The Hearthstone Team took part in a Q&A on Twitter this evening and we've prepared a full recap for you! This Q&A comes just a week after Hearthstone's Game Director, Dean "Iksar" Ayala, left the company. They titled this Q&A #1 and Cora says that although they don't have a schedule yet, they do plan to make them a regular occurrence. They are a replacement for the community outreach Dean did in his own Q&A series.

To take a page out of how we covered Dean's Q&A sessions, here's what you can expect from this round of Q&A recaps:

  • All previous Q&As from the team can be found under our "Hearthstone Developer Q&A" topic.
  • Anything covered in the previous Q&As will not be covered in the recap but will appear in the transcript below.
  • As usual, not everything in AMAs becomes a real thing in Hearthstone - keep that in mind!

Who Was Present During Q&A #1

Officially, the following developers were present for the Q&A. You can follow any of the links below to visit their Twitter accounts:

It should be noted that the current plan is to do these regularly

Future Content

  • They are working on new ways to play Hearthstone.
  • We can expect the return of solo content.
  • More Wild Diamond cards are coming but are several months away.
  • The Colossal cards from Sunken City were well-liked and fun to design. Nothing is in the works for the moment but Cora says they are open to them again if they fit a specific theme.
  • Keaton imagines there will be "at least one animal related Shaman archetype" in future sets.
  • Additional polish to the friends list has mockups but hasn't been implemented yet.
  • We could see improvements to the Mass Disenchant feature to discard your normal cards when you have golden copies.
  • There might be some more in-game events in the cards.
  • No permanent mode for Brawliseum is in the works, but they loved seeing the excitement from the community about doing them more frequently.

Maw and Disorder Mini-Set

Check out and follow our mini-set guide to see all the new cards!

  • Sylvanas, the Accused was originally Infuse 10 but they kept bringing her down to the current 6 as the sweet spot.
  • They are working on fixing Paladin and Warrior deficits. The Mini-Set might help a bit:
    • Paladin has two cards that are "pretty fun".
    • Warrior has a card that is "spicy".
  • There will not be any Demon Hunter Relic cards.
    • Cora was happy with the Relics though and is open to doing them again in the future.

Murder at Castle Nathria

  • They considered all the Shadowlands covenants before landing on Revendreth for Castle Nathria. They may still use the others in the future.
  • Cora is pleased at where they landed with Infuse, with a couple of exceptions.
  • Overall, Cora thinks that Infuse is more consistent than originally thought.
  • Secret Rogue was a bit of a miss and Cora says if she could go back in time, she probably wouldn't do Secret Rogue & Mage in the set.
    • Rogue Secrets are hard to create when there are no other ones, since you need to make 3 auto-includes which limits uniqueness.
  • Cora was concerned about having a narrative-heavy set when a lot of it isn't directly in the game.
    • They didn't have the resources to do an adventure to explain the story around the set.
    • This was good learning for next time around.

Rewards Track

  • We are getting more constructed content on the rewards track next expansion.
  • Battlegrounds content will no longer be on the rewards track next expansion.

Battlegrounds

  • A version of buddies instead saw them as cards that would be added to the normal card pool, differing based on which heroes were present in the lobby.
    • A problem they encountered was if the buddies were designed too much for a hero, they could be useless for other players.
    • If the buddies were too generic, they may as well just be regular minions.
  • They also used to give 3 quests/rewards during a game with increasing difficulty and "flashiness" but was removed in favor of the 1 quest/reward as it was too much to keep track of.
  • John feels that Quests have been the best balance they have had (with room to improve).
    • He also mentioned that this let them create cool choices and plenty of knobs to turn for balance.
  • If they were to redesign Quests, John would bring the power variance of the Rewards closer to each other and to bring down the power level of the highest.
  • Current balance philosophy for Battlegrounds aims to redesign cards instead of removing them.

Development

  • Mini-Sets usually have their balance locked in shortly after the main set goes live.
  • Much of what the features team has been shipping this year are small and medium-sized projects. Expect bigger things in the future.
    • After they ship big projects, they'll be working on polishing existing features and going towards new big ones.
  • There will always be weak cards, if you buff the weak cards, other cards will then be weak.
  • They made some effort this year to not support powerful strategies from last year (questlines come to Keaton's mind).

Mechanics

  • They have a six week period where they design new mechanics.
  • First ideas rarely stick around. They get the mechanic in and test it with the team.
  • If a mechanic doesn't test well with the team, they ask if its time to refine or move on.
  • Sometimes they find mechanics quickly and other times it takes longer.
  • Galakrond and Location Cards weren't finalized until months into their designs.

