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Banter With the Blues Recap
Aratil started up a thread on the official forums this afternoon for forum-goers to ask the community team Blues whatever they wish. We've sorted through the answers and picked out the interesting Hearthstone related ones. If you'd like to check out all the responses, head on over the the topic on the Blue Tracker.
A special shout-out goes to Daxxari and Keganbe, who answered questions but didn't make it into the recap.
Quote from The BluesDo you know when Naxx is coming out, and if so, could you give us a general due date? The wait is killing me!
We are not answering questions on unannounced content. We have announced that Naxxramas will hit sometime this summer, and we're still on track for that. - Zeriyah (Source)Is there a goal rhythm of adventures/expansions the team hopes to get too and if so is there anything you can share about how you hope to handle it.
We are definitely interested in setting a cadence for content rollout so that players can expect new content at regular intervals. However, we are still in the process of determining what that cadence should be. - Aratil (Source)Currently, how comfortable are you all with the game mechanics to card drawing, and charge?
Card draw and Charge are both powerful mechanics that we keep a close eye on, for pretty much the exact reason that you stated. However, with that said, the Hearthstone development team is pretty comfortable with how games are currently being played out. - Aratil (Source)How does the team feel about the current complaints centered around the heavy rush tendency of the current "meta"?
The development team is always on top of the current trends in the meta. The meta is one of those things that is always shifting and changing, and they keep an eye on those trends, and we keep an eye on the player's reaction to those trends. The cards that Naxxramas will introduce will certainly shake things up a bit. Rush is just one archetype that is currently having its day in the spotlight. - Zeriyah (Source)Are there any plans of introducing controlled trading at a point in the future? If not, what are some concerns that would kinda be in the way of introducing trading?
There are no plans for this at this time. - Aratil (Source)How does the hearthstone team actually break down?
I can't answer with an exact breakdown, but the Hearthstone development team (not including support teams), is currently around 30 people. This team includes a team of artists that create new art for Hearthstone. The Hearthstone community team is currently 4 people. - Aratil (Source)Does Blizz ever share backend data? Like, I'm curious how many people are playing at the moment, and how many reach which levels each month. Is that sort of thing shared anywhere?
We do not at the moment. However, we are working on some ideas to make more information visible to the players. - Aratil (Source)That said, Leeroy Jenkins. Is he a problem? My personal opinion is that he does not need a nerf, can you say which way you guys are leaning on this card? Or how about Gadgetzan Auctioneer? Is there a possibility that the current state of these 2 cards can be balanced out by creating new cards rather than nerfing?
Those are both very powerful cards. Our goal at the moment is definitely to see if we can address current player concerns through the introduction of new cards rather than to continuously adjust the existing cards. - Aratil (Source)Are you planning on leaving things as-is before the release of Naxxramas, or doing any rebalancing before Naxx is released?
We are pretty confident that the cards available with Curse of Naxxramas will change things up a lot, so we definitely want to make as few adjustments as possible before Naxxramas is released. - Aratil (Source)Will the top 100 or more ranked players actually be visible in real time ingame or will it stay like this?
That's a feature we've had suggested - it's on our radar. - Zeriyah (Source)There is an infinite reroll bug for dailies that is available to players on NA, but not for players on EU.
Looking into this. - Aratil (Source)Will Blizzard add MORE deck slots for us?
There are no plans to add additional deck slots at this time, but it is something that we continue to discuss. - Aratil (Source)Are classes going to gain additional hero powers over time, or are you set that while new heroes may be implemented, each class will always keep its hero power?
Hearthstone is balanced with the Hero Powers in mind - creating new Hero Powers would be incredibly difficult, and not something we currently have planned. - Zeriyah (Source)This probably falls under can't tell but is their going to be any external play testing of the Naxx expansion or is it going to be entirely internal? As a followup do you have the same stance on Cockatrice as you did before Hearthstone beta went live?
We don't have plans for a public beta of Naxxramas. Our stance on Cockatrice is currently the same. - Zeriyah (Source)
HearthWars Invitational Begins June 23
The recently announced HearthWars invitational will be running their first event on June 23rd, and is going to be featuring 16 of the top Hearthstone players battling it out live on Twitch for their share of the $160 prize pool. The tournament will be featuring players from top Hearthstone teams; TempoStorm, vVv, Meet Your Makers, DKMR, Good Guy, Managrind, and Ferus. Casting talent for the tournament is being provided by Reynad and an unannounced co-host who will be revealed at a later date.
Here at HearthPwn, we will be posting tournament decklists after the event concludes, so make sure you swing by to check them out! We will be reminding everyone about the event closer to it. For more information, check out the thread on our tournaments forum.
HearthWars will be streamed on the HearthWars Twitch channel on June 23rd 2014 at 3 PM PDT / 6 PM EDT / 12 AM CEST.
