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)
Time between expansions is 4 months. How long will it take for Blizzard to correct the druid meta? Month? Two months? Three months? Week before next expansion?
I'm not an expert but even I can see how unhealthy for the game is the druid dominance. You either play druid or some highroll deck and hope for your chance to win. Playing right now is not fun.
Oh yeah, and the Meat Wagon thingy - I can see how we not figured this card out yet and we will crush the Ultimate Infestation with the eggs it can bring out.
How long will it take to Blizzard ran out of ideas?
Brode laughs.
That's it, that retarded laughter, which reflects the retarded attitudes he's been doing in HS
"Mechanics they like will be brought back. Giving others their own time to shine is important though."
Like reusing Discover for every single update/expansion, because you can not think of something better.
That is like the best mechanic they ever came up with.
Perhaps one of the best in any computer TCG I saw. Brings a lot of uniqueness to each match.
I did like the Quest mechanic a bit though. Wish it reappeared. And the inspiration can work.
There is NO SKILL in using random rng cards! I repeat! NO SKILL.
Timing and Order. Knowing when the RNG is not in your favor is important.
Dude had to repeat. I REPEAT! This fool had to repeat. If there were zero, I repeat NO RNG - this game would be chess. Go, I repeat, GO PLAY CHESS.
Sometimes rng can be really enjoyable, but Yogg-Saron experience is sick.
Says who? YOU? And you are...??
Yea, i thought so. Nobody.
Discover is really the only good type of RNG. At least with that RNG, you can choose. All the other RNG is just pure luck, and that isn't fun. Things like Knife Juggler and Babbling Book can win or lose your game. All 'summon a random minion' is just BAD RNG. Anytime that a card says 'random', I cringe on the health of the game, because the more of those in an expansion, the more I hate playing Hearthstone.
but as you see, there is a huge crowd who wants to think of them as skilled because they only manage to win by rng
I'm fine with the wait and see on Druid and Arena... for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks (millions of games) I want them to speak very clearly about what conclusions their data shows, and what actions they're going to take with changes (if any) to be implemented the following week. Waiting 6 or 7 weeks is just inexcusable. It's a shame the whole client has to be updated for constructed updates, but I've literally never read a complaint about downloading the latest patch, but entire novels on the state of the meta. In fact, it would be easier if they always planned for a balance patch 1 month after a release now that every release is 130+ cards. The first month is basically PTR.
I can tell you their conclusion right now:
" The druid winrate is fine there is no need to change.
You hate to play against druids, but it's the life, son. So fk u, we will talk again in next exp. Bye."
Nature must be preserved!
Play Yo Meat Wagon against 10/10 jades -- lul
I'm sick of the whining about jade druid. You don't make knee-jerk reactions right after dropping an expansion. The whole meta is in flux and it can cause more problems than it solves. If you run a control deck and you don't run skulking geist you deserve to get facerolled by druid. I'm sorry but teching is an important part of this game, asking the devs to nerf something instead of preparing for it yourself is just lazy. This is the same bunch of people that wanted a nerf to crystal core and now we have a bunch of jade druids running around. Nice job. Quest rogue sucked to play against at times and it seemed unfair, but the deck wasn't particularly prominent and wasn't even tier one.