How did everyone like this weeks prompt? Do you like flavor-focused themes? Was this one in particular difficult to design for, maybe because it was harder to determine, whether the character was HS original or not? Or did you actually feel like it was too narrow, since you had to use a HS original character? Just some feedback for us, thanks :)
First off, let me just say good job one more time, great expansion overall! :)
Now to the interview, I kinda overlooked this before when i first saw the set, but how exactly does Resonance work? It says replace, does it mean it removes the top card of your deck an puts a copy of a card you just draw there instead? Because if it was just adding the copy, i would assume the wording would be something along the lines of "Draw a card. Add a copy of it at the top of your deck." If it indeed removes the top card of your deck, doesnt that kinda make the card on itself almost unplayable in most deck? Except for aggro decks who dont care if you "discard" an important combo piece. Not to mention you dont actually know which card you removed, unless the history tab would tell you, which could be another problem.
I find it interesting how few ppl compare Observe to Discover, similar to Rush vs Charge, even going as far as saying it could be a replacement. I can understand where they r coming from, but the only similarity is you look at 3 cards, that is literally it. Those mechanics are diametrically different in what they provide, unless you use Discover in a way to search your deck, in that case they are a lot similar, yes. But i would say that they are not even remotely close in what they actually provide, they do different things, Discover generates extra resources in most cases while Observe lets you search your deck for specific cards you put in there. Huge difference imho.
If i were to pick one card mentioned here, it would have to be King Grond. It makes a really clever use of an underutilized mechanic and im very surprised we havent seen more effects like these in HS custom card community, or maybe I havent.
Y Shaarj is a mistake. Even at 0 Mana it's debatable because of space.
Y'Shaarj is a monster, man, you got to try it, OP as hell, first game with him, win with a pirate/elemental build, got a golden Boat, and buffed it to something like 30/15 or around that, golden Eliza, I mean, at tier 6 it's absurd power level to get a guaranteed tier 6, because you get goldens and buffs everywhere, all thanks to Amalgadon being the only Battlecry tier 6.
And thanks to needing space, you just end up buying buffs and buffs, then selling and pushing the button.
Maybe you got lucky, but starting the fight with 6 minions is just putting yourself in severe disadvantage. Denying yourself any chance at going 1st literally decides if you win or lose matches, especially later on and if you have stuff like Cyclones, Zappys, Parrots and stuff.
Also a random 6-tier minions is still random, what are the chances it fits in your comp? Pretty slim. No way this is worth it. Not saying you cant pull it off, but i cant see this being consistent. Not to mention you actually have to get to tier 6, which on itself can kill you, if you "waste" a turn to get there too early. Many compositions dont even need to get there and are better off rolling on 5 to advance their goal.
Yeah, you can swap between desktop and mobile HS app right after the combat starts to force it resolve immediately and buy yourself a few (dozen) seconds in your tavern phase. The match is decided the second it starts, so watching it resolve is just watching the motions, nothing that happen after is random, it has already been predetermined. You can easily tell this by seeing an achievement fire right when the combat starts, meaning the game already know if you've lost/won.
I think this would be solved if you could click on the number and see who upvoted or downvoted your post. When i upvote myself in a thread i usually try to do it only once at the first time, because people are more likely to read my WALL OF TEXT if it looks like someone else has read it and agreed with my point. After that i don't really care. Fake internet points don't really matter. I upvote my own decks if i make descriptions and think people should see them and leave my ones i am testing or don't care about to die at 0 or below. But even then it's better to put a comment on them saying "Hope you like it" or something like that because they'll appear on the forum section(or at least they used to) on the front page.
It could be used in some cases to harass the users by the person who was the target of the downvote. Also it could create a feeling to "trade upvotes", or "being mentally pressured into upvoting a comment for the same person who upvoted you so they dont take offense", we've had that before. There are reasons both to display and not display it.
This is gonna feel great when it works for you, and abysmally bad when it doesnt. Seems like another way to highroll. Guess we'll see how it goes, 4 will probably be pretty important, so heroes that can smoothly transition there to take advantage first might be even stronger.
I had these questions a while back about these custom Hearthstone, I meant no offense, I respect anyone decision about arts. I would even encourage them to keep pursuing this.
