We're back covering Dean Ayala's community Q&A and we're going to get right into it!

  • All previous Q&As from Dean can be found under our "Iksar's Community Q&A" topic.
  • Anything covered in the previous Q&As will not be covered in the recap but will appear in the transcript below.

New Classes

  • Yes, they will add new classes.
  • No, they are not currently working on any at this time.

New Cards

  • They want to see how much players like Sigils before designing more cards like it.
  • Initial design usually tries to start off with very extreme designs to capture a feeling/concept for a class.
  • Warlock's 20.0 "sacrifice cards for power" started very differently.
  • Neeru Fireblade was originally "Destroy random minions until player have an equal amount. Repeat for cards in hand and deck."

Diamond Cards

  • Originally, Diamond cards were going to be a reward for collecting a full set of cards.
  • When they were looking to evolve the Tavern Pass, Diamond Cards felt like a good additional reward.
  • We can expect at least 2 Diamond Cards for each expansion, one for the pass, another for collection achievement.
  • Eventually, there will be Diamond Cards for old expansions too.
  • Obtaining an older expansion Diamond Card might be achieved by collecting 25 Legendary cards from that expansion. This is not set in stone yet.
  • Dean thinks Diamond Cards should feel special in some way, and that could deteriorate if you see them everywhere.
  • If players really want to buy Diamond Cards, Dean says it would be in everyone's best interest to make that true.
  • The team still has more ideas for cosmetics. Nothing to announce now.
  • Having Diamond cards in your deck count as Goldens for the Golden "The Coin".

Warcraft IP

  • It isn't important to go "full alternate reality" as they did with MSG, or Year of the Dragon. They just need to find their own corners of the Warcraft universe.
  • Warcraft Inns are an example of a spot that wasn't really touched upon in Warcraft, but Hearthstone gave it life and added to the IP.
  • Dean would like to focus on themes and characters that make the whole Warcraft franchise cooler.
  • No matter who you ask on the team, they don't want to just retell old Warcraft stories. It needs a Hearthstone spin.
  • Everyone on the team has their own opinions on it.

Cross-Franchise

  • If they do a cross-franchise IP collaboration, it would start slow. You'd see a cosmetic or something in Battlegrounds, not a whole expansion.
  • Dean says if they ever start doing this. [Sidenote: Similiar questions have popped up in almost every Q&A]

Weekly Q&As

  • A couple of times suggestions in the Q&As have changed the way Dean and Celestalon think about doing new achievements.

Dean

  • Vanilla Icecream over Chocolate
  • Marvel over DC

Full Q&A Transcript

Quote From Dean Ayala

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. 6:30PM - 7:30PST https://t.co/imDSpMxVYA (Source)

@IksarHS Is there any plan to add more classes? Like Monk?

@ToochJohnson Yes, but we don't currently have a new class in development. (Source)

@IksarHS Why did you drop the "Heroes of Warcraft" from the name ?

@FranRacciatti Before HS came out, I think it was important we were officially tied to Warcraft in some way for name recognition. Nowadays, Hearthstone has enough name recognition on it's own to be recognized as a Warcraft universe game. (Source)

@IksarHS Chocolate or vanilla ice cream? Root beer out coke floats? Marvel or DC?

@RTwoCTwo Vanilla Neither Marvel (Source)

@FranRacciatti Because it wasn't as necessary, cutting the tagline saves us some much needed space for things like logos and marketing assets that we can use to show off what the current expansion actually is. (Source)

@IksarHS With the new Sigil cards in Demon Hunter, we now have the ability to put triggered abilities on Heroes. Is there anywhere in this new design space that really excites you in particular?

@Sad_Cart Still waiting to see how much players like sigils. I view it as an experiment similar to how 'secret deathrattle' or Sherazin worked. Weird cards that do a new thing we're waiting to see how they play out on live before designing many more. (Source)

@IksarHS Hi! Are any Paladin spells in the new Core Set NOT Holy class? If so, which ones?

@SimmoPlaysCards we have the card list up on our website here: https://t.co/6cADDL1eP5 (Source)

@SimmoPlaysCards the only two palaidn spells that aren't holy in the core set are stand against darkness and noble sacrifice. (Source)

@IksarHS Are there any cards/decks rotating that you were surprised weren't more popular/successful based on your internal testing and expectations?

