t's a combination of all, but I'd say you can distinguish between two overarching criteria: Design and Execution. However, I like to distinguish between core and individual criteria.
Knock-out criteria. Those HAVE to be met to be even considered.
Balance (brokenness)
Form (wording, art, effect consistency, typos etc)
Believability
That doesn't mean a card with a missing comma or a typo is automatically excluded, but if your card text is incomprehensible and doesn't make any sense, I'd never vote for it. Bad art functions the same. There is a rather large room for art, but if it just doesn't fit HS, I would not vote for it, even if the effect is perfect.
Believability means the card needs to fit in the HS engine and game-design. A card that deletes a card from your account or stuff that influences the end-turn button etc would simply never exist.
Balance refers to cards that are just way too good and would destroy the balance of the game or have a combo that breaks the game.
If those are cleared, it comes to the individual design of the card.
Effect
Balance (weakness) / Playability
Flavor
Originality
The effect is the most important thing and affects every criterion to a degree.
Judging the balance this time around isn't to exclude the card, but rather to get a bigger picture of the playability. A card that simply exists to fit into the theme but has no good applications in the actual game or doesn't enable anything new kinda fails to be interesting. If the card is way too weak or is too restrictive cards or too situational etc it's probably not worth it to actually play the card. In the grand scheme of things, it needs to have a 'use' - at least in some way.
Originality is not always needed but a great bonus. If it's really creative and has a never-seen-before effect or application, you'll generally have a better impression.
Flavor acts the same, and can single-handedly bring a card to the top. Here art, name, stats, effect etc are all connected. Best example would be Hippogryph Rider from the WC3 theme or "Discover a Secret" for Murloc Holmes. That said, it still needs to clear the core criteria. Also, "pun" or "fun" entries are often more harmful than helpful. I really like flavor more in the actual execution of the card effect. See "Dr. Bloom" for a huge negative offender.
A combination of all ultimately impacts which card I vote for.
If something stands out well above the others as really cool about a design I'll appreciate it for that and elevate it above other things that only do everything mediocre, but the best designs have it all... just like the best cards in the actual game. I really thought that Fiery Voraxx should have won just based on raw punnage.
Fundamentally I just vote for things that feel like they'd ultimately be at-home in the game... which again makes me think of Fiery Voraxx because it's right in line with this game's sense of humor. I think that in that entire last competition (6.13) no other card felt more like a HEARTHSTONE card to me than that. xP
This is the order with-which I rate a card's qualities:
1. Creativity. For example, with this week's challenge, if someone just slaps together a "Give a minion Immune this turn" spell or simple Battlecry, I will not vote for it. That's boring and frankly uninspired. Add something to spice it up, please. Some kind of qualifier, or something we've never seen before in-game. While other people may not be particularly thrilled seeing keywords or card types that don't currently exist in Hearthstone, I-for-one am all for it. That's why we're here, isn't it? To craft and create ideas we'd like to see in the game?
2. Balance. I will not vote for outrageous, clearly OP/broken cards. If your card is so powerful that it frankly cannot/should not exist in the actual game, you won't get my vote. It might be cool and creative, but if your card would arguably warp the game around itself, or it's so good that it would become the defacto card of choice for a class/Neutral cards, that's too far. There's strong, and then there's "you didn't even try to balance this."
I view everything from within the prism of "this could be in Hearthstone for real, and I want to see that happen." I cannot respect a card that fails to hold itself accountable to that notion.
3. Heart. I'm not talking about a funny name, or the flavor text. Rather, I want to feel the "spirit of intention" behind what you've created. Do you love a particular Warcraft event or character, and want to faithfully represent them in Hearthstone? Maybe you crafted this card to fit in with a particular playstyle you feel is underwhelming, or a certain combo you'd love to see, or something else that speaks to you. The things you have to say about your card tells me that you care, and I'd rather vote for someone who cares about their card versus a throw-away joke or a half-realized idea.
Hell, there have been a couple ideas I myself have submitted, and I wouldn't have voted for them. Why? Because the initial ideas that I came up with at the time were what I put my effort into, my heart into, and the things I eventually submitted were not. I wasn't inspired to create "Primal Rage", and honestly...it showed.
4. "Professionalism". If your card has some combination of missing-punctuation, clearly-misspelled words, and/or horrifically bad grammar, I will not vote for it. It takes not even ten seconds to double-check your card for such basic things. A real creator would not produce such shoddy workmanship, and you shouldn't either.
Behold, foolish interlopers! I am commanding this mortal to spread the will of the Scourge throughout the interwebs, encouraging you to seek out me, Archlich Kel'Thuzad! Now coming to you as the tenth class of Hearthstone!
I am a finalist in this Class Creation Competition, so if you could give it a look I would be greatly appreciative <3
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im curious.
