Throughout last year, we shared several updates with you about our ongoing fight against unauthorized bots in Hearthstone. This year, we plan to keep the fight, and the updates, coming.
Yesterday, we dropped the largest banhammer the Tavern has ever seen, several times the size of our previous banwaves. Over 135,000 accounts were actioned—targeting bot accounts that real players are most likely to run into on the ladder.
In addition to this latest action, we actioned about 60,000 accounts throughout the month of January for botting. We also banned some bad actors 555 who were using malicious third-party software to cheat in Heroic Duels.
We remain committed to ejecting these disorderly patrons from our friendly tavern and we’re going to keep taking these types of actions throughout the year and beyond.
We’ll see you (real players) in the tavern! And if you think about botting, we’ll see you, too.
Big ban wave.
We also banned some bad actors who were using malicious third-party software to cheat in Heroic Duels.
Apparently there was an exploit that allowed people to cheat cards that shouldn't be allowed into a Duels deck? Crazy.
forty on
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Idx86Long days and pleasant nights.Registered Userregular
Throughout last year, we shared several updates with you about our ongoing fight against unauthorized bots in Hearthstone. This year, we plan to keep the fight, and the updates, coming.
Yesterday, we dropped the largest banhammer the Tavern has ever seen, several times the size of our previous banwaves. Over 135,000 accounts were actioned—targeting bot accounts that real players are most likely to run into on the ladder.
In addition to this latest action, we actioned about 60,000 accounts throughout the month of January for botting. We also banned some bad actors 555 who were using malicious third-party software to cheat in Heroic Duels.
We remain committed to ejecting these disorderly patrons from our friendly tavern and we’re going to keep taking these types of actions throughout the year and beyond.
We’ll see you (real players) in the tavern! And if you think about botting, we’ll see you, too.
Big ban wave.
We also banned some bad actors who were using malicious third-party software to cheat in Heroic Duels.
Apparently there was an exploit that allowed people to cheat cards that shouldn't be allowed into a Duels deck? Crazy.
Holy shit that's a lot of bots.
On a side note, someone please talk some sense into me and stop me from spending 4k dust to craft a stupid Elemental Shaman deck for Wild.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
I've gotta imagine Sludge Warlock and Odyn Warrior are next up on the nerfing block. They seem to be everywhere and lack substantial counters. I could see something happening to DK as well since Plague and Rainbow are up there too and probably need to be taken down a peg if the other top stuff gets hit.
Throughout last year, we shared several updates with you about our ongoing fight against unauthorized bots in Hearthstone. This year, we plan to keep the fight, and the updates, coming.
Yesterday, we dropped the largest banhammer the Tavern has ever seen, several times the size of our previous banwaves. Over 135,000 accounts were actioned—targeting bot accounts that real players are most likely to run into on the ladder.
In addition to this latest action, we actioned about 60,000 accounts throughout the month of January for botting. We also banned some bad actors 555 who were using malicious third-party software to cheat in Heroic Duels.
We remain committed to ejecting these disorderly patrons from our friendly tavern and we’re going to keep taking these types of actions throughout the year and beyond.
We’ll see you (real players) in the tavern! And if you think about botting, we’ll see you, too.
Big ban wave.
We also banned some bad actors who were using malicious third-party software to cheat in Heroic Duels.
Apparently there was an exploit that allowed people to cheat cards that shouldn't be allowed into a Duels deck? Crazy.
So gold was surprisingly bot free, but at platinum I faced like 2/3rds bots today.
Next expansion is Whizbang's Workshop, themed around a toy shop, gifts, and references to Hearthstone's past.
New keyword is Miniaturize - cards with this keyword add a 1/1 for 1 copy of themselves to your hand when played (the copy does not have miniaturize).
Zilliax Deluxe 3000 is this expansion's Gimmick Legendary like ETC or Renathal or so on. You pre-emptively decide what the card's stats and abilities are during deckbuilding by choosing two options from the list:
Toy Captain being a buff and turning something I to a 1/1 is really clever design.
