Warrior deck was Youthful Brewmaster for 9 games before swapping to Baleful Banker for the last 4. Not much difference there. The Rogue deck swapped one Hench-Clan Thug for Zilliax, but I didn't actually play more than one game with the change before moving to Warrior.
I added the decks/codes to my original post.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
How has the unseen saboteur been working out for you?
Not bad. In my Warrior mirrors, I've pulled out Brawl on an empty board, Shield Slammed his minion, and War Cried. Pretty good value. Against some Rogues, I've Sapped myself (turned out to be ok) and Shadowstepped a Hench-Clan Thug.
So it can be hit or miss, but usually not a bad thing. Better when they have less cards and you know they are hording something like removal or burst damage.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Q: You haven’t printed a Charge card for a long time. Instead, we’ve seen many Rush cards. What are your general opinions on the Charge mechanic? For Charge cards like Stonetusk Boar and Leeroy, is it possible that they would be put in the Hall of Fame?
Iksar: Is it possible? Yea sure! (everyone laughs for a while) For Stonetusk Boar, it’s funny because so many designs are like “Ooh this design is sooo cool.. Ahhh Stonetusk Boar. We can’t do it now.” Part of it is ok, we need designs that are interesting and every card that we print limits design in some ways.
Iksar: A card like Leeroy feels core to Warcraft fantasy, so it would pain us a little bit to ever rotate it. I think Stonetusk Boar may be at a higher risk, since it’s a little less important fantasy-wise. It’s just a pig (laughter). We can potentially do it, it hasn’t felt very limiting recently.
Iksar: The decks that we’ve seen recently with Stonetusk Boar like APM Priest are actually pretty cool! Even though that was an OTK deck, the skill required to play that deck was so high, and it was actually only played by a very small % of the population. Even Stonetusk Boar can create games that are pretty fun I think. It’s not something that’s very, very high on our list, but we’re not making a ton of Charge cards on purpose, since they lead to a lot of negative experiences.
Malygos
Q: Another card that comes to mind is Malygos. During reveal season, a popular Chinese meme was about how the cards seemed to be in two opposing camps: “Let’s send Malygos to HOF” ( Muckmorpher, Jepetto) and “Let’s protect Malygos” (Unseen Saboteur, Hecklebot). What are your general thoughts on these combo decks and archetypes?
Iksar: The general thought process behind rotating cards to Wild is: If this card were in Wild, is Standard more fun? We had this conversation about Auctioneer and Malygos. Is it limiting design-wise. Yeah! Are some of the decks OTK decks? Yes. Is the game more fun if Malygos was not in Standard? I think the answer to that so far has been no. Those decks haven’t been such a huge problem for us that we feel like we can’t design cards for the most powerful decks in the meta.
Iksar: For players that enjoy that kind of playstyle, it’s been fun for them! It hasn’t been too limiting for us, so it’s the reason why they stuck around. It’s still something we talk about all the time, it’s a very fine line and any moment we could feel like it’s too much.For now, we feel like the game is more fun with them.
Arena
Q: We’ve just had a fairly major reform of the arena. I remember one of your goals was to attract more players to play Arena. I was wondering how it’s been going for the first week, and whether you were happy with the trend.
Iksar: Personally I’ve been travelling since the set release and haven’t had a chance to sit down. I’ll definitely look at it when I get back. The reception, for the most part, has been pretty positive. There’s some stuff about balance specifically raised on reddit that’s either already addressed, or will be in the next couple of days. It takes a while when we do a complete format switch to get everything right immediately. I think we went in together with the community with the expectation that “Hey we’re going to change a lot and then we’re going to do some quick adjustments for balance”.
Q: As someone who works on both Constructed and Arena balance, do you feel like it’s different working on the two modes?
Iksar: There are a lot of differences. For Constructed it’s working on card design, what’s fun and what’s not, there are tons of challenges there. For Arena, we’re not designing new cards, the challenge there is with the pool that’s available, how do we make the classes to be equal power level? How do we make them feel like they have synergies to draft that are fun? What’s the format of drafting? It’s more about the system, and how we make Arena more fun.
I think Constructed is already pretty fun as a system, we just have to make the right cards. Whereas Arena, there’s more things we are willing to change because we’re trying to make that mode as fun as it can be.
Wild
Q: Currently the four Defender of Dalaran classes are the least represented classes in Wild. Is this by design or is it a coincidence? (laughter all round)
Thompson: From a lore perspective, the classes that are labelled EVIL are very much evil, we look at Warlock, Shadow Priest represented by Madame Lazul…. [rambles on]
Iksar: The short answer is, it’s a coincidence. There are no long term plan to make them bad, it’s a coincidence (everyone laughs).
Q: Do you have any plans to support Wild even more?
Iksar: There are two parts to this as well I think. I think when people are talking about Wild, one of the questions is: How can we make Wild and Wild cards cool? That means using them in the Wild format, maybe it means Special Tavern Brawls or using them in the Arena. Being able to use my cards from the past in these ways is certainly something we’ll do in the future.
Iksar: The other thing I hear a lot about is: Because Wild doesn’t have as many balance changes, does that mean we care less about the format or we’re paying less attention to it? I think that goes with Wild being, to some degree, a place where you can all the stuff that you’ve enjoyed from the past. Forever!
It’s kind of the identity of the mode, you can do crazy stuff, you can use the new expansions with your old cards, and there’s some safety that comes that. There’s going to be all these broken decks and you can play them against one another. To some degree that’s why we don’t make as many changes; we want that format to stay true to that.
Iksar: There are violators of that sometimes, that’s just not really fun for anybody. Like Naga Sea Witch, for instance. We thought that wasn’t really fun for anybody, so there’ll be circumstances like that where we’ll make changes. But for the most part, we try to stay respectful to the things people like doing for a very long time.
Q: Speaking of Naga Sea Witch: recently the Wild community has come up with a new combo that they think is reminiscent of Naga Sea Witch - Darkest Hour Warlock. Is it something that you think will be looked at, like Naga Sea Witch?
