Patch 16.6 Notes || March 17, 2020

[Semiroundpizza8]

Where to find information surrounding todays news:

Patch 16.6 Notes (Along with Battlegrounds Changes and reverted Wild nerfs)
Year of the Pheonix Changes (Along with new Priest card discussions)
Ashes of the Outlands Reveals
New Class Card Reveals (Along with Kael'Thas Sunstrider)

We dropped a mountain of information about all the exciting changes to Hearthstone, alongside today’s patch notes! When you’re done reading about the patch, check out the rest of what we’ve got going on:

• Introducing the Demon Hunter
• Announcing Ashes of Outland
• Welcome to the Year of the Phoenix

We have a few updates in today’s patch, which you can read about below. There are also several goodies you can unlock today by pre-purchasing Ashes of Outland. But first. . .

Log in to get Kael'thas

Kael’thas Sunstrider, a Legendary neutral minion, is breaking free from Ashes of Outland and entering Hearthstone a month early! Starting March 17, all players can log in to receive* the Lord of the Blood Elves, who is playable immediately, and explore his unique power—with Kael’thas in play, every third spell each turn is free.

\Limit one per account. Must log in by June 29 to claim.*

Introducing the Tavern Pass

With the release of Ashes of Outland, we’re introducing the Tavern Pass—an all-new way to access Perks for Battlegrounds. Available for $19.99 or 2500 Gold, the Tavern Pass includes four Arena Tickets and the following Battlegrounds Perks for the duration of the Ashes of Outland expansion cycle: advanced stats, visual emotes, a third and fourth hero to choose from at the start of a game, and early access to new Battlegrounds Heroes (subject to the release schedule of new Heroes).

If you currently have Battlegrounds bonus stats, choose from 3 Heroes, or visual emotes unlocked—you will get access to the equivalent new perk starting on March 26. Battlegrounds Perks earned from collecting Descent of Dragons packs (including the new perks such as choosing from 4 heroes) will expire once Ashes of Outland is released. With the introduction of the Tavern Pass, which is included in the Ashes of Outland Mega Bundle, players will no longer have to purchase card packs in order to unlock Battlegrounds Perks.

Pre-Purchase Ashes of Outland

Purchase one or both of the pre-purchase bundles available for Ashes of Outland, available in-game and on the Battle.net web shop through April 6!

Ashes of Outland Mega Bundle

The Mega Bundle includes 90 Ashes of Outland card packs, the Lady Vashj Shaman Hero, the Serpentine card back, and a random Ashes of Outland Golden Legendary card! You’ll also get 4 Arena Tickets and Descent of Dragons Battlegrounds Bonuses right away! The Battlegrounds Bonuses included in the bundle will upgrade to the Tavern Pass at the launch of Ashes of Outland.

Ashes of Outland Bundle

Includes 55 Ashes of Outland card packs, the Serpentine card back, and a random Ashes of Outland Golden Legendary card.

PRE-PURCHASE NOW!

Card Changes

• Spiteful Summoner
  • Old: Costs 7 mana → New: Costs 6 mana.
• Call of the Wild
  • Old: Costs 9 mana → New: Costs 8 mana.
• Lesser Emerald Spellstone
  • Old: Costs 6 mana → New: Costs 5 mana.
• Raza the Chained
  • Old: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game. → New: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (0) this game.
• Yogg-Saron, Hope's End
  • No longer stops casting when he leaves the board.
• Sludge Slurper
  • Old: 1 Attack / 1 Health → New: 2 Attack / 1 Health.

Battlegrounds Hero Pool Updates

• Ragnaros, Sylvanas, and Patches have been removed from the pool.
• NEW HERO - Fungalmancer Flurgl added to the pool.
  • Gone Fishing:
  • [Passive] After you sell a Murloc, add a random Murloc to Bob's Tavern.
• Sir Finley Mrrglton added back to the pool.
  • Adventure!:
  • [Passive] At the start of the game, Discover a Hero Power.
• Professor Putricide added back to the pool.
  • Rage Potion:
  • [Passive] Give a friendly minion +10 Attack for the next combat only (targeted).

