Hearthpwn

Quote from Mambazo12 >>

Hi Ben!

Appreciate you taking the time out to talk to folks! I quite like Diamond Cards, but I see lots of avenues for which you could make them cooler. I think the thing that would make them the most exciting is seeing them have *more* opportunities to interact with the board. Not in a gameplay sense, but one of the coolest things Legends of Runeterra does is that minions will frequently have little conversations and interactions with each other based on which minions you play. More audio cues for them to react to seems like a really easy way to make them seem like an even bigger deal.

For instance,  perhaps Diamond Commander Sivara might have extra lines of dialog whenever you play Queen Azshara or whenever Spitelash Siren's effect goes off.

On that note please add Diamond Azshara to Standard, it's so not fair that only Mercenaries players get to have her!

Yeah, I like that idea. I've seen a few people bring up having extra audio cues with diamonds in play and I'll definitely bring it up to see what the rest of the team thinks about it.

The intention is there to have diamonds shared across modes where applicable. I can't say when or that it will happen 100%, but know that this is something I care strongly about and will push for

Quote from tbranson1 >>

Dear Primordial One,

     I appreciate your interest on what the community thinks about diamond cards. I think interacting with the player base like this is a good idea and reinforces opposition to the popular belief that you guys don't actually care about our experience in-game.

     As mentioned by people in this thread before me, I think the concept is strong, but the representation of that concept is rather lacking. There's nothing that makes owning a diamond card feel really special or fulfilling.

     Something that golden legendary cards bring to the table is that the art becomes animated and takes an already spectacular art style and gives it the extra sha-bang! On top of this, they have the ability to be disenchanted if you don't want them.

     The problem is that diamond cards do literally the exact same thing. The art becomes animated outside of the frame and you add the diamond studs to the dragon border. A diamond copy just seems like the golden copy with extra steps. 

     Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have the best solution to preventing the diamond copy from feeling empty. I think finding a way to craft them would make that problem go away though. I have a ton of achievement points stacked up that could be put to good use if I could use them to upgrade my favorite legendary to diamond status. It would inspire players to complete more achievements and give a purpose to a seemingly useless feature to the game. Other than that, my only other idea would be making the diamond or gold cards given free by Blizzard the ability to be disenchantable. Bru'Kan didn't end up being used as often as I thought he would, so I don't need his diamond version, the regular would suit my burn shaman deck just fine since I don't play it that often. Being able to pick and choose the legendary you want to be diamond would also make it feel more special.

     If members of the community agree, you should like this post/comment or reply on your own thoughts. This is your time for Team 5 to hear what you want to say, so don't pass up this opportunity. Thank you for your time.

 Thanks for the reply! 
The golden team is full of really talented artists who have been making them for years so it's definitely challenging to see their excellent work and try to make something that is even more exciting.
It's a tricky balancing act between too much going on and not enough, but I think we're getting better about figuring out what works and looks good.
It does seem like people would be really excited about receiving diamonds based off achievements and I think that's a fun way to give us a sense of accomplishment when you finally get that diamond. I'll definitely send that feedback to our team.

Quote from imik >>

Hey Ben,

It's really amazing that you are on our forums and you're trying to communicate with the community on another level like non-other devs from Team 5 do.

For the diamond cards, there are certain bugs that would be nice to fix https://imgur.com/VFi228P - there are some weird particles for a few milliseconds after you click on Ragnaros in the collection manager, this bug appears a lot as well (misaligned art) - https://imgur.com/UJnngCj (usually only appears in the collection manager, I believe the part on the left is from Diamond Samuro).

For some reason, I don't like the shape of the cards, I feel like the rectangular shape of the normal/golden cards looks better. https://imgur.com/EEjv0Iu Also the sword for the "attack" doesn't pop up to me that much as normal/golden cards do, maybe making it into gold or a different contrast color would help.

I'd also like to see legendary cards from older sets with some kind of event where some of those older iconic legendary cards would get a buff - like Rafaam to 7 mana, reward costs 8 mana, or something along these lines (+ make the buffed legendary a diamond card).

Also, please make Diamond Hero Powers + hero trays for 2K wins, I'd love that (also Benedictus could use a diamond hero power while you're at it). :P

I'd also love to see some kind of plant/nature-based animations on these diamond cards.

Anyways, that's all I have in mind about Diamond cards. :)
Thanks again.

 Thanks for the feedback and for finding those bugs! SMALL INDIE COMPANY!! *shakes fist at sky*
haha. jokes aside, that is very helpful because making a game takes a village and there is always something somewhere that breaks for inexplicable reasons.

Diamond hero power sounds interesting. Don't really know what that would look like but it's worth bringing the idea back to the team!

Quote from Hylung >>

Personally I think that the frames around diamonds (and goldens too a lesser extent) are just a little *too* gaudy. Like, and specifically diamond in constructed, the frames honestly look kinda not great to me personally. The way the mercenary frames and cards are done look significantly better. Also not a super big fan of how big diamond cards look in the collection compared to regular cards. They stand out, but not in a good way, they just look like they don't belong.

