Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.
"To better consolidate and address community questions, we'll be using @PlayHearthstone for official communications instead of CM accounts." - Zeriyah on twitter
We've discussed doing stuff like that in the past (and this is a really cool list--we came up with some of the same stuff). At the time, pulling stats like that represented a significant use of resources, and that might still be the case. Can't hurt to bring it up again though!
Nah, our forum accounts and reddit accounts will remain separate. Some of us can still be reached on Twitter via our personal accounts too. I'm at @NikG_CM for example. At least until I can think of a better handle.
Hey all, wanted to touch base on why we've decided to take this route regarding our Twitter community manager accounts.
One thing we've seen over the release of Hearthstone content is that our players have a lot of questions on their mind, and we get a HUGE influx of these questions when new content comes out. Our fansites and MVPs work really hard to put all of our answers in one place, whether that's a website or FAQ, and we're trying to make that a little bit easier for them.
We also want to better service the overall Hearthstone community on Twitter. Not everyone really even knows about the Hearthstone community manager "persona" accounts, and as our team is growing, the way we are distributing our information to the community is getting a little too spread out. Who do you follow for Hearthstone information? PlayHearthstone? Me? Whirthun for dank memes? Daxxarri for cat pictures? Being able to point to one place and have all of our CMs work on addressing questions helps makes our communication faster and more consolidated.
BUT PEOPLE ARE MAD AND YOU'RE JUST HIDING
Not the case. We've actually been actively doing this for the past couple of months, and it's been working out. More people are going to the official Hearthstone account with questions, and we're seeing good things with the shift overall. It's just a Twitter shift - where content and conversations are much more agile and much less sticky - you'll still see us pop up on the other channels under our handles as normal.
Personally I dont like this. I liked the interaction we got with each dev and cm. They all had their opinions and felt like real human beings.
Even if they got all this hate and abuse lately it felt like it had more of a point having discussions about hearthstone than having discussions about WoW for instance. You got a feedback from not only the community but eventually from some people involved in the game.
It did make me feel like the community mattered so much for them that they actually got involved. From adressing concerns to making a fan favorite event part of Blizzcon this year.
Although maybe its for the better of the people behind it and im being selfish.
We're still here. :) It's just to make Twitter questions (which come in fast!) easier to answer. It's not a big change, really.
How many more cats need to be added to the trenchcoat before we get Shakespeare?
On a more serious note, has there been any thought to having a full/comprehensive issue list separately from the main patch notes for those who are curious? IMO, It could be as simple as a forum sticky/blog post on the Blizzard site with a shortened URL at the end of the main patch notes (e.g. "For full patch notes, visit http://buglistsare.aweso.me"). I'm sure I can't be the only Hearthstone-playing software developer/info junkie who'd enjoy reading such a list... =)
Our localization team would probably come over to my desk and strangle me if we asked to localize all that text. A lot of them aren't outwardly facing or particularly interesting. Patch notes take a lot of time to compile as well.
The list of things the team has done are good, but aside from Hearthstone on Android/iPhone none of them are things the community actually asked for.
The pitchforks are being raised because of issues that have been asked and asked and asked by the community and are simply ignored.
If I walk into a shop and I ask for a load of bread and you give me ten apples and a banana you don't get to turn around and say "Look at all I've done for you" when I get upset about my lack of bread.
You'd probably buy yourselves at least a month of goodwill simply by adding more deckslots alone. This isn't rocket science. Do the stuff people are asking for, regular balance and quality of life patches, regular feedback, interaction with the community that goes in both directions, and we'll all be happy.
Stubbornly doing your own thing instead of listening to the community is what is annoying everyone, and by your message it seems like you're going to still do it. Please reconsider.
The list of things being asked for by the community is vast and never-ending, and everything noted above was asked for by the community.
The analogy used is not particularly accurate on a few levels, but I see where you were trying to go with it. Perhaps if you went into the shop to get your regular round of goods you enjoy, but noticed the shop doesn't carry the particular bread that you like. You ask the cashier if they could supply that bread for you, and you fill out an order request form. The cashier mentions to the store manager about this bread and files away the request. Time passes, and more and more people have been asking about this delicious bread. Eventually, the store may stock that bread.
We've also mentioned a few times that deck slots is something we're working on.
It's a bit unfair to call it "being stubborn" when so many requests for content are coming in. It may not be rocket science, but there is a science behind game design that takes time and effort to do.
We've been reading Reddit daily - we always do. There's a lot of stuff to talk about, and a lot of stuff on people's minds. It's a bit harder than usual lately that we have to dig a bit deeper to get to the constructive posts, but that's also the nature of Reddit as a platform of discussion.
I will disagree on one point that was brought up - that the crux of the issue is the lack of communication. Rather, it may be the lack of things the community wants to hear. RAISES PITCHFORKS Whoa, hear me out.
RANT/RAGE THREAD INCOMING. PART 1: CHANGE CARDS MORE OFTEN OR RIOT
We've done a few blog posts in the past that talk about our design philosophy when it comes to Hearthstone. If you're here, you're aware of the things we've said on the topic: We want to make as few changes to cards as possible. We do feel really strongly about this. It may be perceived as easy to make constant changes to cards in a digital space, but that doesn't necessarily make for the correct decision for a healthy game. Barring more flowery language or abstract game design concepts, it is actually really important to make your Hearthstone collection feel like a physical, tangible thing. Something that is yours. That you own and have put effort and time into. That you are proud of.
Other TCG/CCGs may errata or outright ban/restrict cards, but they're not going to come over to your house, kick down your door, tear the card out of your hand, and rip it up in front of your eyes. In a digital world where my hyperbole gets out of control, we can do that. We don't like to do that. It feels really bad, and even worse for someone that may play Hearthstone less often or doesn't watch the latest news as closely as many players here do.
So what else do we do to diversify the meta? We add new content and put the meta into the player's hands. But, if you've seen Ben Brode's video on the dark side of releasing new content, he brings up a very important point: The more content we release, the more daunting it is to actually start getting into Hearthstone. Established players may not realize or care about this; more content is always good to these players, because it does diversify the metagame if the cards feel powerful and exciting. But then you get into another issue, which is power creep. Then, if all these new cards we've added to the game to change the meta are just strictly better than the old cards, then the barrier of entry gets harder and more daunting for new players. Without gaining new players and keeping the game interesting for existing players, the game dies.
This is what we are working on addressing. It is an issue we take very seriously, and it affects the game in such a broad sweeping way in regards to accessibility, balance, metagame diversity, and keeping competitive play fresh and exciting.
YOU GUYS DON'T DO ANYTHING
Oof. We've had a really busy year. The Hearthstone dev team busts their butts every day working on a lot of stuff we hope you'll enjoy in the future, and obviously there is a lot of stuff I can't talk about. But here’s some of the things we’ve already completed this year:
Expanding the Fireside Gatherings program
Hearthstone World Championship 2015
Blackrock Mountain
Hearthstone on Android and iPhone
Tavern Brawl (+many new Tavern Brawls)
The Grand Tournament
BlizzCon
That is a lot of stuff. We're working on more things, but it takes time.