Iksar: I know about the deck. I’ve seen people talk about it, people have messaged me about it. Conceptually when you think about it, the combo is you must have exactly these 4 cards on the early turns and it’s a super powerful thing that everyone is doing all the time.... It’s very inconsistent, right? That said, when the combo goes off, can you deal with four giant minions on turn 2? Probably not.
Iksar: It’s one of those things that just comes down to - is it consistent enough where that leads to an unfun experience for us to change something. Like I said, we try to stay respectful of these cards that you can use for a very long time. We kind of committed to saying “If you like Bloodbloom, you should be able to play Bloodbloom as it exists forever.” There is a line, but there’s no hard rule that says if something is played “X” amount of times, we will change it, but we’re just constantly evaluating data and perception and try to make the right decision.
Solo Adventure
Q: The single-player content has been free for a few sets but for this set, we need to spend gold or cash on it again. Is this a one-off “call-back” to the old adventure model, or will this be coming back as a regular thing?
Thompson: We feel that the cost associated with the single-player for Rise of Shadows is consistent with the amount of content behind it. In reality, there’s more content behind the single-player mode than there’s ever been (Interviewer was at the summit and says he agrees).
If you look at just the free portion, that content comes with not just a new Hero skin, 3 new Hero Powers and 4 new decks, one of which is random and has a lot of fun stuff when it goes off. That alone constitutes gameplay that you can go back and have a different experience every time.
Thompson: We feel like if you really love that content, and find it to be something you want to spend more time with, then there are other chapters that you can end up purchasing for gold or cash. That’s a choice you get to make as a player. If you don’t, it’s not inherently required for you as a player to engage it. If you want to go back to ladder, that’s totally fine as well.
Q: Have you considered putting more rewards behind the single-player content? Or maybe achievements? While it’s fun, we worry that there’s not much motivation to play them again after a period of time. To be honest, I think the single-player content is great and can be a stand-alone game by itself. Have you considered trying to push it to become as popular as ladder or arena?
Thompson: The single-player content is inherently interesting to another type of player. There’s a lot there for the regular Hearthstone player who just enjoys trying new things with Hero Powers that are both familiar and new at the same time.
The new mode, though, has a lot of repeat play possible with all of the different decks and Hero Powers and also the different type of tracking inherently available too. There are many different ways you can track for winning this chapter, with this hero, with this Hero Power, with this deck - there are a lot of checkboxes for players to explore.
Thompson: There are players across the globe who are veryinterested in collecting all the checkmarks, experimenting with different decks; there’s a lot of repeat play that’s possible for players of all types.
Priest
Q: At the moment, it seems like Priest are stuck with the resurrection archetype. Will you be giving us new ways to play Priest?
Iksar: Sure, we’ve given Priest many archetypes in the past; Dragon Priest was one of the most popular things ever for Priest.
I think resurrection is one of those things that are really core to Warcraft Priest fantasy. It’s something that we’ll go back to from time to time, but not something we’ll do every set. I’m sure Dragon Priest will eventually come back, as will Priests that copies a bunch of cards, or steal cards from your opponents.
We try to choose whichever ones makes sense for the flavour of the set, and also just presents different gameplay. Resurrection is cool, we’ll come back to it, but certainly not every set.
Achievements
Q: You talked about check-boxes earlier. In that vein, would you consider adding more achievements to the game, such as for instance how many times you used a certain card, or how much Health you’ve restored? At the moment, it’s mostly just how many wins we have with each class.
Thompson: I think an achievement system that is valuable to a game is one which helps you become or reinforces you being a good player. The achievements that help you to do things like, how many murlocs can you put on the board, or how many times you can do X, means that the player across from you is often times playing a different game.
Thompson: That makes for sometimes a less interesting game for both players if each player has a different set of goals, other than taking the opponent down to 0 Health before you do. That’s the goal of Hearthstone. If the goal of the other player is to meet their achievement, they’re changing the way I as a competitor interact, and it changes the game of Hearthstone. That’s why we’re being careful when it comes to implementing achievements for that.
Iksar: The goal of achievements really is: Can we show meaningful progression? Are the things that you’re doing being tracked, and does it feel like you’re progressing towards something when playing Hearthstone?
I think quests are very good short-term progression. Golden heroes are really good long-term progression. We know that we can certainly do better in the in-between portion; how do we make the games feel like you’re progressing, whether you win or lose?
I don’t have anything to announce today, but if the goal of achievements is to feel like you’re always progressing towards something when playing Hearthstone, that’s definitely something we want to achieve.
[Iksar had a similar and more detailed answer for achievements in the Year of the Dragon AMA, where he lists a few options and states one will likely be released]
Archmage Vargoth
Q: Was Archmage Vargoth designed specifically to be given out as a free card? Or did you pick him to be the one later in the process? Why did you choose Archmage Vargoth to be the free card to be given out early this set?
Iksar: First, we think giving out a free card early is pretty cool, when the one card this set is played alongside the older cards in Standard. Everyone wants to experiment with this one card, it’s kind of fun to watch streamers trying to figure out how to utilise this specific card. We think it creates a fun experience for a short amount of time.
Iksar: Did we design this card specifically that’s cool for that? No. We design the 135-card set to be the most interesting they can be hopefully for the two years they are in Standard. Luckily for us, there’s almost always a card that’s a really cool character that would also be interesting in that 1-2 week period, so we were able to choose one of the cards that fits for that.
Communication
Q: I would like to ask something about communication. I find this particularly relevant with the two of you since Iksar is one of, if not the most active dev communicating online; Also Ben, you mentioned specifically that you guys would like to communicate more with the community in the reddit AMA and at the summit.
How is it going so far? Dean, is it taking up a lot of your time? Is it difficult? Is it exciting? Is it depressing sometimes? Tell us about the stories (everyone laughs)
Thompson: I think there are different ways we can communicate. Not all of those are individual tweets, or chatting in a reddit AMA. I think the reddit AMA was a good example of a first step, and there are going to be more of them going forward.
