The last patch in Hearthstone was supposed to make everything better. But it didn’t. The community is dissatisfied like never before.
A few days ago, Hearthstone released a balance patch for the current expansion “Forged in the Barrens”. It adjusted more than a dozen cards. This was supposed to rein in overpowered classes and give weaker classes more options. The developers had described the changes beforehand as “spicy” – that is, quite drastic and effective.
Already after a short time it can be said: That was nothing. The dominant decks are stronger than ever and shamans remain in obscurity.
What did the patch achieve? Extremely little. Although the changes sounded largely good and sensible on paper, the actual impacts were minimal.
- The Secret Paladin still has a solid win rate between 55% and 62% – depending on the rank played.
- The Enforcer Warrior dominates, as does the Face Hunter.
- Shamans, on the other hand, have fallen to a low of 44% and are thus at the bottom of all classes.
The community reacts: In the Hearthstone subreddit, the changes have been hotly debated since the patch day. Initially, there was only skepticism towards the adjustments, but this has now turned into outright dissatisfaction. The numbers also show that the changes had little to no impact on the meta (via hsreplay.net).
Accordingly, there are some memes and posts mocking the adjustments.
A user asks: “Why are paladins the best class in a BARRENS expansion?” He refers to the fact that the Barrens in World of Warcraft is actually a Horde area and the Horde originally had no paladins. It is a bit ironic that this non-Horde class is currently dominating.
Other players, however, have a clever response: “Because it was the paladins who always attacked the crossroads in WoW.”
Paladin spells are a problem: However, there are also serious discussions about the problems and solutions are being sought. Many players see the issue in the spell Conviction, which gives 3 random friendly minions +3 attack – for just 1 mana. This leads to some simple combinations where you can decide the match with 3 charge minions in one turn. Many see the spell as a “better charge”, and they wish for a nerf. +18 attack for 2 mana just seems too strong.
It seems clear from these overwhelming numbers that another patch will soon be necessary. With the current dominance of paladins and hunters, further adjustments are desired. Especially to bring the beleaguered shamans out of obscurity. They are currently languishing at the bottom of the popularity scale.
What do you think of the current state of Hearthstone? Do you agree with the comments on Reddit? Or are you satisfied with the current meta?
The strongest decks can be bought for real money – because Hearthstone is currently selling entire decks.
