Kanai's Cube Tool, Boss Mode Conquest Tips
Rexxar Hero Trailer, Weekly Hero Rotation, Upcoming Shop Sales
September 8 Hotfixes, Mobile Authenticator Updated, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Trailer
Design Insights with Ben Brode - The Dark Side of Releasing New Content
The PlayHearthstone Youtube channel uploaded a video of Ben Brode which addresses community feedback on recent content releases and how they affect new and current players. You can check out the video, and a recap of it, below.
Ben has also stated that he wishes to do more of these types of videos in the future, so stay tuned.
Quote from Ben Brode
- They're aware that you need to collect a lot more cards nowadays and that it can be daunting to new players.
- A commitment to players to keep things fresh and exciting which means making more powerful cards to change up the meta.
- More powerful cards doesn't mean every expansion is going to have inflated numbers for reduced mana costs.
- New cards that creep upon old ones can be created when the old ones never saw play, and that's ok.
- Long term game health is very important, they want to see Hearthstone going on forever.
- They're still looking for ways to fix these problems, and community feedback is important.
Card Design Competition - Finalist Voting
This week, on a Special Edition of our Weekly Card Design Competition, the winners of our Class Creation Competition return to enter the Grand Tournament! Will you, like the Twilight's Hammer, call tentacled knights to joust in your honor? Or, like the Merchant, are you only inspired by the tournament's profit potential?
Well, we'll be crowning two champions this week, one from each class, so check out the finalists and vote for your favorites! You can learn more about the two classes, Merchant and Twilight's Hammer by clicking on their portraits below.
Tavern Brawl #13 Decks - Double Deathrattler Battler
This week's Tavern Brawl theme is Double Deathrattler Battle.
Death is not quite the end... because minions with Deathrattle now rattle twice.
If you're looking for some fun community created decks to get that free card pack, or to play throughout the brawl, we've got you covered. Check out a couple of our favourites below and be sure to head on over to the full brawl deck listing to find others. Don't forget you can share your own creations by building your deck in our deckbuilder and setting the deck type to Tavern Brawl.
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That's whack!
Do u work for them?
I love the way that in any discussion about attracting new players, the 'solution' proposed by most players always seems to be "gief moor free stuff!"
No conflict of interest there at all I'm sure...
And I love how you didn't come up with a different solution either(not surprising cause it's hard to find a different solution if the problem is that new players just face a card wall. Cutting some more ads on TV is not going to solve that for sure.).
But given your nick I suppose you are not interested in any kind of constructive discussion anyway...you just do this for your ego. Have a nice day.
And where is your different "solution" and your interest in posting this?
When Blizzard gave out the first wing of Naxxaramas for free, I made two extra accounts to take advantage of this , and gave the accounts to my sister and one of my best friends. Those two players also pre-ordered Blackrock and Grand Tournament.
So yes. Blizzard lost $14 but made $150 they otherwise would not have made. I'd call that a good deal.
So free shit had benefited them.
I did come up with another solution. Clearly you didn't look beyond the first page of comments.
The older the expansion, the cheaper the dust cost / pack cost might solve quite a bit - still fun to collect new exp cards but you are not bothered about "oh no, new exp - and i was so close to finally finish those last 2 gvg legends" for example.
25% off prev. exp.
50% off older ones.
1 free wing of old adventures when new comes out.
There are ways to do it and still be rich and still make the insentive to buy things for real money without totally ruining new player / ftp experience.
Buff cards in the classic & basic set so they become somewhat viable again and this is also creating more room for the devs to create new more powerful cards.
Or make different game modes like a basic card only mode or classic set only mode.
That's exactly what they must NOT do... have you watched the video at all explaining power creep? The "normal" ( no text ) card must stay as it is and once those cards are classified with types ( beast,human,orc ) , then they will most likely see plays. There's no reason to buff a card just because it's not played at the moment.
It was mentioned before, but I really think the solution to this is to have a format for set rotation. Something along these lines...
Whenever a new set comes out, the format rotates. Only the two most recent adventures and three most recent sets (or something like that) are legal, along with starter cards. In addition, some cards are added as new starter cards, perhaps with older starters being removed or placed in the pack that was just rotated out (for instance, Magma Rager wouldn't be a starter card and would be in the classic booster when the next set comes out, with Ice Rager becoming a starter card). In addition, every so often there would be a new "classic set" released, that is purely reprints from current or past sets, ideally as a good starting point for beginners to buy cards from while experts can ignore the packs and stick with buying the new stuff
Each new set then gives players a few free packs to get started, replacing some of the cards rotated out. Ranked play has two options: eternal format, which allows every card printed, or standard format, which is only the more recent sets. Eventually, if the game goes long enough, other formats can be introduced with larger card pools.
