Thanks for your friendly reply. It's hard to put my finger on it, but what irritates me is the generality of the condition. I'm just not sold on "something has to have happened with your Health". What would you say if Warrior or Druid got a card with a condition like "If your Armor changed this turn"? Or Rogue "If your Hero equipped or destroyed a weapon this turn"?
I'll step away from this for a while and wait and see how the other dual class cards look. Maybe I'm only irritated because the card covers two oppositional ways to interact with your health which is necessary as a Warlock / Priest card.
I agree that this is not good in Wild Discolock, a deck I grinded over 200 wins with during the last 2 months. It's decent enough if you manage to discard it, but if it gets stuck in your hand, it's a dead card. A problem that doesn't occur with Silverware Golem and Fist of Jaraxxus.
I don't know, it just doesn't sound right to me. It's too simple, too roundabout. Sure, Priest and Warlock both have Health related Hero Powers so it's reasonable to do something with that, but gaining and loosing life are very different things and reaping the same reward for them feels strange to me. It's like they couldn't come up with an effect that is Health related and makes sense in both classes, so they just went with "something has to have happened to your Health".
I guess you could argue it's genius because of its simplicity. I still don't like it.
The flavor would have been fitting for a Demon Hunter / Warlock card because it also destroys friendly minions. Self damage is a Warlock thing, no matter if you target your hero or your minions (Diseased Vulture, Darkglare, Ratcatcher, EVIL Genius).
But maybe we should be grateful Zoolock doesn't get to play this.
Now that's a creative way to circumvent the weakness of Stealth minions to AOE. The fact that you can't buff the token before it attacks (board buff auras aside) also prevents abusal. I'm bad at evaluating the strenth of cards, but this is certainly great design!
Nice idea! Here's my first idea. I'm not very convinced of the art and the name, but the effect is cool. Would obviously be bonkers in wild, but I think 5 mana is at least somewhat reasonable. What do you think?
KANSAS: Interesting idea, but it feels a bit clunky. I think the major challenge will be to find art fitting the school theme.
Paragon: Really cool idea! I'd prefer it at 4 mana for more fireball flavor.
Doesn't that mean that we have a 50/50 chance to pull a golden legendary if we open the 5 golden packs before any other pack from this expansion? You could even gamble a bit and open 2 or 3 regular packs first to further increase your chances.
Thanks for the briefing, you're a great lore-yer! This looks exciting to me. I wouldn't mind either alternative: a darker themed expansion like Nax or a Harry Potter crossover fun one.
I like the overall flavor and as already mentioned the cohesive art style. Some cards are kinda powercreeping a bit (not literally), for example Pandaren Guardian is definitely a better Shieldmaiden.
One thing i dont like, and at this point it is probably too late, is the new keyword. I really dislike keywords that have (x) attribute in them. Yes, there is Overload, but that has a pretty clean UI. You would need to make something like a mechanic icon at the bottom of minions picture, same as for trigger effects and such, and even then having to constantly hover over minions to check how long until the effect triggers, even more pain in the ass for mobile users ... these kind of mechanics are not meant for Hearthstone. I get wanting to add more complexity, but you need to do it in a HS friendly way, this is not it unfortunately.
All that being said, this is still a custom set, so you can do whatever the hell you want and ultimately, the strife i have with that i suppose doesnt matter in this setting, so good luck with finishing your set! Maybe someone will read this and take it to heart when designing their own set in the future so my rumbling is worth something :)
Thanks for your thoughts! The issue you are describing is something I actually have put some thought to, but maybe not enough. I stopped at the point where I decided Stamina would work similar to Dormant, reflecting the counting mechanism. But while Dormant minions are easy to spot on the board, Stamina guys would need something to flag them. The easy way out would be to say that I'd introduce a little hour glass at the base of the minion, similar to the lightning bolt for other effects. I'll keep your advice mind for future projects and will try to work around this problem.
Thanks to all of you for your super detailed and helpful feedback! It means a lot to me that you seem to like the overall theme. I still consider myself a custom card design novice, so this is a major opportunity to learn something. You are of tremendous help in this.
I'll definitely heed your advice to drop Alex 3.0 (her stamina was one of the first that I came up with and just fitted the character very well) and find names for the legendarys. I'll also keep looking for better art. I'll probably cut the "Pandaren" part in the name of those cards, at least for the minions. It was meant as a compromise between nothing and a new tribe.
The first/last mechanic is a great idea, I'll keep this in mind when I rework the cards with balance issues you pointed out to me. It's true that the race theme still is still missing in the cards. I had initially meant to add a paragraph about potential PVE content like those "survive x turns" encounters. Your suggestion is a way better idea to reflect the theme!
