Transcript Complete! The AMA is now over. All questions and answers can be found below. (AMA Source)
Hi all! We're all super excited to be here today. Especially /u/bbrode. :) Thanks for providing your questions here on the Hearthstone Dev AMA today. We're diving right in! (CM_Zeriyah)
With the addition of new cards in the future it will get more and more complicated for newer as well as free to play players to stay competitive. While this might not be a problem right now, do you have any plans for the future to introduce formats like Wizard did? Is it an option to rotate cards out and make only the latest two sets and basic cards ranked legal?
This is something we'll want to address as we release more content. But we feel that we're still far away from that point. We're continuing to think about the best player experience for this. (cataclyst78)
Getting any of my friends who would be new players to play this game is near impossible at this point with how expensive Hearthstone is for new players to compete. They all go through the same process: begin playing the game through the tutorials, try each class, play the arena a few times, do a few days worth of quests, open a couple packs, and then realize that doing play mode they get absolutely crushed by seas of legendaries they don't have, then quit. The more cards that are introduced into the game with the steep cost of the game makes the game more and more difficult for new players to get into. Are there going to be any significant ways for new players to catch up? Is there any possibility of a static cost for the game like buying all of the classic cards and naxx cards for $50?
Howdy! I super appreciate that you guys are looking out for new players. It's really important to us that Hearthstone is approachable and accessible. We're on the same page here.
We do have some problems with Matchmaking. We had taken steps to make sure brand new players were not matched against players who had already built massive collections, but we recently found some issues there and have been working to make it better.
We are going to continue to monitor the new player experience, and I do think we'll need to do things to make it better over time, especially as we continue to release new content. (bbrode)
What new demons is Bane of doom able to summon in GvG? When is Mal'ganis going to be added in the pool?
Skynet is correct - we haven't changed the pool of minions Bane of Doom is able to summon in GvG. It's something we're looking at though - we have to be a bit more careful with this card as opposed to Webspinner, since Bane of Doom puts a Demon directly into play rather than just puts it into your hand. (CM_Zeriyah)
Your competitors like Wizard or Riot have introduced fun modes to their games, like Momir in Magic online or the fun modes at events in League of Legends. How likely is it that we will see a mode something like : Two mages with thirty Unstable Portals?
What has it been like working with Realz - any interesting stories or insights from adding a pro gamer to your team?
We like to do internal tournaments from time to time, and he brings some pretty terrifying decks to the table.
Also, I always see him cruise past my window on a skateboard or scooter. Gotta go fast! (CM_Zeriyah)
Will we ever see other classes in the game?
There are pros and cons and we have to figure out when, if ever, the right time would be. Pros: Would be friggin' rad. Cons: less likely to get cards for the specific class you're excited about. Balance is trickier.
A good design exercise is to think: "How many classes is too many?" My sense is that it's closer to 9 than to 20. (bbrode)
Do you have any plans to extend the current observer mode into a neutral one that can be used for tournaments, as in you can spectate both players simultaneously?
If you have both players on your friends list, you can actually spectate both players at the same time! You can see both player's cards, what they draw, etc. It's great for tournaments.
We have gotten a lot of feedback regarding the cards in the second player's hand being upside down, so that's something we're aware of. (CM_Zeriyah)
I'm curious as to how cards are created. It seems like there are three components; the artwork, the name, and the stats. In which order are they created? Is it always the same? Are the artists supplied with complete descriptions of what they need to draw or are they given a wide range with which to work? Thanks!
Oh sweet, a production question! :D What is the process to get a card created?
First design team comes up with the theme for the given expansion. In the case of GvG, the theme was going to be Goblins, Gnomes, and their wonderful mechanical inventions. The backbone of the set is designed around that theme: e.g. we definitely need to have a Goblin Shredder! So those cards start from the flavor and then game mechanics is built around it. "Piloted" mechanic arose from the hilarious image of random denizens of Azeroth ejecting out of these things. Other cards start from interesting and fun game mechanics we want to highlight in the expansion and then we come up with the best name/art work that would fit that card mechanic: e.g. Bouncing Blade.
