Blizzard unexpectedly posted 27.2.2 patch notes – and the patch itself too. It was first teased yesterday and most of the players have expected it to come out tomorrow (since Tuesday -> Thursday) was the usual schedule. But apparently, it came out earlier!
The patch includes nerfs for 3 Standard Hunter cards, buffs for 3 Wild cards (the undocumented changes we talked about previously), as well as multiple Battlegrounds and Duels changes. Just like (nearly) every patch, it also contained some bug fixes.
Here are the Standard balance changes:
- Fox Spirit Wildseed – Now is 2/1 (instead of 3/1).
- Halduron Brightwing – Now is 4 mana 4/4 (instead of 3 mana 3/4).
- Faithful Companions – Now summons the second Beast from your hand with Manathirst (instead of summoning an extra copy of the Beast you Discover).
Important note: The Signature version of Halduron Brightwing didn’t disenchant for full Dust value for the first few hours after the patch, but Blizzard has just rolled out a hotfix. If you disenchanted it before it, they will add the Dust difference to your account in a follow-up update!
Check out full patch notes below:
Patch 27.2.2 is a data-only patch, launching today, with bug fixes and updates to Hearthstone, Battlegrounds, and Duels.
Hearthstone Updates
Standard Card Updates
Dev Comment: When we made our last round of changes, we knew this balance window was coming soon, so we took a lighter touch on Hunter. Now that we’ve seen the results of our last changes, we’re happy with how the meta is shaping up, but it’s clear that we need to give Hunter a bit more of an adjustment to give other classes some room to breathe.
Hunter has two decks we’re targeting with these changes: Arcane Hunter and Hound Hunter. Halduron is a card we previously buffed to give the Arcane package a chance to shine. We’re happy with our prior change to the effect, but just need to adjust the numbers slightly to keep the power in line. For Hound Hunter, we wanted to hit the deck’s early game and its explosive endgame. The adjustment to Faithful Companions should cut down on that finishing potential while also letting the deck operate on another axis with more interesting late-game decisions.
Fox Spirit Wildseed (summoned by “Wildseed” cards)
- Old: 3 Attack, 1 Health
- New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
Halduron Brightwing
- Old: [3 Mana] 3 Attack, 4 Health
- New: [4 Mana] 4 Attack, 4 Health
Faithful Companions
- Old: Discover a Beast from your deck and summon it. Manathirst (10): Also summon a copy of it.
- New: Discover a Beast from your deck and summon it. Manathirst (10): Summon a Beast from your hand.
Halduron Brightwing, Faithful Companions, Ara’lon, Wild Spirits, Stag Charge, and Spirit Poacher will all be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 27.2.2.
Wild Card Updates
With the launch of 27.2, 113 Wild cards were updated for Wild and the upcoming launch of Twist! There were also six more cards that were unintentionally changed at that time. In this patch, we’re removing three of those unintended changes (noted in the Bug Fixes section below). However, the following changes are staying:
Timber Wolf
- Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health
- New: 1 Attack, 2 Health
Jinyu Waterspeaker
- Old: 3 Attack, 6 Health
- New: 4 Attack, 6 Health
Firelands Portal
- Old: Deal 5 damage. Summon a random 5-Cost minion.
- New: Deal 6 damage. Summon a random 6-Cost minion.
Battlegrounds Updates
General Updates
Denathrius’ Anima Reserves (Anomaly)
- Old: All heroes are Sire Denathrius.
- New: Quests and Rewards are in this game. All heroes are Sire Denathrius.
- Dev Comment: We heard your feedback that this Anomaly didn’t feel interesting enough, so we set out on a Quest to make this Anomaly more Rewarding—double the Quests, double the fun!
Friends and Family Discount (Darkmoon Prize)
- Old: For the rest of the game, minions in the Tavern cost (1) less.
- New: For the rest of the game, minions in the Tavern cost (2).
Anomaly Pool Updates
The following Anomalies will now appear less frequently:
- Might of Khaz’goroth
- Fortitude of Khaz’goroth
- Oops, All _____ !
- Finicky Hourglass
- Dev Comment: Anti-Gravity Stadium is also still removed from the Anomaly Pool.
The following Anomalies will now appear more frequently:
- Prudence of Amitus
- Nguyen’s Shifting Disks
- Bring in the Buddies
- A Faire Reward
Minion Updates
Surf and Surf
- Old: Spellcraft: Give a minion “Deathrattle: Summon a 2/2 Crab” until next turn.
- New: Spellcraft: Give a minion “Deathrattle: Summon a 3/2 Crab” until next turn.
Niuzao
- Old: [Tier 6] 7 Attack, 6 Health
- New: [Tier 5] 6 Attack, 5 Health
Soul Rewinder
- Old: 2 Attack, 1 Health
- New: 3 Attack, 1 Health
- Dev Comment: We rewinded the previous change to Soul Rewinder.
