LOTI 158 : Balancing Act

News

Balance Patch 9.1 went live

Innervate – Now reads: Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only. (Down from 2)

Fiery War Axe – Now costs 3 mana. (Up from 2)

Hex – Now costs 4 mana. (Up from 3)

Murloc Warleader – Now reads: Your other Murlocs have +2 Attack. (Down from +2 Attack, +1 Health)

Spreading Plague – Now costs 6 mana. (Up from 5)

IGN sat down with Donais and Iksar to talk about ideas that didn’t make the cut in Frozen Throne. (source)

Lord Jaraxxus is one of their favorite cards. For a long time they wanted to make more cards like him.

They didn’t like the weird interactions with Lord Jaraxxus, so they needed to design a new card type to keep it a clean experience.

Early on they decided to not change your health total and to give you armor to help make them more playable.

Sometimes cards don’t change much from their early design other than numbers. This was not the case with Death Knights – they all changed.

Valeera the Hollow’s hero power was once “Discover a secret from any class”.

An early Deathstalker Rexxar hero power was “Deal 2 damage to all enemies”.

Zombeasts originally were able to get minions from any class. “Getting some of the warrior taunts was just a bit too weird”.

Deathstalker Rexxar had a Battlecry that was to craft and summon a Zombeast.

They like how Bloodreaver Gul’dan will grow in strength over time as more Demons are added to the game.

An early hero power from Shadowreaper Anduin saw him resurrect a random friendly minion that died during the game.

Shadowform working with Shadowreaper Anduin was a consideration.

Originally, Frost Lich Jaina gave your Elementals in-deck, on the field, and in your hand +2/+2.

“It was a bit weird, because sometimes you would summon elementals later and they wouldn’t get the +2/+2”

Another version of Frost Lich Jaina saw her summoning 2 Water Elementals.

An early hero power from Frost Lich Jaina saw scaling based on killing minions. Each time it killed a minion, it would gain an extra damage. It did not summon the Water Elemental.

HCT America’s Summer Playoffs had numerous issues over the past weekend. Blizzard addresses the issues.

Many of the venues experienced multiple DDoS attacks and equipment malfunctions that disrupted the tournament.  Some players were required to restart games due to the issues. Some argue that the outcomes were changed as result.

Blizzard did say, “the resulting experience this past weekend was not acceptable, and we sincerely apologize to the competitors who were adversely affected.”

They are reevaluating equipment requirements and venue capabilities to ensure they deliver a better experience.

The HCT Summer Championship

Will take place Oct 13-Oct 15, at the new Blizzard Arena in California.

The total prize is $250,000.

The 16 competitors are set and as follows:

Europe

Pavel

Amyks

OldBoy

Orange

Americas

Purple

Nalguidan

Empanizado

YAYtears

China

Trunks

Jiajia

JasonZhou

OmegaZero

Asia-Pacific

Surrender

Cocosasa

Tom60229

uya

Espo Mode

The Great Stone of Challenge

“Welcome, heroes, to the Great Stone of Challenge. Your deck building prowess will be tested: You may only use spells with an even cost; you may only use minions with an odd attack! Build a deck and fight for the Stone of Challenge!”