The thing is, up until now, after 6+ years, I haven't seen yet a single custom made Hearthstone being used by the Hearthstone team (please correct me If I'm wrong), since they always made their own arts (or new keywords) from their own team, maybe some arts from outside source, but never about the gameplay design or keywords.
This is incorrect, while, ofc, we cannot with 100% certainty tell, if some real cards were inspired by Custom cards from community, there have been numerous instances over the years where cards from Custom expansions/classes and/or individual cards from various competitions have made it into the game in very similar, or literally the same, form (barring the art/name) as those made by community.
While some ideas one could argue would make it into the game sooner or later, so it wasnt really that much of "prediction", it could have influenced devs to finally put them in the game, if they were repeating among community a lot, this is also a way to give them feedback and "tell" them, what cards would we want to see in the game.
And as Demon said, it is a hobby as any other, so yes, we design cards for fun just for ourselves, or others to share them with :)
Well, that was a tough one. I eventually got frustrated enough to sit down and write a short analysis of what could be done with a 1 Durability Weapon. That finally wielded 2 interesting ideas. I've put the more straight forward one to use but had to do with mediocre art. Maybe I'll try to go with the rational method for the next weeks instead of following my first gut feeling as I usually do.
If someone's interested: I've submitted Cedar Wand. It was tempting to go full Harry Potter crossover and make it a legendary Druid "Lifestick" that restores all friendly characters to full Health via Spellburst, but cards like this are hard to balance and rarely do well.
The second interesting idea was to make a 0/1 Weapon with a strong Deathrattle for a class that has no easy access to weapons. This would have required more time to thoroughly think through which I don't have right now. That's a shame because using Deathrattles would have been a nice idea this week.
I must say i dont much like your design this time around, not only because i feel like its too strong, super easy to trigger and if there is no weapon removal, you literally have +2 Spell Damage for the rest of the game, but also because it feels like the effect is a weapon just to satisfy the prompt. Not to mention why is it a 2/1 weapon? Seems random.
I liked this prompt a lot, because it had a potential to come up with some interesting ideas. The easiest one was to try and figure out how to increase the Durability of the weapon, while that was kinda a bait, some ppl did a really good job and were creative and/or added a great flavor to the effect and why it does that.
But many ppl fell short to the fact that they just slapped their effect on a weapon, because they had to make a weapon, and the effect makes no sense, it could have been on a minion or been a spell and it would make more sense. Also giving weapons to non-weapon classes that have no reason to get a weapon in an expansion you attributed it to is weird, again, for no other than that you wanted this effect for this class and it had to have been a weapon.
Maybe im too strict and i do want everyone to have fun when designing their cards, i just wish these were some factors that ppl would consider more in the process, thats all :)
Yeah, i cant count games, where i highroll Nomi only to see 1 elemental in next three turns total and lose because i couldnt scale. Elementals are strong and they have really high highroll potential, but it does take time to get going and Divine Shield and/or Poison is a counter to them as anything.
What im more bothered by is, how most compositions live or die by if you go first or second. I really dont have a good way to "fix" this, maybe at least be guaranteed to alternate going first, if you fight against the same opponent in a row, like battling for 1st spot if only two ppl remain and have to fight several times etc.
Imagine Alakir going 1st or 2nd, HUGE difference. Or if we stick to elementals, imagine going 1st with your Wildfire or Cyclone, and snipe 2 or 3 (or more) enemy minions before they can act, or go second.
I really wish going 1st or 2nd didnt dictate the outcomes of majority of the games, especially in the late game, you can prep all you want, but a coin toss, literally, decides the outcome. I would hope for more.
I sure hope the level 50 portraits will be made available in the upcoming expansions. It would suck to only be able to obtain 1 out of those 10, even though I don't really like most of them.
Right now, I'm torn between the Gul'dan and Valeera. I'm leaning towards Gul'dan even though I don't really play much Warlock because the portrait just looks so cool, while Valeera is an option simply because there's a scarcity of Rogue portraits.
It would really be a strange decision, if they didnt ride these portraits for a few years now, since 10 portraits covers at least 3 years worth of expansions, if you get one per.