Once name and stats start taking shape, we take a look at the huge breadth of amazing WoW art we already have in our repository. If there's something that fits perfectly we go with that. If we can't find something we are perfectly happy with, the designers work with the art team to put together an art description which describes what that card is like. The art description then goes out to the wonderful artists we work with and we collaborate with them to finish the piece. Sometimes we want something very specific for a card, other times there's general guideline which the artist can run with. (cataclyst78)
Are there any rejected GvG cards or ideas you could show us? So far, its been a great expansion so far and I'm sure that many of us would love to know what didn't make the cut.
Mostly the cards get cooler as they move through development, so our old designs are kind of boring. Oh! Here's one. This is the original design for Sabotage (it sounds cool but plays pretty badly):
(6) Destroy an enemy minion and all copies of it in your opponent's hand and deck. (bbrode)
Before the release of naxx, you guys said that there will be a reason for us to play through naxx multiple times, but so far after we got the card back from the heroic naxx, there is no need to ever go back there.
So my question is will we have a reason to get back to naxx or was it just: pay X gold, kill X boss and get X card and moove along ? Something like daily quests would be fun.
That one's on me - when I was addressing this question, we hadn't announced Heroic mode quite yet, so I was alluding to Heroic mode as a reason to return to Naxx.
We like to consider Naxx a fun way to acquire new cards and a way to freshen up the current meta with those cards, but we also have to be careful as to what kind of rewards we offer since we also don't want that content to feel tired or tedious over time. Killing the same Naxx boss over and over again is less fun and feels more like work. Playing against other players to complete quests is just way more fun and dynamic, especially now with the release of GvG. (CM_Zeriyah)
There needs to be a game mode where you are matched against a deck with a similar dust value. The matchmaking at the moment is just non existent.
We are always thinking ways to improve the match making system. But we don't think that power level of a deck is directly proportional its dust value. (cataclyst78)
How did you miss this opportunity to say "Time's up let's do this"?
Great job, this is legitimately my only concern.don't tell anyone I'm okay with 9 deck slots
I've seen that UI design before! :)
We agree that something in that vein is pretty cool. (bbrode)
Are you planning to implement in game tournament mode. Where players can join by paying some kind of fee (150 gold) but with a chance of winning gold or packs (1-5). Players could have Elo rating or could earn tournament points which could be used as a qualifier for the world championship ?
Will you ever include sideboard? For example 7 cards that can be swaped in tournament matches?
We are excited about making more fun and easy ways for players to get together and compete against each other. We have a bunch cool ideas we've been bouncing around at the office. We are definitely excited but still at an early stage of forming the idea. (cataclyst78)
We have Mad Bomber and now also Madder Bomber. Will there be a legendary named Maddest Bomber?
I was actually chatting with Mike Donais about adding a "Maddest Bomber" at some point. I kid you not, he cackled. The way his mind works frightens me sometimes. I think he is the Maddest Bomber. (CM_Zeriyah)
With the addition of 120 new collectable cards to the card pool, as well as the 5 Naxxramus wings, the amount of gold required to obtain a reasonable card collection has skyrocketed since the game has launched. Is the Blizzard team concerned that the game may become somewhat unfair to brand-new players and players who choose the free-to-play route?
Hopefully our matchmaker will find you a fair match, regardless of your skill level and the size of your collection. We do play close attention to this, though; new players are super important to us. We'll keep it in mind as we continue to release new content. (bbrode)
Would it be possible to implement a system that allows the player to see how complete their collection is? A simple "Your classic set colelctioin is 78% complete" somewhere would be awesome.
Yes, it's something we've been hoping to get in there for a while. Just goes to show you how large our backlog of awesome features is. ;-) (bbrode)
Are there any cards you are looking right now at in terms of nerfing/buffing?
We're always keeping an eye out on balance in Hearthstone. We (as Community) are pretty tight-knit with the balance designers as content is released. We monitor feedback and sentiment, and discuss the initial reactions to cards with the designers. They're watching things on more of a numerical level, though they're also in the thick of things too.
All that aside, it's a little early to make any changes to cards right now. With so many new cards released with GvG, we like to see players develop and evolve new strategies to counter what may have been vexing them previously. We're watching though.
What was your intention when creating the GvG Mage Legendary card, Flame Leviathan and what sort of success have you seen in your own play testing of this card?