Classic

  • The mode has dipped in popularity and they are considering their options for what is next for Classic.

Magical Girl Skins

  • Cora thinks it would be a great idea to put pretty bows on Yogg's tentacles.

Silver Hand Recruits

  • Matt says they have started to talk about the question of adding female versions of Silver Hand Recruit.
  • They have concerns about players being able to identify cards easily should they add it in. They are investigating.

Wild

  • Matt thinks it would be a "wonderful idea" to buff old wild cards and wonders if people would like that.
  • He thinks it would give players an easier way to play competitively in the mode.

Unexpected Archetypes

  • Turtle Mage
  • Barrens Spell Mage was very popular, peaking at 40%. Deck of Lunacy went from meme to most-defining.
  • Garrote Rogue - Keaton didn't expect to see dealing damage via Garrote to be a viable deck.
  • Quest Priest - Grew into becoming a reasonable deck. They had to convince some people that it was weak to ship a card that destroyed an enemy hero (Purified Shard).
  • Boar Priest - More card draw and the rotation helped make it viable.
  • Nathria Control Shaman - Keaton says its probably his favourite most recent deck and never came close to figuring it out during playtesting.

Random Questions

What set would you say has been your most enjoyable to work on over the last couple of years?

  • John was proud of Scholomance Academy as dual-class was fun to work on.
  • Cora thought Sunken City was a lot of fun - designing colossals was "cool". She also enjoyed the narrative work for Castle Nathria which let her learn a lot of that process and felt it rewarding to see it come together.
  • Chadd says the next set. What a tease!
  • Keaton found Stormwind to be challenging and fun due to figuring out all the Questlines and to create designs around Tradeable.

Favourite Paladin legendary in the history of HS from each of you please!

The idea they loved the most that got shot down the hardest.

  • John responded with "floppy physics cards".
  • Chadd prototyped a mechanic in Darkmoon Fair that required too much custom UI and was "way too complex".
    • Various cards in the set gave you Prize Tickets and would appear in-hand as a spell.
    • The spell has an incrementing counter as you gained more Prize Tickets.
    • When played, a shop opened up with the Darkmoon Prizes you could buy, that each had their own cost.
    • Each game saw the Darkmoon Prizes that were available vary.
    • You could buy Prizes in the Shop just to prevent your opponent from getting them.
    • This ultimately helped contribute to Darkmoon Prizes in Battlegrounds.
  • Keaton says that Warlock Curses were "pretty divisive" among the final design team.
  • Aleco pitched a card that made spells temporarily unplayable for both players.
    • Gallon used his "one veto per set" on it.
  • Matt was excited to increase the difficulty of the "Book of" solo content in response to players saying they were too easy.
    • The completion rate of the content plummeted and people complained he ruined their "relaxation mode".

Hearthstone Developer Q&A #1 Transcript

Quote From Hearthstone Devs

Hearthstone Group AMA #1 4:00PM - 5:00PM PST Ask us a question about Hearthstone! I'm joined by @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre So drop a follow to all these great people, and we'll answer all the questions we can. https://t.co/cfxZ5OxUZh

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/1OhyKrj6W1 (Source)

@IksarHS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre It takes SIX of us! And we still don't cover the anime! (Source)

@IksarHS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS https://t.co/eEa95t5apo (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What BGs event has seen the most changes from their first design concept? How drastic did they need to change to be "shippable"?

@Jkirek_ @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS We playtested a version of Buddies where instead of them being guaranteed, they were in the minion pool for everyone in that lobby like a regular minion. So each game would have 8 different minions in the pool. 1/2 (Source)

@Jkirek_ @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS We used to give 3 quests/rewards during a game with them increasing in quest difficulty and reward flashiness. It was a lot to keep track of. In the end we preferred having 1 quest/reward but the reward designs providing a direction for players instead of generic bonuses. 2/2 (Source)

@JohnEvMcIntyre @Jkirek_ @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Wait what that sounds so cool though

@snglttrs @Jkirek_ @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS The issue was, if the designs lean too much into the strategies of their hero, they are a whiff for the other players. If they are good with any hero, why not just add them to the game permanently? There's space between those two extremes but it's tough to design 80 of them. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre why is chadd doing an AMA while he has covid

@RidiculousHat @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Chadd is an unstoppable force. We can’t contain him. (Source)

@hsdecktech @RidiculousHat @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/eqtYbCXN14 (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Who made Crabrider ?