We’ve even taken to scheduling: we have a schedule we’re looking at where sessions will be very focused, with a specific purpose behind them that talk about things we want to dig into deeper with the community.
Thompson: The other thing to consider is the timing in an average Hearthstone release. There are about 3.5-4 months between each release. That’s going to change a little with the staggered single player but the fact remains that there’s a lot of talking up-front when a set’s about to be released, and right after a set is released. There’s already a lot of communication during that time, and players feel that “well, you’re talking to us right now since there’s a lot to talk about.”
So what I would say to those players is: Give us a chance in the 2nd and 3rd month, when the content’s been out for a while and there’s every excuse and reason to not talk as much since there’s less to talk about. Let’s see what we’re saying, and how often we’re talking then. It’s very much a goal for us to be in communication on a regular cadence over the course of the 4 months, and not just at the beginning.
Iksar: So what is it like doing it? (laughs) What is it like…..? (everyone laughs) I think the honest answer is that you have to want to do it. There’s no one forcing anybody on the Hearthstone team like “Hey I know you don’t want to be out there, but I need you from 8-9 POSTING ON REDDIT!” (laughs) That’s not happening, it comes from a desire of “I want to do this thing”.
It’s certainly challenging, since I’m not only representing myself, I’m representing a team of people I respect, a game I care about. That part is really important: It’s about conveying the right message and also what the teams believes in. It can be nerve-wrecking for sure. So that’s like Part 1, of a 5-part answer… (everyone laughs)
Iksar: Why do I do it? I think for me personally, interacting with the community, reading blog posts about game design was the reason I became a game designer in the first place. (Jeff) Kaplan works on Overwatch now; in the time he worked on WoW, reading what he wrote about design there was why I became a designer.
I remember reading all that stuff and thought “One day, I’m going to be a game designer too, and I’m just going to do that! And it’s going to be really important, because there will be people like me reading about Hearthstone, and maybe game design will pique their interest.”
Q: Compared to the West, Chinese players feel like it’s much tougher to communicate with you guys since there are no direct channels to do so. Have you considered communicating via channels where Chinese players can access more easily, such as Chinese social media or forums?
Thompson: It’s definitely something we’re aware of, to the point of us talking about how to separate each individual region for AMAs, rather than starting from a Western stance. Specifically keep your eyes out in May, that’s when we’re planning the AMA that will be focused on China. We’ll have more details soon.
Iksar: In part, that’s why we’re here now. The language barrier makes it more difficult to understand what’s going on in this region. I’m in my hotel and I can’t browse reddit or twitter! What does the community think here, compared to what’s going on in the West? We lean a little on our Chinese team to tell us what’s going on, but it’s harder to be plugged in when the language barrier exists.
Q: Dean - If you didn’t know, a lot of the Chinese players are jokingly talking about you as the “new Lich King” (everyone laughs). By that I mean, in Warcraft, there must always be a Lich King, and the same goes for communication, where someone must be the bearer of the messages to the community. Previously we had Brode chatting with us about Warsong Commander, and Purify, and now it’s usually Dean. Any final words for your fans in China?
Iksar: Are they really my fans…? (everyone laughs) It’s important to have the communication; there’s always going to be times where we disagree with each other to some degree. One of the blessings or curses about game design is that there’s a super wide range of audience. It’s our responsibility as devs to try create games and cards that appeal to hyper-competitive players, but also players just starting out.
Iksar: It’s hard to tell people that a decision that doesn’t work for them is maybe the right decision. Of course we don’t always make the right decision; for China and the east it’s even harder to communicate exactly why we’re doing something due to translations. Maybe something I say doesn’t come off the way it was intended.
It’s important for us to at least educate the reasons why we do things, so we can get feedback. It’s not very helpful for us to see a picture of a meme (laughs). What does it mean?! What is wrong? So I would just say keep saying the things that you want to be communicated to us.
It’s not something that’s very, very high on our list, but we’re not making a ton of Charge cards on purpose, since they lead to a lot of negative experiences.
Told ya. I see the point with Leeroy, from a brand perspective, rotating it is bad (it and 50 DKP minus are the oldest, most recognizable WoW memes) and Leeroy is not THAT big of a deal.
I guess the big question is, does Time Warp trigger "end of turn" effects.
I can't recall if it does or not....
If it doesn't, then Vargoth doesn't trigger until AFTER your "2nd" turn, and gives you a third?
That is, if you don't cast any spells that 2nd turn that would throw him off.
Witty signature comment goes here...
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The JudgeThe Terwilliger CurvesRegistered Userregular
Q: You haven’t printed a Charge card for a long time. Instead, we’ve seen many Rush cards. What are your general opinions on the Charge mechanic? For Charge cards like Stonetusk Boar and Leeroy, is it possible that they would be put in the Hall of Fame?
Iksar: Is it possible? Yea sure! (everyone laughs for a while) For Stonetusk Boar, it’s funny because so many designs are like “Ooh this design is sooo cool.. Ahhh Stonetusk Boar. We can’t do it now.” Part of it is ok, we need designs that are interesting and every card that we print limits design in some ways.
Iksar: A card like Leeroy feels core to Warcraft fantasy, so it would pain us a little bit to ever rotate it. I think Stonetusk Boar may be at a higher risk, since it’s a little less important fantasy-wise. It’s just a pig (laughter). We can potentially do it, it hasn’t felt very limiting recently.
Iksar: The decks that we’ve seen recently with Stonetusk Boar like APM Priest are actually pretty cool! Even though that was an OTK deck, the skill required to play that deck was so high, and it was actually only played by a very small % of the population. Even Stonetusk Boar can create games that are pretty fun I think. It’s not something that’s very, very high on our list, but we’re not making a ton of Charge cards on purpose, since they lead to a lot of negative experiences.