@Xarkkal: Thanks for your advice! I probably lack the time for a meaningful WoW experience, but I did read a lot about this on the Web. Your example of gaining rep being a huge grind was something I actually knew about but haven't found a way to implement yet. I'm looking forward to receiving your detailed feedback, please don't spare me ;-)
Posting something so soon after I post mine; trying to steal my thunder, eh? lol :P
I'm sorry. I had already decided to make this post this weekend when you came out with yours. My first reaction was to postpone my stuff until next weekend, but then I was reminded of the incoming announcement of the new expansion and I definitely wanted to get this out before that. If it's any comfort to you, I don't think I'm any competition to your Custom Class. Your two leagues above my game. I really didn't want to be rude.
Well, I’m an impatient person and this isn’t finished by far, but the core cards are done and I’m curious about your feedback. Blizzard will also probably announce the new expansion within a few days and I want to make a point of who had those brilliant ideas first, so...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present to you my first custom Hearthstone expansion,
The Great Air Race
Now sit back, tighten your seatbelts and make yourself ready, because you are in for a wild ride!
The story: Our favorite heroes have agreed upon taking a little break from constantly bashing their heads in and chose to participate in The Great Air Race to pass their time instead. It takes place in the Jade Forest on Pandaria and revolves around the Order of the Cloud Serpent, so prepare for Dragons, Pandaren and …
Mounts! Every class gets a Legendary Mount card to help them win the race. With the exception of Druid I used their WoW class mounts for these. I’m really surprised Blizzard hasn’t walked down this path a long time ago. They are so cool!
Winning The Great Air Race will not only be a matter of speed, but also of endurance. This trait will be illustrated by my custom
New Keyword: Stamina (x)!
Protect your Stamina minions and reap amazing rewards! Stamina is basically a fun and interactive version of Dormant. It forces players to pay more attention to their opponent’s board and brings back trading minions as a key element of Hearthstone.
But enough of the warm up, let’s go racing! Here are the cards I’ve designed so far:
Mounts
Dragons
Pandaren
Other
As you can see, I didn’t find art for all the WoW stuff I wanted to make cards of. If anyone happens to be able to help me out with this, I’d be very grateful. I’m also open to any kind of feedback. This custom expansion is far from complete and will probably be a long term side project. I’ll happyly adjust the balance of my cards if you have any concerns.
Murphy's law helps, of course. 5 minutes after making this post, I was able to upload via imgur again (receiving an error message with each and every one but the first). Please tell me there's an alternative to this clown fiesta nevertheless!
Second must have card. Looks veeery scary. If your major concern about a card is how to reliably draw it, it might end up a nerf candidate.
This looks super strong. Odd Demon Hunter just got his pants wet. My first must have legendary from this set.
Thanks for your friendly reply. It's hard to put my finger on it, but what irritates me is the generality of the condition. I'm just not sold on "something has to have happened with your Health". What would you say if Warrior or Druid got a card with a condition like "If your Armor changed this turn"? Or Rogue "If your Hero equipped or destroyed a weapon this turn"?
I'll step away from this for a while and wait and see how the other dual class cards look. Maybe I'm only irritated because the card covers two oppositional ways to interact with your health which is necessary as a Warlock / Priest card.
I agree that this is not good in Wild Discolock, a deck I grinded over 200 wins with during the last 2 months. It's decent enough if you manage to discard it, but if it gets stuck in your hand, it's a dead card. A problem that doesn't occur with Silverware Golem and Fist of Jaraxxus.
I don't know, it just doesn't sound right to me. It's too simple, too roundabout. Sure, Priest and Warlock both have Health related Hero Powers so it's reasonable to do something with that, but gaining and loosing life are very different things and reaping the same reward for them feels strange to me. It's like they couldn't come up with an effect that is Health related and makes sense in both classes, so they just went with "something has to have happened to your Health".
I guess you could argue it's genius because of its simplicity. I still don't like it.
We do. You have to choose the HS portal to see them, though.
Sorry but this just looks like lazy design. "If your Hero's health changed this turn"? Seriously?
Having said that this will probably be a staple in Priest, great combo with Renew. Not so sure about Warlock.
The flavor would have been fitting for a Demon Hunter / Warlock card because it also destroys friendly minions. Self damage is a Warlock thing, no matter if you target your hero or your minions (Diseased Vulture, Darkglare, Ratcatcher, EVIL Genius).
But maybe we should be grateful Zoolock doesn't get to play this.
Now that's a creative way to circumvent the weakness of Stealth minions to AOE. The fact that you can't buff the token before it attacks (board buff auras aside) also prevents abusal. I'm bad at evaluating the strenth of cards, but this is certainly great design!