Hope Rainbow will still be relevant in a few weeks!
Wanna try my Mario Maker levels?
Shoot m to BITS (hold Y) [hard] C109-0000-014D-4E09 P-POWER Switch Palace 3838-0000-0122-9359 Raiding the Serpents Tomb 1A04-0000-0098-C11E I like to move it, move it FCE2-0000-00D7-9048
Making a standard deck with Duels treasures right as Duels is removed from the game forever and thus becomes a meaningless word to new players. I love it.
+1
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GrobianWhat's on sale?Pliers!Registered Userregular
edited February 16
Old Whizbang was good to just do some quick quests as a mostly BG player. New Whizbang is a day 1 golden craft for me for the same reason.
Shoot m to BITS (hold Y) [hard] C109-0000-014D-4E09 P-POWER Switch Palace 3838-0000-0122-9359 Raiding the Serpents Tomb 1A04-0000-0098-C11E I like to move it, move it FCE2-0000-00D7-9048
The JudgeThe Terwilliger CurvesRegistered Userregular
The changes:
Patch 28.6.2, launching today, includes the following changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.
Dev Comment: We have two goals this patch. First, we want to weaken some of the meta outliers. Second, we want to experiment with smaller buffs across several cards that are rotating out of Standard soon—especially in classes that are currently weaker—to see if we can give them one last hurrah. Our hope is that players will try out and enjoy some of these strategies during these last few weeks before they go. This is an experiment, so we’ll be tracking player sentiment and play data to see if this works out.
The following cards were adjusted to be less powerful:
Chaos Creation
Old: Deal 6 damage. Summon a random 6-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 6 cards of your deck.
New: Deal 5 damage. Summon a random 5-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 5 cards of your deck.
Dev comment: When talking about our first goal, to curb power outliers, Warlock is the primary clear outlier across almost all ranks. The deck is strong at all phases of the game, so we’re toning down its mid-game and its late-game burst to bring it into line.
Shattered Reflections
Old: Choose a minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.
New: Choose a non-Titan minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.
Dev comment: Ramp-style Druid is not a power outlier at most levels of play, but it is becoming a prevalent power and sentiment outlier at high Legend ranks. Titans were designed to be unique, cards with powerful effects that you can activate maybe a few times per game, not 10 times. We still want the Titans to be those cool, stand-out powerful cards, so we’re removing them from the pool of cards Shattered Reflections can target.
Dev Comment: Demon Hunter has had its ups and downs. Now it’s in an interesting spot where it isn’t seeing much play or success at most levels of play, but is a consistent sentiment outlier for high-Legend players. Specifically, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that players don’t like that this one card can generate that much damage, that early in the game. We’re slowing the card down by a turn to make that burst damage slower and clunkier, and buffing other Demon Hunter archetypes in this patch for fans of the class throughout the ladder.
The cards above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.6.2.
The following cards were adjusted to be more powerful:
Deal with a Devil
Old: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon another.
New: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon two more.
Mark of Scorn
Old: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 3 damage to the lowest Health enemy.
New: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 4 damage to the lowest Health enemy.
Energy Shaper
Old: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (2) more. (They keep their original Cost.)
New: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (3) more. (They keep their original Cost.)
Sunken Sweeper (generated by Azsharan Sweeper)
Old: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand.
New: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand. They cost (1) less.
Mysterious Visitor
Old: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (2).
New: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (3).
Incriminating Psychic
Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy a random card from your opponent’s hand.
New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy two random cards from your opponent’s hand.
Pirate Admiral Hooktusk
Old: [8 Mana] 8/8. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 8 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!
New: [7 Mana] 7/7. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 7 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!
Quest Reward Pool Changes
Sturdy Shard has been removed from the Quest Reward Pool.