Malygos
Q: Another card that comes to mind is Malygos. During reveal season, a popular Chinese meme was about how the cards seemed to be in two opposing camps: “Let’s send Malygos to HOF” ( Muckmorpher, Jepetto) and “Let’s protect Malygos” (Unseen Saboteur, Hecklebot). What are your general thoughts on these combo decks and archetypes?
Iksar: The general thought process behind rotating cards to Wild is: If this card were in Wild, is Standard more fun? We had this conversation about Auctioneer and Malygos. Is it limiting design-wise. Yeah! Are some of the decks OTK decks? Yes. Is the game more fun if Malygos was not in Standard? I think the answer to that so far has been no. Those decks haven’t been such a huge problem for us that we feel like we can’t design cards for the most powerful decks in the meta.
Iksar: For players that enjoy that kind of playstyle, it’s been fun for them! It hasn’t been too limiting for us, so it’s the reason why they stuck around. It’s still something we talk about all the time, it’s a very fine line and any moment we could feel like it’s too much.For now, we feel like the game is more fun with them.
Arena
Q: We’ve just had a fairly major reform of the arena. I remember one of your goals was to attract more players to play Arena. I was wondering how it’s been going for the first week, and whether you were happy with the trend.
Iksar: Personally I’ve been travelling since the set release and haven’t had a chance to sit down. I’ll definitely look at it when I get back. The reception, for the most part, has been pretty positive. There’s some stuff about balance specifically raised on reddit that’s either already addressed, or will be in the next couple of days. It takes a while when we do a complete format switch to get everything right immediately. I think we went in together with the community with the expectation that “Hey we’re going to change a lot and then we’re going to do some quick adjustments for balance”.
Q: As someone who works on both Constructed and Arena balance, do you feel like it’s different working on the two modes?
Iksar: There are a lot of differences. For Constructed it’s working on card design, what’s fun and what’s not, there are tons of challenges there. For Arena, we’re not designing new cards, the challenge there is with the pool that’s available, how do we make the classes to be equal power level? How do we make them feel like they have synergies to draft that are fun? What’s the format of drafting? It’s more about the system, and how we make Arena more fun.
I think Constructed is already pretty fun as a system, we just have to make the right cards. Whereas Arena, there’s more things we are willing to change because we’re trying to make that mode as fun as it can be.
Wild
Q: Currently the four Defender of Dalaran classes are the least represented classes in Wild. Is this by design or is it a coincidence? (laughter all round)
Thompson: From a lore perspective, the classes that are labelled EVIL are very much evil, we look at Warlock, Shadow Priest represented by Madame Lazul…. [rambles on]
Iksar: The short answer is, it’s a coincidence. There are no long term plan to make them bad, it’s a coincidence (everyone laughs).
Q: Do you have any plans to support Wild even more?
Iksar: There are two parts to this as well I think. I think when people are talking about Wild, one of the questions is: How can we make Wild and Wild cards cool? That means using them in the Wild format, maybe it means Special Tavern Brawls or using them in the Arena. Being able to use my cards from the past in these ways is certainly something we’ll do in the future.
Iksar: The other thing I hear a lot about is: Because Wild doesn’t have as many balance changes, does that mean we care less about the format or we’re paying less attention to it? I think that goes with Wild being, to some degree, a place where you can all the stuff that you’ve enjoyed from the past. Forever!
It’s kind of the identity of the mode, you can do crazy stuff, you can use the new expansions with your old cards, and there’s some safety that comes that. There’s going to be all these broken decks and you can play them against one another. To some degree that’s why we don’t make as many changes; we want that format to stay true to that.
Iksar: There are violators of that sometimes, that’s just not really fun for anybody. Like Naga Sea Witch, for instance. We thought that wasn’t really fun for anybody, so there’ll be circumstances like that where we’ll make changes. But for the most part, we try to stay respectful to the things people like doing for a very long time.
Q: Speaking of Naga Sea Witch: recently the Wild community has come up with a new combo that they think is reminiscent of Naga Sea Witch - Darkest Hour Warlock. Is it something that you think will be looked at, like Naga Sea Witch?
Iksar: I know about the deck. I’ve seen people talk about it, people have messaged me about it. Conceptually when you think about it, the combo is you must have exactly these 4 cards on the early turns and it’s a super powerful thing that everyone is doing all the time.... It’s very inconsistent, right? That said, when the combo goes off, can you deal with four giant minions on turn 2? Probably not.
Iksar: It’s one of those things that just comes down to - is it consistent enough where that leads to an unfun experience for us to change something. Like I said, we try to stay respectful of these cards that you can use for a very long time. We kind of committed to saying “If you like Bloodbloom, you should be able to play Bloodbloom as it exists forever.” There is a line, but there’s no hard rule that says if something is played “X” amount of times, we will change it, but we’re just constantly evaluating data and perception and try to make the right decision.
Solo Adventure
Q: The single-player content has been free for a few sets but for this set, we need to spend gold or cash on it again. Is this a one-off “call-back” to the old adventure model, or will this be coming back as a regular thing?
Thompson: We feel that the cost associated with the single-player for Rise of Shadows is consistent with the amount of content behind it. In reality, there’s more content behind the single-player mode than there’s ever been (Interviewer was at the summit and says he agrees).
If you look at just the free portion, that content comes with not just a new Hero skin, 3 new Hero Powers and 4 new decks, one of which is random and has a lot of fun stuff when it goes off. That alone constitutes gameplay that you can go back and have a different experience every time.
Thompson: We feel like if you really love that content, and find it to be something you want to spend more time with, then there are other chapters that you can end up purchasing for gold or cash. That’s a choice you get to make as a player. If you don’t, it’s not inherently required for you as a player to engage it. If you want to go back to ladder, that’s totally fine as well.
Q: Have you considered putting more rewards behind the single-player content? Or maybe achievements? While it’s fun, we worry that there’s not much motivation to play them again after a period of time. To be honest, I think the single-player content is great and can be a stand-alone game by itself. Have you considered trying to push it to become as popular as ladder or arena?