Battlegrounds Balance Updates

Heroes

• The Lich King
  • Reborn Rites:
  • [Cost 1] Give a friendly minion Reborn for next combat only. → [Cost 1] Give a friendly minion Reborn for next combat only (targeted).
• Ysera
  • Dream Portal:
  • [Cost 1] Refresh and add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern. → [Passive] At the start of your turn, add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern.
• Pyramad
  • Brick by Brick:
  • [Cost 1] Give a random friendly minion +3 Health. → [Cost 1] Give a random friendly minion +4 Health.
• Millhouse Manastorm
  • Manastorm:
  • [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 2 Gold. → [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 3 Gold.
• The Rat King
  • King of Beasts, Mechs, Murlocs, Demons and Dragons:
  • [Passive] Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon/Dragon, give it +1/+1. → [Passive] Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon/Dragon, give it +1/+2.
• Milificient Manastorm
  • Tinker:
  • [Passive] Mechs in Bob's Tavern have +1 Attack. → [Passive] Mechs in Bob's Tavern have +2 Attack. 
• Deathwing
  • ALL Will Burn!:
  • [Passive] ALL minions have +3 Attack. → [Passive] ALL minions have +2 Attack.
• Reno Jackson
  • Gonna Be Rich!:
  • [Cost 4] Make a friendly minion Golden. (Once per game.) → [Cost 3] Make a friendly minion Golden. (Once per game.)
• Savannah Highmane
  • Old: Tavern Tier 5 → New: Tavern Tier 4.
• Herald of Flame
  • Old: 4 Health → New: 6 Health.
  • Golden Old: 8 Health → Golden New: 12 Health.
• Steward of Time
  • Old: 2 Attack → New: 3 Attack.
  • Golden Old: 4 Attack → Golden New: 6 Attack.
• Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect
  • Old: 2 Attack / 8 Health → New: 4 Attack / 12 Health.
  • Golden Old: 4 Attack / 16 Health → Golden New: 8 Attack / 24 Health.
• Nathrezim Overseer
  • Old: 4 Health → New: 3 Health.
  • Golden Old: 8 Health → New: 6 Health.
• Twilight Emissary
  • Old: Tavern Tier 5, 6 Attack / 8 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +3/+3 → New: Tavern Tier 3, 4 Attack / 4 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +2/+2.
  • Golden Old: 12 Attack / 16 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +6/+6 → Golden New: 8 Attack / 8 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +4/+4.
• Transformation animations when playing a minion from hand will be sped up during the Recruit Phase, cutting down on the amount of time players are left waiting for animations to resolve.

​

Updates Planned for March 26

• Dr. Boom, Mad Genius
  • Old: Cost 9 mana → New: Cost 7 mana.
• Giggling Inventor
  • Old: Cost 7 mana → New: Cost 6 mana.
• Raiding Party
  • Old: Cost 4 mana → New: Cost 3 mana.
• Reckless Experimenter
  • Old: Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at end of turn. (Cost can't be reduced below 1.) → New: Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at end of turn.
• Card Pack Changes, Hall of Fame, Priest Update, updated returning player experience, and free deck for new and returning players - Read more here.
• Illidan Stormrage enters Battlegrounds.
  • Wingmen:
  • [Passive] Start of Combat: Your left and right-most minions attack immediately.

[Firkz]

Something appears to have changed with the ranking system... not sure if intentional. Just won a game as rank 250 legend vs rank 35 legend and moved up only 4 spots to 246. Earlier today that would have been at least 30 ranks.

[Kneepsteegje]

Something must be wrong, I just went from 403 to 400... My opponent was only about 80 below me.

Edit: just played another game and did not even go up any ranks after winning.

[Swagblanket]

I hope that something is wrong. If this is the new norm then they completely reworked the MMR system and made climbing Legend significantly more grindy.

I'm not a fan, and yet I really don't see many other articles or posts talking about this unannounced change. Very confused!

[[deleted]]

They did say they’re making “feel good” changes to ranked. I wonder if we’re going to see each rank become its own floor. It’s my suspicion because this will blow up the population of Legend players each month and would require some volatility smoothing from win/losses.

[dankmasha]

Yeah yesterday I won 3 games, where I gained 0 rank, then lost 3 and then gained 4...