@ramanujoke @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Everything is a team effort, I don't think it is healthy to tally out who made each design… I'm pretty sure that was me? 1-0 @MyntyPhresh, get rekt. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What set would you say has been your most enjoyable to work on over the last couple of years?

@Paraducks_GB @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Outside of sets I lead, I'm really proud of Scholomance Academy. Dual-class was fun to work on. (Source)

@Paraducks_GB @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Sunken City was a lot of fun! Designing Colossals was cool. I of course enjoyed the narrative work of Nathria. I learned a lot through that process and it was really rewarding to see the story come to life. (Source)

@Paraducks_GB @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Personally… The next one. /tease 😏 (Source)

@Paraducks_GB @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre I thought Stormwind was pretty challenging and fun to figure out all the Questline stuff as well as come up with Tradeable designs. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Favourite Paladin legendary in the history of HS from each of you please! 🙏 Also want to send some love to each and all of you for being fantastic humans! https://t.co/nzNH3Is45E

@LeBruce @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Two of my favorite decks of all time are Shirvallah + Holy Wrath and Uther DK + Beardo OTK. (Source)

@LeBruce @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Un'Goro belongs to the Titans! https://t.co/kJot9AI0kN (Source)

@LeBruce @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/JVyVwnp3Fe (Source)

@LeBruce @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/KmblvNMPGh (Source)

@LeBruce @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Shirvallah! (Source)

@LeBruce @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/IYGtk6kAO9 (Source)

@LeBruce @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Not to be that guy, but there's a Paladin legendary in our next expansion that has my favorite text box of all time. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre For each of you, what was the idea you were most excited about, that got shot down the hardest, either by the rest of the team or the playerbase after release?

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Floppy physics cards (Source)

@JohnEvMcIntyre @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Like… they flop onto the board? Like instead of fake cardboard they were fake slices of cheese or deli meats?

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS I cast Polymorph Boar! https://t.co/Gi2n1OZxj7 (Source)

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre A mechanic that I prototyped back in Darkmoon Faire (which was ultimately cut because it was just way too complex and required too much custom UI): Various cards in the set gave you Prize Tickets, which appeared in your hand as a spell. (Source)

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Gaining more would just add to that one spell, incrementing the number on the spell. "37 Prize Tickets" or whatever. When played, it would pop open a shop of various Darkmoon Prizes, each with its own cost, that you could buy. Each game, the selection of prizes would vary. (Source)

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Shop was shared between the players though, so you might buy something just to deny your opponent getting it. Ultimately, crazy complex, so cut it, and many of the cards that granted prize tickets just turned into rewarding a cool thing for them. (Source)

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre That idea also ended up contributing to Darkmoon Prizes in Battlegrounds too. (Source)

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre warlock curses in sunken city were pretty divisive among the final design team. (Source)

@pocky_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I once pitched a card for a future set which made spells temporarily unplayable for both players. @GallonHS promptly used his "one veto per set" on it. To be fair to Gallon, it was not a good idea! (Source)

@pocky_plays @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I was really excited to increase the difficulty of "Book of" solo content because players complained the adventures were too easy. So I made it hard and then the completion rate plummeted and everyone complained that it was too difficult and I ruined their "relaxation mode." (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre BG: What aspects about Quests had been working better then expected and what has been worse then expected (design wise). Any Big lessons learned yet?

@MinderRoots @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Would love to hear your thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses first! (Source)

@MinderRoots @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS It turned out how I had hoped with only a few of the drawbacks we had expected. Here's the good, the bad and the takeaways. (Source)

@MinderRoots @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS The Good: Quest/Reward parings creates cool choices. Lots of nobs to tune for balance. Less focus on power leveling/tripling. Lots of cool interactions to discover between quests, rewards, hero powers and minions. More big moments. Different looking boards/play patterns. (Source)

@MinderRoots @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS The Good Cont: Best hero balance we've ever had (still room to improve). The Bad: Tradeoff of big moments is the course of the game can feel decided in that moment. You kind of know if you are aiming for top 4 or first place. Some reward interactions can be swingy/extreme. (Source)

@MinderRoots @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Something neutral we expected: More attention would be on Rewards than Quests. That's why we designed more Rewards. If I were to start over: Bring the power variance of the outputs of Rewards a little closer to each other with a focus of bringing down the power of the highest. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre what's it like to work on hearthstone

@paulsworkintwit @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre It's pretty cool. The excitement definitely comes in waves. (Source)

@paulsworkintwit @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Iz good (Source)

@paulsworkintwit @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Pretty great/10 (Source)

@paulsworkintwit @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Best job ever! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Since battlegrounds have their own reward track now, will the tavern pass and pre-order bundles include more items(cosmetics/packs/legendaries) designed for traditional hearthstone? 1/2

@Greexoff_ @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Yes. Since BGs has its own Reward Track, we'll be replacing BGs content on the main Reward Track with more constructed content, starting with next expansion. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre HI RANDOM PERSON OFF THE STREET HERE. DO YOU PLAN ON MAKING SOME MAGICAL GIRL SKINS FOR THE OLD GODS. THANK YOU.