Thompson: The single-player content is inherently interesting to another type of player. There’s a lot there for the regular Hearthstone player who just enjoys trying new things with Hero Powers that are both familiar and new at the same time.
The new mode, though, has a lot of repeat play possible with all of the different decks and Hero Powers and also the different type of tracking inherently available too. There are many different ways you can track for winning this chapter, with this hero, with this Hero Power, with this deck - there are a lot of checkboxes for players to explore.
Thompson: There are players across the globe who are veryinterested in collecting all the checkmarks, experimenting with different decks; there’s a lot of repeat play that’s possible for players of all types.
Priest
Q: At the moment, it seems like Priest are stuck with the resurrection archetype. Will you be giving us new ways to play Priest?
Iksar: Sure, we’ve given Priest many archetypes in the past; Dragon Priest was one of the most popular things ever for Priest.
I think resurrection is one of those things that are really core to Warcraft Priest fantasy. It’s something that we’ll go back to from time to time, but not something we’ll do every set. I’m sure Dragon Priest will eventually come back, as will Priests that copies a bunch of cards, or steal cards from your opponents.
We try to choose whichever ones makes sense for the flavour of the set, and also just presents different gameplay. Resurrection is cool, we’ll come back to it, but certainly not every set.
Achievements
Q: You talked about check-boxes earlier. In that vein, would you consider adding more achievements to the game, such as for instance how many times you used a certain card, or how much Health you’ve restored? At the moment, it’s mostly just how many wins we have with each class.
Thompson: I think an achievement system that is valuable to a game is one which helps you become or reinforces you being a good player. The achievements that help you to do things like, how many murlocs can you put on the board, or how many times you can do X, means that the player across from you is often times playing a different game.
Thompson: That makes for sometimes a less interesting game for both players if each player has a different set of goals, other than taking the opponent down to 0 Health before you do. That’s the goal of Hearthstone. If the goal of the other player is to meet their achievement, they’re changing the way I as a competitor interact, and it changes the game of Hearthstone. That’s why we’re being careful when it comes to implementing achievements for that.
Iksar: The goal of achievements really is: Can we show meaningful progression? Are the things that you’re doing being tracked, and does it feel like you’re progressing towards something when playing Hearthstone?
I think quests are very good short-term progression. Golden heroes are really good long-term progression. We know that we can certainly do better in the in-between portion; how do we make the games feel like you’re progressing, whether you win or lose?
I don’t have anything to announce today, but if the goal of achievements is to feel like you’re always progressing towards something when playing Hearthstone, that’s definitely something we want to achieve.
[Iksar had a similar and more detailed answer for achievements in the Year of the Dragon AMA, where he lists a few options and states one will likely be released]
Archmage Vargoth
Q: Was Archmage Vargoth designed specifically to be given out as a free card? Or did you pick him to be the one later in the process? Why did you choose Archmage Vargoth to be the free card to be given out early this set?
Iksar: First, we think giving out a free card early is pretty cool, when the one card this set is played alongside the older cards in Standard. Everyone wants to experiment with this one card, it’s kind of fun to watch streamers trying to figure out how to utilise this specific card. We think it creates a fun experience for a short amount of time.
Iksar: Did we design this card specifically that’s cool for that? No. We design the 135-card set to be the most interesting they can be hopefully for the two years they are in Standard. Luckily for us, there’s almost always a card that’s a really cool character that would also be interesting in that 1-2 week period, so we were able to choose one of the cards that fits for that.
Communication
Q: I would like to ask something about communication. I find this particularly relevant with the two of you since Iksar is one of, if not the most active dev communicating online; Also Ben, you mentioned specifically that you guys would like to communicate more with the community in the reddit AMA and at the summit.
How is it going so far? Dean, is it taking up a lot of your time? Is it difficult? Is it exciting? Is it depressing sometimes? Tell us about the stories (everyone laughs)
Thompson: I think there are different ways we can communicate. Not all of those are individual tweets, or chatting in a reddit AMA. I think the reddit AMA was a good example of a first step, and there are going to be more of them going forward.
We’ve even taken to scheduling: we have a schedule we’re looking at where sessions will be very focused, with a specific purpose behind them that talk about things we want to dig into deeper with the community.
Thompson: The other thing to consider is the timing in an average Hearthstone release. There are about 3.5-4 months between each release. That’s going to change a little with the staggered single player but the fact remains that there’s a lot of talking up-front when a set’s about to be released, and right after a set is released. There’s already a lot of communication during that time, and players feel that “well, you’re talking to us right now since there’s a lot to talk about.”
So what I would say to those players is: Give us a chance in the 2nd and 3rd month, when the content’s been out for a while and there’s every excuse and reason to not talk as much since there’s less to talk about. Let’s see what we’re saying, and how often we’re talking then. It’s very much a goal for us to be in communication on a regular cadence over the course of the 4 months, and not just at the beginning.
Iksar: So what is it like doing it? (laughs) What is it like…..? (everyone laughs) I think the honest answer is that you have to want to do it. There’s no one forcing anybody on the Hearthstone team like “Hey I know you don’t want to be out there, but I need you from 8-9 POSTING ON REDDIT!” (laughs) That’s not happening, it comes from a desire of “I want to do this thing”.
It’s certainly challenging, since I’m not only representing myself, I’m representing a team of people I respect, a game I care about. That part is really important: It’s about conveying the right message and also what the teams believes in. It can be nerve-wrecking for sure. So that’s like Part 1, of a 5-part answer… (everyone laughs)
Iksar: Why do I do it? I think for me personally, interacting with the community, reading blog posts about game design was the reason I became a game designer in the first place. (Jeff) Kaplan works on Overwatch now; in the time he worked on WoW, reading what he wrote about design there was why I became a designer.
I remember reading all that stuff and thought “One day, I’m going to be a game designer too, and I’m just going to do that! And it’s going to be really important, because there will be people like me reading about Hearthstone, and maybe game design will pique their interest.”