In terms of the actual card art tho they look great! I do think sometimes that smaller/less movement is better tho. Unless maybe that's the point, but the Diamond Valeera in mercs' movement looks kinda off to me. Jandice's too (but I understand that it's harder to make diamond art for older cards because the art wasn't made with the diamond idea in mind like I remember seeing a dev mention is the case for one that are for recent cards or new art.)

 thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, the first few waves of diamonds were a bit trickier because we were working off of existing art without the diamond team having a say in how they were painted. We've taken steps to have a much more collaborative process moving forward where we can make sure the art and animation ideas work best for a diamond before the art is even started. The end result is much more exciting IMO and opens up other cool possibilities as well such as pose alterations/additions that make it stand out even more from the normal/golden versions

I do have a crazy idea for them.

Playing a VIDEO in the card window, not saying you need to make a new video for them, the effort would be insane for the effect.

But you could play a WOW video that already exists inside the card frame. Maybe not all the time and maybe at random time intervals in the video and play for a few minute before resetting?

Just an idea anyway

Is there any way Diamond cards could be upgraded with dust, similar to golden cards? I missed the Barrens reward track, so I’m forever missing Diamond Samuro. It would be nice to have some method to pick it up.

What about diamond attacks of minions, maybe a card or a tribe gets an animation when they attack an enemy?

The only thing I really want to see is diamond hero cards. Something really commanding my attention like Diamond Hagatha and her swamp oozing out of her portrait or the feral rage flying out of Zul'jin. And it would also be nice to get more class variety. Give classes other than mage a chance to have the super shiny cards. 

I think reddit post a few times of this topic, when searching for "card style", "card border" etc

Here is one style I like, so the card can show more art about the card.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mc315l/my_take_on_the_diamond_card_design/

Here is another one, the card expand outside the ellipse card portrait.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/njcq5n/hey_devs_instead_of_diamond_cards_could_you_just/

Quote from Drlol >>

What about diamond attacks of minions, maybe a card or a tribe gets an animation when they attack an enemy?

 I really like the idea of diamond cards having specialized animations that are flavorful, unique, and appropriate to the effect the card is known for.

For an idea, I imagine bru’kan actually popping out of the card art and storm-striking the enemy with his axes with a cool lightning effect when he attacks, in place of the standard card attack animation that uses the (boring) wind-up-and-smack effect.

Or, since he’s clearly a spell damage minion, it might be more appropriate if when you play damage dealing nature spells while he’s out, maybe the battleground has a stormy effect that lingers for a few seconds. Or, special card emotes that trigger when certain spells are played as he “calls on the elements” would really enrich the experience.

Diamonds are cool looking but since there are so few of them they don't really feel special to me. When I see an opponent play one I'm like "yeah it's that one". That's why I value golden cards higher. Adding more of them and making them harder to get than just buying a bundle would be nice, they should be rare imo. Also wish more iconic cards got diamond versions, like ones from the CORE set, seems diamonds are mostly there to promote new expansions atm.

I love what you did with Loatheb though, didn't expect old-school cards to get such love. Hopefully there's gonna be more like that!

I personally feel like the creation of diamond cards also may have resulted in the dumbing down of the animations in the normal golden legendries. 

Honestly the more animation in the diamond cards the better imo stuff like sir finley where he is constantly animated is my favorite. 

I would love if there were a lot more diamond cards just so people could make more of their deck max rarity although I'm sure the time it takes to create those. 

Honestly anything could become diamond variant; creature, hero, spell, weapon, etc. Add the diamond boarder some animation when able maybe a custom visual effect in the case for spells. 

site mods falling for fake devs lol..../facepalm

this guy must be loling  his ass off at you

Quote from Chaossaur >>

I do have a crazy idea for them.

 

Playing a VIDEO in the card window, not saying you need to make a new video for them, the effort would be insane for the effect.

 

But you could play a WOW video that already exists inside the card frame. Maybe not all the time and maybe at random time intervals in the video and play for a few minute before resetting?

Just an idea anyway

 That was one of the first things I tried with these. Unfortunately playing a video is extremely costly performance wise and would slow down the game too much. 

IMO I like golden cards much more. The way diamond cards take bigger place on the board has an unnatural feeling to it and looks out of place. Had they been the same size as other minion, they probably would be ok. But even then, the art on original cards is often better, for example take Lothaeb. Diamond version is a mess compared to golden.

Please fix the game first and then worry about cosmetics.

I'm not super hot on diamond cards personally. Part of the appeal of golden cards is not just that they are animated, they also feel classy -- just enough animation to be cool but not so much it feels off. Colors pop out more, and the card's theme is more emphasized.

I think the best diamond card by far is Loatheb. It properly represents the theme and is more understated than other diamonds. Finley and Bru'kan are also decent. A big issue I have is how over-animated some of them are like Varian, Korrak, or Vanndar. Slow down or tone down the motion speed and I think they would work better. Give them a more unique visual than just motion.

Right now it just feels kind of gimmicky. Between its golden or diamond version I will go golden every time aside from Loatheb.

So after diablo immoral your looking for new ways to get money?

Unlock a diamond portrait when playing a class over 2000 wins,

OR

Have each portrait have their own level! The total wins still count for the class total, but you could unlock golden/diamond version s of newer portraits this way.

--

As for the diamond styles,
The death animation of diamond cards should be a glass-shattering type of effect.

Storywise, there have been GOOD and EVIL classes featuring Galakrond, the league of explorers, horde/alliance and doctor booms league. What is only good classes got diamond cards and evil classes got obsidian black cards? This would require a fundament in storytelling, but man would that be great!