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Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

Ask me a question about Hearthstone and I will try my best to answer. More likely I can answer your question if it relates to game design in some way, but can give other questions a shot. 6:00PM - 7:00PST https://t.co/HgosaAX79s

Ask me a question about Hearthstone and I will try my best to answer. More likely I can answer your question if it relates to game design in some way, but can give other questions a shot. 6:00PM - 7:00PST https://t.co/HgosaAX79s

  • Iksar
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    Ask me a question about Hearthstone and I will try my best to answer. More likely I can answer your question if it relates to game design in some way, but can give other questions a shot. 6:00PM - 7:00PST https://t.co/HgosaAX79s

    • PascoaHS
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Hey! Any thoughts for a pets/familiars expansion? I feel like it would be super cool, opportunity for featuring cattos and dogges, designing cute dragons and conjurers (pokemon masters?) That's my way of saying please make more cats they're cute @Songbird_HS help me https://t.co/jim3Y5qP3f

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @PascoaHS @Songbird_HS We have pet battles in WoW so it stands to reason we could do a narrative about the pet battle and collection experience around Azeroth. Pokemon was obviously a huge inspiration for pet battles so @Songbird_HS seems like a good pick for that job.

        • Songbird_HS
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS @PascoaHS Plz plz plz plz plz

          • hadidjahb
            Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
            @Songbird_HS @IksarHS @PascoaHS Cora hire me to do ur VFX pls.

            • Songbird_HS
              Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
              @hadidjahb @IksarHS @PascoaHS Hired. I can pay you in dog pictures.

              • hadidjahb
                Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
                @Songbird_HS @IksarHS @PascoaHS Perfect, is my desk next to Bea's?

                • Iksar
                  Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
                  @hadidjahb @Songbird_HS @PascoaHS I miss you @hadidjahb 😢

  • AJz77x
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Ever since dual class was introduced, I've wondered what it might look like if a Dual Class Secret was made (since Rogue and Hunter share the same mana cost). Would it be possible to even code such a thing, or would it be a can of worms best left un-opened?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @AJz77x We could definitely do a dual-class secret, we don't right now because Hunter/Rogue isn't a shared crossover. I had actually thought what the implications of just going full dual-class for a year would look like. All cards shared for a full year between X/Y classes.

      • ToastieNL
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS @AJz77x Aren't some classes naturally very hard to dualclass with due to some class identities? The easiest example would be Druid.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @ToastieNL @AJz77x yes would be very difficult to do for sharing a whole year, but I think still fun to try and think about

  • ZeddyHS
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS With so many cards being reverted for Wild, was there any card that you really wanted to see get changed back that ultimately stayed nerfed?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @ZeddyHS Generally if I really want to see a card changed back I can convince @GW_Alec and company. I did lobby against a card we ended up reverting, spoiler alert it has charge.

  • TidesofTime
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS are you going to put the hearthstone card game inside wow ever 🥺

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @TidesofTime I think the real question is if we'll ever put wow-esque gameplay inside Hearthstone....

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @TidesofTime Not sure what the evolution of Hearthstone becomes, but we've thought about some crazy ideas like having a character in a 3d space you can decorate/explore/meetfriends. Someday....

  • Tironor
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Are we likely to see another event like doom in the tombs again?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Tironor .... maybe Minisets spawned from the idea we tried to do shake-up events between expansions but they were all worse than just releasing a small amount of new cards.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @Tironor Doom in the Tomb also just went on for a little too long. Next time, I think we'd do it at the end of an expansion for no more than a couple weeks.

  • Spex_J
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS What happens when I get 3 more wins on Mage? https://t.co/3ZCe53B1Nu

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Spex_J you just posted this to brag.... it was effective though wow that is a lot of mage very nice

  • vitor_lamartine
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Do you think that, as expansions go by, it get harder to create unique and interesting key words?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @vitor_lamartine I used to think that maybe, but not anymore. Releasing something and watching how players receive it often helps inspire many new ideas we didn't have before.