Keyboard Igniter
- Old: 4 Attack, 2 Health. Battlecry: If you’ve taken damage since last turn, give your other Demons +1/+2.
- New: 4 Attack, 1 Health. Battlecry: If you’ve taken damage since last turn, give your other Demons +2/+2.
Famished Felbat
- Old: 9 Attack, 5 Health. At the end of your turn, your other Demons consume a minion in Bob’s Tavern to gain its stats.
- New: 8 Attack, 5 Health. At the end of your turn, your Demons consume a minion in Bob’s Tavern to gain its stats.
Time Saver
- Old: 3 Attack, 5 Health. If you have any unspent Gold at the end of your turn, this sells for 2 more Gold.
- New: 2 Attack, 3 Health. If you have any unspent Gold at the end of your turn, this sells for 3 more Gold.
Stormbringer
- Old: 1 Attack, 7 Health
- New: 1 Attack, 9 Health
Electric Synthesizer
- Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3 Attack.
- Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3/+1.
Obsidian Ravager
- Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health
- New: 7 Attack, 7 Health
Carbonic Copy
- Old: [Tier 5] 5 Attack, 6 Health
- New: [Tier 4] 3 Attack, 3 Health
Granite Guardian
- Old: 1 Attack, 17 Health
- New: 1 Attack, 28 Health
Adaptable Barricade
- Old: 12 Attack, 1 Health
- New: 18 Attack, 1 Health
Omega Buster
- Old: Deathrattle: Summon five 1/1 Microbots. For each that doesn’t fit, give your Mechs +1/+1.
- New: Deathrattle: Summon six 1/1 Microbots. For each that doesn’t fit, give your Mechs +1/+1.
Sanguine Champion
- Old: 9 Attack, 3 Health
- New: 18 Attack, 3 Health
Sore Loser
- Old: 1 Attack, 4 Health. Your Undead have extra Attack equal to your Tier.
- New: 2 Attack, 4 Health. Your other Undead have extra Attack equal to your Tier.
Relentless Sentry
- Old: 5 Attack, 1 Health
- New: 6 Attack, 1 Health
Champion of the Primus
- Old: 1 Attack, 8 Health. Avenge (2): Your Undead have +1 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).
- New: 2 Attack, 9 Health. Avenge (3): Your Undead have +1 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).
Recurring Nightmare
- Old: 5 Attack, 5 Health
- New: 8 Attack, 5 Health
Fairy Tale Caroler
- Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health. Battlecry: If you lost your last combat, give your other minions +2/+1.
- New: 2 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: If you lost your last combat, give your other minions +2/+2.
Minion Pool Updates
The following minions have been removed from the minion pool:
- Razorgore
- Baby Krush
- Dynamic Duo
- Invent-o-matic
The following minions have been returned to the minion pool:
- General Drakkisath
- Tavern Tempest
- Bonker
- Kaboom Bot
Duels Updates
Passive Treasure Updates
Kindling Flame
- Old: Fire Spell Damage +2
- New: Fire Spell Damage +1
Natural Force
- Old: Nature Spell Damage +2
- New: Nature Spell Damage +1
Mending Pools
- Old: Whenever you play a Nature spell, restore 2 Health to all friendly characters.
- New: After you cast your first Nature spell in a turn, restore 2 Health to all friendly characters.
Spreading Saplings
- Old: After you cast a Nature spell, summon a 2/2 Treant.
- New: After you cast a Nature spell, summon a 1/1 Sapling.
Iron Roots
- Old: After you cast a Nature spell, give a random friendly minion +2/+2 and Taunt.
- New: After you cast a Nature spell, give a random friendly minion +1/+1 and Taunt.
Endurance Training
- Old: Your Taunt minions cost (2) less, but not less than (2).
- New: Your Taunt minions cost (2) less, but not less than (1).
Freeze Solid
- Old: Whenever damage is dealt to a Frozen enemy, deal 1 more.
- New: Whenever damage is dealt to a Frozen enemy, deal 2 more.
Corrupted Felstone
- Old: After you cast a Fel spell, give the left- and right-most minions in your hand +1 Attack.
- New: After you cast a Fel spell, give the left- and right-most minions in your hand +1/+1.
Passive Treasure Pool Updates
- Starving has been moved to Pool 2.
- Special Delivery has been moved to Pool 2 Ultra Rare.
Card Pool Updates
- Helya and Odyn, Prime Designate have been banned from initial deckbuilding.
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where unintended changes were made to Glaivezooka, Swipe, and Dragon’s Breath.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Don Han’Cho was updated to 5/6 stats instead of the intended 5/5 stats.
- [Hearthstone] Updated Wyrm Weaver’s textbox to match updated Mana Wyrm stats.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Captain Sanders was in the Thorim, Stormlord Hero Power pool in games where the Golden Arena Anomaly was active.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Golden Leeching Felhound cost more than 3 Health.
- [Duels] Neptulon will no longer be generated by Chaos Storm.
Will Pirates ever get Pirate Ship again I wonder, even as a T7 minion.