@bmkibler Highlander Hunter has always been confusing for me. IMO it's pretty fun to play, has a highroll win condition that feels powerful (Brann on 7), and it was always extremely high win-rate. Despite that, it was always middling or low popularity. (Source)

@IksarHS Please share a little insight on design and idea of Diamond cards. Origin? How’d you decide on Bru’kan and Samuro as the 1sts? Any thoughts to make old cards Diamond? Other ways to acquire? I’ve got a lot of gold with nothing to spend it on. 😁

@ben_heathstone Originally it was supposed to be a reward for collecting a set. There is very little incentive or reward for being a collector so we wanted a 'super-cosmetic' to give out. (Source)

@ben_heathstone So the project was mostly referred to internally as 'full-art' cards but it was really just meant to represent some way beyond golden to show-off cards. We did a few different brainstorms and eventually landed on diamond cards as the iteration we liked most. (Source)

@ben_heathstone Later, we were looking at what stuff we wanted to give out for the next evolution of the tavern pass and felt like since we had this pipeline for diamond cards spun up that it felt like an appropriate item to give there as well. (Source)

@ben_heathstone We want to do at least 2 a set (pass + collection achievement) but eventually want to backfill for every old expansion. (Source)

@ben_heathstone So if you own 25 legendary cards from any expansion, our plan is that there will (eventually) be an accompanying diamond card for you to show-off that you own all those cards. However, it's not set in stone yet it's just an initial plan. (Source)

@ben_heathstone As far as if we'll do more of them, I think it depends on the reaction. There is a lot of custom work that goes into each card, so it's not quite as simple as just turning on diamond for any card we want. (Source)

@IksarHS The game tutorial is relatively out of date, do you have plas to change it? maybe turn a chapter from the heroes' books into a new tutorial?

@Tesdey I think the tutorial does a good job for teaching base mechanics still, it's just a really bad tutorial for someone who is only interested in battlegrounds (or new future modes!). We plan on addressing that aspect of it but will probably leave the constructed tutorial alone. (Source)

@ben_heathstone I'd really love to do other versions of special art so we're not locked in to just diamond. Doing alternate art for cards sounds like it could be cool, we're just not sure how to go about it yet. If you could collect mecha-tirion art and swap between the two would that be cool? (Source)

@ben_heathstone Lots of stuff to figure out here, we have a lot of cosmetic ideas the team has been chasing down, not much more to share for now. (Source)

@IksarHS @ben_heathstone I just want you to know that these diamond cards jumped to the most important reason for me to buy that pass, they look incredible. I heard you dont plan to have many, but I hope you consider that stance later on, because I would love to see more. Imagine a dragon!

@Wiibomb @ben_heathstone On top of them being a cool cosmetic, it's also just a legendary card you can put in a deck. Even if it was just a normal version I think it's a pretty sweet upgrade. But yeah, we're definitely considering the idea of doing more even if that isn't the plan today. (Source)

@Wiibomb @ben_heathstone If players really want the ability to earn or buy diamond cards then it's in everyone's best interest to consider making that true. It's just important to me that the diamond cards you earn feel special in some way and that can deteriorate if you just see them everywhere. (Source)

@IksarHS You got any of those Wild Opens in the back? Can you check? 🙏🏻

@hsWhiteDelight I wish I could answer! Not really my area of expertise but I've gotten this question enough that I want to check in and see if there is an answer for it somewhere. (Source)

@Wiibomb @ben_heathstone Card backs have a little of this problem. They are much less appreciated now that there are 100+ of them than they would be if we did them more sparingly and didn't rely so heavily on them for when we want to use a cosmetic. (Source)

@IksarHS Would like to know more about the deck destruction archetype in Warlock! Any design insights? Are there more cards like it in future expacs?

@BrianMayeshiro Warlock is the space we go to for card/deck manipulation. We like that players have the option if they are really into that but don't want it so widespread that every class is burning your cards. (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro TIckatus is right on the edge of power level where I think it's acceptable, but it's really on the edge. I don't think we ever want deck destruction to be the #1 power deck. (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @TempoReynad commented a while back that for @PlayTheBazaar (looks great btw) it was important that the focus was building your sand castle and not kicking over your opponent's sand castles. I think that is a pretty good analogy. (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @TempoReynad @PlayTheBazaar If you absolutely must be kick-over sandcastle guy, we'll make some niche avenues for you to do that. It just won't ever be the focus or intended to be the most powerful thing. (Source)

@IksarHS My question was more so referring to the Forged in the Barrens Warlock cards that are self-mill like Barrens Scavenger. I found it interesting that Warlock received cards that benefited from the deck being empty or having <10 cards in deck.

