Hearthstone Dad, Dean "Iksar" Ayala, has announced that he is leaving Blizzard Entertainment. Most recently, Dean took over the role of Game Director after Ben Lee left the Hearthstone team a little over 6 months ago.
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Quote From Dean Ayala After 11 years, I am leaving Blizzard. Hearthstone is an incredible game. To have played even a small part in its creation is an honor I'll never forget. Thank you to all the players, and a special thank you to my fellow game creators. I am proud of all we built together.
This tweet comes a couple of days after he quietly stated that folks should contact Gallon and Cora starting next week should they have any questions about the game. Sneaky.
Quote From Dean Ayala I agree if you have any questions for me after this week, I also forward you to @GallonHS. Or @Songbird_HS.
Dean's History at Blizzard
Dean started at Blizzard back in June 2011 in their Quality Assurance department, working on World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm (Source). His journey through QA brought him into the Hearthstone team as a Game Designer all the way back in 2014, a month prior to the release of the game.
Since his time as a Game Designer, Dean worked on many of Hearthstones different systems and was involved in over two dozen card expansions, 5 Battlegrounds expansions as a lead, and lead community interaction efforts over the years by being a vocal member of the team on Twitter, communicating with us and taking time to host weekly Q&A periods.
To say the team is losing a titan, would simply be an understatement.
Quote From Dean Ayala Blizzard Entertainment (11 yrs 4 mos)
Game Director, Hearthstone (Full-time, Feb 2022 - Present)
- Define the long-term creative vision for a team of 100+ developers.
- Lead 38 game designers across 5 design teams. Responsible for overall content quality and mentorship of design leaders.
- Key contributor and executor on multi-year franchise product roadmaps.
- Lead of outsource studio development on unannounced Hearthstone projects. This includes both content and product vision along with the oversight of 35 multi-discipline outsource developers.
Lead Designer, Hearthstone (Nov 2016 - Feb 2022)
- Led 21 designers on 3 design teams. Responsible for management, growth and mentorship of all designers on these teams.
- Led the live-service development of card expansions, features, & Battlegrounds.
- Shipped 18 card expansions, numerous feature updates, and 5 Battlegrounds expansions in a lead capacity.
Game Designer, Hearthstone (Feb 2014 - Nov 2016)
- Primary contributor for the first 10 Hearthstone card expansions.
- Lead designer for various experimental and permanent features over the first years of Hearthstone's development. This includes single-player, tavern brawl, heroic tavern brawl, arena, ranked systems, matchmaking, new-player, UX, and more.
Quality Assurance Analyst (Jun 2011 - Feb 2014)
- World of Warcraft QA analyst for Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, and Warlords of Draenor expansions.
- Diablo 3 console analyst. Worked on the console team as a performance analyst with both Xbox and PS consoles.
- Hearthstone analyst responsible for game design and balance feedback. Eventually led to full-time role on design team.
Where Does Dean Ayala Go Next?
Dean hasn't made an announcement yet of where he is going next, nor has he made mention of having something lined up.
The only thing we can do is take a wild guess and expect that he'll join his old friends from the Hearthstone team at Second Dinner and work on Marvel Snap. Dean's wife, the wonderful Molly Fender Ayala, who previously worked on the Hearthstone team as a Community Manager, left Blizzard to join Second Dinner almost two years ago - this could be a professional reunion in the making and I'm certain that'll make dinner conversations less awkward.
Regardless of where Dean goes, if he stays in the gaming space, any team, and community, would be lucky to have him.
Thank you for everything over the years, Dean. While I'll miss covering your Twitter shenanigans, I'll be even happier to see what your next plan is.
Comments
To the Doomsayers: a bunch of people predict the death of the game literally every time an employee leaves. It didn't happen when Brode left, and it won't happen now. Video game companies are not dependent on single "auteurs" - especially not for live service games that have been out for many years.
