Bluetracker
Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.
I am concerned about mechanics introduced in one expansion and then never revisited again.
With Death Knights being removed from Arena, I've started thinking of how expansion mechanics are being handled. I know that it's not even been a year since quests and Death Knights were introduced, but you have to wonder if the longevity of these mechanics actually serve the game good.
Now, one of the most well fleshed out mechanics that has been completely forgotten about is inspire. To date, not a single Inspire card exists in Standard. And people might think "so what?". The reason I am bringing this up is because this mechanic has massive amounts of build-around potential. You could have an Inspire card that does something really good, but increases the cost of your Hero Power in return. Fun imaginative effects, which are ultimately removed because of a single card, being the Priest Death Knight.
The more mechanics they introduce, the more they restrict themselves. But instead we are seeing a new mechanic or card type being introduced almost every expansion right now, and you have to wonder what's gonna happen with those left back in the dust. Where will Hero Cards and Quests be in 2 years? Will there even be two different Quests in the same Standard rotation so that people actually have something to choose from?
Currently, the game is headed down "new shiny stuff" city and I don't believe a lot of regard is being put into preserving and expanding upon old mechanics introduced in a previous expansion. Why are there no new Inspire cards? Will we ever in the relative future be seeing a new Quest? And how exactly are they going to make Hero Cards work, since they've pigeon-holed themselves into this concept of Death Knights (I mean, honestly, what's next? Monk Hero Cards? This concept is going to become dull very quickly).
Of course there are other mechanics such as Mechs ever being a useful tribe and multi-class cards ever being reused again. There just doesn't seem to be any real consideration of ever using another old mechanic besides Discover which was a huge hit. But I guess time will tell.
Mike Donais
This is a topic we discuss a lot. We have mechanics that fall into 3 categories.
Mechanics we use a lot: Lifesteal, Poisonous, Discover
Mechanics we use sometimes: Played an elemental last turn, Holding a Dragon, Mech build arounds
Mechanics we might bring back: Hero Cards, Joust, Inspire, Adapt, Quests.
The nice thing is if people enjoy a mechanic they will be excited to see how we tweak it when it returns, or how we make it more fun the next time. If I was to bring back Joust for example I would probably make ties win instead of lose.
What mechanics from old sets did you all likes the best? Which ones would you like us to bring back sometime in the future?