@BrianMayeshiro Oh, well look at me misinterpreting maybe I just wanted an excuse to bring up @TempoReynad on the eve of classic launch… (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @GW_Alec probably a better fit to answer here but there is some obvious built-in hero power synergy with cards that rely on drawing your deck. Because this is something Warlock is naturally decent at it made a lot of sense to make pay-offs for going to the extreme. (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @GW_Alec We are also often in this scenario where we want to make powerful late-game cards but the gameplay of powerful things happening on curve is often devastating. When we can make cards that are only powerful later in the game, we can go pretty crazy with the text boxes. (Source)

@IksarHS With the shift towards shorter games and giving control decks win conditions to end games, have you thought of experimenting with a new game mode with longer games? Maybe more starting health, larger decks etc.

@sdjnl Longer games is not usually a goal, especially being a product so popular on mobile where players tend to look for shorter and shorter experiences. I do really want to do another constructed game-mode, ideally with more than 2 people. (Source)

@IksarHS A simple one but could we ever see some sort of feature that shows us our collective playtime by hero, mode, total game time, etc?

@FilmCriticKurt you sure you want to see that? (Source)

@sdjnl If we could leverage the card sets we are making to make more modes, that is obviously ideal. 2v2 could be this, but we just need a real design in place. It's not from lack of trying, just not something be prioritized right now. We're heads down on mercenaries for now. (Source)

@FilmCriticKurt maybe, I'm honestly not sure we've even stored that in a way for us to display if we wanted to. We're going to brainstorm what 'expanded' player profile could look like sometime in April, so part of that is looking for different metrics that players might be interested to see. (Source)

@FilmCriticKurt I like how the battlegrounds stats page is very visual and isn't just an excel sheet of numbers. Likely we'd try to replicate pieces of that. (Source)

@IksarHS Do you think we can see more effects like Star Student Stelina in the future (discard that shuffles in the deck, so it doesn't break the code of not letting the opponent play his cards)?

@oEltinho Not sure. I view Stellina as a half-measure where I'm not really sure what we accomplished. For players that get it played against them, it still feels like you got your card blown up. For players that play it, it's less satisfying to know that it's just going to come later. (Source)

@IksarHS As a follow up from last week; we already know that eastern regions have a very different view on the wild format and card rotations but what are some other differences that would surprise us? https://t.co/GbkOa5apVk

@StormFeverHS Khadgar/Brann strategies in BG were a significally bigger issue in China than it was here. Rewards track was way bigger of an issue here than it was in China. There is a lot less conversation around cost of game in general in the east than there is in english speaking areas. (Source)

@oEltinho Makes me wonder if we're really serving either audience, at least in terms of the 'destruction' nature of the card. It's an interesting design I'm glad it' out in the open, though in retrospect I think I'm of the opinion if we're going to do destruction, just go all-in and do it. (Source)

@IksarHS @ben_heathstone I like the idea of alternate art. Excited to see older legendaries get the Diamond treatment! I imagine the big dragons looking super cool in that presentation.

@Jthreau @ben_heathstone I've been working on Hearthstone for 7 years so I think at some point I've earned the right to force anime style alternate art into the client, right? (Source)

@IksarHS how much has Covid-19 set back the Hearthstone design team? is the timeline of 3 expansions a year still on track for 2021? How deep into Set 2 are you guys design wise compared years past??

@Herodreamer79 We've been effective working from home from a project perspective, but in general there is less happiness. Quarantine has a different effect on each individual so it's important to make sure everyone is getting the support they need. (Source)

@Herodreamer79 We're a little behind where we were last year, but it's as a result of taking on more work not because less is getting done due to COVID. (Source)

@IksarHS @StormFeverHS regional pricing has a lot to do with it too, the games pretty expensive in canada and USA compared to say, mexico where its pretty cheap

@Impact_onfire @StormFeverHS Depends on your perspective/income, I wonder if that statement is true for people living in Mexico. We could sell a bundle in Brazil for 30 USD but it still translates to a huge chunk of income. (Source)

@IksarHS Can you tell us about the last time you changed your mind about a well-established game design belief/opinion you used to have?

