Dean "Iksar" Ayala popped in this evening for a Hearthstone Q&A session on Twitter. As usual, here's our recap of all the important points and a full transcript of the event.

  • All previous Q&As from Dean can be found under our "Iksar's Community Q&A" topic.
  • Anything covered in the previous Q&As will not be covered in the recap but will appear in the transcript below.

Cosmetics

  • Diamond hero portraits aren't likely, they want to keep the Diamond cards feeling special.
  • An alternate type of frame, art, different shapes are things Dean would love to do, it just takes time.

Battlegrounds

  • They don't have a great solution to players quitting during battle phase to gain extra shop time due to how everything is coded.
  • If there are enough strategies in the future that gain a benefit by quitting, they would consider it a high priority issue.
  • The team has a new plan for revealing new Battlegrounds content.
    • What prompted this was a question about giving streamers reveals for Battlegrounds content.
    • We can expect to hear more about it "soon".

Tavern Brawl

  • As a part of their team restructuring next year (read here), part of that will include creating a long-term plan for the Tavern Brawl mode.

Mercenaries

  • They are forming a long-term team to support Mercenaries so we can expect more updates and improvements from it over time.

Cards

  • Dean could see the team reusing Twinspell, Reborn, and Corrupt when it would make sense.
  • No cards have been created for 2023 yet, though their meeting about what sets to do took place last week.
    • The last set of 2022 is currently still being worked on.
  • There are no current plans to make Tradeable an evergreen keyword. They'll reconsider for Core 2023.

Misc

  • Auto-squelch is something that has more internal positivity than in the past. It could happen.
  • Dean isn't sure what would still be required to make the Nimbus card back a reality.
  • Golden card upgrading is still on the table as a possibility.

Dean's Dreams

  • "I've always wanted to take the 2D space of the box and redo it completely. Imagine panning up from the Hearthstone box (main menu) to reveal your avatar sitting in the tavern. Unlocking things in the tavern shows visual progression and unlocks new gameplay elements."
  • If Dean could go back and change mechanics he'd revisit Kobolds and Witchwood.
    • Kobolds had lots of mechanics but nothing players rallied around.
    • Witchwood had low excitement overall.

Full Transcript of Iksar's Q&A #36

Quote From Dean Ayala

Hearthstone AMA #36 6:00PM - 7:00PM PST Ask me a question about Hearthstone! Or Design! (or anime…) https://t.co/DJm91WJTV3 (Source)

@IksarHS Can I convince you to undo all nerfed cards in wild?

@MaxwellPerlman wild players already hate me enough max! (Source)

@IksarHS Seeing how cool the diamond portraits are, have you thought of making some kind of diamond hero portrait?

@Wiibomb We'll do something different for heroes at some point. Diamonds are great but we want to keep looking at different ways for cards to feel special. Would love to make more types of frames, alt art cards, different shaped portraits, etc. Just takes time. (Source)

@IksarHS Hi Dean, What do you think of people quitting when battles start in battlegrounds in order to get more time in the shop? Exploit or legitimate strategy? Thanks!

@Tacticalian We just don't have a great tech solution to this. Players starting the shop phase at the same time is an impossibility the way things are built now. We could change it, would just take a significant amount of engineer time from other features. (Source)

@Tacticalian At this point I don't think there are enough strategies that gain enough of a benefit for us to consider this a high priority to work on. Could definitely change in the future. (Source)

@IksarHS I saw that auto-squelch was on the list of features that might be pitched in 2022. Have your opinions on it changed? Why or why not?

@adam_noodelman We've been split internally for a long time. At this point there is enough internal positivity for it that getting a pitch for exactly where it would exist and look like is just something we should look at to see if we like it. (Source)

@IksarHS Would you consider revisiting old keywords for a new expansion(s)? If so which are some of the top contenders?