Q: Compared to the West, Chinese players feel like it’s much tougher to communicate with you guys since there are no direct channels to do so. Have you considered communicating via channels where Chinese players can access more easily, such as Chinese social media or forums?
Thompson: It’s definitely something we’re aware of, to the point of us talking about how to separate each individual region for AMAs, rather than starting from a Western stance. Specifically keep your eyes out in May, that’s when we’re planning the AMA that will be focused on China. We’ll have more details soon.
Iksar: In part, that’s why we’re here now. The language barrier makes it more difficult to understand what’s going on in this region. I’m in my hotel and I can’t browse reddit or twitter! What does the community think here, compared to what’s going on in the West? We lean a little on our Chinese team to tell us what’s going on, but it’s harder to be plugged in when the language barrier exists.
Q: Dean - If you didn’t know, a lot of the Chinese players are jokingly talking about you as the “new Lich King” (everyone laughs). By that I mean, in Warcraft, there must always be a Lich King, and the same goes for communication, where someone must be the bearer of the messages to the community. Previously we had Brode chatting with us about Warsong Commander, and Purify, and now it’s usually Dean. Any final words for your fans in China?
Iksar: Are they really my fans…? (everyone laughs) It’s important to have the communication; there’s always going to be times where we disagree with each other to some degree. One of the blessings or curses about game design is that there’s a super wide range of audience. It’s our responsibility as devs to try create games and cards that appeal to hyper-competitive players, but also players just starting out.
Iksar: It’s hard to tell people that a decision that doesn’t work for them is maybe the right decision. Of course we don’t always make the right decision; for China and the east it’s even harder to communicate exactly why we’re doing something due to translations. Maybe something I say doesn’t come off the way it was intended.
It’s important for us to at least educate the reasons why we do things, so we can get feedback. It’s not very helpful for us to see a picture of a meme (laughs). What does it mean?! What is wrong? So I would just say keep saying the things that you want to be communicated to us.
The main thing I got out that was an urge to play darkest hour warlock. I tried it. It's fun!! Even if you don't get your combo, don't panic, plot twist can reset your hand!
I just had a secrets-heavy Mech paladin vs. secrets-heavy non-Mech paladin (as near as I could tell) match that was, basically, everything I play Hearthstone for: careful trades, grabbing the right secrets at the right time, keeping his board cleared and trading health for cards until he was top-decking and I had a (mostly) full hand, kept Harrison Jones in-hand to counter expected weapon (and dropped it on-curve to eat his buffed Mysterious Blade) ...
Stabilized at 4 health to his 25 and dropped Ziliax with a BOK vs. his empty board ...
Giving everything rush is just outright busted with an unlimited mech supply.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
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BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
Oh look he discovered another omega devastator/zilliax
+5
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
I think I'm raising my kid right as we were reading World of Warcraft Chronicles Vol 3 together and it got to the part with Antonidas and he said, "Isn't that the guy who says "AHA"?"
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
+22
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BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
Three years ago today we had the biggest single nerf patch we've ever seen, beating down a ton of problematic classic cards of the time:
Ancient of Lore - Card text changed from "Choose One - Draw 2 cards; or Restore 5 Health." to "Choose One - Draw a card; or Restore 5 Health."
Drawing cards is powerful in Hearthstone, and Ancient of Lore easily found its way into nearly every popular Druid deck. We’d like Druid players to feel that other cards can compete with Ancient of Lore, so we’ve reduced the number of cards drawn from 2 to 1.
Force of Nature - Cost reduced from 6 to 5. Card text changed from "Summon three 2/2 Treants with Charge that die at the end of the turn." to "Summon three 2/2 Treants." Treants summoned by this spell no longer have Charge but no longer die at the end of the turn.
The new version of Force of Nature lowers its mana cost by 1, but removes Charge and makes the summoned Treants permanent—like the other Treants that Druids summon. This change also removes the powerful one-turn combo of Force of Nature and Savage Roar. Now, opponents will have a chance to deal with the threat that the Treants represent, and it won’t feel mandatory to always include the combo.
Keeper of the Grove - Changed from a 2/4 to a 2/2.
Keeper of the Grove is a strong and versatile minion that combines Silence with solid stats, which made the decision to include it in every Druid deck virtually automatic. Whether or not to introduce a source of Silence to a deck should require some decision making, so Keeper of the Grove shouldn’t be a default choice for all Druid decks. Its stats have been changed from 2/4 to 2/2.
Ironbeak Owl - Cost increased from 2 to 3.
Ironbeak Owl is a staple source for an inexpensive Silence in many decks. In line with our overall goal to make Silence effects more costly, Ironbeak Owl is moving from 2 to 3 mana.
Big Game Hunter - Cost increased from 3 to 5.
Big Game Hunter represents an inexpensive source of removal that is packaged with a minion. It’s efficient enough that some Heroes with powerful Class-based removal cards choose to run the neutral Big Game Hunter. We’re increasing the cost of the card from 3 mana to 5 mana.
Hunter's Mark - Cost increased from 0 to 1.
Hunter’s Mark is an important option for Hunters, but it’s too efficient at 0 mana. We are increasing its cost to 1.
Blade Flurry - Cost increased from 2 to 4. Card text changed from "Destroy your weapon and deal its damage to all enemies." to "Destroy your weapon and deal its damage to all enemy minions."
Blade Flurry is a problem because it enables both board clear and heavy burst damage, and it’s also an obstacle to adding better cards for Rogues. To address these issues, the cost of Blade Flurry is moving from 2 to 4 mana, and it will now only affect minions, so that Rogues have to choose between removing threats or damaging the enemy Hero.
Knife Juggler - Changed from a 3/2 to a 2/2.
Knife Juggler should be a good choice in decks that play many cheap minions, but with 3 Attack, it is played almost universally. We’re reducing Knife Juggler’s Attack from 3 to 2, so this card will move into a more specialized role in the decks that include it, instead of always being among the best choices for a 2 mana-cost minion.
Leper Gnome - Changed from a 2/1 to a 1/1.