Dont think Nomi or Majordomo are the problem, Elementals do need a way to scale and getting to Rag is pretty hard. Pushing Nomi and/or Majordomo even higher would make elementals almost unplayable imho.
Problem is Cyclone and Wildfire Elemental. They basically have cleave, so they trade for more than one minion most of the time, or even more. Those should probably get to a higher tier, so you cant start buffing them so early.
I want to know what the deal is with Infinite Arcane. It doesn't say where the cards it offers you come from, but I faced an opponent playing C'Thun, the Shattered who cast this (before casting all 4 of C'Thun's spells), then discovered a playable C'Thun, the Shattered 2 turns in a row! That card was NOT in his deck! But if it offers you random cards out of the entire pool of thousands (as its text implies), how could he get C'Thun 2 out of 2 times? I lost obviously, which was pretty frustrating. But I am also frustrated because this card does not clearly state what it does. My best guess is that it offers you cards that STARTED in your deck, which would include C'Thun, in my example. But it doesn't say that!
Dont know the answer to your question, sorry, but i have another one: how does the discover work? I mean, if you play the spell, do you get to discover a card on the turn you played it? And if not, do you just lose your next draw, because your deck is empty and you discover a card to put on top? Do you take fatigue damage? Or do you discover a card before the turn starts, before you draw, so you discover and then draw the discovered card?:o
Not a profile frame, but you will have to wait a bit longer for more info :)
How did everyone like this weeks prompt? Do you like flavor-focused themes? Was this one in particular difficult to design for, maybe because it was harder to determine, whether the character was HS original or not? Or did you actually feel like it was too narrow, since you had to use a HS original character? Just some feedback for us, thanks :)
First off, let me just say good job one more time, great expansion overall! :)
Now to the interview, I kinda overlooked this before when i first saw the set, but how exactly does Resonance work? It says replace, does it mean it removes the top card of your deck an puts a copy of a card you just draw there instead? Because if it was just adding the copy, i would assume the wording would be something along the lines of "Draw a card. Add a copy of it at the top of your deck." If it indeed removes the top card of your deck, doesnt that kinda make the card on itself almost unplayable in most deck? Except for aggro decks who dont care if you "discard" an important combo piece. Not to mention you dont actually know which card you removed, unless the history tab would tell you, which could be another problem.
I find it interesting how few ppl compare Observe to Discover, similar to Rush vs Charge, even going as far as saying it could be a replacement. I can understand where they r coming from, but the only similarity is you look at 3 cards, that is literally it. Those mechanics are diametrically different in what they provide, unless you use Discover in a way to search your deck, in that case they are a lot similar, yes. But i would say that they are not even remotely close in what they actually provide, they do different things, Discover generates extra resources in most cases while Observe lets you search your deck for specific cards you put in there. Huge difference imho.
If i were to pick one card mentioned here, it would have to be King Grond. It makes a really clever use of an underutilized mechanic and im very surprised we havent seen more effects like these in HS custom card community, or maybe I havent.
Anyway, looking forward to your next set :)
Classic, rare cards played in between minions: Ancient Mage, Defender of Argus, if any of these is it, i fail to see what the hints were all about :D
39 myself
As many as it takes. That's how many! True dedication.
Maybe you got lucky, but starting the fight with 6 minions is just putting yourself in severe disadvantage. Denying yourself any chance at going 1st literally decides if you win or lose matches, especially later on and if you have stuff like Cyclones, Zappys, Parrots and stuff.
Also a random 6-tier minions is still random, what are the chances it fits in your comp? Pretty slim. No way this is worth it. Not saying you cant pull it off, but i cant see this being consistent. Not to mention you actually have to get to tier 6, which on itself can kill you, if you "waste" a turn to get there too early. Many compositions dont even need to get there and are better off rolling on 5 to advance their goal.
Yeah, you can swap between desktop and mobile HS app right after the combat starts to force it resolve immediately and buy yourself a few (dozen) seconds in your tavern phase. The match is decided the second it starts, so watching it resolve is just watching the motions, nothing that happen after is random, it has already been predetermined. You can easily tell this by seeing an achievement fire right when the combat starts, meaning the game already know if you've lost/won.