I'm in awe with this level of honesty and the way they reach out to the community like this. I hope every other game company out there would start doing this or start realizing how in fact this is almost the most important thing to do as a gaming company.
I understand how the dream would be to "keep the powercreep at bay forever and the game balanced for forever" is the most appealing line of thought.
Power-creep is inevitable. Unless you actually cut cards(bad cards or ban cards) from the set or keep recycling the cards at hand by switching side of the stats over and over. Which is unappealing for veteran players and doesn't matter for the new player, unless it involves getting more cards when you're already behind.
I'm saying this now and as many already knows, the game won't ever be perfectly balanced. Even though it sound weird saying it, a perfect balanced game is and can become unappealing and usually uninteresting for a lot of players. Doesn't have to be a massive difference just a difference small enough to keep the "hunt" going for that new perfect and powerful deck. And how do you balance RNG? You can't, there is always one winner and one loser. I know this sounds gloomy but there are a lot of studies out there for your reading pleasure, go fetch. Why do I say this? Because I believe that balance isn't the problem.
I think the problem now is more about how to obtain the cards and complete the set as a new player. Sure I know it says 'free' on the side of the hearthstone box and streamers like Trump tries to prove it as well over and over. But those kind of people put all the time they got into HS and I bet that more than half, if not more, HS players don't spend that kind of time on the game. So I believe the solution is to find a balance to attract those who spend less time to spend more time. How?
Right now the major dam that's in the way for most players is completing, getting the cards you want or really need. It won't get better with time if the same format holds, it'll only get worse and worse. And the game will become more and more, to use Ben's word, daunting for new players. It's already happening.
Now I believe to never bring up a baleful problem unless you have a suggested solution of some sort. So these are my suggestion:
Classic pack - Half the cost of the packs and half the dust value rounded down(5 > 2). This includes money and gold.
Adventures - 1/3 of the cost per wing when the expansion gets outdated(a year is long enough in any persons life). This includes money and gold.
Quests - Make any type of quest available to play vs A.I if the players wishes so. Some people don't have that average win rate of 1-1. This could encourage more players to spend more time in the game and get's an easier way to farm some early gold. Eventually they will prefer to play against other people anyway, that's just how we humans work.
These are my opinions. Hate it or like it. I just want to say, thank you for reading.
tl;dr: try this - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speakit/pgeolalilifpodheeocdmbhehgnkkbak?hl=en
They should seriously do something to encourage new players.
I wanna see facts (more rewards, nerfs, buffs), not words.
you want facts or actions? I want to see hard stats when they do a nerf or a buff
Allow players to select between two game modes when playing ranked. (1) Mode 1 looks like current gameplay with heroes having 30 health, and (2) Mode 2 heroes have 45 health. Then all the face players can play against each other in mode 1 and the other players can enjoy strategy and thoughtful games in mode 2.
Aggro is a nice limiting factor on control decks. Without a viable aggro metagame, every game would devolve into late game control matches with the same few cards.
I've played plenty of control vs control games and they don't "devolve into late game control matches with the same few cards." And what are face vs face games? Exemplars of diversity?
Notwithstanding, all I'm advocating is giving players a choice. If you like mix and speed of the game you stick with Mode 1. If you want a slower game you can opt for Mode 2.
Soo... When will they release the 'Cataclysm' update that COMPLETELY changes the effects, stats, and costs of all previous cards?
Suddenly, leper gnome is a 1/1 with Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to a random enemy minion.
Now THAT would shake up the game.
All I have to ask Ben Brode is:
This expansion has 132 new cards, why release Evil Heckler and Ice rager instead of:
option A) release 130 cards instead, and include patch notes: Magma Rager is now a 5/2, Booty Bay is now a 4 mana minion.
option B) make 2 interesting cards instead of these boring uninspired ones that are even bad and will never see play anyway
Also, stop being so conservative when making anti-aggro/tempo tools, in Gvg and Blackrock(gang boss) you powercreeped the early game so much that removal like lightning storm, on top of being rng, sometimes improves your opponents board state.
For example shaman's Elemental Destruction didn't need to clear shaman's part of the board, it just makes it a 8 mana 50% chance per minion spell power flamestrike that affects your board. Any non-Malygos shamans rely on minions and board control and they wouldn't run an even better aoe that is hellfire because it hurts your board. I am still sad that you didn't have "balls" to make a control tool lava shock deal 3 dmg, but instead gave a pure aggro card like quick shot 3 dmg with a conditional benefit that aggro classes easily achieve.