We are always pushing the boundary for trying new game mechanics. In the case of Flame Leviathan, we wanted to try an effect that triggers when you draw a card. Whenever there's a new game mechanic it's hard to evaluate how good it is until you play with it a whole bunch. Even though you don't have control over exactly when it goes off, mana free 2 damage AOE can be very powerful. It was very exciting to see Trump run with the card in his deck over the weekend. He was having a ton of fun with it. (cataclyst78)
Every year there’s a sound design panel at Blizzcon. Can we get the Hearthstone team on the 2015 version? There’s so many great sound effects in this game, to the point where some of the card battlecries have replaced the names for a lot of folks. I’d like to hear what goes into making them.
Sound team would be really jazzed to do something like that. We'll talk about it for the future! (cataclyst78)
How will hearthstone be implemented for phones? Will the game board look the same, or will there be modifications to make it more mobile-friendly?
We are making sure that Hearthstone is a great tailored experience on a phone. Don't be surprised if you see some modifications to make it mobile-awesome! (cataclyst78)
I can see the sense in not having extra deck slots for new players, but what about locking it behind a level/rank wall?
There are some obvious ways to add deck slots, but the most obvious methods aren't always the most elegant, and it's important to us to keep Hearthstone's UI clean and simple. We know you guys get it, and I've seen some clever ideas posted here on reddit that take these goals into account.
We know you guys want more deck slots. We have some cool ideas for satisfying our power-users, I think we can make magic happen somehow. :) (bbrode)
When you guys release new content,such as Naxxramas or GvG,how long had it already been in development before we,the players,get our hands on it?
Often different parts of the team are working on different stages of an expansion. While card FX and engineering implementation wraps up, design team is often moving ahead and concepting out the next set of content. We have some cool tools that allow our designers to play with different card ideas and missions before we decide to go all the way with implementation. (cataclyst78)
Since only one question is allowed and balance gets discussed to death I will ask something else more related to community management (i.e. the question would be for /u/CM_Zeriyah). When you want to obtain feedback whether it's good or bad, constructive or whiny venting, which forums do you go to most? I would have to think reddit tops the list, but do you also consider your own forums, liquidhearth, heathpwn, etc?
I bring this up because I've found your own forums to really be bad at being a place to go to for any decent feedback towards this game, to the point I stop posting there even if there is something I really want to comment on. Every few threads per page has your typical quick whine about the game without feedback, and if you do try to present yourself with an argument that isn't agreed upon it typically gets disliked/thumbs down by people who I think post way too much (e.g. at least 5-10k posts) and have multiple accounts who just typically hold grudges against people they choose to remember. Furthermore your site gets bombarded by these silly spam messages when moderation is done for the night (you know which ones I am talking about I hope) likely done by bots, which typically make your forums unappealing for me and probably a lot of others to post on. So on top of me asking the question of where you get your feedback the most from, I do want to state again that I hope you make some changes towards your own forums on how it's designed and ran, because frankly it gets overrun by spammers and trolls more way too much. If anything liquidhearth has perfect standards for what's "post worthy" and what isn't. Thanks for doing this AMA
Well met!
As community, we actually don't limit ourselves to just forums when we're collecting overall sentiment. We have our official channels, such as the Hearthstone Facebook and Twitter, where we have regular conversations with players, but we're also monitoring many other places as well. Our forums, Reddit, our fansites, our fansite's forums, Twitch ... this list could go on for awhile. Basically, if you're talking about Hearthstone, we want to read it!
Aside from the spam posts afflicting our forums (which we're currently working on a fix for), it's actually not a bad thing for players to be able to come to our forums and voice their opinions, even if other players may not feel their concerns are valid. That sort of feedback, even if it isn't as constructive as posts on other forums, are still insightful. It's good for us to know how our players are feeling about certain cards or strategies, but I can see why other forums aren't as open to feedback of that nature. In the end though, it helps us make a better game. (CM_Zeriyah)
At BlizzCon, you revealed a number of statistics kept on individual cards on the affects on win / loss percentage. Of the GvG cards released, what cards are outperforming or underperforming the Blizzard team's expectations?
Oh it's way too early to tell. We just tossed a stick of dynamite into the metagame. Going to take a while for things to settle down and we can get real data. (bbrode)
Hi Ben Brode and co.!
Thanks for putting together an awesome game :), and congratulations on the release of GVG!
As someone who mostly plays arena, i love the excitement of opening the pack at the end of a run. However it makes me sad that i'm not able to use any golden cards in my collection from these packs.
Is it possible that someday you may add the ability for us to use our golden cards and hero portraits in the arena?
