Blizzard to Roll out 'Hearthstone' Nerfs

By Juvy Garcia, Christian Post Contributor Friday, April 22, 2016

Blizzard Entertainment will be implementing some changes to its popular digital card game, "Hearthstone." The company maintains all these revisions to the title will help keep it "fresh" and less intimidating for new players.

The changes will affect the a number of the game's most popular cards. However, through the rebalancing, new cards from "Hearthstone's" Whispers of the Old Gods expansion are expected to have greater impact. Most notably, the update will greatly affect the Druid class, with three of its most popular cards reduced in power. A handful of other cards that players frequently use in a majority of decks will be nerfed as well to keep them from dominating a match, Blizzard said.

Below are the highlights. Full details about the "Heartstone" nerf can be read here.

Force of Nature will cost one mana less and have its charge removed.
Ancient of Lore will have only one card draw instead of two.
Keeper of the Grove has its health reduced by 50 percent.
Ironbreak Owl is now a three-cost card instead of two.
Big Game Hunter is now a five-cost card instead of three.
Hunter's Mark now costs one mana instead zero.
Knife Juggler's attack strength has been reduced from three to two.
Leper Gnome's attack strength has been decreased to one.
Arcane Golem's charge ability is removed and its health upped to four.
Molten Giant will take longer to summon as its cost is now 25.

"There's a simple guiding principle that underlies each of the changes you're about to see: New card releases should have an impact on Standard and enrich Wild, to make sure that Hearthstone is always as dynamic, fresh, and fun as it can be," Blizzard said in a post announcing the changes on Wednesday, April 20.

Standard and Wild are the two new formats that will also be arriving with next week's update, "Hearthstone" Patch 5.0. The Wild format will maintain what players have been used to: all cards will be available during matches. However, for the Standard format, a player's active card pool will be limited to those that released in the last two years. This means when the update arrives, Goblins vs. Gnomes and Curse of Naxxramas will no longer be useable in the Standard format.

The game's latest expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods, will also roll out on Tuesday, April 26. The expansion brings a total of 134 new cards which feature a new twist to classic cards. Learn more about the new expansion here.