  • Mas11_passions
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS What's the meaning of life?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Mas11_passions make money to buy crunchyroll and watch good anime while eating good food in a good house with good dogs

  • henriqlustosa
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS when is the main menu getting an design update? Too many main modes on strange positions...

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @henriqlustosa on the to-do list, especially when we make another new mode

  • CaraToPistola
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Have you guys considered reverting leeching poison?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @CaraToPistola yes, then opted not to because we thought wild would be less fun in a world where leeching was reverted overall

  • Fleeeeetwood
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS When you talk about disruption, e.g. Illucia/Tikatus, do you look at deck inclusion % when determining if a card is an issue, or just win rate. I’m curious how a card would be handled that’s played in like ever priest deck, even if the deck isn’t statistically good.

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Fleeeeetwood play rate, if 10-15% of decks are tickatus decks I think that's probably a bad thing, regardless of whether they win or not.

  • use252
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Will the Rewards Track reset when patch 20.0 is released or when the expansion/year rotation is released?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @use252 expansion

  • blisterguy
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Currently, we’re disincentivised to use the “big disenchant button” because a card could eventually get Nerfed and we get more being able to disenchant a bunch of copies at full value, which leads to collection micro-management when we do want dust etc. is this on Team 5’s radar?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @blisterguy I sort of hate what you describe, but I don't have a great solve for it either. We could just auto-disenchant cards you get extra copies of but it would feel like we are taking something away even if the goal is better player experience.

  • JustSoSly
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Is classic mode dropping when the expansion/ new year comes or when the nerf revert patch hits?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @JustSoSly expansion

  • ShovonBarakat
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS @ahirunHS By removing burst damage from core set are u guys planning to introduce burst cards throughout the year? Or do we have boardstone in our hands?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @ShovonBarakat @ahirunHS Burst generally means win condition, and we tried to remove most major win conditions from the core set. Win conditions are the thing that stand out most game to game, so when they are a part of core it can mean they are all you remember about games all year long.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @ShovonBarakat @ahirunHS And because all players own them, it can make game to game feel pretty stale if you are dying to the same card over and over.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @ShovonBarakat @ahirunHS That said, we are still making bust and win condition cards in expansions, many of them in fact :o

  • murloc_lord
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS How does someone get into game design career? Do you have to make your own game at first or be competitive player? If not, what is another way to gain experience in game design?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @murloc_lord So many different ways. These days, making your own stuff is ideal. There are so many great design schools these days that you are competing with students that have spent 4 years making and playtesting their own stuff with their own teams.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @murloc_lord You can make it as a player that shows aptitude for design, but this usually only happens if you are a truly world-class player. Even then, more rare.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @murloc_lord Lots of resources online. Unity, Unreal, very easy to get in and learn how to make your own stuff if you have the motivation to do it.

  • DesorDeloford
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS How do you determine when a deck is a "problem"? Is it based mostly on tournament play or do you consider ladder an issue as well?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @DesorDeloford Based almost entirely on ladder play. Problem is usually when something has extremely polarizing gameplay and is >5-10% play rate or if any deck reaches the 20-25%+ marker without signs of slowing down.

  • TaggermcBagger
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Any plans to add these as hero portraits. I emotionally can't take another year without playing as Darius Crowley https://t.co/AvJIPf1DsW

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @TaggermcBagger Eventually we want to add achievements for old adventures, these sound like excellent achievement rewards for that. Not sure if they have all the required VO, but tagging @Celestalon for the idea, I think I like it!