You don't need to launder your frustrations with the game through the personal employment decisions of others. Own up to your own opinions.
younger brains are needed
What?! Wait! No! Don't go Dean! 😱😱😱😭😭😭💔💔💔
You were the best person left in the HS team... (uhm I'm not forgetting Cora 😅)
Wishing you all the best on your new career Dean, and yes, card gamers rule!
The why is still very mysterious.. and no one really knows why?
I assume it has nothing to do with the next new class being add to HS? and there's a bit disagreement between him and higher ups? Maybe he want to do something good and they have different goals, money goals?
And I likely assume it also has nothing to do with the new currency Runestones? Which is the sole reason I quit this addiction of a game?
Whatever the reason was, I wish him the best of luck.
Best of luck, Dean; thanks for the Q&A sessions, and a special thanks for your engagement with the community.
This makes me sad..... I hope the team keeps communication with the players as open as he did!
It feels weird.
I love Dean and always waited for the Q&A (and OoC posts on those Q&A).
I hope Dean gets a better job and the exit is for a good reason!
Not to sound like a catastrophist, but this doesn't look good for Hearthstone let alone Blizzard as a whole (which hasn't looked good in years). Starcraft 2 hasn't had support in years, Overwatch 1 servers are being shutdown for Overwatch 2 which has a very predatory Battle Pass, Diablo Immortal is rife with microtransactions, Warcraft 3 was Refunded, Heroes of the Storm was put on maintenance mode even with a very dedicated player base, and World of Warcraft hasn't reported its subscriber numbers in years with better and better MMO's/other games coming out.
Hearthstone (the card game not Battlegrounds) hasn't had a substantial, meaningful change/addition since Demon Hunter was added. With more and more Battle Passes being added into Blizzard games I sense that long time players of any title will eventually just quit. Additionally support has moved from actual Hearhstone to Battlegrounds, which is a smart business decision, but it leaves the rest of us in the dust. Four expansions a year are coming, whether it be within the next two years or three, they are coming. Once that happens, myself and I'm sure other whales and long timers will just quit.
Dean leaving is a huge kick in the nuts to Hearthstone players, he's been the most transparent and open developer thus far. His weekly AMA's were always insightful and at the very least let us express our concerns with the game.
I don't know what I'm trying to say. I remember audibly saying "Good" when it was announced that Dean was gonna take lead on Hearthstone, and I don't know if anyone else can adequately fill those shoes.
I never understood what makes people think that way. Constructed gets 510 new cards split across 6 releases, atleast 3 new keywords and a bunch of side-mechanics (Relics, suspicious minions, sunken cards, objectives etc.) in a single year. Not to mention that they recently released the first new cardtype in 5 years aswell as a bunch of QoL features purely for constructed. And let's not forget the addition of Nagas, spellschools and the core-set.
Compare that to the regular Battlegrounds updates which are basically exactly 1 new mechanic and (roughly) 30 cards and 2 heroes three times a year. Granted, the last update also finally came with the addition of a progression system that goes beyond "number goes up or down", but that's still nothing compared to the support constructed gets and definetely not the norm for BG focused updates.
At no time in the games history have they reduced the constructed support for the long run.
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Also that 4 expansion a year thing was nowhere confirmed and was just brought up in a Q&A. Additionally if they would go for it they would scrap mini-sets (meaning that the total number of cards in a year would go from 510 to only 540), reduce the levels it takes for the reward track and increase the overall rewards.
Sandard - We get 300+ new cards a year which has been the expectation since Hearthstone stopped doing expansions in the form of adventures. Along with a new keyword with each expansion is also an expectation. It took them five years to introduce locations while people over on r/customhearthstone have been (probably) doing it since day one. A new tribe is nice but not anything "new", it's nice but ultimately inconsequential. Spellschools are awesome, I just wish they were introduced way earlier. The core set....sure. For me, it's just too "rinse, wash, repeat" and still is with these little additions.
