Method Heroic Garrosh 25 Man, Blue Tweets, Hearthstone Beta Updates, DLC #409

Classes
Dear world, if you react hyperbolically to even modest (3-5%) nerfs, then it makes it hard for us to tell when you are really concerned. (Source)

one way to deal with button bloat would be more abilities that "replaces X" (fist of justice for example).
Considered that, but if the ability only gets better, it feels weird to rename it. (Source)
On the other hand, if the abilities pick up extra effects with every replacement, the tooltips get really complex. (Source)

this statement leaves me wondering what the point of the PTR is? This could have, and should have, been easily answered in PTR
PTR catches a lot but it doesn't catch everything. There are millions more players raiding now than participated on PTR. (Source)
maybe if you didn't ignore class forums, you'd have picked this up as far back as 4.2 PTR when players picked it up
I just now looked at class forums. My conclusion: every class is benched and need buffs. How to know which claims to believe? (Source)
What about your much touted internal tracking systems that you've claimed are better than ranks/census/etc?
What I have always tried to say is that our internal tools are quite sophisticated, but no substitute for actual data. (Source)
Hardcore raiders forget that most players want to feel competitive, but their competitive =/= hardcore definition
I think you can be competitive and not hardcore. I guess it depends on your definitions. (Source)

why do you need data from millions of players? Just check what the top 1-10 guilds do on ptr ?
That is a data point of course, but not the only data point. (Source)
Consider that not everyone can deliver on the DPS that a top 10 guild can provide. (Source)
Also consider that those guilds are more focused on learning fights (without tipping their hand) than testing DPS for us. (Source)

RE:Hit/xpt caps being tedious and fiddly. Consider hit over cap -> cirt rating, xpt over cap -> haste rating? Too left field?
Not too left field. Games have done similar things successfully IMO. (Source)

I haven't seen one comment addressing this nerf, but a ton of responses to nonsense...
We do nerfs and buffs when damage doesn't match our targets, which was the case for Brewmaster. (Source)
We don't really want to get in the mode of justifying or asking permission to make changes we think are necessary. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Across 9 kills of Thok25H, 225 players, there have been only 2 mages. Bad encounter design or bad class design?
Remember when seeing first week heroics that players are vastly undergeared. (Source)
Given that, they often have to resort to creative or even degenerate strategies to have a chance at victory. (Source)
If there are few mages on Thok H in 3-4 weeks, then it's a problem we need to address on the class or enc side. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Greg please, can i get a fair answer for why Evil eye of galakras is not reducing holy avenger cooldown? I need to understand.
IIRC only warrior talented CDs are affected. HA in particular might make the other talents less desirable. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
"We didn't buff you because you campaigned" "we err'd in your favor because you were concerned"
Players delight in gotchas, which ultimately risks designers having to communicate less like people & more like robots. (Source)

SP's are great in multi-target fights, however single target fights we fall far behind, even more when movement is involved.
It is not a goal for all specs to tie in all situations. We fear that would erode class diversity quite a bit. (Source)
Historically, multidotting has been really effective. But if single target dotting is also effective, why play a non dot? (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
what buffs you giving Demo to compensate the drastic nerfs? Affliction is way higher, but left unchanged?
There were Affliction nerfs too: UVLS and Haunt. (Source)
I don't understand the UVLS nerf, sure it was a decent trinket, but 40% is like using a cannon to kill an ant.
The alternative was just nerfing warlock DPS by more, which didn't feel fair to those not using the trinket. (Source)

Can you please figure out how to balance warlock pve dmg.Once again they are are too far ahead. Or should we just accept it?
We are concerned it's too high, but we are trying to figure out how much of it is just the UVLS trinket. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Where was this tension when you decided to gut rage from damage and replace it with static rage generation?
The rage from dmg model just wasn't working. Warriors were too weak and slow with bad gear and ignored rage with good gear. (Source)
Wait, since when was that a problem? Classes should get their time in the sun. Rage isn't supposed to be energy.
I don't think "I suck in 5.0 and 5.2 but rule in 5.4" is a very fun model for anyone, including the warrior. (Source)

In our previous blog, we covered some of the nitty-gritty facts about the wipe and what exactly it entails. It’s an exciting time for the Hearthstone team, since this wipe will coincide with our first major closed beta patch for both the Americas and Europe regions. Our update covers a wealth of bug fixes and quality of life improvement within Hearthstone, and today we’ll be sharing some of the highlights of this upcoming patch. Many of these changes are based on feedback that you, our valued community, provided to us on the forums.

Daily Quests
We’ve gotten a lot of comments on quests. The community has discovered some fun hidden quests, but some of our daily quests have frustrated those of you who have quests that don’t correspond to your favored class. After the patch, daily quests that require you to win with a specific class will now give you a choice between two classes, allowing you some additional flexibility.

Balance
Class balance has been a hot topic, with many of you commenting on the strength and versatility of the Rogue class compared to other classes, such as the Warrior and Priest. Rogues will have some key spells and minions adjusted to bring them more in line with the other classes. Warriors and Priests will find themselves with new tools and improved cards to round out their arsenal, and we’ve made some adjustments to the other classes here and there as well. We’ll be publishing our full patch notes so you can review these and other changes to the heroes of Hearthstone in full detail.

Golden Cards
Golden cards are fun to collect in Hearthstone, and a cool way to show off your accomplishments. Many golden cards have been updated with new animations, and there are still more to come. If you’ve helped test our in-game store and acquired your new forever-friend Gelbin Mekkatorque, check out his shiny new animation! In addition to the new animations to Golden cards, we have also added the ability to unlock Golden Basic minions at higher experience levels. Now you can shoot for creating a 100% golden card deck to really dazzle your opponent!

Crafting
We’ve received a lot of feedback regarding the crafting system, and how the crafting interface didn’t feel quite as intuitive as it should have been. Crafting is intended to be easy to access and a fun way to craft new cards for your collection, and we want that to be noticeable right away to the new player. We’ve updated the UI for our crafting system, so making cards for your collection should be even easier than before! Click the “Crafting Mode” button to access the updated crafting UI.

Social Improvements
We’ve improved our chat functionality to make it more streamlined and easier to interact with your friends. We’ve also introduced Toasts: they’re a cool addition to our social features that let your friends know when you’ve done something awesome in-game, like open a Legendary card or complete an Arena run. Combine these two improvements together and you’ll never miss an exciting moment with your card-slinging friends in Hearthstone!

Play Mode and Arena
Finally, we’re aware that a lot of discussion on the forums is revolving around Play and Arena mode, and how to make them more compelling for players to participate in. We’ve changed experience and leveling so you can max out your Hero at level 60 and earn experience in any game mode up to max level. This includes Play mode (ranked or unranked), Practice, matches against friends, and the Arena.

The rate that you acquire gold has been one of the other most-commented on topics on our forums. This patch will improve the gold output of Play mode, changing the gold generation rate from 5 gold per five wins to 10 gold per three wins. We will be monitoring this update as we progress further into closed beta and will continue to make changes as needed.

We’ve made significant changes to the Arena as well: In general, rewards gained will include less dust and more cards, as well as guaranteeing more gold for both five and six Arena wins. To further entice you to become an Arena Grand Master, an extra pack OR a golden card is now guaranteed at nine wins.

Full patch notes will be available alongside the patch, which will include the collection wipe. For more information on the wipe and what that entails, please read our blog here! Thank you for your continued feedback as we continue the closed beta testing phase of Hearthstone.

To opt-in to our closed beta test, please go here!