Disclaimer: Blizzard has not publicly stated anything about this test realm.
A Wild Hearthstone Test Realm Has Appeared
Part of our day involves watching what Blizzard is up to with their games and we've discovered a push to the Battle.net client this evening which contains encrypted data for a Hearthstone Test Client. This could indicate a couple of things.
- Hearthstone could be getting a Public Test Realm.
- They are currently just testing out the new expansion.
Public Test Realms
If you weren't aware, Blizzard makes use of Public Test Realms (PTR) in all of their other game titles. This lets players test out upcoming game content before it comes to the live servers so they can help the team track down bugs and make sure the end product that is pushed out is awesome.
Ben Brode recently has gone on the record and stated that a PTR isn't just a positive, but also has downsides.
Quote from Ben BrodeThere are real downsides to a PTR. Because we ship on so many platforms, it would take at least a month of cards being fully spoiled before they release.
Not Just Expansions
Keep in mind that a Public Test Realm may not necessarily include upcoming expansions. One could also be used for:
- Testing bug patches before they go live.
- Making systems tweaks.
- Card Balance.
Seeing how the recent patch introduced a lot of bugs to the game, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Hearthstone team taking future game patches more seriously and giving them a round of quality assurance with the community's help!
It's ridiculous to think that only competitive aspects need to or can be balanced. It's really narrow minded to think that top 100 legend deck balance is the only issue in Hearthstone.
There are several interwoven aspects of the game that need to be fix both for casuals and for pros alike. There are also dozens of issues that apply to one of those target audiences only. Ladder, matchmaking, bugfixes, learning curve, informativeness, tutorials, mobile device interface, casual mode, accessibility for the disabled... these are all real issues that should and could be given some thought and might somehow be addressed during the PTR test phase (and could also rely on feedback from the non-legend part of the playerbase).
Hearthstone problems do not revolve solely around a 4 mana 7/7 and rolling Doomsayers out of Piloted Shredders.
PS: @Praise_YoggSaron, I don't know what game of Hearthstone you're playing, but for the rest, the casual players' time and money investment is what keeps the game even remotely afloat. It's highly unlikely Blizzard would invest a dime in the game if the only ones interested in playing were top 1000 legend players alone. Not really a good business model to have a target player base of ten hundred people.
Yes because the only opinions that matter are from people with nothing better to do than grind hearthstone for 2+ straight weeks a month. /obvioussarcasm
would really appreciate to be part of the PTR...
PTR would be great , BUT it should only accept some people, and wherever content is posted, it should have the "BEWARE OF SPOILERS" button.
No need for a PTR. I want the surprise of new cards :D
Is there really a need for a PTR?
I feel very torn on a test realm for hearthstone; back when I played League of Legends, all the surprise in new stuff was spoiled by it getting released a month early in the PBE, so everything already felt like old news by the time we could play with it.
IF they do something like a ptr, then please after 1 month of card release for like 1 week. I mean the funny part in hearthstone is this easter egg hunting cards and not actually playing it xD
Oh god, who cares about spoiling cards? Let's deal with card balance first please. PTR needs to be implemented immediately.
pls. ptr never balanced anything. just look at lol. EVERY new champ and rework needs to be nerfed a week later cause too small testing group on ptr never finds stuff that developers didnt catch themself. with card its even worse seeing how mtg needs bans and restict lists cause creators cant think off every interaction with every card printed in previous sets to create op decks.
I don't know about you guys, but I am glad there's someone suffering against the new Priest 3-mana 7/7.
Because we won't have to go throught all the suffering to see it nerfed.
Given how buggy the last few patches have been, a PTR could be worthwhile even without testing new cards.
Will they actually listen to us when we tell them something is overpowered?
i just need a new content, a new adventure, a fresh ideas... anything new... please :)
Hopefully this means that we can see a lot more nerfs and buffs of cards, just doing a bunch of this can spice up the meta in a brilliant way.
Reliquary Seeker is balanced.