@Kross3d_ Almost always a flavor thing when we revisit. I could see doing some more twinspell, reborn, corrupt…. there are a bunch. (Source)

@IksarHS What do we have to do to get the Nimbus cardback in game? How can we make it a reality 🥺🥺

@KuriennoHS lol, I'm not sure. There is a significant amount of steps to go through to make a real card back, not sure if all the 3D work was actually done for the Nimbus card back or what's left. @LinusFlink might know (Source)

@IksarHS What are your thoughts on allowing various BG content creators and streamers reveal cards for the next BG expansion, sort of like in constructed?

@DrLazyEyesHS @IksarHS @alkali_layke is this something you can take back to the team?

@kilmarnok1285 @DrLazyEyesHS @IksarHS Our team has prepared a plan that you will see soon. ✅️ (Source)

@IksarHS How far are you in Halo Infinite? Legendary?

@lamri247 Lol, no way. I used to be a Legendary gamer but now I'm mostly in it to see the story of the Master Chief. Just playing on normal. I actually just started recently so still in the beginning. What an intro, though! (Source)

@IksarHS Pretty sure I only tweet you about anime, buuuut Have you watched Takt op. Destiny this season? I think you might like it! (Also keep your eyes open for chainsaw man next year^^)

@Luker_HS hmm no i have not, I will put it on the list! (Source)

@IksarHS i love the @hypopyh sketches for milestones and free your mind seems super cool. it seems like hs has many stories of individuals changing the game with their unique talents. is this normal in gamedev? does hearthstone uniquely cultivate this?

@RidiculousHat @hypopyh Interesting question. I think in an ideal game dev environment almost everything feels like free your mind. People are talented enough, trusted enough, and dev tools have enabled them enough to make their mark on the game many times throughout the year. (Source)

@RidiculousHat @hypopyh The fact that free your mind feels so much different from the rest of our years I think in some ways is a failing of how we operate our team. Luckily, we've been doing a lot of restructuring lately to help solve that. (Source)

@RidiculousHat @hypopyh As far as @hypopyh goes, sometimes you just luck into hiring special people that make a broad impact. Most of the credit goes to those special individuals and not anything that Hearthstone is doing to enable them. (Source)

@RidiculousHat @IksarHS @hypopyh What are these milestones…?

@rebrown38 @RidiculousHat @hypopyh We celebrate people's 2-year and every 5-year increment anniversary. (Source)

@IksarHS If you had the budget -tech, art, anything- to do a single “big next thing” to improve HS as a whole, what would it be? Are you guys happy with the current client?

@Gambito_HS I've always wanted to take the 2D space of the box and redo it completely. Imagine panning up from the Hearthstone box (main menu) to reveal your avatar sitting in the tavern. Unlocking things in the tavern shows visual progression and unlocks new gameplay elements. (Source)

@IksarHS Sure I'll ask a question about anime: Serial Experiments Lain or Haibane Renmei, and why? (Hope you're having a Great<>Night!)

@Kaiyalai oh man I have not seen either, which do you rec? (Source)

@IksarHS What's your favorite standard and wild deck in FAV ? We are looking forward to knowing your answer

@LovelyDuke_HS I'm normally an active Wild player but I haven't actually played since AV launched. I blame my 6-month old son. My favorite standard deck is probably Owl Warlock or Aggro Druid. (Source)

@IksarHS Any more plans for more progression type things ? As I have said I love achievements for this reason :)

@EliteLeafHater Yeah, been working on some more progression things for bgs lately. Will always add more to constructed as well, just nothing to share atm. (Source)

@IksarHS Is golden card upgrading still on the table as a possibility?

@brzy2ez still on the table :) (Source)

@IksarHS Which mechanic in the game's history do you wish you could go back and redo knowing what you know now? Inspire? Invoke? Dormant? Twinspell?

