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BlizzCon 2017: Hearthstone Live Q&A

by - 6 years ago

The Hearthstone Live Q&A session at BlizzCon 2017 just ended. We saw very interesting news especially regarding Arena shared by the crème de la crème of Team 5: Ben Brode, Mike Donais, Peter Whalen, and Yon Whoo.

Here is what happened:

Card designs were voted on by the audience. These will possibly be altered a bit by the team and will be added to the draftable Arena card pool (not constructed) in a future patch (it is not clear if it is the next or a later one). Three cards were presented for every class. The bold card was chosen by the audience

o   Hunter

  • Reload [2-mana]: Discard your hand and Draw 3 cards.
  • Volley [4-mana]: Add 3 random shot spells to your hand.
  • Deadeye [2-mana]: For the rest of the game, your Hero Power can also target minions.

o   Mage

  • Arcane Flux [2-mana]: Cast a random Mage spell (targets chosen randomly). Draw a card.
  • Polymorph??? [5-mana]: Chose a minion. Discover a new minion to transform in into.
  • Power Cosmic [1-mana]: Discover a Legendary minion.

o   Warrior (all Weapons)

  • Training Blade [1-mana; 1/3]: Deathrattle: Add a random Weapon to your hand.
  • Axe of Eclipse [5-mana; 4/2]: Battlecry: Destroy all damaged minions.
  • Blazing Longsword [3-mana; 2/3]: Also damages minions next to whomever you attack.

o   Paladin

  • Retribution [1-mana]: Secret: When an enemy attacks your hero, deal 4 damage to it.
  • Relic of Hope [0-mana]: When you draw this, transform it into a random Paladin spell.
  • Hand of Salvation [1-mana]: Secret: When your second minion dies in a turn, revive it.

o   Priest

  • Absolution [1-mana]: Give a minion +1/+1 and Lifesteal
  • Mass Resurrection [5-mana]: Give your minions ‘Deathrattle: Resummon this minion’.
  • Generous Spirit [3-mana]: Give a friendly minion to your opponent. Draw 3 cards.

o   Rogue

  • Assassin’s Training [1-mana]: Give a minion Poisonous.
  • Smoke Bomb [1-mana]: Give a minion Stealth until your next turn. Draw a card.
  • Mindspike [4-mana; 1/3 Weapon]: Whenever you kill a minion with this, draw a card.

o   Shaman

  • Refreshing Jolt [3-mana]: Deal 4 damage to an enemy; or Restore 8 Health to friendly character.
  • Magma Shock [4-mana]: Silence a minion, then deal 4 damage to it.
  • Crackling Doom [0-mana]: Deal 12 Damage to all minions. Overload (10).

o   Druid

  • Thornstrike [2-mana]: Choose one – Deal 2 damage to a minion; or 1 damage to all enemy minions.
  • Boon of Elune [5-mana]: Add 4 Moonfires to you hand.
  • Natures Champion [3-mana]: Return a friendly minion to oyur hand and give it +5/+5.

o   Warlock

  • Bottled Madness [0-mana]: Transform each card in your hand into a random Demon.
  • From Beyond [1-mana]: Draw 3 cards. At the end of your turn, discard them.
  • Combust [6-mana]: Destroy a minion. Deal 3 damage to all other characters.

Questions

o   How old is Morgl?

  • Very old. They have to check. He may be 10001 years old.

o   Somenone sugested a MTG card for Hearthstone. They will check it out.

o   Arena: Is there a plan for a draft mode with opening packs and passing them along after taking a card?

  • The started like that, but it was too time consuming for the regular player. They also left that path as you would look at a lot of cards that you would not use. Another complex “envelope” system with 15 cards was also tested, but it was too tedious. Opportunities for different ways to play HS are always an option and are explored constantly.

o   Will there be another encounter like the Lich King at Gamescom?

  • Definetly!

o   Trolden: Are there other opportunities explored for constructed play especially for people with smaller collections?

  • The try the thing with Arena and see if it pans out and maybe there will be an event for constructed. Meaning: probably not in a long while.

o   Are there additional bosses planned for the Dungeon Run mode to not get stale.

  • They think that at the moment there is a huge variety and replayability. Additional bosses are not out of the game.

o   What would be the next Druid Hero?

  • They are working on it and they want the Hero to be different from the existing one.

o   Will there something like a random card back every game?

  • They like the idea.

o   How could Ultimate Infestation happen?

  • U.I. is not a problem unless it seems so as it is the flashiest card.

o   With two Legendaries for every class, what is there incentive to reduce costs for players?

  • They implemented that there are no duplicate weapons. Also they give Legendaries for free as with Un’Goro and it will happen also with K&C.

o   Will weapon-hate cards be a problem with the new Legendary Weapons?

  • They have taken this thought into the design process and they think that there will be an up and down of those cards played.

o   What is the designer’s perspective before a card change (nerf)?

  • They look at winrate or at cards that are just really annoying to lose against. Also, they look at play rates of decks and classes. All this is also looked separately in different ranks and play modes. They changed especially classic cards as they did not want the game to become stale and cards that hurt design space.

o   To Mike Donais: His favorite card that never made it into the game?

  • Yon Woo did not want him to tell because it is too insane. Peter’s is Titan’s Grip (dual wield?). Ben’s: Priest Spell: Detroy a 4-Attack minion.

o   What about rewards from the Dungeon Run?

  • If you beat the DR with all nine classes you get a special Card Back.

o   Will there be a replay function.

  • Yes, but it is a matter of priority.

o   Will there be a four player all against each other mode or a two versus two?

  • More or less there are already with the 3v3 Fireside Brawl. Also there were cooperative Tavern Brawls.

o   What is your opinion on high-roll cards like Barnes for the future?

  • The want stable and high variance cards by choice. They want to limit the high-roll potential though.

o   Arena. Wil lthere be a tracker for Arena to see how you did with each class?

  • They are looking into adding stats to Hearthstone. They are in the process of making a survey which is most interesting for players.

o   Why are there now discard cards like Gnomeferatu in the game when they were off limits in the beginning?

  • They are more open to exploring this aspect of card games now which they were reluctant to add such disruptive plays in the beginning. They will always experiment with new stuff.

Martin "OtakuMZ" Z.

Real life physician and afterhour card battler. Martin "OtakuMZ" contributes to the Hearthstone team of BlizzPro since late 2015. Additionally, he contributes analytic articles for Hearthstone and Gwent as a member of Fade2Karma and in his collumn on the Gwentlemen site. He is best known for his infographics which can be accessed at a glance at https://www.facebook.com/hsinfographics and https://www.facebook.com/gwentinfographics


0 responses to “BlizzCon 2017: Hearthstone Live Q&A”

  1. I know you’ve got a lot of typing and a lot going on. 🙂 What do you mean “moved to Arena in a future patch”? Thanks for writing!

    • OtakuMZ says:

      I changed wording in the text. Thank you for your comment, it was unclear what I ment. It basically means they wil lbe added to the Arena card pool (not constructed). CHeers!