HEARTHSTONE IS BUGGY
Our patch notes may not reflect it, but we address hundreds of various issues each patch that we don't list. Our mobile platforms have a character limit when it comes to how much we can put in our patch notes, and we localize our patch notes in all available languages, but we highlight the more prominent outward-facing bugs in our notes when we are able. It's something we're continuing to work on.
If you've read this far, I commend you, and I would like to inform you that I am literally just 20 cats in a trenchcoat. I know this post doesn't address every issue, but I wanted to get in a pinch of real talk for a minute before we jump into the madness that is BlizzCon.
This will keep Blizzard's game designers from playing Public Relations and pissing off hundreds of thousands of players and accidentally creating memes about how shitty some of their decisions were perceived to be.
tl;dr- this will prevent future "confuses new players" and "soul of the cards" memes.
This is a leash for Ben Brode, etc, etc, basically.
This only affects community manager accounts and not developer accounts.
Hey man, I know they are! /u/bbrode announced that via Twitter months ago. I'm just trying to provide feedback on why your posts have been received so negatively by the community on Reddit, since you asked for it in your above post.
Pro tip: You're not speaking to the majority of players when in this subreddit. You're speaking to the players that actually follow the game and want it improved.
A majority of players haven't asked for deck slots because they don't talk. They just download it from an appstore, try it for a few days, then either forget about it or maybe start to get into it.
For the 307098 of us here, I think you had probably think of us as the majority of the users who care. You can't discern everything from database stats, especially when you probably have millions of inactive or nearly inactive accounts. Database stats can't tell you when a user with 9 deckslots filled wanted to add a 10th deck, because he has no mechanism to try.
The people reading this are the people who have spent money on Hearthstone in the 2 years its been out, and are also the sort of people who are willing to pay again when new proper content is released. Don't discount us because 10 million iPad downloads only ever used 1 deckslot, and spent maybe 3 bucks. I've spent $250 over the course of the game, and I'm starting to question whether I should buy the next announced thing or not.
Thanks for the pro tip. Agree with what you said. In case you actually care about my original point, my point is that we do have the weigh the needs and asks of the 307098 Reddit users with the needs and asks of everybody else that plays the game. Sometimes the asks are aligned. Sometimes it's not. Regardless, we are working on adding deck slots.
Personally, I want posts like this where you acknowledge that you might be wrong and that you are working on a change that many people have been requesting for well over a year.
I do not appreciate seeing tired, flawed arguments based on misleading analytics. That stuff about most people only using 6 or 7 deck slots is a giant cop out. The collection manager and deck slot UI are really clunky and have not advanced as the game as grown - dedicated players can feel this, and I'm sure you all know it too. So come out and say that. Period. Don't try to indemnify yourself with flawed numbers, just be honest and explain what I assume, or at least hope, to be true: more deck slots are coming, but they will be a part of a major overhaul of the collection manager UI, so its going to take a while. Y'all need a PR guy.
I actually tried to say this a few times, but maybe not in the right way, so I am happy to try again: "more deck slots are coming".
Thanks for your response, that's what people here wants. It's better to say that something will not be done/it's being worked on or that the guy is wrong than nothing at all.
But one question: how adding more Deck Slots are more complicated to implement than what the guy said? You can use any level of technical explanation for this question. (or is just a matter of project management?)
I think this may be an interesting topic to do a post mortem on once additional deck slots are implemented. I will talk to the design team about this.
Thanks for your response, that's what people here wants. It's better to say that something will not be done/it's being worked on or that the guy is wrong than nothing at all.
But one question: how adding more Deck Slots are more complicated to implement than what the guy said? You can use any level of technical explanation for this question. (or is just a matter of project management?)
I think this may be an interesting topic to do a post mortem on once additional deck slots are implemented. I will talk to the design team about this.
You're not going to like this response, but in an effort to be transparent, here are a few things I've wanted since release: deck slots, deck slots, deck slots, deck slots.
As I too want more deck slots, I do like this response.
You're not going to like this response, but in an effort to be transparent, here are a few things I've wanted since release: deck slots, deck slots, deck slots, deck slots.
As I too want more deck slots, I do like this response.
a few items in your list are definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players
I know you've probably gotten a lot of flak and a book's worth of replies to read, but I'm not here to say you're wrong or why. Just to ask some questions, the answer to which may help bridge the gap in understanding.
Where does this data come from to make the claim that a majority of HS players do not want it? Emails? Are there surveys? Do you just use focus groups or small sample testing as an indication of the whole?
I'm not saying you're right or wrong because certainly statistical sampling is useful for a population of this size. I just see these claims made in effort to help players better understand Blizzard's reasoning on these features, but with no evidence to their accuracy or at least some insight and transparency into how this conclusion was arrived at. Players tend to get a bit outraged when their requests are quickly dismissed with just a simple claim that's in contrast to what they believe to be true. A bit of transparency could go a long way.
I actually did try explaining this yesterday, but here's another take. To start, we look at feedback provided on Hearthstone discussion platforms and social channels such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, fansites, Twitch streams etc. We also look at our own game data that can help us to determine player behavior and what players are looking for. Lastly, we also perform focus group studies and send out surveys. Please keep in mind that we don't necessarily believe that these sources are conclusive, but we do think that they give us a decent idea.
a few items in your list are definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players
I know you've probably gotten a lot of flak and a book's worth of replies to read, but I'm not here to say you're wrong or why. Just to ask some questions, the answer to which may help bridge the gap in understanding.
Where does this data come from to make the claim that a majority of HS players do not want it? Emails? Are there surveys? Do you just use focus groups or small sample testing as an indication of the whole?
I'm not saying you're right or wrong because certainly statistical sampling is useful for a population of this size. I just see these claims made in effort to help players better understand Blizzard's reasoning on these features, but with no evidence to their accuracy or at least some insight and transparency into how this conclusion was arrived at. Players tend to get a bit outraged when their requests are quickly dismissed with just a simple claim that's in contrast to what they believe to be true. A bit of transparency could go a long way.
I actually did try explaining this yesterday, but here's another take. To start, we look at feedback provided on Hearthstone discussion platforms and social channels such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, fansites, Twitch streams etc. We also look at our own game data that can help us to determine player behavior and what players are looking for. Lastly, we also perform focus group studies and send out surveys. Please keep in mind that we don't necessarily believe that these sources are conclusive, but we do think that they give us a decent idea.
I only mean to say that there is much more to consider than Reddit. It does not mean that I don't think Reddit is meaningful. Regarding being wrong, we can certainly be wrong. Ben Brode's recent video regarding warsong commander even acknowledges that we feel that we were wrong with how we had originally changed warsong commander a long time ago.
What are you looking for here exactly? You want deck slots. I want deck slots. We are working on implementing deck slots. Some posters are asking why it's taking so long, so I tried to explain. If you don't like or disagree with my explanations, that's fine, but that's the best explanation I have. Would you rather I said nothing?
