Year of the Mammoth Clarifications Roundup
We've gone through recent posts from the Hearthstone team which help clarify some stuff about the Year of the Mammoth.
- The team is considering unnerfing Molten Giant and putting it in the Hall of Fame set for the 2018 rotation.
- Ben Brode thinks Shatter would make a great Classic card one day.
- No extra cards being added to the Classic set for classes which are losing a card. That isn't set in stone.
- Cards in all the expansions this year will only come from card packs. The missions that come with expansions do not reward cards.
- Missions in expansions do not require payment.
- There are no current plans to make Wild cards available in the shop.
- Druid of the Claw's wording has been updated and will be available in a future patch.
- Yong Woo stated they're thinking of adding a profile page with a player's favorite decks and cards.
Quote from BlizzardCould you please unnerf Molten and put it in Hall of Fame?
We're considering it for the next rotation. (Ben Brode)
I was talking about the one in 2018, sorry for the confusion. You can take your upvotes back. (Ben Brode)Thanks for clarification. Whilst you are available, what is the end goal of Hall of Fame? Will cards being removed from standard-classic possibly be replaced with interesting but weak cards from other wild sets?
Definitely possible. As an example, I think Shatter might make a great Classic card someday. (Ben Brode)
Why do Blizzard put so much care into "returning" players as opposed to their "currently" playing customers
Time and again one of their go to excuses why something cant be done is because of returning players but if they have left they should no longer be the consideration if they ever return anyway
On top of that I feel Blizzard may be missing one part of why players leave which is waning interest in the current game design
Should a developers interest not be in keeping their current customer happy not a customer that may never come back?Often I give several reasons for doing something or not doing something. Sometimes we think about our returning players. But I don't think we've ever made a decision at the expense of current players exclusively because of returning players. People see that one bullet point and assume that's the whole reason.
Part of the reason to keep them in mind is that it helps us find solutions that are good for everyone. If we never think about new and returning players, we miss opportunities to make the game better for them at the same time we are making the game better for current players.
We just take them into account. (Ben Brode)
Maybe not related to 'returning' players, but things like not changing inconsistencies (i.e. Druid of the Claw transformation) because of 'new player experience' do happen.
Inconsistencies are generally understood by the engaged playerbase. Players know Wild Growth gives an extra card at 10 mana, for example.
Inconsistency is worse for players seeing cards for the first time, usually. But you're right, card wording is almost entirely the domain of new players. Experienced players know what a card does just from looking at the art.
Either way, Druid of the Claw's wording has been updated. You'll see the change in a patch later this year. (Ben Brode)
So Hall of Fame cards will disappear from packs?
That is correct. Hall of Fame cards will no longer appear in packs when Hall of Fame is live. (Zeriyah)
So Jesse, does this announcement mean that there will be NO more Single Player Adventures in Hearthstone except for the "optional single-player missions that will help develop the expansions’ thematic narratives"?
As announced, there will not be any new Adventures for Hearthstone this year. I think you will find the new single player missions to be equally enjoyable though! (Aratil)
I'm excited for this news, but I have a big question. Maybe I missed it in the announcements, but will Blizzard be keeping to the old model that Wild Adventures and cards are no longer purchasable through the store?
There are no plans to change that at this time. (Aratil)
Can you explain what you mean by the new design for the expansion? It sounds like to me its the regular single player story modes but this time each wing will be free?
In the new expansion design, you will acquire cards through packs - just as we have in the past. Additionally, there will be free thematic missions to help tell the story and lore of the expansion! (Molly)
Is hearthstone going to replace the phased out classic cards with new ones? Or will these classes have 5 commons instead of 6 now?
for now, it'll be less cards for those classes. But we could change that some day (Ben Brode)
Do you have any plans to provide statstics or game records through official means?
We are thinking of adding a profile page that might have something like a player's favorite decks and cards, but it's not something that we'll add soon. (Yong Woo)
Will the solo adventures still be playable after the set turns to wild ?
-asking the real question here-
Because those adventures are bought adventures :)
These will be free, linked to expansion, so I think it could be possible that if the set goes into wild the adventure will 'disappear'.
But I dont know for sure :)
I didn't get what Ben Brode meant with card text inconsistency.
You just confirm inconsistencies and fix them along with update patches. This helps new players and won't confuse experienced players who just don't look at the texts.
