Blizzard has announced that it will be removing 45 cards from Hearthstone’s Arena mode in an upcoming patch to resolve balancing issues.
Most of the feedback Blizzard has received reveals that the Mage and Rouge class are the most powerful and popular in Arena, according to game designer, Ayala Dean. Paladin sits at the next tier, while the six other classes shift among each other below these three.
“So what are some ways we can address Arena balance? Tools that we have available immediately involve removing cards from Arena completely—C’Thun-synergy cards and Purify are examples of this,” Ayala said.
The following is a list of cards that will be removed from Arena in an upcoming patch:
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
After the first wave of card bans come out, Blizzard intends to look for additional ways to balance Arena. One of the ways they’d like to avoid is removing powerful spell cards to prevent the loss of Arena’s “unpredictably”.