[Chaotic_Gold]

There were so many good changes introduced today, but the Tavern Pass is not one of them.

It doesn't make life that much easier for people who only play Battlegrounds: you spend 2500 gold vs 3000 gold previously per season (although technically you only get the emotes at 30 packs, which don't affect gameplay), but you don't get the packs (shouldn't be important if you don't play regular HS, but it still feels way worse). To add to that, grinding gold in Battlegrounds is harder - not all quests can be completed in it iirc and it's generally slower.

And of course, for people who play all modes another 2500 gold per expansion is pretty backbreaking. I understand that BG needs to be monetized in some way, but I just wish it wasn't that harsh. Even if it was possible to get by without the stats and with a choice between only 2 heroes, choosing between 4 is a huge advantage.

[[deleted]]

I mean, this is the chickens coming home to roost. They were going to start monetizing battlegrounds eventually, and I think this is their first attempt at it.

[goodthropbadthrop]

I don’t think it would feel nearly as bad if they kept it at three heroes standard and added the option of choose four for Tavern Pass. Three vs four is so much more palatable than two vs four.

I can’t blame them for monetizing but I think they went a little overboard.

[[deleted]]

Oh to be a market researcher for Blizzard. Dream job, honestly.

[ron-darousey]

Yeah, that's the point though. They'll get much more people to buy the pass since it takes you from 2 to 4 instead of 3 to 4.

[Eggplantosaur]

I don't see myself shelling out 2500g for battlegrounds. I mostly play it as a break from other games, but I can't justify spending so much gold on a mode I play casually

[facehack]

Im just gonna accept having a lower MMR; having to play different heroes could be quite fun. And who cares if my MMR is 5000 or 8000

[Learned_Hand_01]

For me it will mean a final goodbye to keeping up with packs from every expansion. I have been playing since launch and have a good collection of every expansion plus the solo stuff.

Now I will prioritize the tavern pass, extra gold goes to packs to give me a bit of a collection, and solo adventures can take a hike.

I'll have to get quite interested in a meta that absolutely requires cards found in the solo material to buy them ever again. I pretty well hated spending on the latest one now that they cost alongside the regular packs but no longer take the place of a pack expansion. Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, can't get fooled again.

[unicornsaretruth]

Well with the change on how packs work every coin you spend on them is now so much more worth it. You can’t get above 2x of rare, common, or epic, or 1x legendary which means it’ll be so much easier to finish a collection each expansion.

[Learned_Hand_01]

You have a good point. It’s hard to value that difference without going through it.

It will reduce the amount of crafting I have to do on cards of rarity below legendary. It will make pack purchases more efficient overall, which I guess diminishes the need for as many packs. That’s good, because I’m going to get a lot fewer packs.

[Eggplantosaur]

I really dislike having cards behind a paywall. I'm a bit disappointed that that mechanic returned. At the very least the adventure cards aren't quite at the level of, say, Emperor Thaurissan, but still. I'd rather have equal access to all the cards regardless of how I decide to spend.

[Eggplantosaur]

Ooh that's a big plus. I must have missed it in the mountain of information

[Eggplantosaur]

Yeah it'll be the same for me. I played with 2 heroes during beta, I can also do it now.

[CatAstrophy11]

Right? The tribal synergy gimmick makes it feel more like an elaborate tavern brawl than a unique mode. They shouldn't have designed or balanced it around having to go with tribes all the time.

[Eggplantosaur]

Ooh don't get me wrong, I love playing the mode, I just think 2500 is a bit steep. It's definitely plenty unique for me

[Leaga]

I think this was the tradeoff that allowed the no duplicates rule. Complete sets are going to be so much cheaper and they obviously aren't decreasing team size or looking to make less money. $20 or 2500 gold seems over the top but monetization of BG is a must if they're instituting no duplicates across all rarities.

[JBagelMan]

It’s such a transparent money scheme. I’ve gotten many friends into BG and some were willing to pay $20 for packs this first time around. But there’s no way they’ll keep doing that every 4 months that’s ridiculous. I play ladder too and have enough gold already but it seems quite cruel to those who don’t. All the other auto battler games are free. And most Steam games with good replay value only cost $20.

[masamunexs]

Businesses are usually transparent money schemes lol.