Hearthside Chat: Hearthstone Deck Building
Hearthstone's Senior Designer, Mike Donais, posted an article on deck building in Hearthstone and what the fundamentals are for building a strong deck. Below we've provided a very simplified version of the article. If you'd like to read it in its entirety, which is recommended, head on over the the blog post.
Deckbuilding, how does it work?
- Focus on a theme
- Have 5-10 early game cards
- Have 5-10 late game cards
- Play mostly minions
- Improve the deck over time
Playing your new deck
- Start with cheap minions
- Spend your mana
- Think twice before making a play
- A clear board is a happy board
- Don't play too many minions
- Card drawing is for late game
- Hero Power (Focus on getting minions out early on, Hero Power later)
- Have fun! [Don't do this, trust us, it's not worth it]
Noxious' Naxx Card Talk: Dark Cultist
Noxious uploaded a video discussing the recently revealed Priest card from the Naxxramas Adventure, Dark Cultist. For a full list of the currently released Naxxramas cards, check them out here.
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This one became a staple, as everyone expected.
Really hoping the set has some answers to the Leeroy BS that most decks are pulling nowadays.
It's good to see so much information inside and outside Naxx. Still sitting on my thumbs excited and hyped!
I've never experienced the reroll bug (tho I have seen it happen to Kripp on his stream). It's very disappointing to me that it hasn't happened to me yet.
A lot of answers with no real information, heh. I guess it's to be expected from Blues when we're this close to getting the first infusion of new cards into the card pool.
I find it a little disappointing to hear have no immediate plans on expanding on hero powers further, there's years of WoWTCG abilities they could pool from for ideas and thousands of folks who would gladly help test balance issues (i.e. Blizzard open beta access hehe). It's not like there's MtG-levels of cards to balance against, or even WoWTCG-levels for that matter.
Boy would I love at least a release date for Naxxramus. Game's getting a bit stale without any sort of expansion. Decks have been set in stone for a while now, and there hasn't been much variation. By the time Nax actually comes out, nobody will be on hearthstone to care.
Play mostly minions.
Don't play too many minions.
Best advice.
You weren't as bad this time around Nox, but it got worse as time went on. That deck you built was absolutely horrible. What's the idea behind that deck exactly since 95% of your minions don't deal any damage. Have a hope and a prayer you pull of the Dark Cultist/Chicken combo or pray that you last long enough to draw 5 dream cards from Ysera? Once Naxx drops everyone will be running all the silences they can, and this deck vastly rely on your opponent not be able to to silence or it gets absolutely ripped apart. And that's just addressing the obvious issue. Other issue is most of minions don't deal damage so your not going to be able to keep up on trades and time your reaching turn 6-8 you will be completely overwhelmed with minions you just can't beat down. You also sacrificed all of the control elements/cards to keep that from happening. Only thing this deck will do well is delay your death. It's mind numbing really...I could keep going on and write a whole page on how bad it is.
On a plus note you mentioned some interesting combos, that's about it.
"We'd like to release new cards to balance the game instead of change old cards." About that... we've been playing six months now with the same "meta" strategies. Every class has about two variations going for it. "Is that zoo or giant warlock?" "Is that a miracle or tempo rogue?" etc. Yawn.
Lock also has kolento but that aside even at 2 a class that's 18 archetypes which is significantly more than any CCGs I've played....mtg is lucky to have 5 on some sets
You're assuming that all classes and archetypes receive equal playtime and representation. This is not the case. Classes in themselves are almost indistinguishable amongst themselves because of the necessity of some cards. You will see Starving Buzzards and UtH combo in pretty much any Hunter deck. You will see Holy Nova and Holy Fire in priest decks, etc. The actual "difference" between decks comes down to a few neutral cards, and people seem to think this is what makes decks unique. It's so trite. People think it's skill when you're calling out what your opponent is going to play -- no, it's a lack of card selection that causes it. There are 13k+ cards in Magic (albeit it's been around for 21 years) and cards aren't limited by class, they're limited by color. That of course isn't limiting at all -- there may be nine classes in Hearthstone vs five colors, but you can play any number of colors you want in Magic. Blue/Black, Black/Green, Black/Red, Black/White... every color is supported by other colors, it's the color wheel philosophy.
What rewards do other online CCGs have? I'm curious, because I play no other online CCGs.
They play three minions, loot horder, agent and gagezon. Kappa
$160 prize pool? Please tell me that's a typo.
Not a typo. The money comes from the buy ins of the players in the tournament. They said in their post the buy in will probably go up later.
naxx is finished since release of hearthstone all the cards bosses are ready but they are waiting for summer so people will be on vacation so people could play it more.but they dont answer any questions it's really annoy me
Looking into. Discussing. Looking into. Discussing.
I'm not sure why anybody bothers to ask questions of the community team.
It feels more like a politician speaking. They always find a way to give an answer that doesn't really mean anything.
I do like that they are not going to change the current cards anymore, even to prepare for Naxx... it seems.