Exactly as I had assumed, you read some data, started with the mistaken premise that "People only really want more deck slots if and only if they are currently using all 9 deck slots." then found that not many people were currently using all 9 deck slots and concluded that people don't really want more deck slots. You then assigned deck slots a low priority on the dev resource task list, and that is why it is taking so long.
You decided that deck slots should not be important and gave them a low priority SIMPLY because you read the data wrong.
As I explained, the reason I and many other do not have 9 decks built at any given time, is because if we have 9 decks builts, and want to build another deck, then we have to PAINFULLY choose and delete a deck BEFORE we build another deck. We avoid the pain of deleting a deck by never using all 9 deck slots at all. You then misinterpret that as meaning that we don't really want more deck slots.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE DON'T TRUST YOUR JUDGMENT AND IT INFURIATES US THAT YOU PRESUME TO CONTRADICT OUR EXPRESSLY STATED WANTS.
Sorry for caps, but I really want to drive that home.
I understand what you're saying, and I also read your previous post. However, the reality is that you, while extremely important to us, do not represent the majority. I fully understand that there are probably a good amount of people that use deck slots in the same way that you do, but it still does not mean that this is what the majority of players need. You noted that we cannot conclusively prove that deck slots were not needed by the majority of the players, and I agree with that. But we must make the best decision that we can with the information that we have.
With that said, and I also mentioned this above, none of this means that we are not working on deck slots. Personally, as a player, I need more deck slots. I have needed more deck slots since Naxxramas. This is an extremely important topic for us, but we ultimately still have to prioritize tasks based on what more players need.
Exactly as I had assumed, you read some data, started with the mistaken premise that "People only really want more deck slots if and only if they are currently using all 9 deck slots." then found that not many people were currently using all 9 deck slots and concluded that people don't really want more deck slots. You then assigned deck slots a low priority on the dev resource task list, and that is why it is taking so long.
You decided that deck slots should not be important and gave them a low priority SIMPLY because you read the data wrong.
As I explained, the reason I and many other do not have 9 decks built at any given time, is because if we have 9 decks builts, and want to build another deck, then we have to PAINFULLY choose and delete a deck BEFORE we build another deck. We avoid the pain of deleting a deck by never using all 9 deck slots at all. You then misinterpret that as meaning that we don't really want more deck slots.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE DON'T TRUST YOUR JUDGMENT AND IT INFURIATES US THAT YOU PRESUME TO CONTRADICT OUR EXPRESSLY STATED WANTS.
Sorry for caps, but I really want to drive that home.
I understand what you're saying, and I also read your previous post. However, the reality is that you, while extremely important to us, do not represent the majority. I fully understand that there are probably a good amount of people that use deck slots in the same way that you do, but it still does not mean that this is what the majority of players need. You noted that we cannot conclusively prove that deck slots were not needed by the majority of the players, and I agree with that. But we must make the best decision that we can with the information that we have.
With that said, and I also mentioned this above, none of this means that we are not working on deck slots. Personally, as a player, I need more deck slots. I have needed more deck slots since Naxxramas. This is an extremely important topic for us, but we ultimately still have to prioritize tasks based on what more players need.
Wait what? Did you, as a CM, just do the "haha I knew he'd be mad" routine?
I mean come on, this isn't the most formal of settings but what are you trying to accomplish by posting this. Some form of intellectual high ground? Over your player base?
It's not like they were all rant posts either. People requested for your reason behind not prioritizing more deck slots, and you gave a legitimate one, and they provide a legitimate counter-point as to why your data may not mean what it is currently interpreted as, and you... "Called it".
"Well, you were right about that at least I guess." is a legitimate counter-point to what exactly?
There are a number of ways your communication and design responses could improve across all Blizzard games.
First, it seems you move at the pace of a glacier. Things like additional deck slots you admit you are working on, but there are a number of game developers in this community and we recognize that additional deck slots is not something that should take this long; you aren't flying to the moon to program the additional slots.
I suspect the problem lies with your project management. You have different priorities for different tasks, and even though deck slots could be done very quickly and make a lot of people very happy, one of your managers just hasn't designated it a very high priority so hardly any progress is made on on. That's a structural problem that you should have an executive move mountains and crush egos to correct.
Tavern Brawl was a mistake. At least having it be a weekly thing. Whatever resources you have attached to this games development are drained weekly on the high priority Brawl development. And often it doesn't even make it out the door on time or bug free. Tavern Brawl has stymied development of all other possible feature. You should really keep the set of Brawls you have now, put them on a rotation, and release a new one monthly instead of weekly.
Second, you love and design this game. But you should really check your egos and recognize that the people who play this game professionally, who regularly do 24 hour marathons, simply understand this game better than you. When they come together and state that x is a problem and you should correct in in such and such manner, you should take that as a little bit more than input, a little bit more than advice. You should take that as the gospel, and make your design changes as close to their Word as possible.
The players in this community are your evangelists. As much as you like to think that they aren't totally representative of the player base as a whole, that they are just a vocal minority, you have to understand that without your evangelists, you have no larger player base as a whole. You are very close to losing your grassroots, your base, your core gamers. Baseball wouldn't continue as a popular game if every team in the MLB just stopped playing tomorrow.
Your first concern should always be to make your evangelists happy. If they are happy, then they will grow your game beyond anything you could do with millions and millions in a marketing budget.
You should already have a dedicated tournament mode in this game. Hopefully, it will be included in your Blizzcon announcements.
Also, something really needs to be done about Mysterious Challenger; it isn't so much that it is overpowered and overplayed, rather it just isn't fun to play against over and over, and it is more difficult to play against than it is to play. Hopefully, we will not have to wait until the next expansion for this nerf to occur. Otherwise, your active player base will likely drop by half.
Hearthstone was a surprise success, and it could suddenly be a surprise failure. I really do expect it to fail dramatically and suddenly, and soon. Because it does seem that you do not understand your game as well as your players do, and you seem unwilling to accept that this state of affairs is the case. You have people with degrees looking over data and doing research, and we're just anonymous people over the internet, dumb gamers, what could we know? Do not delude yourself in hubris. You do not know what you do not know.
I'll give you an example: You state how important you think it is for our card collections to feel 'real', for us to be attached to them. I'm sure you've done all sorts of marketing research into this phenomena, maybe even read or written academic papers on the psychology of it. To an extent you are correct, it is important. But you make one big mistake. In no case does my collection feel real to me after I make enough of a time investment to play the game competitively.
On average, I dust four cards a day. That does not feel real to me. I have no attachment to these cards. There's nothing personalized about them. I do not have to put them in sleeves. I do not have to worry about damaging them. My golden Dr. Boom doesn't have an identifying scratch from that time I dropped it on the way to lunch.
If you're worried you are going to hurt my feelings (or the feelings of the average active player) by nerfing a card, then you are just wrong. You really are worrying too much about the wrong things, almost neurotically.