Double-Headed Reward has been banned from Jandice Barov.
Stable Amalgamation has been made more difficult to complete in Beast games.
Beyond the Mirage and Temporal Tampering have been made more difficult to complete in Elemental or Pirate games.
Quest Reward Changes Divine Armor
Old: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
New: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +8/+8 and Divine Shield.
Ritual Dagger
Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently.
New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +5/+5 permanently.
Mirror Shield
Old: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield.
New: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
Minion Pool Updates
Heedless Hoarder and Worgen Vigilante have been removed from the Minion Pool.
Felfin Navigator and Zapp Slywick have been returned to the Minion Pool.
Minion Updates Land Lubber
Old: [Tier 3]
New: [Tier 4]
Felboar
Old: 1/4. After you cast 3 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
New: 3/8. After you cast 2 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
Tavern Spell Updates Suspicious Stimulant
Old: [2 Gold] Freeze a minion in the Tavern. If it’s Frozen at the end of this turn, double its stats.
New: [3 Gold] Choose a minion in the Tavern. Lock it in your hand for one turn and double its stats.
Dev Comment: While moving a card up a Tavern Tier usually weakens it, in this case we see this change more as a buff. This is because Tier 4 Tavern Spells have more copies in the pool than other Tiers, and because the Spellcraft pool becomes a lot stronger at Tier 4 with the inclusion of Deep Blues.
Last pint: Turmoil CDA / Barley Brown's - Untappd: TheJudge_PDX
ani_game_bumOptimistic, Rule-Breaking Nice GuyThe Final World/DestinationRegistered Userregular
I was able to get into Standard Platinum last night and after a couple of hours and about a dozen matches later coasted into Diamond due to matching up versus nothing but bots running a basic neutral minion deck and no spells, IIRC.
I'll happily take the free pass to Diamond but it just felt weird and lifeless. It wasn't until I got to D9 that I actually played against a (presuming) live player.
The "good" bots will have normal-looking names and play decks in the current meta, instantly; discovers faster than any mortal could click, resolving card plays during animations, that sort of thing.
The gold farming bots have keysmash names and tend to run garbage common decks played very poorly.
+2
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
The "good" bots will have normal-looking names and play decks in the current meta, instantly; discovers faster than any mortal could click, resolving card plays during animations, that sort of thing.
The gold farming bots have keysmash names and tend to run garbage common decks played very poorly.
Blizzard bots also *immediately* concede on your next turn when lethal is on the board. They also all play identical decks, usually plague death knight.
Gold-farming bots could be any class, but they only play the basic and core cards. You will see core cards that are just completely out of place in the typical meta deck for a given class.
Once you play against a few of them, you begin to recognize the patterns.
I never seem to run into bots. Might be an MMR thing.
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Yeah, it could be. Usually when you haven't played for a while or tank your MMR trying something new, you'll start seeing bots. But I've been winning consistently and hitting Diamond 10, 5, and Legendary over the past 3 months. Currently Diamond 5. So I dunno why my MMR would be so far in the toilet that I'm only seeing bots.
That said, I started seeing a lot more real players this morning so maybe I'm out of whatever hole I threw myself in. lol
Posts
Big ban wave.
Apparently there was an exploit that allowed people to cheat cards that shouldn't be allowed into a Duels deck? Crazy.
Holy shit that's a lot of bots.
On a side note, someone please talk some sense into me and stop me from spending 4k dust to craft a stupid Elemental Shaman deck for Wild.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
THEY RISE
Place your bets.
How many ways are there to clone minions now that weren't available way back when? Two dozen?
So gold was surprisingly bot free, but at platinum I faced like 2/3rds bots today.
The bots may have been at gold, but you didn't recognize that they were bots.
Its live now
New keyword is Miniaturize - cards with this keyword add a 1/1 for 1 copy of themselves to your hand when played (the copy does not have miniaturize).