@TheRealNzoth @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I DO NOT KNOW BUT THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA WE SHOULD PUT PRETTY BOWS ON YOGGS TENTACLES (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre @Celestalon will you ever try to make a card like Zeph again?

@TitoSantanaHS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'd love to. Just gotta find the right design. I love spending extra time/effort on making something really special, if the result is worth it. Not necessarily single cards, but there are some really special things coming up in the future that we've put a ton of effort into. :D (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre On avg how much hearthstone do you play for fun?

@lunalovepls @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Not as much as I used to, but still probably more than I should. 2-4 hours each day on average. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @lunalovepls @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I remember when we were comparing our hearthstone numbers cora absolutely demolished everyone else a true gamer (Source)

@IksarHS @lunalovepls @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre It's really a shame I'm still so bad lol. (Source)

@lunalovepls @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre I don't play too much outside of work these days, but occasionally I binge play stupid amounts and push r1 legend. (Source)

@lunalovepls @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I played a lot before joining the team, but a lot less now that I have. I lose tons of games each day to @Chakki_HS while playtesting, which isn't "playing for fun" per say but I still enjoy that aspect of the job quite a bit. I also watch *a lot* of twitch streams. (Source)

@lunalovepls @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Hearthstone during work hours tends to come in waves, just due to dev cycles, and my off-the-clock play tends to be the opposite wave. When new cards come out, all bets are off, though. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre With the current year approaching it's end, do you feel the "quality of life" approach @IksarHS talked about has been a success? Is the team still focused on QoL improvements for the next year, or have there been discussions about new game modes?

@RTwoCTwo @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre @IksarHS We're always investing resources into QoL – @Celestalon can speak to some of the huge improvements made this year on the Features side. For Modes, we're working on exciting new things. New ways to play Hearthstone, the return of solo content, and more. So stay tuned.

@themattlondon @RTwoCTwo @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre @IksarHS Yeah, I recently looked back at the projects that Features has built so far this year, and it's kinda crazy. Upgrade to Golden, No Quest Credit confirmation, Play from Mini Hand, Multi Fav Cardbacks, Overcapped Decks, In-Game Reporting, Multi Fav Hero Skins… (Source)

@themattlondon @RTwoCTwo @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre @IksarHS Recently Completed Achievements, Recent Opponents on Friends List, Artist Credit expansion, Deck Codes in chat, and tons more. I'm super proud of our Features team and what they've accomplished! And we're not done, lots more to come, including some BIG things! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Was this truly the reason you announced miniset yesterday? https://t.co/Lg6NDqoYIU

@JaredPullet @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Yes. Absolutely. But actually, I did see this before the announce. It made me chuckle. Well done lol. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Who is the best player on the dev team and why is it @Chakki_HS?

@BitBeaker @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Gallon, Jia, Boar, and Chakki can all battle it out for the #1 spot. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @BitBeaker @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Best person goes to @Mathamagicia (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Were there any popular archetypes that you didn't expect, or plan in advance?

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Usually it's more cards that ended up shipping a bit too good and warp what that class does significantly. But here's some archetypes I think were unexpected: (couldn't think of any from Rastakhan's to Darkmoon) (Source)

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Turtle Mage - lol. (ok i forgot this one was uldum) Barrens Spell Mage - Mostly surprised at the sheer popularity of this deck (over 40% at peak). Deck of Lunacy went from meme card to most defining card in the game due to rotation. (Source)

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Quest Mage - Again, a lot more popular than I expected. We had some concerns aggro matchups would keep it down, but turns out Blue card good. Garrote Rogue - Did not expect solely dealing damage via Garrote to be a viable deck. (Source)

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Quest Priest - This one was about as bad as expected on release but actually grew into a pretty reasonable deck. Definitely had to convince some people this was weak to ship a card that reads "Destroy the enemy hero." (Source)

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Boar Priest - More card draw + rotation making the field a bit softer made it a real deck. Nathria Control Shaman - an absolute pile of cards that just worked really well together. Probably my favorite recent deck and I didn't come anywhere close to this in playtesting. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre On the flip side, were there any that you expected to take off, but didn't pan out?