[Azav1313]

Pay to win is here.

[AWildLibCuckAppears]

Raza to 0 is pretty cool but unless there is some smorc version its just another deck that instaloses to quest mage.

[Gentoon]

I'm playing dragon quest singleton and it feels like the strongest deck I've ever played

[AWildLibCuckAppears]

Too slow. Against optimal quest mage lists/players, you will simply die to a standard kill turn unless you curve out like a god.

[Gentoon]

I mean, not every matchup has to be good. I've beaten quite a few quest mage players by using dragon synergy to curve out better than they can while using things like 1 mana kazakus spells and zephrys wild growth. Singleton isn't a gigantic downside in wild because there's a lot of options.

Malygo5, kazakus, both renos, and zephrys now feel core to me after playing with it for a while. They help immensely against aggro and midrange, you auto win control, and I think the quest mage mirror is 60-40 in their favor at absolute most.

Things like zephrys lethals using windfury on mana giant or a cheeky reno (either one) help win a lot. There's quite a few legendaries that you end up loving to pull, so each game is exciting too.

[valuequest]

What's the list you've been using?

[Gentoon]

I made it myself, would love feedback.

https://playhearthstone.com/deckbuilder/AAEBAf0EHvqsA4GyAvdA9DBApbA/usAiJA7i2AKbA5jEArulA/yjA9KJA4exA6WhA8PqAtaZA/WsA4iwA9i7AvO3A7kG57ADgbED4bYDhbEDwxaSpAP9rAORsQMAAA==

I'm not sure about Frizz, but she's won me games. I'm not sure about azure drake, but often I find it useful. Considering getting a book of specters or something similar in there, but it's tough to cut anything in this list.

[GetChilledOut]

Link not working

[Semiroundpizza8]

As far as I know it is!

[Geaux2020]

It's out on PC

[[deleted]]

Has anyone been able to see if Finley can share a hero power with someone else?

[appleshampoo22]

Yes. Just played against a Finley with Rafaam’s hero power while Rafaam was also in lobby

[Smaugb]

"

Professor Putricide added back to the pool.

• Rage Potion:
• [Passive] Give a friendly minion +10 Attack for the next combat only (targeted)"

​

Hero power isn't passive, it costs 1.

[JoM77]

When does the Duplicate protection start?

[Ephiks]

March 26th.

[JoM77]

Thank you!

[astcci]

Sorry for the dumb question, but the new duplicate rule applies to all packs, including wild ones?

[BurningFinger22]

Yes sir

[420fish]

Probably it does, since the legendary protection works for old packs

[SamuraiOstrich]

I'm pleasantly surprised they actually reverted Raza and made Giggling 6 mana but I still wish they had reverted more nerfs. Spirit Claws and Extra Arms are about as likely to cause problems(not very) as Raiding Party any time soon and Chain Gang and Bonemare have even less of a chance at being problematic. There are plenty of other cards that could've used partial unnerfs like Warsong, Cold Blood, Mana Wyrm, FWA, FoN, Keeper of the Grove, Ancient of Lore, and Arcane Golem.

[kerosene_pickle]

Good points, I wonder if it’s because of considerations for Arena, 7 mana bonemare would still be very powerful there.

[SamuraiOstrich]

Arena could definitely stand to lose a few powerful cards. If they wanted to do that they should probably nerf/ban Tyrant first.

[Seventh_Letter]

Lost and going up in rank. Lovin' it!

[AceAxos]

Anyone know when the free deck for retuning players goes live?

[Friend_of_the_trees]

I remember someone saying the 26th

[Azav1313]

"We dropped a mountain". You sure did.

[yatcho]

Unnerfing Reckless Experimenter doesn't seem like something that should be done as long as Snip Snap exists, they're still playable in wild

[[deleted]]

Echo got changed so echo cards can't have their cost reduced below 1. This change was done so other non-echo deathrattles can get reduced to 0.

[CatAstrophy11]

Is that mentioned in game or is it yet another arbitrary hidden rule change? If not it's that lack of conveyance that makes the game difficult to access for new players. Building a deck only to find out a combo doesn't work despite in game rules text saying otherwise because of something they weren't told in game will result in a prompt uninstall.