Update: Apparently, the technology doesn’t allow to give full Dust refund for cards banned through server-side patches. Blizzard should have more info about a potential refund closer to the balance patch. (Source)
Blizzard has just unexpectedly posted patch notes for a small hotfix rolling out today. Those usually contain some minor Battlegrounds/Arena adjustments and bug fixes, but this time is a bit different. On top of those, we have one bigger news.
The Jailer is now temporarily banned in Standard and Wild. They put him in Blizzard jail right now because when they released the last balance update, Druid was still developing after the mini-set. But it turned out that Tony Druid is one of the top decks and it creates very negative play experiences. They want to adjust the deck in the next balance update, but they didn’t want it to wrap the meta until then, so The Jailer got temporarily banned as a solution. It will be playable again after next patch, together with some Tony Druid changes.
The patch also contains some Battlegrounds updates and bug fixes. It’s a server-side update, so you don’t need to download anything. It will roll out later today.
Check out full patch notes below:
Patch 27.4.3 is a server-side hotfix patch rolling out today with the following updates and bug fixes.
Hearthstone Update
- The Jailer has been temporarily banned from Standard and Wild
Dev Comment: We’re putting The Jailer in jail for his crimes against the meta. When we made our last set of changes, Druid was still developing as a class following the Mini-Set. After our changes were locked in, Tony Druid appeared as a top archetype in Standard. We know that we want to adjust something in that deck in our next balance window, and we also know we don’t want this deck to warp the meta in the meantime, so we’re temporarily banning The Jailer until our next scheduled balance patch.
The Jailer will be released on bail (unbanned) in our next scheduled balance patch. At that time, we’ll make other adjustments to address Tony Druid and anything else that needs tweaking.
Battlegrounds Updates
The following heroes have been banned from the following Anomalies:
- Golganneth’s Tempest: The Rat King
- Gladiator’s Spoils: Fungalmancer Flurgl, Infinite Toki, Maiev Shadowsong, Onyxia, Patches the Pirate, and Vanndar Stormpike
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Sinister Soulcage could target enemy Undead minions.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Sif’s cost was not reduced by Primordial Studies.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug with Kabal Lackey’s updated effect.
- [Duels] Removed Elixir of Vigor from the Passive Treasure pool due to an unintended interaction.
- [Duels] Fixed a bug where Remembrance of Ice would resurrect minions killed by opponents’ Frost spells as well as yours.
- [Duels] Fixed a bug where Optimized Polarity would trigger off certain Magnetic Mechs.
- [Events] Fixed a bug where the “Alone in the Dark” event quest was triggering based on when a friendly Titan was destroyed, instead of when you destroyed a Titan.
It’s a blatant effort to force players to buy more new cards.
The rationale doesn’t even make sense:
(a) Tony and Jailer coexist in Standard. It’s stupidly obvious that players will try to combo the two. This is not a new concept.
(b) Tony is banned in Wild. Why is the Jailer then also banned in Wild?
Very sad that crucial E.T.C. tech in fun Tier 3-4 decks is getting killed, albeit temporarily, because a different card is problematic.
I feel like I’m getting whiplash from all these changes. It sucks that blizzard only refunds the affected cards, not caring about the other 2000 dust people spent to build all the non legendary cards for the deck.
The last year or so feels like the public has been beta testing all the sets for blizzard but now it’s getting ridiculous.
At this point, I think blizzard does this so you are CONSTANTLY forced to spend dust on new cards just for your decks to stay relevant. They don’t make enough off the set release cycle, so they just make sure to blow up the meta twice a month in between sets to keep people spending.
Totally agree with you
honestly blizzard does a terrible job in terms of nerfs. It could and should have been nerfed along with the auctioneer, now the players who crafted it are at a loss, honestly it’s blizzard’s fault for the broken deck and not whoever crafts it, the least they should do is put all the legendary cards in this deck full price for decraft (1600 dust)