  • DuncanSmith_hs
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Daily deals in the shop? Other card games (MTG Arena & Shadowverse at least) have it, and I find myself spending more often than in Hearthstone because of it. 🤔

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @DuncanSmith_hs having a reason to go to the shop is beneficial for everybody, better for players because there is either something free or a nice deal and better for Hearthstone because it exposes some products you could be interested in you might not have otherwise seen

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @DuncanSmith_hs So yeah, we've been in discussion to do it just not sure exactly how yet. A lot of work goes into things like shop personalization or automating daily deal products in a way that doesn't cause us to have to client patch

  • F2K_Nicholena
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS when will we get cosmetics for battlegrounds?? i’m here to ask the hard hitting questions. 😅

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @F2K_Nicholena working on it, we have already wrote a bunch of art descriptions things we want to commission for our regularly outsource artists that's all I'll say for now.... could be awhile

  • mattatarms
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Biggest shocker out of the Cinematic trailer tournament?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @mattatarms Ashes of Outland beating Barrens was like... what?! Also surprised Frozen Throne beat Karazhan. Death Knight fantasy is pretty strong turns out.

  • Slysssa
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Battlegrounds players show up as “bronze chickens” on friend list UI. Since this shows your highest rank in standard or wild, Any chance to update this based on BGs rank? I want to be a legendary Happy Cow plz

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Slysssa We had someone passionate about this at work that did some work to display it and showcase his work. There are still some art/UI questions to solve but I want to do it, just have to set aside the time and people to make it happen.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @Slysssa the less hand-wavey version of this tweet is that I'm looking into it, but haven't done enough research to know what art/ui/engineering cost it is. If it's reasonable and won't cause us to cut something else we love, then we'll do it.

        • Slysssa
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS Beta game gets beta engineering costs 🥺

          • Iksar
            Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
            @Slysssa you'd be surprised at how many things seems simple but take three weeks of engineering time to actually do :(

  • imik_plays
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS What is the reason that Whizbang wasn't returned to the core set? I think a lot of people were asking for it.

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @imik_plays All cards must die for new cards to be reborn. At least in Standard. I think it was a novel concept for awhile but it would be sad if there was a big audience of people that just never cared about what new cards there were outside of what Whizbang offered.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @imik_plays A lot of the sentiment around keeping him was that it made it easier to jump in and play if you didn't own cards. We agree, though Whizbang isn't the only solution to that. Core set I think is a better version of getting free stuff into people's hands.

  • ClarkHELLSCREAM
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS What kind of content do you enjoy vs the content the design team enjoys. Asking for a friend...

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @ClarkHELLSCREAM hey I am on the design team.... you mean, how do we play hearthstone differently?

      • ClarkHELLSCREAM
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS Content could be decks you enjoy, video topics, or specific content creators.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @ClarkHELLSCREAM oh THAT content I get it

          • Iksar
            Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
            @ClarkHELLSCREAM I don't watch much twitch or youtube these days so I actually really enjoy seeing twitter content. I wish more players would just post deck codes of stuff they liked to play and why.

            • Iksar
              Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
              @ClarkHELLSCREAM I'm a designer deep into my soul, so I love any discussion around very designery topics like game feel, new player experience, systems design, etc.

              • Iksar
                Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
                @ClarkHELLSCREAM I know people on the team devour streams pretty regularly. Lots of us watch grandmasters, lots of us just pull up streams. Final designers are mostly constucted watchers while a lot of other people on the team are into watching BG streams these days.

                • Iksar
                  Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
                  @ClarkHELLSCREAM I'm also a sucker for TOP X things video/editorial content. I always scroll really slowly through them to not spoiler myself on the next thing.

  • Fluxflashor
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Looking back at Year of the Phoenix, what do you think is the #1 thing that you think could have been improved upon?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Fluxflashor This is one of those questions I stare at for awhile and wish I had a great answer for. I'll pick 1, but just know there are probably 5-10 other things that are better answers.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @Fluxflashor We didn't have as much lead time for Demon Hunter as I would have wanted. We tried to make a new class + expansion in a very similar timeline as we have normally for a new expansion without a new class.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @Fluxflashor So we had some really crazy ideas for hero power or different resources that we probably could have pulled off given more time to explore. That and we spent so much time figuring out basic design goals for DH that we didn't have as much time to do archetype balance at the end.

