After 12 Years, Dave Kosak Leaves Blizzard Entertainment!
Dave Kosak (former lead Mission Designer on the Hearthstone team) announced on Twitter that he has left Blizzard Entertainment after 12 years.
- Dave joined the Hearthstone team in November 2016 (Mean Streets of Gadgetzan), he was previously the Lead Narrative Designer for World of Warcraft.
- Dave is responsible for the character - Patches the Pirate, created during a "brainstorming session" between the Hearthstone team and the World of Warcraft story team, prior to Kosak's joining Team 5. [Source]
- He was also responsible for the PvE content like the brand new Dungeon Run (in Kobolds and Catacombs).
- Recently Dave appeared in the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire announcement video, which was sadly his last video for the Hearthstone team.
- Dave is joining the DeviationGames studio and they are working on a secret project for now, which will make us go "Whoa" when announced!
Big announcement time!
— Dave “Fargo” Kosak (@DaveKosak) October 27, 2020
After 12 remarkable years and countless adventures, I am moving on from Blizzard Entertainment. The other week I bid a fond farewell to the orc, who is dutifully wearing his mask. I will very much miss all of my Blizzard colleagues. pic.twitter.com/FJmDxFKhqN
Quote from Dave "Fargo" KosakIf you follow me because of #Hearthstone, no need to worry! Last week we announced a great expansion, a new mode, and new progression/rewards. Believe me when I say that’s only the beginning. Great things are in the works!
Quote from Dave "Fargo" KosakAnd, of course, #Shadowlands is around the corner for #WorldofWarcraft. I will be adventuring right alongside you. I am honored to have contributed to the Warcraft universe, and excited for what’s to come.
Quote from Dave "Fargo" KosakWhat’s next for me? I’m pleased to announce that I’ve taken on an important role at @DeviationGames! We are building… something secret. But amazing. I can’t say any more, but I promise: It’ll make you go “Whoa.”
We wish you the best Dave, you'll be missed!
Yeah, he usually does reveal streams. But he was in the Hearthside chat with Kosak for Galakrond's awakening adventure
Seeying it now. It might be John McIntyre with how much spotlight he got in the last few days with this expansion. The annoucement, the stream, the hearthside chat and they are even saying that this expansion is his baby, so that might be John. I dont mind, I really like him
Bummer. Dungeon run is great - finally expanded with duels! And patches was cool! Hope they have some new great talent in hearthstone. They need to start giving raises for better retention!
jump off the boat, before everything catches fire
They have been saying this everytime since Ben Brode left... lol
Do you really think the game is better after Ben Brode left?
Yes
Yes, a lot. Ben Brode was an asshole. Cool person, garbage designer and manager. When he was in charge, they didn't hear the community, nerfs took MONTHS and they were made poorly, they never asked themselves if buffs or redesigns were needed, lots of broken mechanics (one of which needed to remove the cards from the set a year before since it was disgusting)... I get it. He was funny. And good at the beginning. But the best thing that happened to this game was his departure. The team got polished, content went better, they took A LOT of risks (which on a tech company it's good), added new game modes, more rewards for F2P...
I REALLY don't know what game some of you 've been playing the past few years... Meta tends to be balanced now. And when it's not, it gets fixed after some weeks. On Ben Brode's watch it was pretty common to see decks with 60% winrate and the rest of the decks with 40% or less FOR MONTHS... Nowadays, most of the classes are playable. Yes, some of them are more efficient than others, but that doesn't mean you can't play them all, with the proper skills and game knowledge.
That's what they were saying when Ben was leaving, and since then Hearthstone has even gotten a bit better if you ask me. I never liked Dave appearance, his voice is too ruggedy and I never connected with him like I did with Ben. He did a lot for HS, but I don't think he was a right choice for a front man. Too bad he is leaving HS team, but I tend to be optimistic here, maybe someone even better comes along?
I can agree with a lot of point by fjl93. The game has seen the most powerful cards when Ben was in charge. When you think about most op cards, pretty much every card would be before The Boomsday Project, which I think is the first one that Ben wasn't working on, but I might be wrong. Even if it was Rise of Shadows, RoS was a GIANT step into the right direction for the game and since 2019, I think the game is only getting better and better. The days of degenarate decks are pretty much over, and the meta is doing much better.
Note, that Dave wasn't the Game Director for Hearthstone. He was "Lead Mission Designer". More so he was the front man and the person behind most themes, ideas and such. The real Game Director is Ben Lee. This guy: https://youtu.be/J7L4Jzhebeo
Man, he was the fun one left. I saw him as the stand in for bride as far as fun goes. Rip fargo
That ISN'T a good thing you know... \(-.-')/
He didn't come up with the card's effect lol. They're talking about the visual/aesthetic aspects of the cards.
Damn... Gonna miss him in announcement trailers... :(
Imagine if in few weeks, or even days we will read news, that Dave Kosak will join "Dreamheaven" - a fresh game company created by Michael Morhaime: co-founder and the former president of Blizzard Entertainment...
...
but..but thats.. madness!
Dave Kosak: I'm leaving the Hearthstone team
Me: This is madness!
John McEntire: At the Darkmoon Faire
He was our goofy gnome! He will be missed.
"Outland adventure " and current "Book of Heroes" (even though there are only 2 atm) are a bit showing lack of his passion or simply disinterest to do anything new.
Even if we compare Illidan prologue to "Outland adventure", which are part of one expansion - style, tone and ideas are radically different.
Well, at least Ladder is still in good hands. Adventures will be stale and boring for a while.
This makes me sad.
Farewell, Dave! Thank you for leaving a mark on WoW and Hearthstone. Looking forward to your next project.