Year of the Mammoth Clarifications Roundup and Recent Blue Posts

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 Blizzard

Could 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)

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