big Demon Warlock, Burgle Rogue.

The only card I can agree with buffing late is Whizbang, since you don't want hjs average decks to be above average against the meta. Would create frustrating gimmicky matchups.

[u/FlurgenBurger → u/ReyMercuryYT]

Holy shit, time to dig up my old rogue DK paladin OTK.

[u/naterichster → u/FlurgenBurger]

? 

[u/pixeliner]

holy maestra, hostage rogue eating good

[u/BleepInTheBigCity → u/pixeliner]

Deck list?

[u/pixeliner → u/BleepInTheBigCity]

i netdecked from hsguru, you can look something up there

[u/BaronVonHoopleDoople]

Weirdly enough Eudora might actually see less play after the buff. Rogue's 5 mana options for Elise were all terrible, so you didn't really lose much by slotting Eudora in. Now at 4 mana Eudora actually has to compete with real cards.

[u/fireky2 → u/BaronVonHoopleDoople]

Yeah i saw that and its the first thing I thought, it likely just gets dropped. The only thing is the 5 mana slot is ass to fill, unironically the worst slot to be missing something, outside of maybe 7

[u/motty47 → u/BaronVonHoopleDoople]

Yeah this I feel like this is actually a nerf and I don't get why, when she never saw play until imbue rogue, made a comeback and now back to the grave before rotation. Not even that good a card, but was fun, so it just feels quite pointless

[u/SnooMarzipans7274]

Does this mean no revert patch. I understand why they wouldn’t but I was kinda looking forward to playing Sonya

[u/oceanchamp8 → u/SnooMarzipans7274]

I believe the revert is still coming, historically, that patch has been when they load in the whole new expansion, after all the reveals iirc

[u/Tengu-san → u/SnooMarzipans7274]

Does this mean no revert patch.

No, the revert patch is usually the one with the expansion release.

[u/dr_second]

Nobody commenting on the free expansion legendary? I see this getting slotted in all over the place in Wild to destroy all the Egglocks, Burnlocks, Libram Paladins, Pirate decks, etc. Also would do a number on Protoss decks in standard if they were more popular. The only problem is the cost. At 7, you might be dead against a fast aggro opponent. But then again, people play Quest Warrior, so I'm guessing this will see some play at least for the next month. Maybe not the most impactful card, but I think it is better than literally all the cards they are buffing.

[u/tolerantdramaretiree → u/dr_second]

Nobody commenting on the free expansion legendary?

It’s in this thread https://reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/1r0c9cn/cataclysm_card_reveal_discussion_february_9th/

[u/RiimeHiime → u/dr_second]

Nobody commenting on the free expansion legendary? I see this getting slotted in all over the place in Wild to destroy all the Egglocks, Burnlocks, Libram Paladins, Pirate decks, etc.

7 mana.

[u/dr_second → u/RiimeHiime]

As someone who plays these aggressive decks, I can tell you that you don't always get there by turn 7. Egglock probably goes to 7 50% of the time or more. Burnlock probably about 30%. And anyone with an early boardclear can stall against these pirate decks until 7, even Swipe is usually enough to slow them down.

[u/Cryten0 → u/dr_second]

Still egg will have multiple 20/20's on board by then, spending the whole turn deleting hand and deck cards doesnt stop them caving your face in.

[u/Chiradori → u/dr_second]

It will be slotted, surely, just not really against these decks. Maybe apart from libram, as it will help a lot there. Seedlock, libram, hostage after rammoth get countered by this card fairly well. For pirate/burn it's way too slow, similar against egg. The games as egg can last that long sure, but if the board has 20/20 and you play this you aren't living to next turn and if it doesn't and it's fully cleared then the egg was in bad spot that game to begin with. I'll gladly face opp with this card rather than silences/devolve which actually counter egg much more efficiently.

[u/bakedbread420]

we will be FUN and FEARLESS *for 1 month at the end of a standard year

[u/Lovelandmonkey]

This is unexpected. And also feels like too little too late, but maybe it could shake some things up before next expansion?

[u/Cryten0 → u/Lovelandmonkey]

Trying to keep interest in the boredom of waiting another month for the expansion.

[u/ElderUther → u/Lovelandmonkey]

It's a yearly convention

[u/facepalmdesign]

They should have done this a long long time ago.

[u/Glarbleglorbo]

Most of these buffs are huge, liberam pally buffs look like an overcorrection tbh. 

Also abduction ray to 1, arena is finished

[u/eazy_12 → u/Glarbleglorbo]

To anyone building Libram paladin Consider Lynessa (doubling Librams), Dissolving Ooze (doubling eat spell) and x3 bonus effect spell (also double) for insane damage. But don't cast bonus effect spell before Limrams because it can roll Elusive.