Wild - Along with 300+ new cards, how may of those are actually even viable/see play? What's the value of the cards when they get added to the vacuum that is Wild with ~3000 other cards when only a very few are viable? Adding new mechanics/keywords is great but what does it matter when those keywords like Adapt, Joust, Recruit, and others are just overshadowed? I wish HS Mathematics would do a deep dive on which cards saw play in Wild and which ones don't even get added to decks.
I guess I'm going back to my million dollar question, why aren't there more ways to play with my cards? Why do we not have more Formats? Why do we not have a 2v2 mode? Why don't we have a Tiny Fin (Pauper from MTG) Format? Why don't we have a monthly Brawl Block? Why don't we have Tournament Mode?
I mean, you're not wrong, but Constructed is still not getting more than the minimum.
Nothing for constructed has ever gone above jut the minimum. Three expansions a year and three new keywords.
The only exceptions to that are the introduction of Wild, Classic, Casual Formats, and Demon Hunter. If I missed anything ask yourself, "did thiss thing change the overall game or added an adequate amount of content to the game?
The rewards track wasn't confirmed right away either, but the fact that a question was asked and the response involved "4 expansions a year" means that it's something that's on the table for consideration. I don't think they'd scrap mini-sets permanently, all it takes is for players to complain about the meta being stale too often again and then "a wrench will be thrown into the works" by adding mini-sets back. I genuinely, genuinely, genuinely do not believe they'll increase rewards track rewards. I hope they do, but I highly doubt it. The only reason they'd reduced reward track levels is because the of the BG's reward track.
Constructed formats are the top priority as they are the main source of income. Most likely, in the near future, we will get even more new cards and mechanics, but that doesn't mean it's good for the health of the game. This strategy has both positive and negative aspects.
For me, this is extremely sad news.
I'm sorry that Dean had too little time as game director to implement his vision for the future of Hearthstone. I believed that he could make the game much better. Thanks to his Q&A, we learned a lot of details and insights about the development of the game. It was so important to the community.
I just hope this is his own decision and not the consequences of the failure of the BG Battle Pass. So sad that Blizzard is losing such experienced professional designers. Now I'm worried about the future of Hearthstone again.
I would bet it has nothing to do with the BG battle pass. In corporate timelines, it's way too soon to determine the success or failure of that gambit.
I will miss those Q&A recaps!
You're absolutely right, but Hearthstone is going through a string of financial failures. Perhaps this is forcing Blizzard to change the usual approach. Plus this weird survey . Blizzard often resorts to polls in the most critical situations.
It's just too shocking news.
There is no point in accepting a management position if there are no plans to continue working in the company. This makes me think of several scenarios. Perhaps Blizzard was disappointed by the results, or vice versa, Dean did not agree with some of Blizzard's requirements that could harm the game in the future.
In any case, I hope the real reason is not so dramatic.
Thanks Dean and good luck. Hope remaining HS Team can carry the "communication with community" torch for you and it will not decline. Good luck in your next project.
This really came out of nowhere, especially because he just recently became game director. I wonder who will take his place. Oh, and RIP regular Q&A's.
What a way to end the week. Plenty of folks have been leaving Blizzard over the past few years so I'm never surprised when I see leaving announcements on Fridays, but this one was a little unexpected, but also not entirely.
Dean hasn't been as active recently and when you see activity drop, there's usually a good reason for it. He's also been on the Hearthstone team for an eternity and at some point, you do want to move on.
Speaking of mysterious disappearances... guessing you took a long needed vacation, Flux. Hope it was grand!
Thanks for the welcome back =)
I had some things to take care of and will be slowly getting back into the swing of things over the next week. I will be absent though the week after, for definitely not World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King things.
I've got a lot of things to get realigned with our Out of Cards (and more) efforts and due to that I'll likely not be as present in the news unless urgent stuff needs to get out and folks aren't around. I wish there were more hours in the day to do everything. I like doing everything!