Leper Gnome is powerful for its cost, finds its way into almost every aggressive deck, and requires no further deck building decisions to be effective. We’d like other 1 mana minions to be more compelling, so we’re reducing its Attack from 2 to 1.
Arcane Golem - Changed from a 4/2 to a 4/4. No longer has Charge.
Charge is an ability we’ve learned to use sparingly. Arcane Golem has been a staple in many aggressive and ‘one turn kill’ combo decks, and its drawback is rarely relevant. We’re addressing both issues by removing Charge and increasing Arcane Golem’s Health, while leaving its drawback. Arcane Golem will now be a 3 mana 4/4 with Battlecry: Give your opponent a Mana Crystal.
Molten Giant - Cost increased from 20 to 25.
Molten Giant is an interesting card, but it’s too easy for players to reduce its mana cost to 0. We’re increasing Molten Giant’s mana cost to 25 to increase the risks players must take to get a free Giant. The changes to Force of Nature and Arcane Golem will make dropping to low health somewhat less risky as well, which helped spur this change.
Master of Disguise - Card text changed from "Battlecry: Give a friendly minion Stealth." to "Battlecry: Give a friendly minion Stealth until your next turn."
The ability of Master of Disguise to grant permanent Stealth has been a design obstacle for a long time, so we are changing Master of Disguise to only grant Stealth until the next turn. This change opens up exciting options for future cards.
Captain's Parrot - No longer rewarded from collecting Classic Pirates. Can now be crafted.
Old Murk-Eye - No longer rewarded from collecting Classic Murlocs. Can now be crafted.
This was also the introduction of rotations and standard/wild.
I want to try out some new deck types (Summon Mage, Heal Druid, Spell Damage Hunter, etc), but don't want to craft anything until I've opened my final 15 packs from the single-player content. I just hate that they're drip-feeding the release of the wings by the week. Like, I'd understand if they were free, but when I'm paying for it just unlock it.
It's not like anything in the wings after the first week changes multiplayer mode. The free legendary guy is a first-week reward, so why not just unlock the rest?
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
i had a daily to kill 3 rumble bosses today but i kept going and oops i won
double steal shrine seriously OP, holy shit. my deck wasn't amazing but it wasn't like bad either? it was a pretty average midrange deck but my wincon was stealing their wincon. good luck tryna slam tony/maly with your fucking 0 mana freezefires malacrass. THEY'RE MINE NOW. I'M THE CAPTAIN NOW.
here was muh deck:
foolishly i forgot to screenshot the very first part but here's what's missing (you can kinda see it a bit in the 2nd screen up above):
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
If they really wanted to sell old single player content they could revamp the awards so they would be relevant in any standard era. Instead of cards, for completing the whole thing they could award players with enough dust to craft a legendary, two epics, four rares, etc. Combine that with maybe 2-3 packs of the latest expansion and someone might still have a reason go buy Blackrock or Northrend.
Posts
Pretty standard Rogue and Warrior decks:
AAECAQcK0AKQB6IJ9PUCp/cCkvgCjvsCoIAD0pgDhp0DCkuiBP8HnfACm/MC0fUCg/sCnvsCs/wCkp8DAA==
AAECAaIHBrICyAOvBKbvAuf6AqCAAwy0AYwCywPNA9QF7gaIB90IhgnVjAOPlwOJmwMA
Warrior deck was Youthful Brewmaster for 9 games before swapping to Baleful Banker for the last 4. Not much difference there. The Rogue deck swapped one Hench-Clan Thug for Zilliax, but I didn't actually play more than one game with the change before moving to Warrior.
I added the decks/codes to my original post.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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WHAT'RE YOU DOING IN THE HEARTHSTONE THREAD
this is so weird this is like when 3clipse crossed over into the HotS thread MY REALITY IS UNFOLDING AND TEARING APART
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Not bad. In my Warrior mirrors, I've pulled out Brawl on an empty board, Shield Slammed his minion, and War Cried. Pretty good value. Against some Rogues, I've Sapped myself (turned out to be ok) and Shadowstepped a Hench-Clan Thug.
So it can be hit or miss, but usually not a bad thing. Better when they have less cards and you know they are hording something like removal or burst damage.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/bggw4s/chinese_interview_with_ben_thompson_and_dean/
Or do they not stack?
IS THERE A STACK?!?!?! (plz don't try to answer this)
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Is an interview, developers are coached to not say or imply "never" on any kind of public event since that's a pseudo-design limit.
From our perspective Vargoth disentegrates into a pile of dust as he spends an eternity in the time loop.
I can't recall if it does or not....
If it doesn't, then Vargoth doesn't trigger until AFTER your "2nd" turn, and gives you a third?
That is, if you don't cast any spells that 2nd turn that would throw him off.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
The main thing I got out that was an urge to play darkest hour warlock. I tried it. It's fun!! Even if you don't get your combo, don't panic, plot twist can reset your hand!
oh it's already answered
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/b9o11c/switched_to_singleplayer_mode/
On cloud 9 because I crushed the fuck out of a Waggle Pick Rogue.
Excited about playing against a Control Warrior to see what happens.
Excitement completely burned out of me. Uninterested in playing for another 24 hours.
I'd like to see a card that removes all your opponents armor.
Stabilized at 4 health to his 25 and dropped Ziliax with a BOK vs. his empty board ...
... and he left.
Still, great game until that point.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Use a time machine and spend money.
He's just another on a long list of Hero Portraits that are mystifyingly not available to purchase outside of a strict window of time.
He had elysiana + brewmaster for taking control deep into fatigue
I managed to win by dodging 6 bombs in my deck of 10 cards and emergency Elysianaing
Then my Elysiana cards beat his (Gruul, rotten applebaum, Alexstrasza, Zilliax)
40 min control warrior mirror
the other guy gets heavy metal from elysiana
which gives him hakkar
he's deeper in fatigue than i am and has already used second elysiana so i second elysiana early to get the bloods out of my deck
pretty sad rng way to end a drawn out game
i can imagine the frustration tournament players are experiencing
Giving everything rush is just outright busted with an unlimited mech supply.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Don't be ridiculous.
