Dean "Iksar" Ayala has asked Hearthstone players a question this afternoon on Twitter which makes for good discussion. If you saw our recent recap for his weekly Q&A, you may have seen his talk on "limited-time systems changes" in Hearthstone which is where the team would push out a special event for a few weeks that would change a core system. One of these changes he mentioned was being able to ban a class on the ranked ladder.
That's not what we're being prompted with today though because now, Dean wants to know what players would think about a "Class Bonus Event". Here's how it would work:
- A random class is chosen as your bonus class.
- Winning games with your bonus class gives you double XP and double stars.
- After 3 wins with your bonus class, a new class becomes your bonus one.
Dean does note that this would result in star inflation, making it the easiest time to get to your highest personal best rank ever. With all that in mind, and the fact that they are not currently working on that, what do you think of the idea?
Would you want to see this become a reality? How long do you think such an event should last? Share your thoughts in the comments below or send them on over to Dean directly on Twitter.
Quote From Dean Ayala New Idea: Class Bonus Event
Tell me what you think in the comments. In constructed, a random class is chosen as your bonus class. Winning games with that class gives you double XP and double stars. After 3 wins with your bonus class, it swaps to a new one.
Thoughts?
Yes, this would result in star inflation. Probably would be the easiest time to get to your highest rank ever.
How long would it last? Well, if you think it's a cool idea, how long do you think it *should* last?
No, we aren't working on this right now.
Comments
Give players double XP (or triple, even) for playing that class on any mode. Keep the ladder rankings unchanged.
This is my prefered solution. Allow players to play their prefered modes!
Not all classes are created equal. Almost every expansion there's one or two classes that are completely unplayable. Getting stuck on those would be frustrating as all hell. So, no.
I'm not convinced of your conclusion here. First, this would encourage deck diversity on ladder, which might mean more playable matches, leading to higher win rates for underperforming classes. Second, I think it would be hard to come out negative here even if you're playing a "bad class."
As of writing this, the worst Standard class win rate on HSReplay is Rogue with 46.1%. If you treat that number as the win rate for any generically "bad class," you still only need an average of seven games to get your three wins and move on to another class, and that 3-4 record still nets you two stars thanks to the doubling effect (rather than the typical net loss of one). For that matter, any win rate north of 33.3% should expect to at least break even on stars by the time it reaches three wins. And if you get a class with a high win rate (let's say 65%), you'd have an average record of 3-2 before you switch classes, netting you four stars where you might have otherwise gotten only one.
And this doesn't even get into how many bonus stars you already have from the previous month's ranked play, or the potential for win streaks. In the most extreme case I think you could theoretically leapfrog from Bronze 10 to Gold 5 in a three-game win streak.
But here is the main point! The fact that a class is performing bad will be balanced by the fact that people may get double rewards playing it. And this will motivate players to use different classes and strategies, also bringing more diversity into meta.
I totally LOVE the idea!
There are no "unplayable" classes. Get out of the Twitter hate/whine groupies for once, and try watching people who use their skill/experience to make the most out of less played classes.
Based on your responses (but mostly this response) you seem to be aggressively attacking anyone with a differing opinion to yourself. My suggestion is to take your own advice and get out of the "hate" group mentality. He/She is allowed to express his opinion on this change (it's literally asking the community for their opinion) just as you are allowed to express your opinion.
Some people don't enjoy certain classes. Just like some people never play Skyrim with a stealth/assassin, some people may never play certain classes in Hearthstone.
YOU do not get to dictate what people perceive as fun, and what isn't. I don't really care about some witty or snarky response to this. Nor do I care if you feel the need to get the last word in edgewise or some incessant need to "be right". Just read what I said, pause, think and take away from the conversation this:
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Thanks for your response, your insecurity about getting in the last words or snarky responses were not needed, I have no such intentions. I was under the impression that OP was talking about which classes were strong/unplayable, not fun/unfun, so I addressed that in my response.
Theres a lot of shitstorm going on in Twitter about whats broken, how awful is the meta, how strong some decks are etc. etc. and it honestly makes it sound like everything besides those "broken" stuff are complete unplayable garbage which is not true. This makes me more furious than I usually would like to admit, Hence my aggression in the response. I will try to remain more calm and respectful.
You don't need to play class with bonus if you don't want to. But if someone wants - then why not? Nice feature that doesn't break gameplay and can evolve into something cool.
I would not enjoy that myself, there are too many classes I don't like playing.
Say my bonus class was one I disliked, I would not play it despite getting a bonus, and I would feel bad that I didn't get a different bonus class.
On the other hand, someone might have their bonus class be one they already enjoy, or that is performing well in that current meta - then obviously they would play that one.
Lets add this - your bonus class rotates after 3 games or 3 hours. How about that?
Double stars might see a lot of disgruntled people, but double XP is always good (though admittedly the "they want to FORCE us to buy cards for classes we don't use!!!" crowd might complain anyway...)
Totally sucks for people with limited collections, but that's not me, so I'll happily collect the extra gold. Couldn't care less about the stars, though.
I might get tired of being told what class to play, but I guess I don't HAVE to do it.
I would love that, not only it sounds fun, but it would give me a chance to finally leave Gold. T.T
I like the idea. It would encourage players to play another deck on the ladder. I would infinitely prefer this over class bans if the goal is meta diversity. It does have a few flaws, like locking players without a big collection out.
Honestly this would be a great concept to get people to play outside of their comfort zones and explore other classes.
That being said, they would REALLY need to put a lot of work on it because they changed the ranking structure not that long ago. In order to do this, there would need to be an overhaul of the ranking/star system. Otherwise they are going to be getting a lot of people to the Legend rank. Not to say that is a bad thing, but coming from someone who hasn't got to that rank before as it... it's kind of prestigious to have that rank at least once.
Update.... I finally DID get to Legend yesterday in Wild with a Feral Druid build, so there's that
Noooo thank you. I HATE random, and knowing my luck... I'll get warrior, hell I think I'm still only lvl 34 with Warrior, because I don't play Warrior.
i would be nice and all, but lets be honest, most of people will keep playing meta decks or the ones they feel more confortable with, and those who try to follow the random class offered will just be smacked by the metta decks if the class is a bad one
The same situation is already happening with people trying to complete achievements for battlepass xp. Way I see it, this idea just gives players another alternative to grinding with the meta decks and still be rewarded even if they have a subpar winrate compared to the best option.
Ultimately, this just gives another alternative to getting xp and because of that I'm 100% for it.
I don't like it. It sounds like achievements, the single-player content, and the rewards track - yet another little thing which makes me feel like I'm not playing properly. Another l'il notification trying to push me into playing a certain way, giving me completionist anxiety.
I come to Hearthstone to relax, not to finish everything or be the best. If they're going to implement small events, I'd rather they be silly than competitive. Nozdormu Day, for instance - just a dumb thing that you can do if you want to.