Thanks for your feedback. Here is mine.
100% agree with improving communications.
Deck slots are surprisingly more complicated to implement than you are making it out to be. I also explained above that we have to prioritize tasks, and deck slots is not the most important task that we are working on.
I appreciate your feedback regarding Tavern Brawl. Tavern Brawl serves to address the demand for more variable types of game modes, which a lot of players were asking for. We have some dedicated developers that work primarily on Tavern Brawl. We also see a lot of feedback that disagrees with your feedback.
There are probably many players that understand how to play this game better than us. However, there are not that many people that understand the game design philosophies of Hearthstone better than the Hearthstone development team.
Evangelists are important and greatly valued. However, evangelists don't always represent the majority of the players and aren't always right.
There are a number of ways your communication and design responses could improve across all Blizzard games.
First, it seems you move at the pace of a glacier. Things like additional deck slots you admit you are working on, but there are a number of game developers in this community and we recognize that additional deck slots is not something that should take this long; you aren't flying to the moon to program the additional slots.
I suspect the problem lies with your project management. You have different priorities for different tasks, and even though deck slots could be done very quickly and make a lot of people very happy, one of your managers just hasn't designated it a very high priority so hardly any progress is made on on. That's a structural problem that you should have an executive move mountains and crush egos to correct.
Tavern Brawl was a mistake. At least having it be a weekly thing. Whatever resources you have attached to this games development are drained weekly on the high priority Brawl development. And often it doesn't even make it out the door on time or bug free. Tavern Brawl has stymied development of all other possible feature. You should really keep the set of Brawls you have now, put them on a rotation, and release a new one monthly instead of weekly.
Second, you love and design this game. But you should really check your egos and recognize that the people who play this game professionally, who regularly do 24 hour marathons, simply understand this game better than you. When they come together and state that x is a problem and you should correct in in such and such manner, you should take that as a little bit more than input, a little bit more than advice. You should take that as the gospel, and make your design changes as close to their Word as possible.
The players in this community are your evangelists. As much as you like to think that they aren't totally representative of the player base as a whole, that they are just a vocal minority, you have to understand that without your evangelists, you have no larger player base as a whole. You are very close to losing your grassroots, your base, your core gamers. Baseball wouldn't continue as a popular game if every team in the MLB just stopped playing tomorrow.
Your first concern should always be to make your evangelists happy. If they are happy, then they will grow your game beyond anything you could do with millions and millions in a marketing budget.
You should already have a dedicated tournament mode in this game. Hopefully, it will be included in your Blizzcon announcements.
Also, something really needs to be done about Mysterious Challenger; it isn't so much that it is overpowered and overplayed, rather it just isn't fun to play against over and over, and it is more difficult to play against than it is to play. Hopefully, we will not have to wait until the next expansion for this nerf to occur. Otherwise, your active player base will likely drop by half.
Hearthstone was a surprise success, and it could suddenly be a surprise failure. I really do expect it to fail dramatically and suddenly, and soon. Because it does seem that you do not understand your game as well as your players do, and you seem unwilling to accept that this state of affairs is the case. You have people with degrees looking over data and doing research, and we're just anonymous people over the internet, dumb gamers, what could we know? Do not delude yourself in hubris. You do not know what you do not know.
I'll give you an example: You state how important you think it is for our card collections to feel 'real', for us to be attached to them. I'm sure you've done all sorts of marketing research into this phenomena, maybe even read or written academic papers on the psychology of it. To an extent you are correct, it is important. But you make one big mistake. In no case does my collection feel real to me after I make enough of a time investment to play the game competitively.
On average, I dust four cards a day. That does not feel real to me. I have no attachment to these cards. There's nothing personalized about them. I do not have to put them in sleeves. I do not have to worry about damaging them. My golden Dr. Boom doesn't have an identifying scratch from that time I dropped it on the way to lunch.
If you're worried you are going to hurt my feelings (or the feelings of the average active player) by nerfing a card, then you are just wrong. You really are worrying too much about the wrong things, almost neurotically.
Thanks for your feedback. Here is mine.
100% agree with improving communications.
Deck slots are surprisingly more complicated to implement than you are making it out to be. I also explained above that we have to prioritize tasks, and deck slots is not the most important task that we are working on.
I appreciate your feedback regarding Tavern Brawl. Tavern Brawl serves to address the demand for more variable types of game modes, which a lot of players were asking for. We have some dedicated developers that work primarily on Tavern Brawl. We also see a lot of feedback that disagrees with your feedback.
There are probably many players that understand how to play this game better than us. However, there are not that many people that understand the game design philosophies of Hearthstone better than the Hearthstone development team.
Evangelists are important and greatly valued. However, evangelists don't always represent the majority of the players and aren't always right.
That makes sense; I can imagine backseat game development might get annoying. Still worth noting that tossing out a couple little details every now and then will do a lot more to inspire trust in the development team than radio silence or "We're working on it™". Even what you just said now about many approaches being tested, to me at least, served as a better reassurance that work was being done than "still working on it."
Anyway, nice of you, /u/CM_Zeriyah, and the others to take the time to reply to people here. I appreciate it, for what it's worth.
Your appreciation is certainly worth a lot, thanks!
That makes sense; I can imagine backseat game development might get annoying. Still worth noting that tossing out a couple little details every now and then will do a lot more to inspire trust in the development team than radio silence or "We're working on it™". Even what you just said now about many approaches being tested, to me at least, served as a better reassurance that work was being done than "still working on it."
Anyway, nice of you, /u/CM_Zeriyah, and the others to take the time to reply to people here. I appreciate it, for what it's worth.
Your appreciation is certainly worth a lot, thanks!
definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players
This seems almost impossible to measure and just another example of the development team misleading players. The excuse for deck slots used to be that the technology just wasn't there, now you've shifted talking points to insinuate that the demand isn't? Additionally it seems almost laughable that you claim the majority of players DO NOT want improvements/changes to ladder system or arena? You think people use the word "grind" and "ladder" together with a smile on their face? You think arenawarriorsmatter is just an inconsequential satire? IF the "majority of hearthstone players" do not request changes to arena or ladder, then what exactly are they doing? Playing tavern brawl once a week and logging off?
Agree that this is almost impossible to measure. However, we do have data that can help us determine player behavior and what players are looking for during regular gameplay. For example, we were able to look at all active Hearthstone players and then look at how many players actually used all 9 deck slots compared to how many players were actually only using 8, 7, 6, etc, or even just 1 deck slot. This data was able to lend a strong argument that most active Hearthstone players were not yet using all of their deck slots. Certainly, as you implied above, this is not conclusive, but it does help us to determine what may be more pressing to work on as far as development bandwidth goes.
Also, to be clear, when I say "the majority of Hearthstone players", I mean the majority of Hearthstone players. I do not mean the "majority of Hearthstone Reddit".
