As the new Hearthstone year approaches, Blizzard is about the change some ranked play rules and also have some balance changes in the game. To keep the game vivid and playable all the time I think they should do these kind of changes from time to time. By the way I am looking forward for a cooperative mode in Hearthstone which can result to many more strategies, new decks, and new metas.
Beginning with the start of the March 2018 Ranked Play season, we’re making improvements to Hearthstone’s Ranked Play ladder experience.
- You’ll earn card backs by win card backs by winning five Ranked games during the season, regardless of what rank you achieve. It will no longer be necessary to reach Rank 20 to earn these card backs.
Also regarding the below explained changes this will be a easy reward for all players. Actually, players that have the possibility to hit the higher ranks can easily earn card backs anyway but for the lower ranked players, actually lower than level 20 and, probably newbies, earning the month’s card back is piece of cake now.
- All Ranks will now have 5 stars.
All players face “Worthy Opponent”s when they head into a new game. With the start of this new change, players with the same level will gather around the same levels and they don’t need to face higher or lower leveled players anymore. By 5 stars for one level system the upcoming matches will be more balaced.
- Your rank will reset to exactly 4 ranks below the highest rank you achieved during the season, including the number of stars in that rank you earned.
I think this is the best Ranked Play system change that Blizzard have made so far. For hight level players, it can be too discouraging to start the month in lower levels and also for the low level players or new starters, the do not have to face good players when a new Ranked month starts.
From the start of March 2018, all players will now face opponents within their level. I am not sure but I do not think they will change the locked 20-15-10-5 levels where you won’t lose stars. In my opinion, until the next change these new rules are very good for all kind of players.
In order to keep the game balanced Blizzard nerf or buff some of the cards from time to time. In the past balance cahanges, sometimes we just can’t understand why Blizzard did the change even they try to explain it detailed or sometimes the change must have done inorder to prevent some decks to be more dominant to others, like Warsong Commander nerf. Also in the last year I think most of the card changes are made according to adapt (no! you will not gain +3 attack) the cards to the new expansion.
Anyway here are the new changes:
Bonemare – Now costs 8 mana. (Up from 7)
Bonemare can be really a pain in the ass after turn 7 when your opponent have a minion on the board, even if it is a 1/1 minion. With having 5/5 stats and the battlecry, it is too hard to counter that move. Just one mana increase can change a lot of things. I don’t expect player will remove this card from their decks but it will be harder to play it and also it will change the strategies while playing it with other cards in the same turn.
Corridor Creeper – Now has 2 Attack. (Down from 5)
Wow this is a huge nerf. While most of the zoo decks or more precisely aggro decks have this card to build a strong board control as they can easily lower this minions mana cost, opponets have to struggle to remove the Corridor Creeper. Now it is still a durable minion but not as offensive as before. Maybe this minion can be buffed with other minions’ abilites. I am not sure but probably many players will remove this card from their decks or will change the deck according to this balance change.
Patches the Pirate – No longer has Charge.
This will be a huge crusher for the pirate decks. With the Kobolds and Catacombs Expansion, the number of Pirate Warrior decks decreased but there are still much players who plays this deck. Now it is time to switch this with a more aggresive card I think. Beside from Warriors there are a lot of other decks/heroes that had this card at the moment. The time has come to say goodbye to Patches.
Raza the Chained – Now reads: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game.
With the Shadowreaper Anduin hero card, Raza is the most dangerous and substantial card for the opponents when you play are playing with priest. Having a 2 damge hero power and refreshing your hero power wtith every spell is way to strong at the late game. Now it will be no more, sorry Priest fans.
As a conclusion all of the cahnages are going to be positive for the game, but not that much necessary I think. Considering the last two cards will be in the wild, if I am not wrong, those two changes are made for the wild format.
By the way, after the Update 10.2 is live, the changed card can be disenchantable for their full Arcane Dust values for two weeks after the update. As one of the main reason for me to play this game is collecting every card (I can even pay dust to create the cards that are not in meta or are from the previous expansions), I am again not disenchant any cards that isn’t extra.
Thank you for reading and don’t forget “Fun Never Ends”.
