WOTLK Classic players have waited years for a new class to be added to the game, and with the latest expansion they finally received one: the Demon Hunter WOTLK Gold. But Demon Hunter can now claim another WOTLK Classic first: fastest nerfs. Blizzard announced balance changes to key Demon Hunter cards just a day after it launched.
In an update on the Blizzard forums, the company announced changes to four key Demon Hunter cards: Skull of Gul'dan, Imprisoned Antaen, Eye Beam, and Aldrachi Warblades. Each of the four, which have been common in aggressive Demon Hunter decks, had its Mana cost raised by 1. Blizzard also made some adjustments to Demon Hunters in the draft Arena mode. In addition, Blizzard took the rare step of making this a server-side hotfix in advance of a full balance patch.
Senior game designer explained some of the reasoning behind the quick fixes in a Twitter thread, explaining that Blizzard wants to keep Demon Hunter from feeling "like it's good at everything." To that end, he said fans should expect "a lot of balance iteration over the next few weeks" while Blizzard gets Demon Hunter to where it should be.
As for Demon Hunter class balance, we'd like to keep the class-defining pieces more powerful while pulling back on the cards that make DH feel like it's good at everything. Demon Hunter appeared to be an aggressive class from the start, being the first with a 1-Mana hero power and having a lot of buy WOTLK Classic Gold cards that feed an aggressive attack style. The nerfs impact the class' ability to easily draw cards, board clear, and flood the board with minions quickly.