I try to avoid voting for art that I see all the time like Pepe and Lakkari Felhound ( back before it was released) its just lazy
t's a combination of all, but I'd say you can distinguish between two overarching criteria: Design and Execution. However, I like to distinguish between core and individual criteria.
Knock-out criteria. Those HAVE to be met to be even considered.
That doesn't mean a card with a missing comma or a typo is automatically excluded, but if your card text is incomprehensible and doesn't make any sense, I'd never vote for it. Bad art functions the same. There is a rather large room for art, but if it just doesn't fit HS, I would not vote for it, even if the effect is perfect.
Believability means the card needs to fit in the HS engine and game-design. A card that deletes a card from your account or stuff that influences the end-turn button etc would simply never exist.
Balance refers to cards that are just way too good and would destroy the balance of the game or have a combo that breaks the game.
If those are cleared, it comes to the individual design of the card.
The effect is the most important thing and affects every criterion to a degree.
Judging the balance this time around isn't to exclude the card, but rather to get a bigger picture of the playability. A card that simply exists to fit into the theme but has no good applications in the actual game or doesn't enable anything new kinda fails to be interesting. If the card is way too weak or is too restrictive cards or too situational etc it's probably not worth it to actually play the card. In the grand scheme of things, it needs to have a 'use' - at least in some way.
Originality is not always needed but a great bonus. If it's really creative and has a never-seen-before effect or application, you'll generally have a better impression.
Flavor acts the same, and can single-handedly bring a card to the top. Here art, name, stats, effect etc are all connected. Best example would be Hippogryph Rider from the WC3 theme or "Discover a Secret" for Murloc Holmes. That said, it still needs to clear the core criteria. Also, "pun" or "fun" entries are often more harmful than helpful. I really like flavor more in the actual execution of the card effect. See "Dr. Bloom" for a huge negative offender.
A combination of all ultimately impacts which card I vote for.
Everything. Sum-total.
If something stands out well above the others as really cool about a design I'll appreciate it for that and elevate it above other things that only do everything mediocre, but the best designs have it all... just like the best cards in the actual game. I really thought that Fiery Voraxx should have won just based on raw punnage.
Fundamentally I just vote for things that feel like they'd ultimately be at-home in the game... which again makes me think of Fiery Voraxx because it's right in line with this game's sense of humor. I think that in that entire last competition (6.13) no other card felt more like a HEARTHSTONE card to me than that. xP
This is the order with-which I rate a card's qualities:
1. Creativity. For example, with this week's challenge, if someone just slaps together a "Give a minion Immune this turn" spell or simple Battlecry, I will not vote for it. That's boring and frankly uninspired. Add something to spice it up, please. Some kind of qualifier, or something we've never seen before in-game. While other people may not be particularly thrilled seeing keywords or card types that don't currently exist in Hearthstone, I-for-one am all for it. That's why we're here, isn't it? To craft and create ideas we'd like to see in the game?
2. Balance. I will not vote for outrageous, clearly OP/broken cards. If your card is so powerful that it frankly cannot/should not exist in the actual game, you won't get my vote. It might be cool and creative, but if your card would arguably warp the game around itself, or it's so good that it would become the defacto card of choice for a class/Neutral cards, that's too far. There's strong, and then there's "you didn't even try to balance this."
I view everything from within the prism of "this could be in Hearthstone for real, and I want to see that happen." I cannot respect a card that fails to hold itself accountable to that notion.
3. Heart. I'm not talking about a funny name, or the flavor text. Rather, I want to feel the "spirit of intention" behind what you've created. Do you love a particular Warcraft event or character, and want to faithfully represent them in Hearthstone? Maybe you crafted this card to fit in with a particular playstyle you feel is underwhelming, or a certain combo you'd love to see, or something else that speaks to you. The things you have to say about your card tells me that you care, and I'd rather vote for someone who cares about their card versus a throw-away joke or a half-realized idea.
Hell, there have been a couple ideas I myself have submitted, and I wouldn't have voted for them. Why? Because the initial ideas that I came up with at the time were what I put my effort into, my heart into, and the things I eventually submitted were not. I wasn't inspired to create "Primal Rage", and honestly...it showed.
4. "Professionalism". If your card has some combination of missing-punctuation, clearly-misspelled words, and/or horrifically bad grammar, I will not vote for it. It takes not even ten seconds to double-check your card for such basic things. A real creator would not produce such shoddy workmanship, and you shouldn't either.
Behold, foolish interlopers! I am commanding this mortal to spread the will of the Scourge throughout the interwebs, encouraging you to seek out me, Archlich Kel'Thuzad! Now coming to you as the tenth class of Hearthstone!
I am a finalist in this Class Creation Competition, so if you could give it a look I would be greatly appreciative <3