It's probably too early to say this, but maybe Spell Damage will be a thing this expansion. Also: Why isn't this a dual class card?
Nice idea! Here's my first idea. I'm not very convinced of the art and the name, but the effect is cool. Would obviously be bonkers in wild, but I think 5 mana is at least somewhat reasonable. What do you think?
KANSAS: Interesting idea, but it feels a bit clunky. I think the major challenge will be to find art fitting the school theme.
Paragon: Really cool idea! I'd prefer it at 4 mana for more fireball flavor.
If you can make this stick, double Bloodlust would be possible. A second roll of The Storm Bringer doesn't sound bad either.
Doesn't that mean that we have a 50/50 chance to pull a golden legendary if we open the 5 golden packs before any other pack from this expansion? You could even gamble a bit and open 2 or 3 regular packs first to further increase your chances.
Looks cool to me. The big question is if they'll adjust the price with the addition of the 5 golden packs to the usual bundle.
Thanks for the briefing, you're a great lore-yer! This looks exciting to me. I wouldn't mind either alternative: a darker themed expansion like Nax or a Harry Potter crossover fun one.
Thanks for your thoughts! The issue you are describing is something I actually have put some thought to, but maybe not enough. I stopped at the point where I decided Stamina would work similar to Dormant, reflecting the counting mechanism. But while Dormant minions are easy to spot on the board, Stamina guys would need something to flag them. The easy way out would be to say that I'd introduce a little hour glass at the base of the minion, similar to the lightning bolt for other effects. I'll keep your advice mind for future projects and will try to work around this problem.
Thanks to all of you for your super detailed and helpful feedback! It means a lot to me that you seem to like the overall theme. I still consider myself a custom card design novice, so this is a major opportunity to learn something. You are of tremendous help in this.
I'll definitely heed your advice to drop Alex 3.0 (her stamina was one of the first that I came up with and just fitted the character very well) and find names for the legendarys. I'll also keep looking for better art. I'll probably cut the "Pandaren" part in the name of those cards, at least for the minions. It was meant as a compromise between nothing and a new tribe.
The first/last mechanic is a great idea, I'll keep this in mind when I rework the cards with balance issues you pointed out to me. It's true that the race theme still is still missing in the cards. I had initially meant to add a paragraph about potential PVE content like those "survive x turns" encounters. Your suggestion is a way better idea to reflect the theme!
@Xarkkal: Thanks for your advice! I probably lack the time for a meaningful WoW experience, but I did read a lot about this on the Web. Your example of gaining rep being a huge grind was something I actually knew about but haven't found a way to implement yet. I'm looking forward to receiving your detailed feedback, please don't spare me ;-)
I'm sorry. I had already decided to make this post this weekend when you came out with yours. My first reaction was to postpone my stuff until next weekend, but then I was reminded of the incoming announcement of the new expansion and I definitely wanted to get this out before that. If it's any comfort to you, I don't think I'm any competition to your Custom Class. Your two leagues above my game. I really didn't want to be rude.
Well, I’m an impatient person and this isn’t finished by far, but the core cards are done and I’m curious about your feedback. Blizzard will also probably announce the new expansion within a few days and I want to make a point of who had those brilliant ideas first, so...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present to you my first custom Hearthstone expansion,
The Great Air Race
Now sit back, tighten your seatbelts and make yourself ready, because you are in for a wild ride!
The story:
Our favorite heroes have agreed upon taking a little break from constantly bashing their heads in and chose to participate in The Great Air Race to pass their time instead. It takes place in the Jade Forest on Pandaria and revolves around the Order of the Cloud Serpent, so prepare for Dragons, Pandaren and …
Mounts!
Every class gets a Legendary Mount card to help them win the race. With the exception of Druid I used their WoW class mounts for these. I’m really surprised Blizzard hasn’t walked down this path a long time ago. They are so cool!
Winning The Great Air Race will not only be a matter of speed, but also of endurance. This trait will be illustrated by my custom
New Keyword: Stamina (x)!
But enough of the warm up, let’s go racing! Here are the cards I’ve designed so far:
Mounts
Dragons
Pandaren
Other
As you can see, I didn’t find art for all the WoW stuff I wanted to make cards of. If anyone happens to be able to help me out with this, I’d be very grateful. I’m also open to any kind of feedback. This custom expansion is far from complete and will probably be a long term side project. I’ll happyly adjust the balance of my cards if you have any concerns.
Thanks for reading!
Murphy's law helps, of course. 5 minutes after making this post, I was able to upload via imgur again (receiving an error message with each and every one but the first). Please tell me there's an alternative to this clown fiesta nevertheless!