EDIT: Too many replies to this one post, so I will just make an edit here to try to clarify. I used an example above to try to explain that there are many other factors to consider beyond what is asked for on Reddit. It is not the sole reason for why deck slots is not the #1 most important thing. However, as has been noted several times, deck slots is important and is something that we are working on.
Would giving more technical details be out of the question? Like the exact nature of the issues that are being tackled with new features? Sometimes people around here speculate on what's causing the holdup for stuff like deck slots or bug fixes. I think it'd be fascinating to hear.
This is difficult to do, because usually many different approaches are debated, tried, and tested before arriving at what is ultimately implemented. To provide an update every step of the way would not only be extremely bandwidth taxing on the developers who are working on the new content but would also introduce opportunities to debate every decision that is made. While we certainly value player feedback, too much player feedback during development phases would more likely slow down development than to help facilitate the development process.
Would giving more technical details be out of the question? Like the exact nature of the issues that are being tackled with new features? Sometimes people around here speculate on what's causing the holdup for stuff like deck slots or bug fixes. I think it'd be fascinating to hear.
This is difficult to do, because usually many different approaches are debated, tried, and tested before arriving at what is ultimately implemented. To provide an update every step of the way would not only be extremely bandwidth taxing on the developers who are working on the new content but would also introduce opportunities to debate every decision that is made. While we certainly value player feedback, too much player feedback during development phases would more likely slow down development than to help facilitate the development process.
Where are you guys getting this feedback? I have received several quite detailed surveys from Riot about League for example, but I've never received one about Hearthstone. Are you just referring to the official forums and reddit?
We collect feedback from Hearthstone related discussion platforms, such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, social media channels, fansites, etc. We also gather feedback through surveys and focus group studies.
Where are you guys getting this feedback? I have received several quite detailed surveys from Riot about League for example, but I've never received one about Hearthstone. Are you just referring to the official forums and reddit?
We collect feedback from Hearthstone related discussion platforms, such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, social media channels, fansites, etc. We also gather feedback through surveys and focus group studies.
While I understand that these decisions are made very deliberately and I understand that you value seeing the unfiltered opinions of the community, I feel very strongly that more communication whenever possible, not less, is extremely constructive. This thread is a great example of what would mean a lot to me as a player: public, involved, lengthy replies. You've already visibly affected the tone of the sub in such a positive way with just your posts here. Where else can we get this sort of thing?
Genuinely, though, if you don't feel reddit is the right place to distribute these kinds of replies, then where could we look?
I'm not asking for them to announce stuff through Reddit. What people want is for them to say "Hey we understand your complaints and are working to fix them," not "Hey we hear your complaints and they are wrong and unjustified"
I agree that we should never tell people that "they are wrong and unjustified." Please point me to where that has happened and I will look into it.
Regarding player complaints, we definitely try to address every area that is considered to be a pain point. Unfortunately, we don't always agree with every player's complaint. In cases where we don't agree, we will try to explain why we don't agree.
I'm not asking for them to announce stuff through Reddit. What people want is for them to say "Hey we understand your complaints and are working to fix them," not "Hey we hear your complaints and they are wrong and unjustified"
I agree that we should never tell people that "they are wrong and unjustified." Please point me to where that has happened and I will look into it.
Regarding player complaints, we definitely try to address every area that is considered to be a pain point. Unfortunately, we don't always agree with every player's complaint. In cases where we don't agree, we will try to explain why we don't agree.
I can see why you would think that these are not what the majority wanted. I am going to guess that the information you received is not from worldwide sources.
I frequent forums not only from reddit. I know Chinese, and I frequent platforms from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. And these are the things that always talked about. They have HUGE player base as well.
Edit: Just reread my comment and think its a bit rude. Maybe you guys listen to fans that do not speak English as well because you have some competent staff. I could be very wrong but that is my thought.
I really appreciate the transparency and listen to how you guys think. This is beneficial for the community and the company. More conversations like this will definitely help.
We definitely look for and listen to feedback from all over the world. We have dedicated community teams in every region that we support that help us to collect regional player feedback on a regular basis. However, please keep in mind that Reddit/forums/social media channels only represent a very small amount of the total active players. We also have to look at in-game player behavior and perform surveys directed at different types of players to help us build a better picture of what players are looking for.
I have a question then, just completely out of the curiosity (your list about "what's not requested by the majority of the players" made me think about it):
What, exactly, is requested by the majority of the Hearthstone Players? Just to put things on perspective.
Because I guess what's being requested by the majority means it is (or should be) one of the higher priority items if not the highest, am I correct?
An example of something that was requested by a lot of players was better Ranked Play rewards. Implementing the current Ranked Play reward system that you see in-game today took a significant amount of bandwidth to create and was directly in response to what many players wanted.
Noted, this is worth discussing more internally. The concern right now is that most updates may become: "We are still working on it." Is that still meaningful after 6 months?
It's good on them for actually saying something to the community, but they didn't actually say anything of value. They just defended themselves and said that they have heard complaints. No comments of better things to come or fixing issues people are complaining about.
Just for the sake of argument, what kind of response are you looking for? It is extremely unlikely that we will announce any new features or expansions through a Reddit thread. (Sorry Reddit!)
It's good on them for actually saying something to the community, but they didn't actually say anything of value. They just defended themselves and said that they have heard complaints. No comments of better things to come or fixing issues people are complaining about.
Just for the sake of argument, what kind of response are you looking for? It is extremely unlikely that we will announce any new features or expansions through a Reddit thread. (Sorry Reddit!)
The things that MAJORITY of people asked for are not delivered.
Consider the issues that flooded front page, twitter and other forums: deckslots, ladder system, tournament format, tournament friendly mode, balance, patch and bugs, arena, achievements, inconsistency, get rid of bad rng (good rng is healthy), skill is not rewarded as much
They are not addressed properly. They give out frustrating responses that insults our intelligence.
Tavern Brawl: this is well done even though its not executed well. So nice job, I see appreciation posts every time a new brawl is out.
Hero Skin: I dont see many people ask for hero skins. You may see a few post now and then just because they want more features but its never a major issue.
Ladder reward chests: it is a really really small step. People asked for the improvement at ladder system, overhaul. The issues are (just a grind, huge time commitment to get legend every month, blizzcon points become less meaningful.)
This is not a cry of the week thing. Remember arena and deckslots? It is a cry of the year.
It is very frustrated to see things that can easily benefit to both sides not implemented. This game has so much potential. We complain because we love the game and want it to do better.
You're not going to like this response, but in the spirit of transparency, a few items in your list are definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players: deck slots(crazy, but true), ladder system, tournament format, tournament friendly mode, arena improvements, achievements, addressing inconsistency. This does not mean that we don't care about these items. In fact, we have mentioned many times that we are working on many of the items on your list, but we simply don't have any meaningful updates at this time. If you simply want us to acknowledge that we are still working on them, then here you go: We are still working on them.
The things that MAJORITY of people asked for are not delivered.
