Iksar Explains why no Keyword Exists for "Can't be Targeted by Spells or Hero Powers"
Referred to as Elusive unofficially by many community members, this block of card text is a subject that's been brought up in the past and recently hit the front page of reddit again.
- There's now 10 collectible cards in the game with the exact effect or a variation on it.
- This year we've seen 5 cards added to the game with the effect, and an entire keyword that can add it to cards (Adapt).
- Interestingly, a change to a single word could make Deathstalker Rexxar's hero power change as it's shorter text.
Noteworthy historical blue mentions on the card text.
- 2014: Ben Brode stated the team had discussed Shroud, Untargetable, and Ethereal as potential keywords. (Source)
- 2014: Yong Woo stated when they have enough cards with the same effect they may turn it into a keyword. (Source)
Now, here's what Iksar is saying today.
- There isn't a great word for the effect that clues you in to what it does.
- Trying out Elusive or Ethereal ending up being more misleading than helpful.
- The effect isn't going to be used on many cards in the future as having too many of these minions decreases the ability to interact with an opponent.
Blue Posts
Quote from IksarWe've talked about this before but opted to spell it out. A keyword is essentially something we ask you to read and understand, so in the future you can look at a card and quickly understand what it does without having to parse through a bunch of text. Sometimes when we can use the right word, you already have a pretty good idea of what a keyword does without reading the description. Divine Shield does a pretty good job of this. People on the team have different opinions on this subject, but one of the reasons not to keyword it is that there isn't a great word for 'can't be targeted by spells or hero powers' that would clue you in to what it does. It's sort of a strange concept to begin with that something can be targeted by a battlecry or an attack but not by a spell. When we used something like 'elusive' or 'ethereal' or various other words I think it ended up being more misleading rather than increasing the ability to understand it quickly, which is counter to the point of making a keyword in the first place. Lastly, this isn't a concept we plan on using on many cards in the future. It's cool to have one-offs like Shimmering Courser or Soggoth but having too many of these types of minions greatly decreases your ability to interact with your opponent. (Source)
Or, and this is a long shot, but what if a keyword was a descriptive-enough single word that defined itself when you hovered over it.
We often state, then restate, then restate this again.... but trying to keep the game easy to pick up and grasp does not also equal a belief that the playerbase lacks intelligence. It's very rare that one particular thing is so complicated that no one will understand it, it's more that in order to protect against a death by a thousand cuts we have to stay vigilant when accessing all decisions (no matter how minor) to make sure that by adding an increase in complexity we are getting something valuable in return. (Source)
It's a free to play game with a really large audience. Try not to take personal offense.
So, when you read "inspire" it is obvious what the effect is about, right?
I think they got smarter over the years.
I do not agree with Blizzard here but maybe we can’t compare decisions anno 2017 with The Grand Tournament.
Eh, the idea that just because MTG uses a keyword, that means it is easy to understand is silly imo. MTG uses tons of keywords and I don't remember the effect of a lot of them
Misleading LOL... Shroud keyword is used more then 10 years in MTG game
...except it works completely differently in Hearthstone than in MTG...but hey, let's not let facts get in the way of our arguments, right?
The reason for not keywording this is pretty clear...I mean...they spell it our right there in the text. My guess as to why people here in the comments are still arguing for it suggests they either didn't even read it or didn't get it so let me repeat: " It's sort of a strange concept to begin with that something can be targeted by a battlecry or an attack but not by a spell." . There's a big damn difference between being untargetable and being untargetable ONLY by spells or hero powers. Not only does Shroud in Magic often have reminder text right there on the card - so there's no need to mouse over shit like there is in HS...and remember, HS isn't just a PC game, reading this shit on your phone can be a bitch - but Magic's Shroud does not affect hero powers (cause there aren't any) but affects ALL targeted abilities (also, they don't print Shroud anymore but that's beside the point). It doesn't work the same in Hearthstone. Battlecries work just fine and using the Shroud keyword would obfuscate that.
Now say you're a multi-gamer. You play Magic, Hearthstone, Shadowverse, Duelyst, what have you. All of the games keyword their abilities, but generally there is a good deal of overlap. Now imagine that Taunt worked in blocking all minions in Hearthstone but Ward did not work on Stealthed minions or Storm minions in Shadowverse. Since it's not spelled out on the card but is keyworded, you'd miss that shit ALL THE TIME when switching between games. If that lack of correspondence in mechanics happens often enough, it becomes pretty fucking frustrating to multi-game, as anyone playing multiple MOBAs or ARPGs would tell you. Having overlap among keywords is good as long as they work the same way. Even a slight bit of difference and the fact that you don't spell out the text makes gameplay worse. Also don't see why there's even an argument, seeing as the keyword wouldn't even appear on any cards that see play.
>Too many of those cards decreases the ability to interact with an opponent
>Prints Ice Block and a shitton of freeze effects
>ok Blizz, whatever you say.
The big difference here being one is class flavor and not being given to everyone.
A deck that's not interacting is frustrating to play against, and it doesn't matter if it's due to 'class flavor' or a card text.
there is no excuse to print dumb cards. and being unfun and un interactive to play against is a theme that both priest and mage have.
i still don't understand why did the give priest another late game board clear, and a guarenteed one, that counters the last archtype that was good against priest, combo decks.
Now i know they think most people are that stupid that they wouldn't udnerstand, but when you hover over a card and if it has a KEYWORD then the game literally has a function built in to immidietly explain in a box that pops up what that means. So, no there is no excuse for it i'm sorry.
Just call it "shrouded"
Like in MTG.
Isn't hexproof?
no it's shroud...hexproof you can target your own stuff
No hexproof works only on your opponent, shroud also affects you
Shimmering Courser has hexproof
Faerie Dragon has shroud
So difficult to find a keyword, eh?
Blizz can't just steal keywords from MTG, lmao
But Shroud and this effect are very different. It would actually be more confusing to give it a name of a different mechanic.
Shroud makes the permanent completely impossible to target. The thing we have in Hearthstone can be targeted. Just not by spells or hero powers.
But I do agree: Just keyword it and call it whatever.
I had to read this twice. MTG has battle cry but it means something akin to "triggered effect when attacking"
I believe MTG still uses "when X enters the battlefield"