We think this is a really cool idea too. Something we are excited to do once we have a breather. (cataclyst78)
The obvious question: Where is Hearthstone for Android tablets? I need it to live.
We're still targeting this month for Android - we'll have more information for you soon!
Yeah, new players is a really important thing for us. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make their experience better. We have done some things recently [emphasis added] with matchmaking for new players that we think will make a big impact.
Was this just for ranked and casual or did it affect arena too? Can you elaborate a little on what exactly you did? A lot of people are complaining that it's harder to get a lot of wins in arena now, and I'm wondering if it's all in their heads or if matchmaking was actually changed.
We haven't made any changes to the arena matchmaking. But I would like to remind everyone that if you win 3 games, you are winning half of your games! Every win over 3 makes you exponentially more awesome. (cataclyst78)
Any plans to name the "Can't be targeted by Spells or Hero Powers" mechanic?
Shroud is my personal favorite.
In general, when keywords do more than 1 thing, it is tough to remember the full scope of what they do. I like simple keywords like "Can attack twice" or "can attack immediately".
We could do something like "Shrouded from Spells. Shrouded from Hero Powers." Or we could just say Shroud means "can't be targeted by anything but attacks" and make Battlecry not work either.
We might break this rule sometimes, but it's something we need to be careful of.
Also, we like it when keywords imply what they do. "Shroud" doesn't have that direct link to the rules text that "Charge" and "Taunt" have. We also discussed "Untargetable" and "Ethereal".
At the end of the day there are LOTS of reasons to keyword or not keyword something, and this was right on the razor's edge with this one. Just happened to fall on the "not-keyword" side of the line, at least for now. (bbrode)
Do you have specific goals for certain classes? For example the new Shaman Murloc card and Neptulon..Or the Rogue-only Pirate. They both indicate that you guys kinda "push" certain tribal cards towards a class.Is that a longterm goal of yours,to give all classes some kind of synergy like Beast Hunter?
We want to give each class a lot of different ways to build a deck. We also want to make each class feel distinct and have its own flavor. Tribal theme is a fun way of doing that! (cataclyst78)
The biggest obstacle I have for getting new people into Hearthstone is the fact that after the tutorial, they get absolutely crushed by loaded up decks in Casual mode. In essence, casual mode feels anything but casual when a mostly basic deck has to face down epics and legendaries.
Are there any plans to improve the match making, perhaps by matching players the total experience/level of the account, dust value, or some other method to help people who don't have expensive decks?
Absolutely - this is something we're currently looking into. The new players experience is something really important to us, and we've seen a lot of feedback about Casual Mode feeling less than casual to new players. We don't want to just push people that are new and have decided to purchase packs into a different tier of players right away either, but we would like to improve the overall experience for Casual Mode as a whole. (CM_Zeriyah)
Any plans on having another avenue of getting gold?
Not at this time - we already give gold for playing in Casual/Ranked, for playing in the Arena, and for quests completed in both. (bbrode)
Is the intention to alternate between releasing an adventure mode expansion (Naxx) and a card pack expansion (GvG) going forward? I really enjoyed the single player aspect of Naxx and hope we will see more content like it!
We got really good feedback from Naxx. We're starting to get really great feedback from GvG as well. Based on this feedback we're going to figure out what would be the best player experience in the future. We definitely noticed how much players enjoyed single player content. (cataclyst78)
Will we be able to buy card packs with Google Play credit when the Android version launches?
Hearthstone will be compatible with payment methods supported by Google Play, so yes. (cataclyst78)
I have to ask regarding the long term design of priests. It mostly comes down to one of their primary mechanics being the ability to take control of enemy minions.
A little back story. I am somewhat of a casual Yu-Gi-Oh player. In that game I have seen this mechanic tried many times. ”Tried” as in failed because it almost always ends up being ludicrously broken.
It is not even about the “unfun” elements of it, it is about the fact that the mechanic is incredible strong. It is a +2 gain in both card advantage and tempo.
TL;DR: They are almost all banned from competitive play.
I know it is unfair to compare two widely different CCGs, but still from what I have seen so far, you are doing everything in your power to repeat the mistakes that Konami did in the past.
The control spells that should be limited by attack becomes more versatile with Shriekmeister, minions that should be returned can now be recombolated and so far it doesn't seem much is being done to counterbalance use of this mechanic.
