Ozzie Mejia of Shacknews had a chance to sit down with Mike Donais to discuss the Hall of Fame and why certain cards weren't included.
- The two primary factors for cards being sent to the Hall of Fame are card power level and class identity.
- Really powerful cards that consistently show up and have a large impact on the meta are good candidates.
- Doomguard was replaced because of its powerful impact and they can re place with with another card in the future.
- Druids are more about mana creation, not removal. That's why Naturalize was sent to pasture.
- They talk about Malygos moving every year but decided against it again because of the decks he creates.
- Mind Blast's One Turn Kill (OTK) potentially is reduced thanks to the rotation of Shadow Visions. The card remains on the short list.
Want to learn more about the Year of the Dragon and the cards that are rotating to the Hall of Fame? Check out the Year of the Dragon announcement.
Mike Donais on Malygos and Mind Blast
Quote from Mike DonaisDonais: There's lots of other candidates. We talked about cards like Malygos, which we talk about every year. We decided not to go with Malygos again, because of all the new decks that he creates. An important thing in card games is to have different types of decks. Not every type of deck should be medium-sized minions fighting. There needs to be small minions, big minions, and there needs to be some Malygos decks and other tricky decks that have different game plans. That's what makes card games interesting.
Donais: I think the Mind Blast problem will be temporarily improved because of Shadow Visions leaving, but I don't think that's a hard solve. Mind Blast is also on our list, both because it doesn't match Priest class identity. They're not supposed to be the face damage class. And it's also pretty powerful in the right decks. It has had a big design impact on us with the resurrection decks especially. You're seeing people resurrect and do Mind Blast.
That's not totally wrong, but you also have to consider that Alexstrasza costs 9 mana, which means you'll barely be able to do something other than play her in that turn.
I'm not saying that there aren't any reasons to complain about her, but that's not a card that needs a change right now.
That's all very situational though. Just as often you'll be at 14 health and she is nothing more than a 9 mana 8/8 battlecry "Restore 1 health to your opponent".
The question is, can this still be done in this time of the game?
The class identity is "do many things in one turn" (Combo, cheap spells and discounts).
The other part (Weapon buffs) got wrecked by nerfs, which were needed because they gave a single good weapon to Rogue.
So if Prep goes away, what will rogue do?
"Druids are more about mana creation, not removal. That's why Naturalize was sent to pasture."
Hearthstone is a MMO PvP game. Not RPG. It is ridiculous for me that there is no actual reference to the game itself in their justification. It just sounds like bullshit for me. They should work toward balanced meta not misterious class identity whatever the fck is it.
Funny how they talk about Druid's identity (mana creation cards) but they nerfed Druid's mana creation til inviability.
Wanted to post the exact same thing. Unbelieveble they feed us bullcrap about class identity today, while they didnt care about class identity when they destroyed wild groth, nourish and innervate
Yeah, wanted to post the exact same thing. I mean, I play only wild, so Wild Growth is now completely dead because it's strictly better to use Jade Blossom instead of Wild Growth. And even Jade Blossom isn't as good as Wild Growth was at 2 Mana.
I don't really play Meta-Decks (I consider most to be boring), so the low-winrate-decks that I use have now become even more unplayable because of all these nerfs to cards like Wild Growth, Nourish, Innervate and Equality. I've never played less HS than right now, since I've started playing because I'm pretty much a fish on a cutting board with my favorite decks right now. Casual play is also filled with Meta-Decks, so except for matches with friends, there's not really much fun for me to have with HS right now... :(
Especialy because they werent that broken until UI was printed. Gaining a lot of mana is although powerful , mediated by the fact that you are losing card advantage without impacting the board immediately, the biggest problem was being able to refuel that easily with a very efficient card like UI and being able to stall a lot with spreading plague.
Wild wild wild wild
It is very fynny to see Ben Brode's picture below Developer Insights, when he has already left Blizzard. @Fluxflashor maybe it is time to fix it?
That's just his ghost haunting this forum. Nothing to be worried about tho: he'll just fool around and laugh loudly
Best comment of the day
When it comes to Mind Blast and "priest identity", their argument really does fall apart. Mind blast, along with cards like Shadow Word: Pain and Death highland Shadowpriests, and I feel that destroying your enemies with powerful bursts of shadow magic fits a shadowpriest playstyle and identity. But, if blizz only wants heal-y priests that do nothing but heal, then they are taking WoW priests, which focus on an interesting balance between light and shadow, and shoving them aside for more traditional RPG priests with heals and nothing else to stand on.
Just curious how Priest is supposed to actually kill their opponent outside of a big swing.
Say we take away Inner Fire / Divine Spirit (make a minion huge and go face) and the Dragon / OTK decks (go Alexstrasza / Anduin and Mind Blast). The Wall Priest decks are hated due to a lack of counters / interactivity against the endless stream of 12 - 14 HP minions and the other relies on enough burst damage, most of which is going to rotate in April.
What strategy does that leave Priest with? I've given heal decks a try and it just lacks raw power. Healing two health on a minion for 2 mana just doesn't do all that much. And in the early game, most minions will die trading anyway and there is nothing you can heal to begin with. I would love it if Priest could have some kind of 'staying power' deck where your minions are just hard to remove due to higher health and / or healing but I just don't see that happening.
Steal / Thief Priest is basically an RNG slotmachine fest and is honestly better left to Rogue with Academic Espionage. At least then the random cards are 1 mana and you can get lucky with a 1 mana huge minion to compensate spending mana just to get more cards.
Priest has some control options, this is true. But control decks either rely on just grinding out the opponent into fatigue or eventually doing a big swing after controlling the board for so long. For fatigue decks you'd need some kind of solid value generation and enough control / defense to stay alive and on the board for so long. Warrior can do it thanks to stuff like Omega Assembly (1 mana get 3 Mechs) and the Dr. Boom Hero Power that lets you Discover a Mech on top of all their Mech synergies and powerful removals. Priest doesn't have that kind of value generation. The closest thing to it would be some kind of Deathrattle deck with Bone Drakes and Crystalline Oracles and using Twilight's Call to get more of them, and those are all rotating out in April.
I wouldn't mind Priest as a class that would be aimed at a more defensive playstyle and with the idea of using healing to keep your board alive. The thought of being able to trade efficiently and then healing up your minions has always been appealing but I just don't see it happening. In the vast majority of cases, minions trade by both dying, not leaving anything to heal. And if your board DOES get cleared, all those healing spells are sitting in your hand doing absolutely nothing. In the early game especially the health of minions is so low there just won't be anything to heal. Contesting the board consistently is my worry there.
Thusly the question, how is Priest supposed to actually win if big swings are no longer an option?
Priest minions definitely need more health to justify the buff/sustain playstyle. Hopefully we'll see more cards like Grave Horror, if that's what Blizzard intends to be Priest's "identity"
The death knight was always another win condition, being able to whittle away health and keep board clear at the same time. Of course, that’s rotating, as well.
The older cards aren't getting any better own their own. It's the interactions with annually power crept cards that make them so good.
It just seems that Blizzard is well aware that power creep is the issue, but continuously decides to scapegoat "dEsIgN sPaCe" and "cLaSs iDenTiTy" to justify halling cards that weren't OP or overplayed for years of being out.
ikr, that deck is super weak rn, i still have it from back in the day, but decks nowadays just see a christhmas tree and know that's the best the deckc an do, and just trigger every secret then board clear super easily.
Move Leeroy in Hall of Fame too BlessRNG
Im just gonna quit hs if they rotate even more classic cards (like maly). Created golden version and i super like the idea and fantasy of maly decks. Like come on. Why would you remove maly?