Leaks from Hearthstone’s card library official website reveal the much-awaited Theotar nerf. The community celebrates. Ice Revenant also hit.
The Hearthstone community leaves no stone unturned, and that's how they discovered Theotar's and Ice Revenant's leaked nerfs. One of the most controversial cards in the game will be nerfed again in the next expansion. How this leak happened and what other changes are coming to Hearthstone besides Theotar in this article.
Theotar nerf leaked on Hearthstone's official website
Yesterday Hearthstone card library went a bit crazy, with many cards showing versions different than the ones in-game. At first, it seemed like a glitch, but when people saw Theotar being nerfed they started praying for this to be a Hearthstone leak.
Was this actually an upcoming nerf to Theotar leaked by Hearthstone? The answer to this finally came for the community's joy. In a blog post, Hearthstone confirmed that the changes Theotar showed on the site were actual leaks of a future nerf coming with the 25.0 patch.
"We’re aware of an unexpected issue with the implementation of this feature that has caused some cards to show up with different stats than their in-game counterparts. The inaccuracies do not reflect planned changes to these cards, with the exception of Theotar, the Mad Duke, and Ice Revenant; those 2 changes will arrive with our 25.0 update."
While a bug was involved in the process and most of the information reflected at that time on the site was not accurate, one thing was, Theotar's nerf. Alongside it, Ice Revenant also suffered a preventive nerf considering the amount of Frost spells coming with the March of the Lich King expansion.
Old: 5 Mana 3/3
New: 6 Mana 4/4
Image via Blizzard
Old: Whenever you cast a Frost spell, gain +2/+2
New: Whenever you cast a Frost spell, gain +1/+1
Image via Blizzard
Dev comments on the upcoming Nerfs
Hearthstone devs commented on Theotar and Ice Revenant leaked nerfs and gave some insights on the thought process behind this decision.
"Knowing the importance of this new class release, our plan with Theotar was to test out a smaller nerf to the card (from 4 mana to 5 mana) before potentially moving to a larger nerf (6 mana 4/4) if necessary. Theotar’s play rate did not drop as far as we would have liked it to with the smaller nerf and is still much higher than we would like it to be leading into the March of the Lich King."
Hearthstone players were not convinced about the initial Theotar nerf, which is why this leak was so well received. The explanation the Devs gave was in line with their initial motives to nerf the card. Theotar creates a frustrating experience, and if that happens during an expansion release, the negative impact multiplies.
Regarding the Ice Revenant change, the explanation is simple. "Death Knight has access to multiple cheap Frost spells" which leads to the card being too powerful and game-ending when played on curve.
These nerfs should arrive sometime before December 6th, with the 25.0 Hearthstone patch. This update will introduce every March of the Lich King expansion card and additional content. Don't forget to check out our articles on this incredible expansion coming to Hearthstone.
That's all for now, but stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time, in the Tavern.