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Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

Hearthstone AMA #37 7:30PM - 8:30PM PST Ask me a question about Hearthstone! Or Design! (or anime...) https://t.co/6a4NBemG2s

Hearthstone AMA #37 7:30PM - 8:30PM PST Ask me a question about Hearthstone! Or Design! (or anime...) https://t.co/6a4NBemG2s

  • Iksar
    Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
    Hearthstone AMA #37 7:30PM - 8:30PM PST Ask me a question about Hearthstone! Or Design! (or anime...) https://t.co/6a4NBemG2s

    • Iksar
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      also: https://t.co/UJNz7YYFad

    • HolyKnight077
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Hello Lord Iksar, hope you are doing well.. how you decide how much mana worth a Deathrattle has. For example: Savannah Highmane: 6 mana 6/5 that summons two 2/2s when dies (summon two 2/2s = 3 mana in druid) total 9 mana worth. How does the deathrattle math work?

      • HolyKnight077
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS On the other hand, Sludge Belcher is a 5 mana 3/5 taunt that summons a 1/2 taunt (1 mana summon) a total of 6 mana approximately? Idk... I am intrigued to understand how Desthrattle math works :)

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @HolyKnight077 We don't have equations to help balance cards. Our balance decisions come almost entirely from playtesting or historical knowledge. High power level almost always comes from synergies with other cards rather than raw individual power, anyway.

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @HolyKnight077 That said, there have been times where we've looked back and asked ourselves if we attributed enough cost to X thing. The most recent conversation I remember about this was Discover.

            • Iksar
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @HolyKnight077 And if we didn't account for enough cost (or Att/Health penalty) for a card having Discover on it. The result of our decisions led to more Discover cards than we wanted seeing play.

    • navyverdant
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS any chance at a multiverse expansion with overwatch, diablo, and starcraft cards being made?? 😳😳😳

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @navyverdant yes? team has mixed feelings on heading outside warcraft universe but it's certainly an opportunity to appeal to different people My guess is we'd start with internal IP (Diablo, OW, SC, etc) before potentially branching out to external IP (Marvel, Naruto, Fresh Prince)

        • hsdecktech
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @navyverdant Next year’s FYM I’m making that Fresh Prince set.

    • kilmarnok1285
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Is looking up their hidden MMR one of the first things new Team 5 employees do?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @kilmarnok1285 Internal MMR is pretty meaningless without a ton of context on the system. If you started on the team and looked up your internal MMR you'd find it was like .... 2.56 or something. Hard to know what that even means.

      • Cora
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @kilmarnok1285 @IksarHS I looked up my total in game hours when I started. It was a lot.

    • Luker_HS
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Did you watch Attack on Titan yesterday??? Thoughts??? (also demon slayer new season is litty)

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @Luker_HS I did. I honestly got 2 minutes in before I decided to watch a recap video of S4 Part 1. Definitely needed it. I'm..... intrigued. I love AoT but I'm pretty bored with the 'is Eren a good guy or a bad guy?!?!' theme.

    • yycjustin
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS If YOU could choose a new duel class hero for Duels what classes would they be?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @yycjustin I like Saurok because they are similar to Iksar from Everquest. Probably an edgy Saurok boy.

    • jcandance
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Do Standard packs have pity timers?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @jcandance We haven't changed the 'pity timer' (progressive percentages) on packs to my knowledge. You should still be more likely to open a legendary card the longer you go without opening a legendary card.

    • Blumpo4
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Do you think there will ever be a space in the game where we can mess with the base rules?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @Blumpo4 I hope so. Player creation is an untapped space for our game but it's also incredibly expensive to make. The amount of times I crash my internal client trying to create things is very high. Not exactly an acceptable player-facing experience :).

        • Corpssavy66
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @Blumpo4 Interesting. I heard Overwatch's "Workshop" mode was a passion project between 2 developers. I guess it puts into perspective just how much work went into it. maybe get those guys working on the HS version :)

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @Corpssavy66 @Blumpo4 I know that story and it honestly sort of blows my mind. Those are some talented engineers. That said, there was likely a great deal of production and UI help beyond just those two engineers.