It's a company that always feels "technically challenged" even editing texts on digital cards.
Remember how hard for them to let us have 9->18 decks? They had to wait til they got the alien technology...
Guys i know that you "try to stay positive. But every next addon set more shitty than previos. just open collection and try to analize it
I stopped play after few days of golem/pirate set has been released. Really cant enjoy that shit. Wont play game that only force me rage.
A couple of week i return but i PLAY ONLY WILD NOW. Wild full of tactics and cool deck u may check it. after ben move few of my most loved cards into wild i have no chance to return into piratestone. But i have few suggestions for game design:
1. unnerf cards u currently destroy such as "force of nature" + charge, "worgen"+charge, warsong commander and more.
in the WILD BEN PLS. U CAN STILL PLAY IN IDIOTIC JADE/PIRATE meta bu let people play in the wild wharether they want
2. dont allow pirate/jade players join into wild. they have their only ladder and i happy they degrade. But pls i want to enjoy the game so let me play without Patches the Pirate
I have mixed feelings about the changes. I suppose I'll reserve judgement until the first expansion is released, and see what shakes out. I does look like it will cost more money for a "complete collection" (all the competitive/meta cards). We will just have to see if all this new "design space" they're making with these changes will equal more interesting cards and new mechanics. I am going to miss Ragnaros in standard though...
Keeping in mind they are more politicians than game designers (just get a job in a large company and see bureaucracy in motion).
I feel that the most money is made at rank 20, that is why they did not want to dilute it by having rank 15 you cannot go down from. They are listening to people...
Zoo deck has no legendaries and atm the only warrior legendary is patches. As long as you know what you are doing, you can get some cards, but to be competitive in few million player's pool you better be prepared to pay some cash.
Now just keep cool, do not play just because the game is unfair, but have fun and learn, that was my mistake. I can guarantee that by visiting this site and few youtube channels will increase your win-rate more than any card. Now, having enough free time is another matter altogether...
Crafting all the goldens is going to consume all the dust.
Meh golden Warlock cards are okay to me
What a bunch of lying hypocrites. They keep using "returning players" or "new players" as justification for their inaction on one hand but then they do something like remove adventures and classic cards. Those are the players that would get hit the hardest with those changes. The Whale has no problems since they'll just drop real money into the game until they get what they want and the hardcore player already has a strong foundation for each expansion with gold and dust saved up.
When a new player joined the game they bought classic packs and adventures to get "caught up". Returning players focus on the adventures as well since they at least have a foundation from Classic cards. Now instead of a strong Classic set to prop them up and adventures to get reliably strong cards they can...? Spend real money to get 60 packs just to get a bunch of filler cards and a shitty legendary that doesn't see play?
Wow, that's such a great 'Welcome'!
If you ask me with these changes I feel they should increase the dust return on cards to make the grind for buying packs a little more rewarding......40 dust for most packs is a joke honestly.....we should at least be able to craft a single card off a dusted pack of filler....
Now are the Winter Prelims, then the nerfs will hit March 1 and around then the new Expansion will be revealed
Over the course of March more and more Cards will be revealed
So End of March or early April the Rotation and new Expansion will hit
The expansion last year didn't arrive until early May. I think late April is as much as we can hope for.
"Either way, Druid of the Claw's wording has been updated. You'll see the change in a patch later this year."
Finally! I know it a small thing but it the small things that allows them to make new cards while keeping the mechanic, so that when returning players come back they know what to expect based on the original mechanic designs. It was needed based on what happened when you buffed that card.
Maybe not a popular thought but I would love it if they replace Sylvanas and Rag with Reno Jackson and Sir Finley.
i seriously dont understand why people are complaining. we are getting 3 expansions with adventure flavored quests that give gold and dust! how is that not great?? i get that its harder to get the all the cards from an expansion but thats how ALL card games work...you get packs, if you dont get what you want you get more packs. some people wont be happy until blizz gives everyone everything free
just have to stop complaining buy or unlock the cards!!! At the end of the day have to support blizzard so they can keep HS running it is a business too many kids forget that, you can always go play magic💩
well to answer your question CyrodiilChampion"Which one is better?" i would still say some cards from the expansion. you say "ALL cards" as if a 40 card adventure is anywhere close to 130 card expansion. The fact that you say a significantly smaller card pool rotation is better because you cant have all the cards is selfish
Welcome to every collectible card game ever.