Ben Thompson and Ben Brode Twitter Q&A
During Gamescom, Ben Brode and Ben Thompson both answered community questions on Twitter via video. We've transcribed all their responses and summarized their answers down below for you.
- The mouse seen in some official art is named Sarge. He is the best friend of the Innkeeper, Harth Stonebrew.
- No plans right now to do the same treatment Death Knights received for Monk and Demon Hunter.
- RNG cards can actually add skill to the game and aren't just there to make things fun.
- Reducing the top-end grind for ladder and giving players stuck at low levels at progression are the immediate goals the new ladder system needs to achieve.
- Mechanics they like will be brought back. Giving others their own time to shine is important though.
- Concerned about Druid? Brode wants you to check out Dean Ayala's post.
We've got some fluffy responses too!
- Brode's favourite card from Frozen Throne is Deathstalker Rexxar.
- Thompson's favourite is Valeera the Hollow
- Brode has been using Meat Wagon alongside Validated Doomsayer and Devilsaur Egg.
- Both Bens love the Archmage Antonidas card art (and artist - Wayne Reynolds).
Quote from @PlayHearthstoneWhich card is your favourite card in #FrozenThrone?
Ben Thompson: Mine personally would be Valeera the Hollow, mostly from the conceptual side of what does a Death Knight Rogue look like. A rogue that is permanently a part of Shadow sounds like an awesome visual to me and the artist did an amazing job.
Ben Brode: Speaking of an awesome visual, Deathstalker Rexxar, owning the board, stitching together a horrifying beast, that's my favourite card in the set.
BT: And most animated. (Source)
That cute mouse in the [Frozen Throne] trailer, I've also seen it on [Mean Streets of Gadgetzan] artwork. Is there a story behind it? Does it have a name?
BT: That mouse in the trailer is actually Sarge. The best friend of Hearth Stonebrew, the Innkeeper of the tavern. He has in fact shown up in key art from previous expansions as you mentioned from Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, and even in some of the early art for the game. Keep an eye out as I'm sure he'll show up again.
BB: Especially if you leave cheese out. (Source)
Are there any plans to incorporate Monk and Demon Hunter classes in a similar fashion to Death Knights in the future?
BT: We were actually really happy to be able to find a home for Death Knights in the form of the new hero cards with Knights of the Frozen Throne. That said, at this point in time there is no plans to do this again for a different class in the future. Who knows what the future holds however. (Source)
Hi Ben, what do you think of the design of RNG cards? Do you agree that RNG cards make HS more fun to watch but less competitive?
BB/BT: Hi Garrosh.
BT: Actually, on the Hearthstone team we do believe RNG cards make Hearthstone more fun to play.
BB: Yeah and it has an interesting relationship with skill. A lot of the random cards generate new cards that you didn't put into your deck. That can often create novel scenarios - brand new that you haven't had to deal with before and the best players at Hearthstone are the best at adapting to those brand new situations quickly and finding the right answer. So, in that way, it can actually add skill to the game. (Source)
Frozen Throne is cool guys! Get it? Ok but how about a quick update on ladder changes please? Thanks!
BB: We are hard at work on changes to the ladder. I'm very excited about them. I think there's a couple of big opportunities to make things better. One is to reduce the amount of grind for top level players. Two, adding a bit of progression for players that are stuck at the very bottom of the ladder. And three is increasing the winrate for brand new players and making the new player experience better - that I think will have to come later since we're focused on the first two things right now, but we're excited. (Source)
What is one card you wish saw more play on ladder or what is the card that players haven't figured out how to use properly?
BB: I feel like maybe players haven't figured out Meat Wagon yet. It is super fun and can be very powerful. I've been playing it with Validated Doomsayer and Devilsaur Egg which because they have 0-attack they come out via the Meat Wagon and it might be powerful.
BT: Seems good. Seems good. (Source)
You always introduce new cool mechanics, but never bring them back - Will we see more hero and lifesteal cards in upcoming expansions?
BT: That's not exactly true, we have actually brought back mechanics from the past. If you look at something like Deathrattle that featured in the Classic set and also Curse of Naxxramas, now its showing up again for Knights of the Frozen Throne.
BB: As far as Death Knights and lifesteal, we don't want to talk too much about the future just yet, but generally we do bring stuff back if we like it - we'll explore it again. We do want to give other mechanics time to shine. We're very excited about other new ideas we have. (Source)
So I think that we all agree that Druid is too strong. Do you have any plans for any nerfs so that we don't get smashed each game?
BB: I think Druid is very strong but Knights of the Frozen Throne is only two weeks old. We're going to monitor the situation, and that doesn't mean just do nothing, we're actually looking at winrates and seeing what comes up. Ideally, decks take advantage of Druids and raise in winrate and lower the play and winrate of Druid over time. If that doesn't happen, we're considering a couple of nerfs and changes. We did a big writeup of this recently and I encourage you to check out Dean Ayala's post on the current state of Druid and what we're planning. (Source)
Favourite card art/artist?
BT: I would say from the Classic set would be Archmage Antonidas.
BB: I knew you were going say that.
BT: I knew you were going to say that too.
Brode laughs.