Consider the issues that flooded front page, twitter and other forums: deckslots, ladder system, tournament format, tournament friendly mode, balance, patch and bugs, arena, achievements, inconsistency, get rid of bad rng (good rng is healthy), skill is not rewarded as much
They are not addressed properly. They give out frustrating responses that insults our intelligence.
Tavern Brawl: this is well done even though its not executed well. So nice job, I see appreciation posts every time a new brawl is out.
Hero Skin: I dont see many people ask for hero skins. You may see a few post now and then just because they want more features but its never a major issue.
Ladder reward chests: it is a really really small step. People asked for the improvement at ladder system, overhaul. The issues are (just a grind, huge time commitment to get legend every month, blizzcon points become less meaningful.)
This is not a cry of the week thing. Remember arena and deckslots? It is a cry of the year.
It is very frustrated to see things that can easily benefit to both sides not implemented. This game has so much potential. We complain because we love the game and want it to do better.
You're not going to like this response, but in the spirit of transparency, a few items in your list are definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players: deck slots(crazy, but true), ladder system, tournament format, tournament friendly mode, arena improvements, achievements, addressing inconsistency. This does not mean that we don't care about these items. In fact, we have mentioned many times that we are working on many of the items on your list, but we simply don't have any meaningful updates at this time. If you simply want us to acknowledge that we are still working on them, then here you go: We are still working on them.
Is it possible for you guys to respond to some Reddit threads that gain traction (700+ Upvotes) more often?
I, and many of my friends who play this game rely on Reddit, over Twitter, as a source of news and conversation about the game. In a sense, Twitter feels more like an announcement platform, while reading your (and Zeriah's) responses here make me feel as if I'm hearing from people who deeply care about the game and its community. While I know it's less PR friendly to do so, having you guys at least drop a short comment on some controversial posts shows us that you're there watching and taking r/Hearthstone's opinions into consideration.
We actually made a conscious decision to post less in Reddit because we value Reddit's role as a community managed community. I believe that we get a better sense of what you guys are concerned about if we aren't always jumping in to influence opinions. With that said, I agree that there is definitely a certain value in having Blizzard employees post in Reddit also, so will look into that.
It is pretty sad, that even small talk with community by members of team will be closed now just because Blizzard afraid of any negative reaction. If they don't want get negative reaction, they must talk with community more, not less, cause all this negative is result of lack of communication. Communication with community almost doesn't exist. Players and developers speak completely different languages now. THIS is reason of misunderstanding.
For me, it is the worst case scenario.
It is pretty sad, that BdBrode is punished for trying to communicate.
This change is in no way related to Ben Brode's video and also does not affect Ben Brode's Twitter account.
I don't want to sound harsh but has anyone over at @Playhearthstone seen the frontpage recently?
300k people here + pro players + content creators + the wider community have been talking about nothing but the state of the game since the patron has been nerfed. 0 answer yet...
Hopefully Blizzcon will bring some good news.
Do you mean the frontpage of Reddit? We read Reddit daily, Zeriyah actually just made a post in this same thread that I hope answer some of your questions. We are aware of the concerns that are raised, and are working with the development team to address them, but unfortunately we just don't have any meaningful updates right now.
about what? Surely not about the community concerns and balance of the game.
We try our best to reply to as many tweets to the PlayHearthstone account as possible. If there's anything you want to talk about, tweet at us. Please keep in mind that's we're always happy to have a conversation, but it's not always possible to respond to: "NERF PALDIN"
" Too much hate from community. Everyone is getting abuse thrown at them on Twitter. Closing accounts so you can all direct it at PlayHearthstone account instead "
Unfortunately, there has been a lot of hate and abuse, but that is not why this change was made.
Daxxarri
We've discussed doing stuff like that in the past (and this is a really cool list--we came up with some of the same stuff). At the time, pulling stats like that represented a significant use of resources, and that might still be the case. Can't hurt to bring it up again though!
Daxxarri
Nah, our forum accounts and reddit accounts will remain separate. Some of us can still be reached on Twitter via our personal accounts too. I'm at @NikG_CM for example. At least until I can think of a better handle.
Zeriyah
Hey all, wanted to touch base on why we've decided to take this route regarding our Twitter community manager accounts.
One thing we've seen over the release of Hearthstone content is that our players have a lot of questions on their mind, and we get a HUGE influx of these questions when new content comes out. Our fansites and MVPs work really hard to put all of our answers in one place, whether that's a website or FAQ, and we're trying to make that a little bit easier for them.
We also want to better service the overall Hearthstone community on Twitter. Not everyone really even knows about the Hearthstone community manager "persona" accounts, and as our team is growing, the way we are distributing our information to the community is getting a little too spread out. Who do you follow for Hearthstone information? PlayHearthstone? Me? Whirthun for dank memes? Daxxarri for cat pictures? Being able to point to one place and have all of our CMs work on addressing questions helps makes our communication faster and more consolidated.
BUT PEOPLE ARE MAD AND YOU'RE JUST HIDING
Not the case. We've actually been actively doing this for the past couple of months, and it's been working out. More people are going to the official Hearthstone account with questions, and we're seeing good things with the shift overall. It's just a Twitter shift - where content and conversations are much more agile and much less sticky - you'll still see us pop up on the other channels under our handles as normal.
Zeriyah
We're still here. :) It's just to make Twitter questions (which come in fast!) easier to answer. It's not a big change, really.
Zeriyah
sneeze
Zeriyah
Our localization team would probably come over to my desk and strangle me if we asked to localize all that text. A lot of them aren't outwardly facing or particularly interesting. Patch notes take a lot of time to compile as well.
Zeriyah
The list of things being asked for by the community is vast and never-ending, and everything noted above was asked for by the community.
The analogy used is not particularly accurate on a few levels, but I see where you were trying to go with it. Perhaps if you went into the shop to get your regular round of goods you enjoy, but noticed the shop doesn't carry the particular bread that you like. You ask the cashier if they could supply that bread for you, and you fill out an order request form. The cashier mentions to the store manager about this bread and files away the request. Time passes, and more and more people have been asking about this delicious bread. Eventually, the store may stock that bread.
We've also mentioned a few times that deck slots is something we're working on.
It's a bit unfair to call it "being stubborn" when so many requests for content are coming in. It may not be rocket science, but there is a science behind game design that takes time and effort to do.
Zeriyah
We've been reading Reddit daily - we always do. There's a lot of stuff to talk about, and a lot of stuff on people's minds. It's a bit harder than usual lately that we have to dig a bit deeper to get to the constructive posts, but that's also the nature of Reddit as a platform of discussion.
I will disagree on one point that was brought up - that the crux of the issue is the lack of communication. Rather, it may be the lack of things the community wants to hear. RAISES PITCHFORKS Whoa, hear me out.
