Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months, you will be aware that Hearthstone closed beta is in full swing. Tomorrow morning will see the first major patch update which includes a full account wipe along with a bunch of other class balances & UI changes. I was lucky enough to pick up a beta key in the early stages so I will be posting more blogs later in the week with my experience so far, deck building guides & the new meta entering this patch. But for now we will focus on this patch.

First off I got Masters! Oh wait.... that's going to be gone tomorrow! Moving along... I am going to highlight what I feel are the main changes in this patch, if we covered everything we would be here for a long time.

Account Wipe

So this is no surprise, Blizzard announced at the start of Beta that this would be happening at some point. In basic terms everything is going, its a full account wipe: current gold, cards, rank & decks are all going. Its going to be like playing Hearthstone for the first time for existing beta testers. If anyone seriously has an issue with this they should have their beta access taken off them! Blizzard have said that all real money you spent in Hearthstone will be reimbursed as gold, here is the official comment:

"Tim bought the $2.99 bundle for 2 packs during the beta. After the wipe, he will receive 200 gold (100 gold per pack x 2 packs.) Janet bought the $49.99 bundle for 40 packs during the beta. She also bought 3 Arena entries. Janet will receive 4450 gold (100 gold x 40 packs + 150 gold X 3 Arena runs) after the wipe has been completed."

Rewards for winning games have been massively boosted: you will now earn 10 gold per 3 wins, that's increased from 5 gold per 5 wins. So you're going to be able to buy packs quicker than before, 30 wins will enable you to buy a pack. Packs cost 100 gold from the store currently.

Arena

Couple of area changes. First off 9 arena wins will now guarantee you an extra pack or a Golden card. This is a pretty decent change as the pay off for winning 9 areas in the past did not feel that great. For players that get 5 & 6 wins more gold is now guaranteed. In area you pay real money (around £1.49 in British pounds), for this you get a random selection of 3 heroes to pick, then a pool of random cards to pick. Once you have built your deck you then have 3 lifes where you can win up to 9 times the more wins the better the prizes.

Card Changes

Twilight Drake - "Twilight Drake is now a 4/1 with ‘Battlecry: Gain +1 Health for each card in your hand."

This is a pretty big change to Twilight Drake. Before the patch when you played it you would get +1 Attach +1 Health for each card in your hand, this was a card which I saw in many decks that focused on card draws. The card is still strong as it still benefits from that huge HP boost.

Pint-sized Summoner – "The cost reduction has been reduced from 2 to 1."

This card still costs 2 mana to cast however it will only reduce the cost of the first minion played at the start of your turn by 1 now. The card itself is a 2/2 but tends to be killed pretty quickly by players as its seen as a high threat. Still viable.

Dalaran Mage - This will take the card to a 1/4, this is not a massive issue. As the card is used as a spell power steroid. This is also seen as a high threat card, with the attack reduced to 1 its going to be more attractive to kill.

Mages

Frostbolt costs 2 Mana (down from 3).
Considering the combo that you can achieved with Ice Shard that would be a total of 7 damage for 3 mana. You can carry 2 x Frostbolt and 2 x Ice Lance in ranked play. OP!!!!

Mirror Image now creates 0/2 minions.
Another buff! 1 Mana to cast for 2 0/2 Taunts! OP

Priest

Northshire Cleric - Now costs 1 (down from 2).
Prophet Velen – Now also doubles the damage and healing of your Hero Power.
Fade - Has been replaced with a new card:
Shadow Word: Death – (3) Destroy a minion with an Attack of 5 or more.
Cabal Shadow Priest – Now a 4/5 (up from 3/4).
Power Word: Shield – Give a minion +2 Health. Draw a card.
Holy Fire – (6) Deal 5 damage. Restore 5 Health to your hero.
Lightspwan - Has 1 more Health.

Lots of changes to Priests. In the beta so far they have been generally known as the weakest class due to its high risk play and reliability on combos. Maybe that will change...

Rogue

Backstab – new text: deal 2 damage to an undamaged minion.
Preparation – now reduces next spell cost by 3 (up from 2).
Shiv - costs 2 Mana (up from 1).

Defias Ringleader - has 1 less Health.
The main card that made rogues so OP early game. It costs 2 mana still & will still summon a 2/1 bandit however the HP has been reduced on the ringleader by 1. It does not seem like a massive change but it should make the card easier to deal with now early game

Headcrack costs 3 Mana (up from 2).
The card if used as part of a combo would return to a player's hand to be used again & again. This ability has not been changed but with the Mana increase has so this will hopefully tone down mid game damage

Hero Power – No longer has the ability to buff a currently equipped weapon.
Huge change here. Before if you had a weapon card equipped, you could use your hero power to buff the weapon damage by up to 2+.

Edwin VanCleef is now a 2/2, but no longer has Stealth.
"The card is still viable. With the increase mana cost to rogue abilitys & the fact it no longer has stealth will make it less of a threat & easier to deal with"

Druid

Wrath - can no longer be cast on heroes.
Cenarius - costs 9 (up from 8).
Starfall - can now only hit minions.
Ancient of Lore's - Healing option now only restores 5 Health. (down from 8)
Savagery - costs 1 (down from 3), and must target a single minion.

Druid is my main class in constructive deck play (ranked). Happy with the over all changes, Savagery might even be a little OP now. Shhhh

Hunter

Hunter's Mark – No longer a 1-turn only effect.
Scavenging Hyena – Now only eats your own Beasts.

Warrior

Cruel Taskmaster - Has 1 more Health.
Inner Rage’s - +2 Attack effect no longer goes away at the end of the turn.
Battle Rage - costs 3 (up from 2), and also counts damaged heroes.
Frothing Berserker - has 1 more Attack.
Commanding Shout - now costs 2 (up from 1) and also draws you a card.

Shaman

Hex's Frog - Is now a Beast.
Healing Totem - No longer heals heroes.

Warlock

Sacrificial Pact - costs 0 (down from 2).
Pit Lord - Now a 5/6 with ‘Battlecry: Deal 5 damage to your hero’.

All in all I am pretty happy with the changes in the first major patch! I cant wait to jump back in & rank back up. Watch this space for upcoming Hearthstone posts. My next blogs we will discuss the current meta, deck building & the new crafting system. I shall be streaming over at twitch starting from 17:00GMT 03/10 be sure to drop by and check out the changes or follow me on twitter @OfficalNebe. Whats your thoughts on the changes?

For the full patch notes please check out http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/11144301

Nebe x

Twitter - @NebeOffical
Twitch.tv/face2game