@TimRizzo Hmm, tempted to say Inspire but I'd probably just go back to Kobolds/Witchwood era and try to make some better mechanics. Kobolds had a ton of stuff but I don't think there was anything players really rallied around. Witchwood was just overall low excitement. (Source)

@TimRizzo It's interesting to look back, though. We thought Frozen Throne was light on mechanics but hero cards were just simple and high excitement. We had a lot of 'hmm that's interesting' stuff the following year and very little 'holy shit awesome'. (Source)

@IksarHS How far along is the first set of 2023?

@adam_noodelman We had the meeting for 'what set should we do?' last week. Still undecided. Zero cards made. Still working on the last set of 2022. (Source)

@IksarHS I remember talk about making Tradeable an evergreen keyword last expansion. Any word as to what’s happening with that?

@GolemYo No plans to atm. Will probably take a year off then reconsider for core set 2023 and beyond. (Source)

@IksarHS How often does the team review current mobile device specs vs upcoming hardware options? Do you find hardware limitations interfering with design goals?

@RTwoCTwo Our client team and QA team do this. Interfering with design goals? Rarely. We have client size goals, load time goals, that sort of thing. That is impacted by tech but I can't remember a time where we wanted to make some feature but couldn't because of low-end devices. (Source)

@IksarHS I love cosmetic in this game and happy to buy it all Which will support Hearthstone, but I think Hearthstones release cosmetic too often. You have a plan too change about it in future? (1)

@BenzeLtt We've been shifting more and more revenue to cosmetics and away from gameplay, even though it still makes up a small portion of overall revenue. As we get better with working with outsourcing partners, we'll probably release more cosmetics and not less. (Source)

@BenzeLtt I know this wasn't the answer you were looking for, but we're really just looking to meet the appetite of players that want to buy them. If we saw a lower adoption rate of cosmetics that would signal to us we should make less of them. (Source)

@IksarHS Would the team ever consider a library of tavern brawls? Like the 3 or 5 most popular. I love tavern brawls so much and I'd love to be able to play different ones in the same week.

@jdeejohnston We're restructuring the way our teams work at the start of next year and TB is one of the things we're looking to make a long-term plan for. Will be thinking about what improvement we can make. (Source)

@IksarHS Just wanna say great job, both wild and standard feel super fun. Best launch in a while!

@otters_tv AV was probably the set I was least involved with of all the Hearthstone sets of all-time. Uh oh Team is great, gj team :) (Source)

@IksarHS Two months removed from the launch of Mercenaries, are you happy with how it has developed? Are there any significant changes you'd like to see happen going forward?

@ZeddyHS TBH with you I was not at all involved with merc then went on paternity shortly after launch. All I can say is that we're forming a long-term team solely dedicated to mercs so I'd expect more updates and improvements over time. (Source)

@IksarHS When reading through design tests (specifically) from mid-associate level designers, how important is having the right answers or having a philosophy towards the game that aligns with the rest of your team? What do you look for when questioning their tests?

@umm_its_justin Generally speaking, you should try not to ask design questions that have 'correct' answers. Hiring is supposed to expand your area of expertise rather than fill more of the expertise you already have. (Source)

@umm_its_justin I'm looking to see if someone is capable of expanding our skillset. Is this someone I could see myself learning from? Does this person approach problems in a way that will lead them to creative solutions? (Source)

@umm_its_justin This is especially true in interviews. I'm much less interested in the answer to a question than I am in your thought process in trying to come up with an answer. (Source)

@IksarHS Odd Taxi was a great rec. Any other shows you've enjoyed recently?

@SPAGsaga Arcane was a masterpiece. Been watching a lot of non-animation lately, though. Succession, Wheel of Time, Hawkeye, Foundation. Succession was great but the rest have been just okay. In a TV slump. (Source)

@IksarHS Have you been reading any good books lately that you’d care to share?

@kilmarnok1285 I've been so busy, I've only read one book this year and that was Ender's Game. Planning on reading Three-Body Problem but just haven't gotten around to it with the baby. (Source)