Zilliax Deluxe 3000 is this expansion's Gimmick Legendary like ETC or Renathal or so on. You pre-emptively decide what the card's stats and abilities are during deckbuilding by choosing two options from the list:
I suspect ZD3k will see more support this year and/or overtuning, because Core Zilliax saw very little play.
Edit: From that screenshot it looks like they finally made Elusive a keyword?
If he doesn't roar THIS AISLE BELONGS TO THE TITANS when you play him I will be sad.
Toy Captain being a buff and turning something I to a 1/1 is really clever design.
Hope Rainbow will still be relevant in a few weeks!
Shoot m to BITS (hold Y) [hard] C109-0000-014D-4E09
P-POWER Switch Palace 3838-0000-0122-9359
Raiding the Serpents Tomb 1A04-0000-0098-C11E
I like to move it, move it FCE2-0000-00D7-9048
See my profile here!
I don't even care if it works in the meta or not, it's just a great piece of design for this game.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
Shoot m to BITS (hold Y) [hard] C109-0000-014D-4E09
P-POWER Switch Palace 3838-0000-0122-9359
Raiding the Serpents Tomb 1A04-0000-0098-C11E
I like to move it, move it FCE2-0000-00D7-9048
See my profile here!
Patch 28.6.2, launching today, includes the following changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.
Dev Comment: We have two goals this patch. First, we want to weaken some of the meta outliers. Second, we want to experiment with smaller buffs across several cards that are rotating out of Standard soon—especially in classes that are currently weaker—to see if we can give them one last hurrah. Our hope is that players will try out and enjoy some of these strategies during these last few weeks before they go. This is an experiment, so we’ll be tracking player sentiment and play data to see if this works out.
The following cards were adjusted to be less powerful:
Sludge on Wheels
Old: 2/5
New: 2/4
Waste Remover
Old: 7/7
New: 5/7
Chaos Creation
Old: Deal 6 damage. Summon a random 6-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 6 cards of your deck.
New: Deal 5 damage. Summon a random 5-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 5 cards of your deck.
Dev comment: When talking about our first goal, to curb power outliers, Warlock is the primary clear outlier across almost all ranks. The deck is strong at all phases of the game, so we’re toning down its mid-game and its late-game burst to bring it into line.
Shattered Reflections
Old: Choose a minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.
New: Choose a non-Titan minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.
Dev comment: Ramp-style Druid is not a power outlier at most levels of play, but it is becoming a prevalent power and sentiment outlier at high Legend ranks. Titans were designed to be unique, cards with powerful effects that you can activate maybe a few times per game, not 10 times. We still want the Titans to be those cool, stand-out powerful cards, so we’re removing them from the pool of cards Shattered Reflections can target.
Blindeye Sharpshooter
Old: [3 Mana] 1/3
New: [4 Mana] 3/3
Dev Comment: Demon Hunter has had its ups and downs. Now it’s in an interesting spot where it isn’t seeing much play or success at most levels of play, but is a consistent sentiment outlier for high-Legend players. Specifically, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that players don’t like that this one card can generate that much damage, that early in the game. We’re slowing the card down by a turn to make that burst damage slower and clunkier, and buffing other Demon Hunter archetypes in this patch for fans of the class throughout the ladder.
The cards above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.6.2.
The following cards were adjusted to be more powerful:
Blightblood Berserker
Old: [8 Mana]
New: [7 Mana]
From De Other Side
Old: [10 Mana]
New: [9 Mana]
Harkener of Dread
Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a 6/6 Undead with Taunt.
New: Taunt, Reborn. Deathrattle: Summon a 4/4 Undead with Taunt.
Scourge Tamer
Old: [2 Mana] 2/2
New: [1 Mana] 1/2
Coilskar Commander
Old: 2/6
New: 3/7
Deal with a Devil
Old: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon another.
New: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon two more.