I hope you could comment on this.
"Stealing" effects have traditionally been the source of much consternation for us. Mind Control was infuriating when it cost 8 mana. Mind Vision was rage-inducing when it stole a card from the opponent's hand. We pay close attention to these types of effects.
Power level is an easy thing to tweak if things are too powerful, and we've taken steps like this in the past, where needed. We'll keep watch to make sure things aren't out of whack. (bbrode)
If you have both players on your friends list, you can actually spectate both players at the same time! You can see both player's cards, what they draw, etc. It's great for tournaments.
We have gotten a lot of feedback regarding the cards in the second player's hand being upside down, so that's something we're aware of.
If you'd like to spectate both players at the same time, just follow these steps:
Have both people you'd like to spectate on your friends list.
Begin spectating the first player by clicking on your friends list, then hit the little eye icon there to spectate.
While you're spectating, open your friends list again, and hit the eye icon for the second player you'd like to spectate that is currently in that game.
My newbie friends really want to get into Hearthstone but once they join the ladder they are wrecked by meta decks. Can be done to ease new players into the competitive experience?
We are working to improve our matchmaking to make this a better experience for your friends. (bbrode)
After working on the Warcraft TCG are there things you miss about physical TCG opposed to the digital?
The smell of a freshly cracked card pack. :) (CM_Zeriyah)
Every year there’s a sound design panel at Blizzcon. Can we get the Hearthstone team on the 2015 version? There’s so many great sound effects in this game, to the point where some of the card battlecries have replaced the names for a lot of folks. I’d like to hear what goes into making them.
It's something we like to bounce ideas around over lunch. But it's not something we have in our immediate future. (cataclyst78)
As a player who spents most of his time playing in the Arena, i'd really be interested in wether or not you have any plans on giving constant Arena players more "rewards" sooner or later.
What i'm talking about is something like golden cards, golden heroes, etc. that would work in the Arena. I'd really like to see that , because right now Arena just feels like it's only reward is the gold you get, which you never use if all you play is the Arena
Yeah, that's something we'd like to get working some day. Golden cards in the Arena would be rad. (bbrode)
What about their sound and animation?
Sound and animation come near at end of the process. Sound and animation are all done in-house so there's a ton of collaboration between designers/artists/sound team for these. It's really exciting time because that's when the cards really come to life! (cataclyst78)
Is there a reason why the secret timing were extended? Is it a bug or is it a new design for the secrets.
No, it was a result of some changes we had to make to enable Kezan Mystic to work, and it slipped by us. We plan to fix it in an upcoming patch. (bbrode)
But seriously! That card is now beloved by the community, and it is honestly 80-90% due to the sound design on it.
I'll let the sound team know. They would be so thrilled! (cataclyst78)
Any hints you could give?
Naxx quests? Win 5 games with Deathknight?
We want to encourage players to do things that lead to great Hearthstone experience. :) (cataclyst78)
Were you surprised by player reactions to GvG cards? Maybe a card you thought was awesome that people are ignoring right now, or maybe a card you kind of forgot about (for lack of a better term, I know every card is important to the designer) that everyone is going nuts over?
Yeah, as someone who has been playing with Bolvar for months I was surprised at the number of players who had decided it was only as good as the dust it was made of. ;-) Bolvar is awesome! It's tough to determine how good a card is just by reading it, though. That's why we have a Balance team, and it's also why playing with a new set is so fun! There's so much to learn and try! (bbrode)
I hope this means you're cutting out paper versions and making the animations and noises yourselves. And then some super-executive comes in while you're flying a card through the air making woosh noises and he's all old and stuffy and like "wtf is this all about?" And then you put on sunglasses and say "oh just making the best digital card game in the world."
You joke but we did a lot of paper prototyping earlier in the process! Now we have tools that lets us try out new ideas quick in the game. (cataclyst78)
If you look at the features it tracks cards, like pen and paper.
How can one be sure not to be banned using this BEFOREHAND?
Can you please not just say "stay away from 3-rd party things" because option of tracking cards should be implemented in game.
So here's the low down on this - we can't say that third party software is ok, because that software isn't coming from Blizzard. We can't guarantee its safety, and the last thing we want is some piece of third party software to contain a virus, trojan, or malware that hurts our players. So for everyone's safety, we can't just say "X is ok!" because if it isn't, well...that's not good.