RANT/RAGE THREAD INCOMING. PART 1: CHANGE CARDS MORE OFTEN OR RIOT
We've done a few blog posts in the past that talk about our design philosophy when it comes to Hearthstone. If you're here, you're aware of the things we've said on the topic: We want to make as few changes to cards as possible. We do feel really strongly about this. It may be perceived as easy to make constant changes to cards in a digital space, but that doesn't necessarily make for the correct decision for a healthy game. Barring more flowery language or abstract game design concepts, it is actually really important to make your Hearthstone collection feel like a physical, tangible thing. Something that is yours. That you own and have put effort and time into. That you are proud of.
Other TCG/CCGs may errata or outright ban/restrict cards, but they're not going to come over to your house, kick down your door, tear the card out of your hand, and rip it up in front of your eyes. In a digital world where my hyperbole gets out of control, we can do that. We don't like to do that. It feels really bad, and even worse for someone that may play Hearthstone less often or doesn't watch the latest news as closely as many players here do.
So what else do we do to diversify the meta? We add new content and put the meta into the player's hands. But, if you've seen Ben Brode's video on the dark side of releasing new content, he brings up a very important point: The more content we release, the more daunting it is to actually start getting into Hearthstone. Established players may not realize or care about this; more content is always good to these players, because it does diversify the metagame if the cards feel powerful and exciting. But then you get into another issue, which is power creep. Then, if all these new cards we've added to the game to change the meta are just strictly better than the old cards, then the barrier of entry gets harder and more daunting for new players. Without gaining new players and keeping the game interesting for existing players, the game dies.
This is what we are working on addressing. It is an issue we take very seriously, and it affects the game in such a broad sweeping way in regards to accessibility, balance, metagame diversity, and keeping competitive play fresh and exciting.
YOU GUYS DON'T DO ANYTHING
Oof. We've had a really busy year. The Hearthstone dev team busts their butts every day working on a lot of stuff we hope you'll enjoy in the future, and obviously there is a lot of stuff I can't talk about. But here’s some of the things we’ve already completed this year:
That is a lot of stuff. We're working on more things, but it takes time.
HEARTHSTONE IS BUGGY
Our patch notes may not reflect it, but we address hundreds of various issues each patch that we don't list. Our mobile platforms have a character limit when it comes to how much we can put in our patch notes, and we localize our patch notes in all available languages, but we highlight the more prominent outward-facing bugs in our notes when we are able. It's something we're continuing to work on.
If you've read this far, I commend you, and I would like to inform you that I am literally just 20 cats in a trenchcoat. I know this post doesn't address every issue, but I wanted to get in a pinch of real talk for a minute before we jump into the madness that is BlizzCon.
Zeriyah
This only affects community manager accounts and not developer accounts.
Aratil
Thanks for that!
Aratil
Thanks for the pro tip. Agree with what you said. In case you actually care about my original point, my point is that we do have the weigh the needs and asks of the 307098 Reddit users with the needs and asks of everybody else that plays the game. Sometimes the asks are aligned. Sometimes it's not. Regardless, we are working on adding deck slots.
Aratil
I actually tried to say this a few times, but maybe not in the right way, so I am happy to try again: "more deck slots are coming".
Aratil
I think this may be an interesting topic to do a post mortem on once additional deck slots are implemented. I will talk to the design team about this.
Aratil
I think this may be an interesting topic to do a post mortem on once additional deck slots are implemented. I will talk to the design team about this.
Aratil
As I too want more deck slots, I do like this response.
Aratil
As I too want more deck slots, I do like this response.
Aratil
I actually did try explaining this yesterday, but here's another take. To start, we look at feedback provided on Hearthstone discussion platforms and social channels such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, fansites, Twitch streams etc. We also look at our own game data that can help us to determine player behavior and what players are looking for. Lastly, we also perform focus group studies and send out surveys. Please keep in mind that we don't necessarily believe that these sources are conclusive, but we do think that they give us a decent idea.
Aratil
I actually did try explaining this yesterday, but here's another take. To start, we look at feedback provided on Hearthstone discussion platforms and social channels such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, fansites, Twitch streams etc. We also look at our own game data that can help us to determine player behavior and what players are looking for. Lastly, we also perform focus group studies and send out surveys. Please keep in mind that we don't necessarily believe that these sources are conclusive, but we do think that they give us a decent idea.
Aratil
Thanks for looking out.
Aratil
Thanks for looking out.
Aratil
I only mean to say that there is much more to consider than Reddit. It does not mean that I don't think Reddit is meaningful. Regarding being wrong, we can certainly be wrong. Ben Brode's recent video regarding warsong commander even acknowledges that we feel that we were wrong with how we had originally changed warsong commander a long time ago.
What are you looking for here exactly? You want deck slots. I want deck slots. We are working on implementing deck slots. Some posters are asking why it's taking so long, so I tried to explain. If you don't like or disagree with my explanations, that's fine, but that's the best explanation I have. Would you rather I said nothing?
Aratil
I understand what you're saying, and I also read your previous post. However, the reality is that you, while extremely important to us, do not represent the majority. I fully understand that there are probably a good amount of people that use deck slots in the same way that you do, but it still does not mean that this is what the majority of players need. You noted that we cannot conclusively prove that deck slots were not needed by the majority of the players, and I agree with that. But we must make the best decision that we can with the information that we have.
With that said, and I also mentioned this above, none of this means that we are not working on deck slots. Personally, as a player, I need more deck slots. I have needed more deck slots since Naxxramas. This is an extremely important topic for us, but we ultimately still have to prioritize tasks based on what more players need.
Aratil
I understand what you're saying, and I also read your previous post. However, the reality is that you, while extremely important to us, do not represent the majority. I fully understand that there are probably a good amount of people that use deck slots in the same way that you do, but it still does not mean that this is what the majority of players need. You noted that we cannot conclusively prove that deck slots were not needed by the majority of the players, and I agree with that. But we must make the best decision that we can with the information that we have.
With that said, and I also mentioned this above, none of this means that we are not working on deck slots. Personally, as a player, I need more deck slots. I have needed more deck slots since Naxxramas. This is an extremely important topic for us, but we ultimately still have to prioritize tasks based on what more players need.
Aratil
"Well, you were right about that at least I guess." is a legitimate counter-point to what exactly?
Aratil
Thanks for your feedback. Here is mine.
100% agree with improving communications.
Deck slots are surprisingly more complicated to implement than you are making it out to be. I also explained above that we have to prioritize tasks, and deck slots is not the most important task that we are working on.
I appreciate your feedback regarding Tavern Brawl. Tavern Brawl serves to address the demand for more variable types of game modes, which a lot of players were asking for. We have some dedicated developers that work primarily on Tavern Brawl. We also see a lot of feedback that disagrees with your feedback.
There are probably many players that understand how to play this game better than us. However, there are not that many people that understand the game design philosophies of Hearthstone better than the Hearthstone development team.
Evangelists are important and greatly valued. However, evangelists don't always represent the majority of the players and aren't always right.
Regarding Mysterious Challenger, please see here
Regarding worrying about the wrong things, your examples were actually all things that some other people do worry about.
Aratil
Thanks for your feedback. Here is mine.
100% agree with improving communications.