BT: It's a great card by a great artist - Wayne Reynolds did an amazing job on it and I believe that it's just carried through from set to set and remains one of my favourites. (Source)
Any thoughts on hero cards in arena and balancing issues? (Banning them or adding others to the "synergy" category)
BB: Well I think generally the idea is to keep trying things with the Arena. The synergies thing we're trying out and getting feedback on it, but yeah it is to change it up and try new things over time. (Source)
they know the druid issue, that's why they drop a tech card to counter it, which resulted in failure because is not a 1-mana spell problem.
then, if they want us to play cards like meat wagon, add a casual no-netdecking mode. a fun way to play, so we can all laught like brode's do
So 3 more months playing agains Jade druid!!!!
SO FK NICE!!!!
Do not you love jades too? So much ability to play, and FUN!
I got bad news for you. Expansions rotate out when the first expansion of the next year releases. All 2016 expansions (Old Gods, Kharazim, and Meme Streets) will rotate into wild when the first expansion of 2018 comes out, which will probably be April, so closer to 7 months from now.
Skulking Geist.
Add it to your deck. Trust me, it works.
Sarge--ras? Is that you?
Who thought that the Destroyer of Worlds had sneaked it's way to the warm tavern? What horror lies within it's tiny
fluffybody? Who knows when DOOM! will be unleashed upon Azeroth?While we all love Hearthstone in spite of its many flaws, I strongly believe the developers, Brode especially, is out of touch with what playing, and grinding, is like. Case in point is this ludicrous statement:
BB: I feel like maybe players haven't figured out Meat Wagon yet. It is super fun and can be very powerful. I've been playing it with Validated Doomsayer and Devilsaur Egg which because they have 0-attack they come out via the Meat Wagon and it might be powerful.
I picture Brode and others at Blizzard sitting around laughing their asses off at their janky decks with their weird combos having a grand old time - the problem is that is not reality. Reality is people want gold, to play arena or to get packs, to get better cards, or get more dust to make cards they want. Some (most) people want to get as high rank in ladder as possible to get even more rewards. NOBODY wants to sit around wasting their time playing jank just because you might pull off some weird fun combos, but ultimately get nothing out of it.
If Blizzard had a true casual mode, with rewards, that might work. If Blizzard had some more creative quests to encourage creative/weird/wacky stuff then in might work. But as-is, the game is enough of a time sink and grind, so take your Meat Wagon bullshit and f-off, Brode.
*plays game*
K
THIS.
More creative quests not same tawern brawls all over again for one shitty pack.
Not to forget than most of the cards that "enable" wacky combos are epics or legendaries that may result funny or even useful in some kind of situattions, but in general in ladder are fucking useless, so if you dont have too many dust you wont craft shitty cards like meat wagon o try new decks yourself because basically you cant afford it, so many people in the game keeps netdecking because the risk is too much (I would have love to try a treachery combo deck for example, but if i do I won't be able to craft the epics or legendaries i may need for actually climbing in ladder).
The way the card is written makes it sound like Blizzard wants you to buff Meat Wagon so it brings out strong things than a 0-cost card, else it would just say "Summon a 0-attack minion from your deck"
But good to see Blizzard themselves doesn't even pretend like that's viable.
I'm betting the people working on Hearthstone at Blizzard are the same kinds of people who made Starcraft games called "1v1 NO RUSH" and expected their opponent to sit back and let them tech up to the amazing strategy they had planned before the game started. That kind of personality seems to exude from these kinds of interviews. These things wouldn't be a problem if people stopped trying to win so much! Why don't people put these fun cards in instead!?
Quote from Banquetto >>
Sorry to see you don't get my point.
You want to play HS and have fun, right? To do that you need cards. To get cards you need packs and dust. To get packs and dust you need gold and/or real money. Regardless of how you go about getting those cards, you will eventually need more cards, to maybe try some new decks, or to keep up with Standard, or to try more weird fun combos.
So you need more gold, or more money. For some people funds are not an issue. For some, they are F2P. Many probably fall somewhere in the middle.
But WHATEVER the reason/financial state/etc. of people, I believe all people play to win. You don't play a video game - hell any game - to lose. Now, of course, losing is part of learning and growing and is unavoidable. You can have a fun game and still lose, sure. But in the end, people like to win, want to win, play to win.
Case in point, regardless of how you feel about Druid right now, and regardless of if you think some cards need a nerf or if it's too soon or whatever - Druid is very prevalent in Standard. Why? Because people believe Druid decks win.
I don't see a meta deck revolving around Meat Wagon anytime soon.
Ben Brode is out of touch with reality if he thinks people are underestimating Meat Wagon. That's my point.
Now excuse my while I go have some fun playing games. And winning.
I'm really looking forward to the Ladder revamp: actually is so boring and grindy. Really hope they come up with something more stimulating and rewarding.
Best to wait seated, they've been talking about it forever.
ladder is good as it is. sounds like you need a participation trophy snowflake.
RNG bringing skill to the game is a punch in the face. I cant describe how stupid this statement is.
Yeah its definitely skill involved when your opponent discovers the boardclear or burn that loses you the game.
Honestly, how long have you been playing Hearthstone? You know what the game is by now, if you don't like cards with RNG elements, find another game!
i play since beta (and mtg for 20yrs+) and completely ignored the last 3 month besides doing dailys because of the stupid rng fest hs has become. its a bit better now and playing around with the new cards is fun again, but his statement definitely is mockery and/or delusion at its finest.
the downvotes are probably the ones who think of them as skilled if they win a game once in a while due to a random effect