    • bwebster
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Arena adjustments coming anytime soon?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @bwebster The true and unfortunate story about microadjustments is that the father of microadjustments @sky_tding has moved off the team (good luck and we love you @sky_tding) and we're trying to figure out what the best path forward is now.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @bwebster @sky_tding Because Tian was awesome, he came up with a cool math/programming based solution that required some manual effort but he was capable of doing it (microadjusts).

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @bwebster @sky_tding However, there are some downsides and abnormalities with that process. One, it's pretty rare for a feature to be maintained by someone off the dev team. His team might have other priorities and planning can be more difficult.

            • Iksar
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @bwebster @sky_tding Two, there was some pretty complex manual effort involved that meant multiple people from different teams had to be free at a moment's notice when we wanted microadjustments to happen.

              • Iksar
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @bwebster @sky_tding So, now, we're considering a couple options. One is to keep microadjustments as is but move the responsibility back to dev (and adjusting our schedule as a result). Another is to come up with a simpler and less manual solution that allows us to be more timely with class balance.

                • Iksar
                  Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                  @bwebster @sky_tding TL:DR we're rethinking how we do arena balance. The goal is to have a solution that is easier to maintain and has more predictable timelines. We may fall back on current microadjustments until that happens.

        • Tian Ding
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @bwebster I love y’all as well! :D

        • TeamAmericaHS
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @bwebster @sky_tding Man Arena is really popping off @DreadsGaming ... Popping right off the development team.

          • DreadsGaming
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @TeamAmericaHS @IksarHS @bwebster @sky_tding I appreciate the transparency, but it's big sad for sure :(

            • Iksar
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @DreadsGaming @TeamAmericaHS @bwebster @sky_tding Big happy is that in our team reorg, there is some better clarity around who owns arena Before that had been a little murky, mostly because the card design team scaled our work to include miniset and core set without increasing team size much. We're in a better place now.

    • RidiculousHat
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS how are you, molly, and kiddo doing? are you back to work full-time yet or just dipping a toe in?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @RidiculousHat We're great! Happy, healthy, and tired! Second question is complicated. I'm mostly back, but we're trying to delay putting baby in daycare for as long as humanly possible. That means being available at weird times. I show up to all my meetings now, just not much more than that.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @RidiculousHat I've been spending some time make a couple presentations to help guide our new team structure. Probably won't dive back into making stuff til February.

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @RidiculousHat Here are some example slides for you https://t.co/uqiCvF090e

            • RidiculousHat
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS these seem like good presentations did replies to @Celestalon's feature tweet make it into the second one??

              • Iksar
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @RidiculousHat @Celestalon Presentation is more a guide on goals, opportunities, and decision making. Deciding on what we make is best left to the people making the things.

    • DabsHS
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS who's your favorite pokemon

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @DabsHS articuno other answers are wrong https://t.co/CXbcpb6CVd

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @DabsHS @SeltzerPlease has my back on this

    • J_Alexander_HS
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Have you tried any new detergents lately? I hope you’ve been able to find one that made your quests stop stinking

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @J_Alexander_HS I was thinking about detergents lately. Tide has such a good brand. I just associate their brand with detergent. I think Gain is actually better but when I'm mindlessly going through the grocery store for things I need I just automatically pick up Tide.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @J_Alexander_HS But thank you for your insight J. Always helpful, useful. I feel fulfilled after our discussions. More seriously, I hope you are doing well and Hearthstone brings you at least some joy. I've been working out lately and sometimes I think, I hope to someday be as fit as JALEX.

        • RidiculousHat
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @J_Alexander_HS i'm working on a show about household brands. do you want to come on my tide pod-cast

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS sure, i'm a gain man myself....

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS I had a shower thought that you should do a limited podcast called 'Making Hearthstone' that interviews individual devs about their contributions and memories. Maybe I'll pitch it, would have to pay you and get the right folks on board to join, though... was just a thought ok

            • hsdecktech
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS Someone else pushed this—and I supported and still support it!—but before anyone (Hat) gets too excited, there were some obstacles at the last pitch. I want to help you overcome those obstacles, though.

              • HS_Alec
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @hsdecktech @IksarHS @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS We recorded an episode actually, Liv and I. Was a behind the scenes look at the development of a set. Hope y’all do it.

