The inevitable nerf to Patron Warrior takes the form of a change to the Warsong Commander card. The ability to grant “Charge” to cards is being removed from Warsong Commander, with the change slated to go live next week.
The text on the card will now read, “Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.” This is an almost deck crushing blow to the Patron Warrior archetype, which typically won by comboing Warsong Commander with some whirlwind effects to create a huge board or minion that could instantly attack. So, if you love Patron Warrior, get your games in now!
We’ll have Blizzard’s official post below and Ben Brode, Senior Game Developer for Hearthstone, made a video explaining the reasons behind the nerf, also below. Basically, all they are saying is that the meta is stagnant right now, charging minions need to be nerfed (again), and that Warsong Commander is where they see the problem with Patron Warrior. The timing of the nerf is also not a coincidence with the World Championship just around the corner. The nerf will go live about one week before the Championship, and this gives the players about 2 weeks to start building some new decks.
The changes to the meta will probably be slow, but they will come. The most immediate change is that Druid will likely become the strongest deck in game, since they are the last class to not have their charge combo nerfed. The trend is there, however, so we’re left to wonder, how much time does Force of Nature + Savage Roar have left?
Originally posted by Zeriyah (original post here)
The following balance change will be made in an upcoming patch:
Warsong Commander now reads: Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.
Over the course of the short but impactful history of Hearthstone, we’ve taken a strong stance that we’d like to make changes to cards only when they are completely necessary. The direction of gameplay and the metagame should be defined by our players, and as the meta is evolving, many different types of decks can emerge. Cards that were once impactful in the meta can be less so once new strategies emerge, and that change is brought on by the constant need and drive for innovation by our players.
Innovation is just one way a game can evolve, and the best way to shake up the meta and innovate in Hearthstone is by introducing new cards into the game. Introducing new cards to Hearthstone is our preferred method of changing the current state of the game. It’s exciting to discover a deck that may have an advantage over a popular deck out there, and new cards lead to the discovery of new combinations, and new conversations. Hearthstone thrives off of stories about enjoying a fast-paced, fun game with friends that’s full of delightful surprises.
Going forward, we will continue to stand by our stance that we will only make adjustments to cards when we feel it is completely necessary and allow the injection of new cards into the game help our players define what the meta evolves into. In the case of Warsong Commander, we felt this change was necessary to help expand both future design space and to stand by our overarching game philosophy that battles between minions and fighting for board control is what makes Hearthstone fun and compelling.
Edit: The timeframe for this patch is currently slated for some time next week.
Hearthhead.com has also broken some news that the Warsong Commander nerf is already live on Android platforms. Whether this is a mistake by Blizzard or intentional is unclear, but they caution against playing on Android devices until the patch goes live for PC as well.
The original article can be found here.
Update: This has been confirmed as an error on Blizzard’s part. Those that were affected by this are unable to play the game on any device other than their Android version that downloaded the patch until other devices receive the patch. To compensate, Blizzard has been sending those affected by this 7 free Classic packs of cards.
