We had a hunch that the big Hearthstone (Free) patch that will change the game quite a bit would hit today, and we were right. Even though it will take a bit for it to hit mobile, it’s definitely on the way. What does the patch bring? Well, a ton of huge changes that should rejuvenate the game. The first is the addition of floors in Ranked; you won’t be able to drop below certain ranks – 20, 15, 10, 5, and Legend – once you hit them. That should help the Ladder feel more fun and the level of challenge more appropriate for the rank, especially after the first week or so of the season. The other big change is the Arena shift from Wild to Standard and the change in card frequency; expect to see more rare, epics, and legendaries as well as more spells and fewer neutral basic/classic cards.

The other huge change is the two nerfs that should hopefully reduce the power of Pirates and Shaman. The first is Small-time Buccaneer’s health going from 2 down to 1 and the other is Spirit Claws’ cost going from 1 to 2. There are also many other improvements, like better matchmaking for newer players, memory optimizations, and a ton of bug fixes. You can see all the changes here, and hopefully they will make the game more fun to play.