@acortatore1 That establishing new characters in new settings with new stories was important for Hearthstone to feel distinct from other Warcraft games. (Source)

@Impact_onfire @StormFeverHS But yeah, regional pricing definitely has an impact in some countries. I would say my perspective on the different between China/US is less based on regional pricing and more based on expectations on what is reasonable to pay for a game. (Source)

@acortatore1 Now I don't really believe in that, I think it's important for us to find our corners of the universe where we can be us, but it's not important (and maybe even negative) to go full alternate reality like we did with MSOG or RoS –> DoD. (Source)

@acortatore1 Warcraft is an IP that is important to our whole future as Blizzard, so I'd love to focus on themes and characters that make our entire franchise cooler than themes and characters that only make Hearthstone's alternate reality cooler. (Source)

@acortatore1 I think the Hearthstone Inn is the best example of this. It's not alternate reality but it's obviously very iconic to Hearthstone. We get to have our light humor and explore an unexplored space (Warcraft Inn's), and I think all of Warcraft is more awesome as a result. (Source)

@acortatore1 Team still feels very differently about this depending on who you talk to, I have a lot of thoughts on the subject and we're doing more testing/asking on what themes/characters are loved and which ones player's didn't like. (Source)

@acortatore1 One thing that everyone agrees on is we don't want to just regurgitate old stories and characters exactly as they've already been told. So no matter what you can still expect some surprise and delight. (Source)

@IksarHS Considering the size of other Blizzard IPs and the openness to mix and match them, how realistic do you think a Diablo/StarCraft themed expansion would be down the road?

@TimRizzo We'll start slow if we ever start doing this. I really like the idea of cross-franchise IP collaboration but you'll definitely see it in places like cosmetics/bg before you'll see us do a full-fledged expansion. (Source)

@IksarHS has any recently update in HS made because of these weekly AMAs? has any question changed the way the team thinks about something? im curious about it :))

@allansoty Most recently I actually did a similar AMA but translated for China and it made me realize just how big the reaction to the Three Kingdoms skins was, both positive and negative. Made us have some internal conversation about how to go about making them next time. (Source)

@IksarHS any plans for more advanced reporting functionality in the client for either offensive usernames or rage adds etc? not sure if this is a bnet team thing or you all

@RidiculousHat If you ask this again next week I might have an answer. Not my area of expertise but I suspect that it's not high on the list of things we have the client team working on. (Source)

@allansoty For these specific threads, there have been a couple times now where someone has suggested an achievement or change to an achievement that has made me and @Celestalon reconsider our position on how to go about making them. (Source)

@IksarHS If your entire deck is golden except for a Diamond card, will your coin still be golden?

@Jthreau 🧠… I don't know. Ideally it would but I'm not sure we looked into that. @Celestalon ? Thanks for the question. (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @IksarHS This was a fun one to develop. Usually in Initial Design we want to start off with some very extreme designs that capture a feeling/concept. For Warlock in 20.0, one of those feelings we were chasing was destroying all your stuff for some gain. Along came Rathrorian (Neeru). (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @IksarHS The text read "Destroy random minions until player have an equal amount. Repeat for cards in hand and deck." So there was just one big equalizing moment and the whole deck led up to it. That design shifted into "Whenever you draw Fatigue, your opponent draws it instead." (Source)

@IksarHS i'll run it back next week! i would guess this is a complicated thing that involves a LOT of behind the scenes people resources, but i do know that it's been a concern for players as well for quite some time. though also won't you be kinda busy next week? i'll ask it anyway

@RidiculousHat probably is something they'd put @hypopyh to work on, I'm not actually sure who would get tasked with adding additional reporting functionality beyond the UI team (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @IksarHS So for quite some time that deck was only about building up to this finisher, was fun to pilot but proved to be too much to go against. We had some of the other cards early on (Soul Rend) and wanted to continue building into that initial concept but with some power spike earlier. (Source)

@IksarHS @hypopyh oh no every time i tweet hypo gets more work IM SORRY HYPO

@RidiculousHat @hypopyh I'm not @hypopyh 's boss but I like to pretend I can boss them around. (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @IksarHS In Final, the Barrens Scavenger and Bristleback came along to help the deck have a more achievable power switch. Still get the sacrificing own cards for power but all the cards don't require the whole deck to be gone. If you manage to do that, Neeru still acts as the big payoff! (Source)

@BrianMayeshiro @IksarHS So it all started with this feeling we were chasing (sacrifice own cards for power), then went through some iteration cycles to make sure you had realistic goals throughout the game until the big finisher. (Source)