So for safety's sake, we just can't say that third party software in general is ok, regardless of what it does. (CM_Zeriyah)
The obvious question: Where is Hearthstone for Android tablets? I need it to live.
You have no idea how bad we wanted to talk about this during the AMA. (CM_Zeriyah)
Will we see anything similar to the WoW Armory in terms of a collection page that is shareable with friends?
We think this is a great idea! It's something we talk to Battle.net team about. (cataclyst78)
what are the thoughts when considering additional rewards for ladder play? Something tiered between ranks (20-15, 15-10, 10-5) etc.
I think laddering is pretty chill right now (except for ranks 5+), and we like that it doesn't feel so bad to lose games. It's mostly a great way to compare yourself against your friends and other players. (bbrode)
Do you have a lot of expansions and raids planned for hearthstone. I know the WoW team said they had almost 10 years of ideas lined up.
Yes! We have so many ideas we are crazy excited about. (cataclyst78)
GvG added the piloted cards which really take advantage of the digital nature of Hearthstone. What other effects have you considered that really take advantage of Hearthstone's medium?
Any chance of achievements similar to other Blizzard games? I know you have a few but they are mostly hidden. I'd be cool to have achievements like beating Naxx with only basic cards and things of that nature and getting imaginary points for it.
Meaningful and fun achievements are hard to design! But we've been thinking about them. (cataclyst78)
Hi Ben, Yong and Christina. Have you guys taught about running events like the double XP weekends we see in other games? Perhaps something like a Double Dust weekend (100% extra arcane dust from disenchanting).
Keep up the great work.
We are really interested in doing cool/fun events. Like the GvG prerelease arena and the Naxx wing openings. We're continuing to explore more for the future and the focus is on fun surprises. (cataclyst78)
Blizzard Devs: What are you favorite GvG cards? Any GvG cards you wish would have been slightly different?
(Obligatory pester...I'm a phd student in CS in Irvine...can I come visit some time :-) )
Enjoying the expansion (my wallet slightly less so). Happy holidays!
My favorite card right now is Echo of Medivh. Day9 blew my mind with the Echo/Molten Giant combo. I spent all weekend trying to get a variant of it that will get me past Rank 10. So far I haven't found the sweet spot but it's been really fun figuring it out. (cataclyst78)
At Blizzcon, Ben did a whole panel on RNG in Hearthstone, and why it makes the game have a higher skill ceiling/randomness brings out skill.
Lucky moments happen. A lucky RNG coinflip isn't much different than drawing the single out in your deck, in any card game.
Thanks for linking this! It's a good primer on randomness in games. There is lots of design theory out there regarding this topic. I also recommend Richard Garfield's talk on Luck in Games.
In general, the existence of luck in a game doesn't have a direct correlation with the amount of skill in a game. "Bad beats" exist (see: Poker), but those are great stories too. Over the course of 7 game series, many moments exist for players to exercise their incredible skill. Playing to the "out" of winning a lucky flip is still a decision you make, along with the decision you made to play that deck in the first place. (bbrode)
I love Hearthstone puzzles. It's so fun when a good one gets posted here. Is there any chance puzzles could be part of the official game? I would love to have a 'Puzzle a Day' challenge!! (with back catalog, of course)
We love Hearthstone puzzles too! We don't currently have plans to put them into the game, but I would love to see someone in the community pick up the torch and regularly post (weekly?) puzzles. Do eeeet! (cataclyst78)
Blizzard Devs: What are you favorite GvG cards? Any GvG cards you wish would have been slightly different?
(Obligatory pester...I'm a phd student in CS in Irvine...can I come visit some time :-) )
Enjoying the expansion (my wallet slightly less so). Happy holidays!
I've been having a ton of fun with Feign Death lately - I just love seeing what cards I may get from a Shredder, or making a bazillion Baines with Baron Rivendare in play. I call it "The Baine Train".
Were there any GvG cards that were cut from Naxx, and were there any Echoing Ooze type scenarios this time around, where a card had to be reworked after testing unearthed some broken combo?
I don't think so. The cards we cut from Naxx got buried in the crypt.
And yes, almost every card has been reworked at some point - iteration is a big theme for us. :) (bbrode)
Any plans to fix the gryphon? He seems so bored now!
