Hearthstone Update Will Remove a Bunch of Cards From Arena Mode

Some significant changes are coming to Hearthstone's Arena mode, beginning with the removal of several dozen cards.

In a blog post that deems Arena "a fun environment that could use some overall balance tuning," game designer Dean Ayala explained what Blizzard sees as its problems and how it intends to begin resolving them.

"One goal we have for Arena is that we want it to feel meaningfully different from any other way you might play Hearthstone," he said. "I think we're hitting that goal now, but it's important for us to keep that in mind when thinking about future changes. Variety among all game modes is important to us, but an equally important goal is to have a wide range of experiences within each game mode. This is an area where we feel Arena has some room for improvement."

When starting out an Arena run, Blizzard doesn't want you to pick your class based on what's considered to be the most powerful one. Ayala admits Mage and Rogue have been among the most powerful, followed by Paladin, and then everything else in some order.

"So what are some ways we can address Arena balance?" Ayala continued. "Tools that we have available immediately involve removing cards from Arena completely--C'Thun-synergy cards and Purify are examples of this. We'd like to avoid removing strong spells and weapons from the Arena, because they add to a lot of the unpredictability and excitement surrounding the possibilities outside the current board state.

"We'd also like to avoid removing iconic cards, since they are generally versatile and familiar tools to veteran and new Arena players alike. Additionally, we can remove lower-performing cards in order to make room for a class's more commonly utilized cards to show up more often in your Arena draft."

This is the thought process Blizzard is bringing to the game with an upcoming patch, which will remove cards belonging to eight of the game's nine classes (Paladin being the exception). You can find those at the bottom of this post; they include Priest's Mind Blast, Hunter's Starving Buzzard, and Mage's Forgotten Torch.

Blizzard has further plans to continue improving Arena, but it doesn't sound like those are coming just yet.

"We're looking to develop additional solutions to balance Arena as well, such as the ability to adjust the rate that individual cards show up in your draft depending on a designer input value," Ayala said. "If we pursue that route, there is still the matter of deciding on the best way to go about using that tool to achieve balance for each of the nine classes and still have Arena feel fun and different each run.

"Drafting by card rarity is another discussion that we've been hearing a lot. If it's a matter of balance, we're fairly confident the ability to adjust the 'weights' of cards available can solve that."

Ayala said Blizzard will keep an eye on the changes it's making in this update and wants fans to share their feedback with the company.

The cards being removed from Arena follow below.

Mage

• Forgotten Torch
• Snowchugger
• Faceless Summoner

Rogue

• Goblin Auto Barber
• Undercity Valiant

Paladin

• No changes

Shaman

• Vitality Totem
• Dust Devil
• Totemic Might
• Ancestral Healing
• Dunemaul Shaman
• Windspeaker

Warlock

• Anima Golem
• Sacrificial Pact
• Curse of Rafaam
• Sense Demons
• Void Crusher
• Reliquary Seeker
• Succubus

Druid

• Savagery
• Poison Seeds
• Soul of the Forest
• Mark of Nature
• Tree of Life
• Astral Communion

Warrior

• Warsong Commander
• Bolster
• Charge
• Bouncing Blade
• Axe Flinger
• Rampage
• Ogre Warmaul

Hunter

• Starving Buzzard
• Call Pet
• Timber Wolf
• Cobra Shot
• Lock and Load
• Dart Trap
• Snipe

Priest

• Mind Blast
• Shadowbomber
• Lightwell
• Power Word: Glory
• Confuse
• Convert
• Inner Fire