They just played their seventh Dyn-o-matic, and it was more than enough to clean up the board.
Oh, it's just a tempo Omega Devastator. The other two in his hand are for removal.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Three years ago today we had the biggest single nerf patch we've ever seen, beating down a ton of problematic classic cards of the time:
Drawing cards is powerful in Hearthstone, and Ancient of Lore easily found its way into nearly every popular Druid deck. We’d like Druid players to feel that other cards can compete with Ancient of Lore, so we’ve reduced the number of cards drawn from 2 to 1.
Force of Nature - Cost reduced from 6 to 5. Card text changed from "Summon three 2/2 Treants with Charge that die at the end of the turn." to "Summon three 2/2 Treants." Treants summoned by this spell no longer have Charge but no longer die at the end of the turn.
The new version of Force of Nature lowers its mana cost by 1, but removes Charge and makes the summoned Treants permanent—like the other Treants that Druids summon. This change also removes the powerful one-turn combo of Force of Nature and Savage Roar. Now, opponents will have a chance to deal with the threat that the Treants represent, and it won’t feel mandatory to always include the combo.
Keeper of the Grove - Changed from a 2/4 to a 2/2.
Keeper of the Grove is a strong and versatile minion that combines Silence with solid stats, which made the decision to include it in every Druid deck virtually automatic. Whether or not to introduce a source of Silence to a deck should require some decision making, so Keeper of the Grove shouldn’t be a default choice for all Druid decks. Its stats have been changed from 2/4 to 2/2.
Ironbeak Owl - Cost increased from 2 to 3.
Ironbeak Owl is a staple source for an inexpensive Silence in many decks. In line with our overall goal to make Silence effects more costly, Ironbeak Owl is moving from 2 to 3 mana.
Big Game Hunter - Cost increased from 3 to 5.
Big Game Hunter represents an inexpensive source of removal that is packaged with a minion. It’s efficient enough that some Heroes with powerful Class-based removal cards choose to run the neutral Big Game Hunter. We’re increasing the cost of the card from 3 mana to 5 mana.
Hunter's Mark - Cost increased from 0 to 1.
Hunter’s Mark is an important option for Hunters, but it’s too efficient at 0 mana. We are increasing its cost to 1.
Blade Flurry - Cost increased from 2 to 4. Card text changed from "Destroy your weapon and deal its damage to all enemies." to "Destroy your weapon and deal its damage to all enemy minions."
Blade Flurry is a problem because it enables both board clear and heavy burst damage, and it’s also an obstacle to adding better cards for Rogues. To address these issues, the cost of Blade Flurry is moving from 2 to 4 mana, and it will now only affect minions, so that Rogues have to choose between removing threats or damaging the enemy Hero.
Knife Juggler - Changed from a 3/2 to a 2/2.
Knife Juggler should be a good choice in decks that play many cheap minions, but with 3 Attack, it is played almost universally. We’re reducing Knife Juggler’s Attack from 3 to 2, so this card will move into a more specialized role in the decks that include it, instead of always being among the best choices for a 2 mana-cost minion.
Leper Gnome - Changed from a 2/1 to a 1/1.
Leper Gnome is powerful for its cost, finds its way into almost every aggressive deck, and requires no further deck building decisions to be effective. We’d like other 1 mana minions to be more compelling, so we’re reducing its Attack from 2 to 1.
Arcane Golem - Changed from a 4/2 to a 4/4. No longer has Charge.
Charge is an ability we’ve learned to use sparingly. Arcane Golem has been a staple in many aggressive and ‘one turn kill’ combo decks, and its drawback is rarely relevant. We’re addressing both issues by removing Charge and increasing Arcane Golem’s Health, while leaving its drawback. Arcane Golem will now be a 3 mana 4/4 with Battlecry: Give your opponent a Mana Crystal.
Molten Giant - Cost increased from 20 to 25.
Molten Giant is an interesting card, but it’s too easy for players to reduce its mana cost to 0. We’re increasing Molten Giant’s mana cost to 25 to increase the risks players must take to get a free Giant. The changes to Force of Nature and Arcane Golem will make dropping to low health somewhat less risky as well, which helped spur this change.
Master of Disguise - Card text changed from "Battlecry: Give a friendly minion Stealth." to "Battlecry: Give a friendly minion Stealth until your next turn."
The ability of Master of Disguise to grant permanent Stealth has been a design obstacle for a long time, so we are changing Master of Disguise to only grant Stealth until the next turn. This change opens up exciting options for future cards.
Captain's Parrot - No longer rewarded from collecting Classic Pirates. Can now be crafted.
Old Murk-Eye - No longer rewarded from collecting Classic Murlocs. Can now be crafted.
This was also the introduction of rotations and standard/wild.
I... I think I have a problem
It's been a few weeks since everything rotated.
Yet...
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
It's not like anything in the wings after the first week changes multiplayer mode. The free legendary guy is a first-week reward, so why not just unlock the rest?
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
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Are uh....are we going to be halfway to the next expac when this one's done releasing?
I only found one site claiming the 1 wing/week deal, so I hope I'm wrong.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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If they could figure out how to get you to buy old expansion packs they would
fuck u rastakhan i finally did it
i had a daily to kill 3 rumble bosses today but i kept going and oops i won
double steal shrine seriously OP, holy shit. my deck wasn't amazing but it wasn't like bad either? it was a pretty average midrange deck but my wincon was stealing their wincon. good luck tryna slam tony/maly with your fucking 0 mana freezefires malacrass. THEY'RE MINE NOW. I'M THE CAPTAIN NOW.
here was muh deck:
foolishly i forgot to screenshot the very first part but here's what's missing (you can kinda see it a bit in the 2nd screen up above):
- steal shrine
- double shrine passive
- backstab
- counterfeit coin
- prep
- shadowstep
- conceal
- deadly poison x2
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582