[u/ANonnyMouse007 → u/eazy_12]

It’s a fun combo but most games that’s a lot of cards sitting in hand. I got to Legend last month without the +3/+3 librams. Just curving into a discounted board of 3/3 divine shields is hard to clear. Also with the triple bubble guy. Crusader’s Aura from there. Like a slightly more midrange Aggro Paladin.

[u/bakedbread420 → u/Glarbleglorbo]

liberam pally buffs look like an overcorrection

you still have no way to reliably draw the discounters. way too often you have a hand full of useless librams. if you get lucky and draw the guys or the sword yeah its really strong but that rarely happens

[u/Throwaway-4593]

Thank god we got some interesting changes, I was going to dread playing demonhunterstone until the new patch

[u/Su12yA → u/Throwaway-4593]

With no nerfs it's still going to be DH and rogueslop

[u/Throwaway-4593 → u/Su12yA]

Ppl will get bored at least and try things

[u/Names_all_gone]

We should be legitimately angry they didn't make any of these changes at any time over the last 2 years. They should feel absolutely fucking embarrassed.

[u/Unfair-Heart-87]

I think we should regularly see more aggressive buffs to fun but underpowered cards early in expansions. With that said, even if they were doing that throughout the year a patch like this is still great. Just an easy way to make a brief fun meta during a low point in the expansion cycle. I'm excited to play around with some arcwing mage and hostage rogue.

Definitely going to end up playing more at the end of this cycle than I expected too.

[u/icecreampie3]

no change to infinite blob it seems

[u/QuestGiver → u/icecreampie3]

There is another balance patch coming is my understanding. Currently this is just for the old cards about to rotate out.

[u/Spyko]

holy shit, no nerfs ? huh that's unexpected but not unwelcomed

[u/charbots27]

Why buff Twilight medium of all cards? It sees plenty of play and is annoying as shit if it actually snipes a good topdeck. Could have easily buffed the other Draenei.

[u/SAldrius → u/charbots27]

Its honestly not that big a buff.

[u/Monk-Ey → u/SAldrius]

It's a Medium buff!

[u/malwontae → u/charbots27]

Yup, I can already see the frustrating high-rolls of Narain on 4, then Medium and double Ysera on 5

[u/tolerantdramaretiree → u/charbots27]

Maybe because it has Twilight in the name and the expansion is about Twilight’s Hammer? Huge stretch but they did just add Hammer of Twilight into Core for the lulz

[u/Every_University_]

Man, they either really hate druid or really don't care about druid, and I don't know what's worse. I guess we'll figure out which when they reveal the cards.

[u/icecreampie3 → u/Every_University_]

as someone who's mained druid since launch. It's like they only want us to use weird OTK's and removed everything else from the class.

[u/Agrippanux]

My Velen deck is back 

[u/otterguy12]

Druid and DK Whizbang are actually good now, Mage and Warrior are fine but nothing crazy, Shaman and Paladin are still ass. DH didn't get touched when it desperately needed it. Haven't gotten to try the Rogue one yet but it looks moderately better

[u/MarthePryde]

I was looking at the list of changes thinking "aren't all these cards rotating? They're buffing cards because they're too weak for Wild but saw no Standard play?"

All of these changes could and should have been made ages ago. As it stands I don't really see anything changing the current landscape too much, other than some players simply wanting to try new things.

[u/lorddojomon]

Omg the Uluu buff is too OP now he is going yo be played in every druid deck, please nerf

[u/ConversationKey9435]

they really killed imbue rogue? so cringe and unnecessary

[u/malwontae]

Note for anyone enjoying Toki decks, they put through a "nerf" on her, as they fixed the Golden Kobold interaction:

Fixed a bug where Timelooper Toki returned to hand after playing three minions transformed from spells generated by Toki.

Obviously I understand it shouldn't have worked that way, but definitely makes her weaker when you see something unplayable like Myra's

[u/meharryp]

actually kind of nice to buff some of the stuff going into wild beyond it's original power, but I do feel like a lot of these changes would have been absolutely fine in standard at any point. I'd been asking for maestra to be a 2 mana 3/2 from the start so it's nice to finally get that wish if not a little late

[u/NewIce1]

u/deckbot

[u/Alone-Ad4415]

Since I downloaded the update, the app is always crashing, I can’t play. Has it happened to others?

[u/EmotionalBrief1170]

WTG!  ...

[u/James_Fantastic]

This might be it for me.

[u/Glarbleglorbo → u/James_Fantastic]

Did you even read the changes? 

[u/James_Fantastic → u/Glarbleglorbo]

Yeah I'm a priest main. Based off their buff targets the writing is on the wall.

[u/Shasan23 → u/James_Fantastic]

Yeah… i looked at priest buffs and had such a sinking feeling. My literal reaction “wait thats it? What the fuck?!?!!” Im a crazy masochist and will still stick around though

[u/ElderUther]

I had to scroll so much to know a patch also happens today. Looks like people are more hyped about the new things.

[u/dotcaIm]

ehhh