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)
You can CRAFT the cards you want. And why would anyone need ALL the cards in an 130-set?
Seriously, some people just can't get enough of free stuff, they want everything served in golden plates and with delicious cherries on top, just because!
The dust system is way, way cheaper for us as players. Trading and buying directly in other games just leads to budget players with inferior decks. In Hearthstone, you get all of the actual good cards at the same price. That's a huge plus that people ignore completely.
The point is CyrodiilChampion that EVERY card game is like that. you open a pack of random cards. even if you get a rare(legendary) it could be something you dont want...like most people who think like you this is probably your first card game ever so the lottery style way of getting cards is new for you, but its like this in games like MTG, yugioh even pokemon! Part of the fun of a card game is supposed to be collecting. And Blizz and other card games have said many times before that not every card in a set is supposed to be competitive.
but hey if you cant beat em..."WTF blizz why do you need money?! give us cards for free or make them really easy to get without money! developers are cheap so quit being greedy!"
I don't get it . Why does Blizzard try so hard to remove the good cards from the game ?
Oh wait !
There is a very good explanation for this : they have to sell new cards . Why bother to come up with interesting new powerful cards when you can simply remove the cards people now use so they will be forced to buy new ones .
you have clearly never played other card games before. if you just keep power creeping cards you eventually get a game like Yu-gi-oh where if a creature doesnt draw a card, destroy a card and summon itself for free its considered unplayable. trust me, you dont want this game like that
Because power creep ? lol...
the reason is so the new cards get play not that hard to understand👻😀🤓🤑
Lol thinking Shatter is good to move into classic. It's not like Execute where it requires something damaged, the Freeze tag is a little harder to implement when needed especially since you're relying on drawing such specific activators. Some of the things Ben says are just straight up....nonsense
I was similarly dubious of that Shatter idea, although I think it's also possible that Ice Lance's de-Classic-ification means that we could see more and better Freeze effects for Mages. I'm sure "There is a 1 mana, 4 damage spell we have to be mindful of" has limited Freeze's design space dramatically.
A card doesn't have to be good to be in the classic set. Shatter fits the theme of what classic cards should be: basic cards with simple effects.
Un-nerf keeper of the grove 😢
I still don't understand the salt of some of you. Maybe I'm just optimistic af but all these changes sound great and I'm talking as a semi free to play player since the beginning.
I agree, a lot of these changes are crap and I believe fully brought on by corporate. The Activision Blizzard merger was one of the worst things to happen to gaming. If any of you play COD, you see how they care less about the fans and more about turning a buck to help the people who own the stock. Put all the sugar you want on it Ben, you're still making your fan base eat a sh*t sandwich so some bankers can make a profit.
Don't mind the downvotes dude .
What you say is true but people just don't want to accept it or are p2w guys that want to feel superior .
dont care about downvotes they are from those mongo kids hahaha 100% with you sadly
Guess its the same ret** who pays 50$ for 50 packs two times a year and make hs do 20M a month for the cheapest game to run and develop from the whole blizzard catalog ^^
However i do agree only when you speak about the problem of price, but the other changes make the game more fresh, its only that it will cost more for a game that is already expensive if you don't want to play h24 and with alf of the possible decks
Why must we wait until 2018 to get the old molten giant into hall of fame? This has been heavily requested by the community. Now they tell us they will do it, but it's going to take 13 months!? Please just delay the update/expansion and get it right.
It will be Dec 2018 along with the last expansion of the year for standard so 22 months not 13.
What? No, the 2018 rotation year will be whatever comes after Year of the Mammoth, so it should kick in around April 2018, around when the year's first expansion comes out.
But I agree with Skorri55, it seems pointless to wait that long. Wild is an environment where they should be a bit more adventurous about balance. Just put Molten Giant in the Hall of Fame and let the old school handlocks have at it. Hell, de-nerf other things as well--give Druids back Force of Nature, let Rogues Blade Flurry to their hearts' content.