Legends:Patch/1.59.3

Released on September 29, 2016.

Letter From the Devs

We have a new patch coming this week, and we wanted to give you a heads up before the patch takes effect. This one contains some bug fixes and a few more card changes, and we'd like to take a second to explain which cards are changing and why.

We're constantly keeping an eye on the metagame, and as many of you know, we are willing to take advantage of the digital nature of the game, and change cards when we believe it will make the game healthier. Last month, we changed two cards – Soulrest Marshal and Murkwater Savage – because we felt the changes would improve the constructed metagame.

This time, we're rolling out some changes to improve the health of the Arena metagame, plus one additional change for constructed.

The Arena Changes

Generally speaking, we're fairly happy with Arena health, as all ten class options have reasonable winning percentages. Classes with Intelligence and Agility generally have the highest win rates, and classes with Strength generally have the lowest. We believe the quality of common cards is the biggest factor in these numbers, so we're doing a number of rarity swaps to help bring in those outer edges:

• From Common to Rare: Intimidate, Fiery Imp, Evermore Steward, Shrieking Harpy, Blacksap Protector
• From Rare to Common: Valenwood Huntsman, Fortress Watchman, Niben Bay Cutthroat, Farsight Nereid, Voracious Spriggan

We're also changing Shocking Wamasu so it can no longer deal its 4 damage to the opponent. We realize that this card is not played a lot in constructed play, but in Arena it's a dominant force, and we believe it will still be a good card in Arena. Just not quite as shockingly game-ending for Intelligence decks that already have access to an action (Lightning Bolt) that can go face for 4 damage.

The Constructed Change

The change we're making for constructed is to change Mantikora. Its power level is a little bit too high and, just as importantly, the experience of playing against is too brutal because there's no clear way to play around it. So the change we're making is to have its destruction ability only target creatures in its own lane. With this change, the card will still be strong (as it's intended to be!) in many situations, but it won't be the "cure all" tempo turn-around for certain situations, such as blocking out a 4/4 in one lane while destroying a 10/10 in the other lane. With this new text, opponents who suspect an incoming Mantikora can spread out their forces to avoid complete devastation, which is a play pattern that aligns with how one plays against two other powerful Willpower cards: Dawn's Wrath and Immolating Blast.

Note that we're still evaluating other aspects of constructed and more changes are likely coming, but we're taking more time to analyze those changes before rolling them out.

Patch Notes

Bugs Fixed

• End of Season – Problems with the end of season properly rolling over have been fixed
• Legend Matchmaking – Issues with Legend matchmaking have been addressed
• End of Game – Losing player's avatar properly "explodes" now
• Hanging Card – First card played will no longer hang in the air (this was happening on lower end / slower internet connections)
• Hist Grove – Now properly appears in play with its correct artwork
• Sell Back –Correct version of the card properly displays in the Sell Back window when eligible for Sell Back
• Goldbrand – Goldbrand will no longer appear in packs
• Social – Fixed bugs related to adding blocked users
• Cards in Hand – Scrubbing through cards in hand has been fixed
• Prophecy Cards -- Now properly play to playmat instead of moving back to the prophecy zone

Balance Changes

Card Changes

• Rarity Swaps
  • To Rare: Intimidate, Fiery Imp, Evermore Steward, Shrieking Harpy, Blacksap Protector
  • To Common: Valenwood Huntsman/Valenwood Trapper, Fortress Watchman, Niben Bay Cutthroat, Farsight Nereid, Voracious Spriggan
  • Reason: In order to continue improving the Arena experience, we are changing rarities on some low-rarity cards. The goal is greater class diversity in Arena, where Intelligence and Agility are currently overrepresented, and Strength is underrepresented.
• Shocking Wamasu: Now deals damage to enemy creatures only, instead of creatures or the enemy player.
  • Reason: This change is meant to reduce the incidence of Intelligence decks dealing large amounts of damage to the enemy player in one turn, and to increase the number of interactive games.
• Mantikora: Now kills an enemy creature in the same lane as Mantikora, instead of either lane.
  • Reason: Mantikora is one of the most dominant high-cost cards, and is capable of stabilizing the board even if the enemy spreads their forces out. This change is meant to increase counterplay against Mantikora, while making it less likely that a Mantikora can completely halt the enemy offense.