Blizzard has just released a new hotfix with changes to Battlegrounds, Arena and some bug fixes.
In Battlegrounds, a lot of Heroes got their Armor rates readjusted. In Arena, they buffed the appearance rate of strong cards in Priest, Rogue, and Warlock + nerfed in Hunter, Death Knight, Paladin, and Warrior. And finally, a few bugs were fixed.
While not a part of Patch 28.2.2 itself, Tae’thelan Bloodwatcher, the new Battlegrounds Hero, has been temporarily banned because of power level issues. He will be back in the next actual client patch where they can adjust more than Armor. That patch is scheduled for next week.
The update is server-side so you don’t need to download anything.
Patch 28.2.2 is a server-side hotfix patch, rolling out now with the following updates:
Battlegrounds Updates
General Updates
We have adjusted turn times to be slightly shorter in the early game to minimize idle playtime and to be slightly longer in the late game to account for the current metagame. We will keep an eye on these and continue to iterate on them in the future.
Armor Updates
The following heroes now have less Armor:
- Lich Baz’hial has 5 Armor.
- Snake Eyes and Tae’thelan Bloodwatcher have 6 Armor.
The following heroes now have more Armor:
- Infinite Toki now has 13 Armor.
- Lord Barov now has 14 Armor at higher ranked lobbies, still has 19 Armor at lower ranked lobbies.
- Kurtrus Ashfallen, Deathspeaker Blackthorn, and Vol’jin now have 15 Armor at all ranks.
- Fungalmancer Flurgl now has 16 Armor at higher ranked lobbies and 12 Armor at lower ranked lobbies.
- Dinotamer Brann now has 16 Armor.
- Overlord Saurfang now has 17 Armor.
- C’Thun now has 18 Armor at higher ranked lobbies, still has 10 Armor at lower ranked lobbies.
- Sylvanas Windrunner, Kael’thas Sunstrider, and Ambassador Faelin now have 18 Armor.
- The Jailer now has 19 Armor.
- Guff Runetotem, Ragnaros, and Sneed now have 20 Armor.
Arena Adjustments
Card appearance rates have been adjusted. The general Priest class card appearance rate has been increased. Additionally, the appearance rate for certain high-impact cards was increased for Priest, Rogue, and Warlock, and was reduced for Hunter, Death Knight, Paladin, and Warrior.
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Rowdy Partner and Linedance Partner’s effects wouldn’t activate after they were Shadowstepped (Greedy Partner was fixed in an earlier patch).
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Spurfang could sometimes summon an invisible minion with its Deathrattle.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Heistbaron Togwaggle’s Hero Power wouldn’t work on a Tavern full of Tavern Spells.
- [Progression] Fixed a bug where players who finished the Apprentice Track before the Tavern Guide could get stuck in the Tavern Guide.
