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)
sure it evens out but rng is a horrible gamedesign to balance a game. a coinflip is perfectly balanced, but there is no skill involved.
the nature of cardgames already has enough rng involved (starting hand, topdecks)
Uh, Ben? "RNG" and "skill" don't really belong in the same sentence unless it's to say RNG doesn't require a lot of skill. Honestly RNG requires a lot more luck than anything.
''RNG cards can actually add skill to the game''
This is perfect.
So we are going to have Jade Druid until next expansion... God damn.
yup, and pirate warriors
They've spoken the exact same way about every deck they've ultimately nerfed mid-expansion, so your prediction does not hold water.
Yada, yada, yada. We do nothing, deal with it. Enjoy Druidstone till next expansion.
If you seriously can't see the problem with Jade Druid (making every other Control deck obsolete), I don't know what to say. The thing that bugs me the most is, it is the best deck and by far the easiest to play (that goes against everything Blizzard stands for "easy to learn - hard to master" philosophy).
The overall card quality in this expansion is abysmal and so uncreative (reprinting so many cards with another mana cost - if you compare that to the ideas the community comes up with in those card creation competitions, this is quite sad). And on top of that the few good cards, most of them go to Druid (Blizzard always had a hardon for druids (hello WoW)) - it is just not fun to play the same deck over and over and over again. And the answer always is a new neutral card in the next expansion who should combat that (golakka crawler says hi) - I am excited which crab will be next. :P
They always ramble about design space, but limiting control to jade is ok for the game? Sorry, but I expect more from Blizzard - I wouldn't criticize this indie company if I didn't love their universes/games/characters - they just don't do them justice in case of Hearthstone and it is a pity.
Just my 2 cents. And no, skulking geist isn't good game design.
Just nerf the Jade mechanic for Druid in some meaningful way and everyone would appreciate and understand it. The current state of Jade is cancerous for the meta and Hearthstone in general.
Hey, you already have Skulking Geist and from the downvotes I get when I say that this card is exactly 100 dust it must be pretty good. So problem solved, no need to complain anymore.
Problem is, Jade is not the only broken card with the class and there are a bunch of matchups where it doesn't even factor.
Jade is pretty strong against mid range and aggro decks now too even without needing to go infinite.
Nerfing idol might bring some heavy control decks into the meta and help it flow more naturally though, but it still would leave stuff like Token Druid very broken. Pros are starting to agree that Token druid, as it's getting refined is favored against both jade and aggro decks.
I do agree they should nerf the Jade Idol, but they still need to tone down other aspects in the class. Spreading Plague, Innervate the taunts, the amount of armor Druid gets while playing OFFENSIVELY, the amount of face damage Druid can do with spells even as a control deck, etc etc... Class need to be toned down. But I guess they will wait till April 2018 >.>
Skulking Geist is complete crud just like Golakka Crawler. It's a cheap attempt to hot fix something instead of nerfing the card which would result in free dust for players. Not to mention it completely screws over other classes that run 1-mana cost spells, such as Rogue, or Freeze OTK Mage (Ice Lance), and Evolve Shamans. A card like Skulking Geist really shouldn't exist as it's a horrible /feelsbadman card for non-Druid players when it hits something other than Jade Idol.
I love how you conspiracy theorists think they give a crap about how much dust they give you. They have over 70 million subscribers - the game prints money. They don't give two figs if you get 400 extra dust now and then.
So you contend that there's no skill to using Kazakus? Reaaaally?
And if you don't get the exact spell you want (which happens to me constantly), I suppose there's no skill in readjusting your plan and adapting to the new conditions, exactly like Ben Brode said, huh?