          • Iksar
            Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
            @Fluxflashor I'm still very happy with how DH turned out overall, but I think in the future if we do a new class again we'll break off a small team (maybe 2 people) a couple months early to do ideation.

  • Shmilia
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS How exactly do you playtest cards? I'm completely uneducated about the topic, but I was curious, how high is the sample size? Do you actually play with each card or just the problematic ones? How much do you evaluate the card in a vacuum vs the card in a specific deck?

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @Shmilia We don't playtest every card, but most. In the case of some cards like Puddlestomper (3/2 Vanilla Murloc) we don't have much to learn by jamming it in tons of games.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @Shmilia We playtest every day, one group is the initial design group that works with freshly made cards, not focused so much on balance but trying new mechanics, archetypes, and weird ideas that might not work.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @Shmilia The other is the final design group, that focuses on archetype design, balance, and what the meta-game might look like once it hits players hands. The people in the final design group are all world-class players.

          • Iksar
            Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
            @Shmilia Evaluating card in a vacuum isn't always relevant. A card is powerful based on what is around it, not what is theoretically around it. There are cases where we protect against future design space but we try not to cut or balance fun cards based on cards that don't exist yet.

            • Iksar
              Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
              @Shmilia You are right, though. In order to get a perfect answer we'd have to release the cards, evaluate feedback from a huge audience and we'd want to see a sample size of hundreds of thousands of games, obviously we can't do that.

              • Iksar
                Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
                @Shmilia So instead we hire people that understand card design philosophy, hearthstone design history, and are some of the best players in the world and make very educated guesses on where we think things will land.

  • imik_plays
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS What is the point of having some really bad cards in the core set? Yetti, Ice Rager, etc. I thought core set should be more serious and yet, there's about 30 or more % of bad cards that we will never see play.

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @imik_plays A goal of the core set is still to be a place where very simple cards to learn/upgrade exist. We didn't want there to be nearly as many "never include" cards but the ones that do exist are normally there to fill starter decks with limited complexity.

  • RealPrismsword
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS One thanks and one question. The thanks: I appreciate the Caverns Below revert :,) I'm glad to see a bunch of past cards be given a chance to be played again by the fans of those decks. The question: Any chance on "upgrade a card to golden" happening still? Would be a nice sink

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @RealPrismsword yes, working on it

  • BDecandio7
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Can we remove the heros not selectable from the rewards accomplishment track? My ocd is going crazy that it says I don’t have first with Queen Wagtoggle or Hooktusk and I can’t fix that.

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @BDecandio7 We'll add them back :)

  • TimRizzo
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Third time is the charm: What do you view as the future of Arcane Dust as a resource? Now that cosmetics can be purchased with Gold, do you see a world where things can be "Crafted" as it feels better to craft something than buy it with Gold.

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @TimRizzo I would argue that dust is the worse feeling one because it only becomes a resource by destroying your other stuff. But yeah, we're actively working on things like upgrading non-golden cards with dust, not sure if we'll make hero skins / coins for dust.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @TimRizzo There is UI cost to adding optionality in terms of the resources you use, so we're trying out some different designs for how it might look. No update for now, still in progress.

  • willowkiller
    Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
    @IksarHS Has the Tavern Pass performed as well as you've expected? Has any thought been given about including it in the $80 Release Bundle? I would personally buy it stand-alone if it included a some non-cosmetics besides the XP Boost. Maybe 5-10 packs along the way and a Legendary.

    • Iksar
      Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
      @willowkiller One of the business goals of the tavern pass (I know, evil business!) was that we created a product that did not cannibalize sales of other products. Meaning, if we made X dollars from it we'd rather it didn't mean we just made X dollars less from a different product.

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
        @willowkiller So we set out to make a cosmetics based product and make it separate from the non-cosmetic based products. We plan to basically add more and more value to it over time as new pipelines spin up for newer and cooler cosmetics.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 11 months ago (Source)
          @willowkiller We have the first version of a 'newer, cooler' cosmetic coming soon, so looking forward to seeing what people think.
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