Arena and Duels are still a pretty different game modes, even tho the reward system might make you think otherwise.
It could be used in some cases to harass the users by the person who was the target of the downvote. Also it could create a feeling to "trade upvotes", or "being mentally pressured into upvoting a comment for the same person who upvoted you so they dont take offense", we've had that before. There are reasons both to display and not display it.
Nekkid Orc Bundle!
She is going to be as annoying in LOR as she is in LOL :D
This is gonna feel great when it works for you, and abysmally bad when it doesnt. Seems like another way to highroll. Guess we'll see how it goes, 4 will probably be pretty important, so heroes that can smoothly transition there to take advantage first might be even stronger.
This is incorrect, while, ofc, we cannot with 100% certainty tell, if some real cards were inspired by Custom cards from community, there have been numerous instances over the years where cards from Custom expansions/classes and/or individual cards from various competitions have made it into the game in very similar, or literally the same, form (barring the art/name) as those made by community.
While some ideas one could argue would make it into the game sooner or later, so it wasnt really that much of "prediction", it could have influenced devs to finally put them in the game, if they were repeating among community a lot, this is also a way to give them feedback and "tell" them, what cards would we want to see in the game.
And as Demon said, it is a hobby as any other, so yes, we design cards for fun just for ourselves, or others to share them with :)
I must say i dont much like your design this time around, not only because i feel like its too strong, super easy to trigger and if there is no weapon removal, you literally have +2 Spell Damage for the rest of the game, but also because it feels like the effect is a weapon just to satisfy the prompt. Not to mention why is it a 2/1 weapon? Seems random.
I liked this prompt a lot, because it had a potential to come up with some interesting ideas. The easiest one was to try and figure out how to increase the Durability of the weapon, while that was kinda a bait, some ppl did a really good job and were creative and/or added a great flavor to the effect and why it does that.
But many ppl fell short to the fact that they just slapped their effect on a weapon, because they had to make a weapon, and the effect makes no sense, it could have been on a minion or been a spell and it would make more sense. Also giving weapons to non-weapon classes that have no reason to get a weapon in an expansion you attributed it to is weird, again, for no other than that you wanted this effect for this class and it had to have been a weapon.
Maybe im too strict and i do want everyone to have fun when designing their cards, i just wish these were some factors that ppl would consider more in the process, thats all :)
GL everyone!
Yeah, i cant count games, where i highroll Nomi only to see 1 elemental in next three turns total and lose because i couldnt scale. Elementals are strong and they have really high highroll potential, but it does take time to get going and Divine Shield and/or Poison is a counter to them as anything.
What im more bothered by is, how most compositions live or die by if you go first or second. I really dont have a good way to "fix" this, maybe at least be guaranteed to alternate going first, if you fight against the same opponent in a row, like battling for 1st spot if only two ppl remain and have to fight several times etc.
Imagine Alakir going 1st or 2nd, HUGE difference. Or if we stick to elementals, imagine going 1st with your Wildfire or Cyclone, and snipe 2 or 3 (or more) enemy minions before they can act, or go second.
I really wish going 1st or 2nd didnt dictate the outcomes of majority of the games, especially in the late game, you can prep all you want, but a coin toss, literally, decides the outcome. I would hope for more.
It would really be a strange decision, if they didnt ride these portraits for a few years now, since 10 portraits covers at least 3 years worth of expansions, if you get one per.
Dont think Nomi or Majordomo are the problem, Elementals do need a way to scale and getting to Rag is pretty hard. Pushing Nomi and/or Majordomo even higher would make elementals almost unplayable imho.
Problem is Cyclone and Wildfire Elemental. They basically have cleave, so they trade for more than one minion most of the time, or even more. Those should probably get to a higher tier, so you cant start buffing them so early.
Dont know the answer to your question, sorry, but i have another one: how does the discover work? I mean, if you play the spell, do you get to discover a card on the turn you played it? And if not, do you just lose your next draw, because your deck is empty and you discover a card to put on top? Do you take fatigue damage? Or do you discover a card before the turn starts, before you draw, so you discover and then draw the discovered card?:o
Yes, my bad, i wrote each month, but i meant each expansion cycle 😅
This means they are set for at least 3 years in advance.