Topple the Idol
Old: [5 Mana]
New: [4 Mana]
Mark of Scorn
Old: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 3 damage to the lowest Health enemy.
New: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 4 damage to the lowest Health enemy.
Trench Surveyor
Old: [2 Mana] 3/2
New: [1 Mana] 2/1
Energy Shaper
Old: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (2) more. (They keep their original Cost.)
New: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (3) more. (They keep their original Cost.)
Sunken Sweeper (generated by Azsharan Sweeper)
Old: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand.
New: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand. They cost (1) less.
Mysterious Visitor
Old: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (2).
New: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (3).
Incriminating Psychic
Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy a random card from your opponent’s hand.
New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy two random cards from your opponent’s hand.
Pirate Admiral Hooktusk
Old: [8 Mana] 8/8. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 8 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!
New: [7 Mana] 7/7. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 7 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!
Demolition Renovator
Old: [4 Mana] 4/4
New: [3 Mana] 3/3
Battlegrounds Updates
Quest Reward Pool Changes
Sturdy Shard has been removed from the Quest Reward Pool.
Double-Headed Reward has been banned from Jandice Barov.
Stable Amalgamation has been made more difficult to complete in Beast games.
Beyond the Mirage and Temporal Tampering have been made more difficult to complete in Elemental or Pirate games.
Quest Reward Changes
Divine Armor
Old: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
New: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +8/+8 and Divine Shield.
Ritual Dagger
Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently.
New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +5/+5 permanently.
Mirror Shield
Old: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield.
New: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
Minion Pool Updates
Heedless Hoarder and Worgen Vigilante have been removed from the Minion Pool.
Felfin Navigator and Zapp Slywick have been returned to the Minion Pool.
Minion Updates
Land Lubber
Old: [Tier 3]
New: [Tier 4]
Moon-Bacon Jazzer
Old: [Tier 2] 2/3
New: [Tier 3] 2/5
Crackling Cyclone
Old: [Tier 3] 4/1
New: [Tier 2] 3/1
Wildfire Elemental
Old: [Tier 4] 7/4
New: [Tier 3] 6/3
Felboar
Old: 1/4. After you cast 3 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
New: 3/8. After you cast 2 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
Zapp Slywick
Old: 8/16
New: 11/22
Tavern Spell Updates
Suspicious Stimulant
Old: [2 Gold] Freeze a minion in the Tavern. If it’s Frozen at the end of this turn, double its stats.
New: [3 Gold] Choose a minion in the Tavern. Lock it in your hand for one turn and double its stats.
Fluidity
Old: [Tier 3]
New: [Tier 5]
Cloning Conch
Old: [5 Gold] Get a copy of a Murloc in your hand.
New: [4 Gold] Get a copy of a non-Golden Murloc in your hand.
Spitescale Special
Old: [Tier 3]
New: [Tier 4]
Dev Comment: While moving a card up a Tavern Tier usually weakens it, in this case we see this change more as a buff. This is because Tier 4 Tavern Spells have more copies in the pool than other Tiers, and because the Spellcraft pool becomes a lot stronger at Tier 4 with the inclusion of Deep Blues.
Okay yeah this set is going to be hilarious.
I'll happily take the free pass to Diamond but it just felt weird and lifeless. It wasn't until I got to D9 that I actually played against a (presuming) live player.
The "good" bots will have normal-looking names and play decks in the current meta, instantly; discovers faster than any mortal could click, resolving card plays during animations, that sort of thing.
The gold farming bots have keysmash names and tend to run garbage common decks played very poorly.
Blizzard bots also *immediately* concede on your next turn when lethal is on the board. They also all play identical decks, usually plague death knight.
Gold-farming bots could be any class, but they only play the basic and core cards. You will see core cards that are just completely out of place in the typical meta deck for a given class.
Once you play against a few of them, you begin to recognize the patterns.
That said, I started seeing a lot more real players this morning so maybe I'm out of whatever hole I threw myself in. lol