                • hsdecktech
                  Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                  @GW_Alec @IksarHS @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS Okay—surprise!—the mysterious person who pitched it before was Alec (probably not too surprising if you know his background).

                  • Iksar
                    Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                    @hsdecktech @GW_Alec @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS Oh snap if you still have it send it over I'd love to listen :) I can probably convince Peter/Mike but will have a harder time with people like Hamilton/Chayes/Thompson/Brode/Dodds/Pardo.

            • RidiculousHat
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS @J_Alexander_HS can this be real

              • Hockeyboyz3_hs
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @RidiculousHat @IksarHS @J_Alexander_HS Please

                • Iksar
                  Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                  @Hockeyboyz3_hs @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS I think it could be cool. There are some very important players in making Hearthstone happen in the first place that might be hard to convince. I'll see what I can do no promises.

            • Cora
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS Wait I love this idea

              • MyntyPhresh
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @Songbird_HS @IksarHS @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS Same

                • Chadd Nervigg
                  Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                  @MyntyPhresh @Songbird_HS @IksarHS @RidiculousHat @J_Alexander_HS Same

    • SquiddyHS
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Thoughts on an eleventh class one day, or is ten the final cap?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @SquiddyHS Forever is too long of a time to not do an 11th class. We've discussed it at length, just a matter of which is the next one to do.

    • hbcosta
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS What was the last hearthstone card that you designed? Or that was a original design of yours

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @hbcosta Probably something in Deadmines. The last useful thing I did in card design was probably designing the first parrot card that inspired the small cycle of Deadmines birds.

    • ketchumash003
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS do you think that designing disruption cards is hard? I'm no designer but I can't think of many disruption card concepts that also go with themes of some decks and aren't going to feel unhealthy

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @ketchumash003 I think designing disruption cards is rather easy. We can design more good individual disruption cards than would be a good idea to actually put in the game.

    • allansoty
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS can we expect the 2022 year of HS to have new great surprises, excepting the new sets? :)

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @allansoty https://t.co/TeFyMjBvk2

    • RTwoCTwo
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS I've contemplated the idea of cards that can trigger from hand, on my opponent's turn, if I leave unspent mana. Do you see that as a possibility? Or does the basic design of HS preclude such effects?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @RTwoCTwo It's not a total dealbreaker, but the biggest downside is that it creates a new layer of interaction that players have to think about. After the first time it happens, players will now have to wonder if they play something, will a thing happen from their opponent's hand.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @RTwoCTwo On your turn in Hearthstone, you have total control and any variables like triggering a trap or discovering a card are opt-in. I think we'd have to find that this new layer of interaction is so fun it should be on many cards in every set, not a one-off thing.

    • blisterguy
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS It’s been nearly a year since The Core Set was rolled out. Will we be seeing big changes to The Core as we start the new HS year this year? Or maybe just small tweaks?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @blisterguy Big changes but I wouldn't expect it to drastically alter the way the game is played. The goal of the core set is partly to have interesting cards to choose from, but it's also to be the baseline set of cards to help introduce new players to the Standard experience.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @blisterguy So I'd expect there to be some powerful cards that players include in decks, but I'd also expect there to be many very simple and sometimes low power cards that are meant to teach and then eventually replaced.

        • BobHughes13
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @blisterguy A year ago I asked if the current Core cards would stay in our collection the following year or what would happen to those cards in our collection. I was told the team hadnt decided yet. Do you now know whether we will be able to keep cards that are not staying Core next year?

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @BobHughes13 @blisterguy They will not. Think of all your core set cards as a blank card template that changes year to year. You'll keep all your core set cards, they'll just be new ones now.

            • MartianBuu
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS @BobHughes13 @blisterguy If a card is no longer available in the Core Set is it rotated to Wild and craftable somehow or is it sent to the abyss?

              • Chadd Nervigg
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @MartianBuu @IksarHS @BobHughes13 @blisterguy If any of the cards that only currently exist in Core don't return in Core next year, they would be added to Legacy, so they're still available in Wild.

        • blisterguy
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS Oh of course! I’m all on board with Core being that big flat Lego plate we build our fantastic creations on.

          • Chadd Nervigg
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @blisterguy @IksarHS That's a really good analogy. I might use that in the future.