He's so tired! Give the bird a break! (CM_Zeriyah)
Furthermore, how does the Hearthstone team look at games like Dota 2 which have huge markets built around cosmetic / non-gameplay unlockables? Looking at CS:GO weapon skins going for $400+, I totally see how people would be interested in supporting Hearthstone while buying these high end cosmetics (like, for example, Platinum Legendary card art).
Is that an inspiration for Team 5?
We are focused on great player experience first and foremost. If cosmetic unlockables are something that the Hearthstone community would be really excited about, it's something we can look into! (cataclyst78)
How frequent are you guys going to release new expansions and adventures?
Still trying to figure this out. Looking for community feedback on this too. We have a lot of options for the mix of adventures, expansions, and other things, and for the pace of those things. Choosing the right strategy is a big focus for us right now. (bbrode)
Is Blizzard planning to add quick format tournaments like Warcraft 3 had?
If yes, can you give us some more information about it?
If no, is there a chance something like this will happen someday?
We're always looking for new features we can potentially add - there's certainly a backlog of things we could potentially add to Hearthstone. If you'd like to see something like tournament mode in the future, the best thing to do is start talking about it! What kind of features would you like? What would make you excited to play a mode like that?
Start up that conversation and we'll keep an eye out for what you like. (CM_Zeriyah)
Have you considered introducing alternative hero powers?
In WoW warriors have an Arms, Fury and Protection trees - the current warrior hero power seems very Protection oriented.
We feel that 9 heroes already offer enough variety. We are not currently considering adding more hero powers. (cataclyst78)
How much of a pain would it be to increase the character length of card names? "Neptulon the Tidehunter" is just so much more consistent :)
We have to take into account the translation into all languages, too! I think Warlock is Hexxenmeister in German. :) But yeah, heard a lot of feedback on poor old Neptulon - we'll take a look. Bit weird to change a card's name post-launch, though. (bbrode)
I've only really ever seen you guys nerf cards, and from a design perspective I totally get why (Better to nerf a broken card and make obsolete cards good rather than buff an average card and make other cards obsolete) but are there any cards that you have contemplated buffing? Ideally from the classic set/Naxx, seeing as you guys have had more time to observe how those affect things.
It's generally better to add new cards that may give older cards additional face time than buffing old cards. We really don't want to buff and nerf more than necessary. (CM_Zeriyah)
How closely do designers work together when creating new cards? What are brainstorming sessions like?
We sit basically on each others' laps, so collaboration is super easy. Often brainstorming begins in email or excel, and then once we have a direction we like, we hash things out by chatting and shooting ideas back and forth. It's really fun. :) (bbrode)
What's the average workday like in the Hearthstone office?
four hours of playing hearthstone, followed by lunch, followed by four hours of playing hearthstone Kappa (bbrode)
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Thank you to everyone that submitted questions for our AMA! We had a great time answering questions that were on your mind. If you'd like to reach out to us on social media, we can be found here!
Thank you to everyone that submitted questions for our AMA! We had a great time answering questions that were on your mind. If you'd like to reach out to us on social media, we can be found here!
Thanks everyone!! We had a great time! I love working on Hearthstone so much, and interacting with people who share my passion is exhilarating. Hope to do this again soon - feel free to hit me up on Twitter in the meantime (though I can't seem to get to every tweet these days!)
Thank you to everyone that submitted questions for our AMA! We had a great time answering questions that were on your mind. If you'd like to reach out to us on social media, we can be found here!
Thank you so much for joining us! This is my first AMA and time just flew by. Feel free to reach out to us on Twitter. We love it when people share their awesome Hearthstone moments with us.
And since Brode won't do it: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA (cataclyst78)
Where's the fun if they reveal everything u want to know at once? And again why u so pissed off with the android release ..i just dont get it. About everything else im pretty satisfy, to hear that they think about "some cool ideas" to add to the game, but we shall see what the NEW year will bring us :3
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Transcript Complete! The AMA is now over. All questions and answers can be found below. (AMA Source)
"closer to 9 than 20" FullasGames says otherwise :P
This is statement is false.
So many questions so little answers.
Updated with fresh list of posts.
Where's the fun if they reveal everything u want to know at once? And again why u so pissed off with the android release ..i just dont get it. About everything else im pretty satisfy, to hear that they think about "some cool ideas" to add to the game, but we shall see what the NEW year will bring us :3