Deck slots are surprisingly more complicated to implement than you are making it out to be. I also explained above that we have to prioritize tasks, and deck slots is not the most important task that we are working on.
I appreciate your feedback regarding Tavern Brawl. Tavern Brawl serves to address the demand for more variable types of game modes, which a lot of players were asking for. We have some dedicated developers that work primarily on Tavern Brawl. We also see a lot of feedback that disagrees with your feedback.
There are probably many players that understand how to play this game better than us. However, there are not that many people that understand the game design philosophies of Hearthstone better than the Hearthstone development team.
Evangelists are important and greatly valued. However, evangelists don't always represent the majority of the players and aren't always right.
Regarding Mysterious Challenger, please see here
Regarding worrying about the wrong things, your examples were actually all things that some other people do worry about.
Aratil
But....Hearthstone is your friend...
Aratil
Your appreciation is certainly worth a lot, thanks!
Aratil
Your appreciation is certainly worth a lot, thanks!
Aratil
Agree that this is almost impossible to measure. However, we do have data that can help us determine player behavior and what players are looking for during regular gameplay. For example, we were able to look at all active Hearthstone players and then look at how many players actually used all 9 deck slots compared to how many players were actually only using 8, 7, 6, etc, or even just 1 deck slot. This data was able to lend a strong argument that most active Hearthstone players were not yet using all of their deck slots. Certainly, as you implied above, this is not conclusive, but it does help us to determine what may be more pressing to work on as far as development bandwidth goes.
Also, to be clear, when I say "the majority of Hearthstone players", I mean the majority of Hearthstone players. I do not mean the "majority of Hearthstone Reddit".
EDIT: Too many replies to this one post, so I will just make an edit here to try to clarify. I used an example above to try to explain that there are many other factors to consider beyond what is asked for on Reddit. It is not the sole reason for why deck slots is not the #1 most important thing. However, as has been noted several times, deck slots is important and is something that we are working on.
Aratil
The truth is out there.
Aratil
The truth is out there.
Aratil
This is difficult to do, because usually many different approaches are debated, tried, and tested before arriving at what is ultimately implemented. To provide an update every step of the way would not only be extremely bandwidth taxing on the developers who are working on the new content but would also introduce opportunities to debate every decision that is made. While we certainly value player feedback, too much player feedback during development phases would more likely slow down development than to help facilitate the development process.
Aratil
This is difficult to do, because usually many different approaches are debated, tried, and tested before arriving at what is ultimately implemented. To provide an update every step of the way would not only be extremely bandwidth taxing on the developers who are working on the new content but would also introduce opportunities to debate every decision that is made. While we certainly value player feedback, too much player feedback during development phases would more likely slow down development than to help facilitate the development process.
Aratil
We collect feedback from Hearthstone related discussion platforms, such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, social media channels, fansites, etc. We also gather feedback through surveys and focus group studies.
Aratil
We collect feedback from Hearthstone related discussion platforms, such as the official forums, blogs, Reddit, social media channels, fansites, etc. We also gather feedback through surveys and focus group studies.
Aratil
All good points. Will look into more.
Aratil
I agree that we should never tell people that "they are wrong and unjustified." Please point me to where that has happened and I will look into it.
Regarding player complaints, we definitely try to address every area that is considered to be a pain point. Unfortunately, we don't always agree with every player's complaint. In cases where we don't agree, we will try to explain why we don't agree.
Aratil
I agree that we should never tell people that "they are wrong and unjustified." Please point me to where that has happened and I will look into it.
Regarding player complaints, we definitely try to address every area that is considered to be a pain point. Unfortunately, we don't always agree with every player's complaint. In cases where we don't agree, we will try to explain why we don't agree.
Aratil
Can't win, eh?
Aratil
Can't win, eh?
Aratil
Called it.
Aratil
Called it.
Aratil
We definitely look for and listen to feedback from all over the world. We have dedicated community teams in every region that we support that help us to collect regional player feedback on a regular basis. However, please keep in mind that Reddit/forums/social media channels only represent a very small amount of the total active players. We also have to look at in-game player behavior and perform surveys directed at different types of players to help us build a better picture of what players are looking for.
Aratil
An example of something that was requested by a lot of players was better Ranked Play rewards. Implementing the current Ranked Play reward system that you see in-game today took a significant amount of bandwidth to create and was directly in response to what many players wanted.
Aratil
Noted, this is worth discussing more internally. The concern right now is that most updates may become: "We are still working on it." Is that still meaningful after 6 months?
Aratil
Why can't PlayHearthstone just make the tweet to begin with?
Aratil
Just for the sake of argument, what kind of response are you looking for? It is extremely unlikely that we will announce any new features or expansions through a Reddit thread. (Sorry Reddit!)
Aratil
Just for the sake of argument, what kind of response are you looking for? It is extremely unlikely that we will announce any new features or expansions through a Reddit thread. (Sorry Reddit!)
Aratil
You're not going to like this response, but in the spirit of transparency, a few items in your list are definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players: deck slots(crazy, but true), ladder system, tournament format, tournament friendly mode, arena improvements, achievements, addressing inconsistency. This does not mean that we don't care about these items. In fact, we have mentioned many times that we are working on many of the items on your list, but we simply don't have any meaningful updates at this time. If you simply want us to acknowledge that we are still working on them, then here you go: We are still working on them.
Aratil
You're not going to like this response, but in the spirit of transparency, a few items in your list are definitely not requested by the majority of Hearthstone players: deck slots(crazy, but true), ladder system, tournament format, tournament friendly mode, arena improvements, achievements, addressing inconsistency. This does not mean that we don't care about these items. In fact, we have mentioned many times that we are working on many of the items on your list, but we simply don't have any meaningful updates at this time. If you simply want us to acknowledge that we are still working on them, then here you go: We are still working on them.
Aratil
We actually made a conscious decision to post less in Reddit because we value Reddit's role as a community managed community. I believe that we get a better sense of what you guys are concerned about if we aren't always jumping in to influence opinions. With that said, I agree that there is definitely a certain value in having Blizzard employees post in Reddit also, so will look into that.
Aratil
FIXED
Aratil
It's an annual outing!
Aratil
This change is in no way related to Ben Brode's video and also does not affect Ben Brode's Twitter account.
Aratil
Do you mean the frontpage of Reddit? We read Reddit daily, Zeriyah actually just made a post in this same thread that I hope answer some of your questions. We are aware of the concerns that are raised, and are working with the development team to address them, but unfortunately we just don't have any meaningful updates right now.
Aratil
We try our best to reply to as many tweets to the PlayHearthstone account as possible. If there's anything you want to talk about, tweet at us. Please keep in mind that's we're always happy to have a conversation, but it's not always possible to respond to: "NERF PALDIN"
Aratil
We've actually been talking to a lot more people through the PlayHearthstone account than we ever were through individual CM accounts.
Aratil
Unfortunately, there has been a lot of hate and abuse, but that is not why this change was made.
Aratil
We all do.
Aratil
We all do.