    • PixelPastimes
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS I know you said "a" question, but I have a couple. 1. Any ETA on Random Coins or Heroes? 2. Any plans to increase Tavern Pass XP for Mercenaries PvE, given it is the main way to train Mercs? 3. Any plans to make the shop more tailored towards individual players?

      • PixelPastimes
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS By more tailored towards individual players, I mean somebody who buys portraits quite often will see more of the portraits they don't own available in the shop. Or somebody who plays more of a certain game mode will see more packs/deals for that game mode.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @PixelPastimes 1 - No ETA but it's something I want and will put very high on the list to do. 2 - I don't know what the modifer is now, our intention was to have it be slightly lower than ranked, like BG or Arena. Is it that? If it is, no plans to increase. 3 - We do this already.

    • ZombiesGoNomNom
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Hey dean, I know that the team recently went under some restructuring recently, do you have any thoughts on how that might change/improve things compared to how they operated before?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @ZombiesGoNomNom In the ideal case.... Less approvals, less meetings about who is available for what thing, more of the team doing the work deciding what to do and just putting it in the game.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @ZombiesGoNomNom So from a player-facing view, my hope is that we'll see more small improvements. Before, there were some many layers of people to request help from that it was hard to justify going through that ordeal for a small feature, we'd just move from one big thing to the next.

    • ZeddyHS
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Naxx out?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @ZeddyHS hi zeddy hope you had a good holiday

    • Lyiem2
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS If you haven't watched it already I really recommend giving castlevania a watch

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @Lyiem2 I did, loved it.

    • Busy_Peon
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS How are things? Keeping it together now that you're a father?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @Busy_Peon Things are great. Happy, healthy family. Excited to get back to thinking about Hearthstone things, too.

    • AlexEcollings
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS @Celestalon Will there ever be a nazjatar expansion?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @AlexEcollings @Celestalon Interesting... very interesting.

    • cariel_roame
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Who is your favorite mercenary, and why is it me? https://t.co/hhrk2Dwhkj

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @cariel_roame You were actually the first mercenary I got excited about. The first name I had for you on paper was Siobhan, but I think people have a hard time knowing the pronunciation of that name by reading it.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @cariel_roame Way back in the day, the idea on paper for the year was just 'the world of warcraft player leveling experience' one of the ideas that spawned from that was following a party of heroes

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @cariel_roame The very first email pitch for the Alliance party from 1/12/2020. Changed a little, but not you, Cariel :) https://t.co/SlHOYwUWzx

            • TamsinRoame
              Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS @cariel_roame I do not like this favoritism

              • Iksar
                Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
                @TamsinRoame @cariel_roame @ItsMeMollyO tried to convince me to name the UD Warlock Phindah (after her undead warlock in WoW) but Tamsin turned out to be a cool name. Even if everyone says Tasmin…

        • VardenDawngrasp
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @cariel_roame 😒 I would say we are evenly matched

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
            @VardenDawngrasp @cariel_roame Varden might be my favorite now. The way they do the Black Widow landing in the Alterac Valley cinematic is one of my favorite moments :) Thanks Varden you are OP

    • EliteLeafHater
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS dont know if you can answer this but will we get a @Celestalon puzzle this expansion ?

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @EliteLeafHater @Celestalon I wouldn't know, @Celestalon usually just puts stuff in the game and I find out about it later 😂

        • Chadd Nervigg
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @EliteLeafHater https://t.co/LlSREfQqGB

    • Gambito_HS
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS During your career at Blizzard and @PlayHearthstone, what has been the most challenging/difficult design decision you had to make during the development of any XP/feature/etc. What is your #1 design priority for HS in 2022? Welcome back! Much love from Venezuela 🤍

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @Gambito_HS @PlayHearthstone Most difficult might have been whether to make Demon Hunter temporary or permanent. I don't think people realize how close we were to DH being a class for a year then rotating out. Not sure if we made the right decision. The smartest designers I've ever known wanted temporary...

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
          @Gambito_HS @PlayHearthstone Next year goals: Improve existing features more than add more layers on top of what we have.

    • 4everfearless2
      Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS What's your favorite League of Legends character？

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 8 months ago (Source)
        @4everfearless2 Such a hard one to answer, I have an incredible love for the league universe. I’d say yone for gameplay, renekton for favorite look, and kayn for lore.
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