Yesterday, we had a very interesting Twitter exchange between Hearthstone caster Sottle (you can see/hear him commentating European Grandmasters) and Senior Game Designer Iksar. They were talking about Combo Priest, which is one of the hottest topics of the last weeks. Given the deck’s popularity (especially in competitive scene, such as Grandmasters) and the fact that it’s super swingy/snowbally and (for many players) not fun to play against, many players were calling for the nerf of Divine Spirit + Inner Fire combo. Others have defended it as the only viable option for Priest in the current meta.
This specific discussion, however, has lead to a very interesting statement. Apparently, Blizzard has some plans to remove Divine Spirit, a vital part of the combo. However, if you’re expecting them to come out with a patch soon, you might be disappointed. Iksar is mostly talking about the usual, yearly Hall of Fame rotation, which would happen in April 2020. This way they would have a meaningful way to navigate Priest class in the right direction with new year synergies, because removing it currently would pretty much kill it.
Of course, this is not a binding promise, but to be honest, I would be really surprised if they didn’t do anything about the Priest’s infamous combo eventually. Given the entire conversation (be sure to read it by clicking on the “Source” below), it sounds like that there are no plans to nerf the combo currently – Iksar quotes that Combo Priest is only 8th strongest deck at Ranks 5 and above. Of course, ladder data from the deck does not always directly represent the deck’s true strength (older players surely remember Grim Patron Warrior, which reported a relatively mediocre win rates on ladder, but was abused by the best players). Given the deck’s tournament results, it seems to be stronger than 8th in the right hands.
Also, the thing is that decks often aren’t nerfed purely based on their strength – if something is particularly unfun to play against, uninteractive etc. it might also get hit. That’s why, like I’ve mentioned already, I would be really surprised if the deck wouldn’t get hit in one way or the other. Maybe they’re planning to change another card outside of the combo (such as High Priest Amet or Northshire Cleric)? Or maybe the goal is to release some counter tools in the next expansion instead of nerfing anything? Given that there’s only just a bit over a month until next set’s announcement on BlizzCon, we might learn pretty soon!
We have some plans to remove DS, but it comes with some other sweeping changes. If we end up doing that (a big maybe) it will probably be around set rotation timeline because we don’t feel like it’s as much an issue for current Hearthstone as it is for future Hearthstone.
