Ben Brode on Lack of Demons, Priests, PTR, and Aggro
What happens when the Overwatch developers give the OW community constant developer interaction? Ben Brode shows up to a complaint thread on reddit to talk! We've recapped his responses to the thread below.
While we're on the subject, do you think we need more developer interaction?
Quote from Ben Brode
- Ben tries to make himself available as much as possible, through Twitter, Twitch, and reddit.
- A Public Test Realm for future Hearthstone content would require revealing all the cards at least a month before release. (Source)
- This is cited as being a major downside.
- Ben doesn't believe that aggro decks are self-piloting. (Source)
Priests
- They're evaluating Priests but are not ready to reveal plans yet. (Source)
- Ben thinks it is possible there are quality Priest decks out there that haven't been discovered. (Source)
Warlocks / Demons
"Quality priest decks that are not discovered yet"
HAHAHAHAHA 4Head HAHAHAHAHA 4Head HAHAHAHAHAHA
Brode on funny stuff again...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! - Ben Brode
Besides Demons, the other tribe that seems to be at the butt of every joke is Pirates. We got a few good pirate cards in WotOG, but to build a deck that revolves around pirates is nay impossible. Why? Because the pirates that do exist either A) Require more pirates B) Require a weapon, or C) Both A and B. They print a card like Skycap'n Kragg that is absolutely useless since you don't have the pirate synergy, and you don't want to fill a deck full of pirates because there's hardly any, and the ones that do exist are not very good. I really hope the next Adventure is Pirate themed and it brings some good pirate cards, like how Blackrock Mountain made Dragons viable.
what are you talking about? pirates are actually viable for the first time. check pirate warrior.
Yeah, wtf man, pirate warrior finished rank 1 legend last season.
HS has the weakest developer interaction in all current Blizzard games. It's so pathetic it ain't even funny.
Ben Brode as a head dev is laziness incarnate.
You must not play Diablo 3 which has near 0 dev interation, which is alot less than HS.
Well actually I do play D3. In D3 at least you get somewhat detailed dev comments for significant changes/nerfs/buffs, etc. D3 devs also show that they are willing to do something to change the meta that has grown to be stale. D3 also has a PTR and balance adjustments are actively made during the test period.
But Hearthstone, we ain't got shit. Balance changes take literally an year to take place, because the devs are in denial of reality and are refusing to address their problems. All we get is a couple videos from Ben Brode where he talks about pointless crap and makes excuses. The players have absolutely zero voice when it comes to balance; everything is decided "internally". We don't even get to test the stuff they release. All they do is force their internally tested (if tested at all...) stuff down our throats make everyone suffer for their incompetence. (If PTR was a thing, Undertaker would never have happened.) Judging from their attitude, it's as if they believe they have the best idea about what they do, while in fact many high-level players are much more knowledgeable when it comes to HS and card games in general.
All these occasional reddit posts and comments are nothing but yet another pathetic excuse. "Quality preist decks that haven't been discovered"... such bullshit. Ben sounds so condescending with his crap, as if he is the all-knowing god that knows all the secrets and the players are the ignorant masses. He doesn't even know what he's talking about.
They just need to balance cards more often. And while they are at it, redo the whole ladder system. They can just copy their other games that have a ladder already, like SC2 or HOTS.
Of course Aggro decks are not self-piloted ! They require a player who plays role of a bot behind the monitor !
Can we talk about the test realm for a sec? Why is such a bad idea? I mean you don´t have to test the new cards that are yet to be release but you can test buffs and nerfs on cards that already exist in the game. I think this is the solution and kinda of a middle ground dont test "new" cards on this test real but the "old" cards change them as you please and see the outcome of it. Its a test realm so nobody expects to see every change made there implemented on the game later.
As part of their philosophy, they don't like buffing or nerfing cards if they can help it, so a PTR would be pointless for that. And as said, they don't want to reveal a bunch of new cards way before they'll be available in-game. There's essentially little to no reason for a PTR.
Yes its part of their philosophy because they would have to refund dust for each card that changes and not to hurt the players "feelings" about spending money or accumulating dust for a very long time for a card that is broken and then its not anymore. That is their logic but if they toss that logic out of the window would a PTR be pointless still?
1) They don't like buffing/nerfing cards if they can help it
2) They don't want to reveal cards from a new expansion all at once before people will be able to play the expansion
Aggro decks are not self-piloting he said after rushing down his opponent in Turn 5.
Does Hearthstone Need More Developer Interaction?
They certainly need some more open communication when it comes to balance changes. Sure, they've got talent for cool and fun ideas though "re-balancing" cards is not something they've done correctly even once.
Instead of communicating back and forward with the community they always change the card, or nerf, it horribly. Backing it up with the usual: "It's not good now, but in a few years it might be so we don't want to change it".
Which is a weird logic to me since they can change cards both ways when ever they wish. I think that state of mind is worse than the: "It'll confuse people" comment. Don't get me started on that.
First card that comes to mind is Warsong Commander. Which is a fine example of: "We don't know what to do so we're just gonna destroy it". Which is not suppose to be ok or accepted by anyone, especially since it's a BASE card as well.
So yeah, I think they've done a really poor job listening to logical suggestions when it comes to stuff like that. That and the: "We don't buff cards" - mentality needs to go. Thinking like that, well, that's how you dig your own grave ladies and gents.
Why not try it, for once(reprint underplayed cards)? Make HS a lot more interesting again by doing so.
Ah well, that's my opinion and as we ALL can see from Overwatch example. It's working out really well.