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Not too much on this side, especially recently we just buff pieces if we miss on power level. But we're usually pretty aware when something won't land after all the set is done, and try to make it better in future sets. (Source)

@SwaguarTV @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Only one I can really think of is: Rastakhan Shirvallah Paladin - I think this deck was way better than the amount of play it got. Surprised it didn't have a bunch of pro players saying the data was wrong and it was actually OP. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Will HS team incentivize completion of achievements for expansion before the next release. Something minor like a cool card back or coin would be fun. I always do 100% achievements each expansion because it's fun, but just curious if that's something we could see l8r. TYIA!

@Jkor92 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Sounds cool! That's not an easy feat to accomplish. @Celestalon might be able to be persuaded. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @Jkor92 @themattlondon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre There's a bit of incentive for this already: There's XP reward on them until the expansion ends. We could consider a bit more, if we had a good reward that we were looking for somewhere to put though. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Social event of the century Ok which card had you most certain would fail(in terms of effect or flavour)

@lyynnnHS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Most recent is probably Insatiable Devourer. We actually swapped Insatiable Devourer's effect over to Sire Denathrius pretty late in development, and then made this new Devourer design in the 11th hour. Thought it would probably be too expensive to work, so pleasantly surprised! (Source)

@Songbird_HS @lyynnnHS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'm sorry, you're telling me you used to be able to run 2 of Denathrius?

@MarcusHci @Songbird_HS @lyynnnHS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre it didn't have lifesteal and the damage started at 1, but yep! (Source)

@Songbird_HS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Two denathrius, at 9 mana? Oh no..

@lyynnnHS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Yeah that would have been not good. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre So.. I think that I was a good ethereal….so maybe? any plans for a certain ethereal to be made into a skin? Pretty please? . I swear to not steal a whole magical city..again..

@ArchVillainRaf @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Stealing a magical city is kind of a one strike and you're out situation… Would love to do a Rafaam skin. I'll plead your case. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Thoughts on beans in food?

@hs_triple @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'm going to circle back to this in a few days when the Shaman mini-set cards have been revealed. I have a story. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @hs_triple @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre CORA

@MyntyPhresh @hs_triple @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Ok fine! WE have a story. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @hs_triple @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I gotta get the whole gang here to hype this up @GallonHS @GonnzoHS @SirSlimHS @banjo_games

@MyntyPhresh @Songbird_HS @hs_triple @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre @GonnzoHS @SirSlimHS @banjo_games BEANS?!?! (Source)

@hs_triple @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre There are a wide variety of awesome, delicious beans (lentils are OP) (Source)

@hs_triple @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/RMKHWpv0FP (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Have you guys considered making a Bastion Expansion?

@LightbringerHS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We have! We considered all 4 covenants before we ultimately decided to pursue Revendreth first. We may decide to visit others in the future, but no plans right now. Ardenweald would be quite cool as well I think. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are Death Knights coming next expansion? Please don’t respond to this question if the answer is YES I know you’re under NDA thanks! 😊

@Corpssavy66 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/mZLrLbxO0V (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre How excited should we be for the next set?

@FroggyHSxD @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/qIxc5qrHQY (Source)

@Songbird_HS @FroggyHSxD @themattlondon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/1TxwM0sjMV (Source)

@FroggyHSxD @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/bOlEqrZ0PD (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre hey chakki did you nerf strongman

@RidiculousHat @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre not yet… (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Why is Sylvanas infuse 7? is 6 broken and 8 too weak or is there a specific flavour reason for 7? just seems kinda random. I also always wonder how you balance other stuff like this e.g puzzlebox casting 10 spells over 11 or 9 or convoke the spirits casting 8.

@LiquidOxHs @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We started her at 10, but that was definitely too high. Kept lowering until we found a sweet spot. 6 probably isn't broken, but maybe 5 is? Hard to say for sure. Convoke was too strong at 10 because the spell pool is curated, but 10 is a nice round number for Puzzlebox. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @LiquidOxHs @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre we basically just playtest a bunch of different numbers and people keep going "this feels a bit too good" or "this feels bad" and then eventually it passes the vibe check. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre will this miniset help paladin and warrior to comeback into the meta?

@koljan016 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Paladin has 2 cards that are pretty fun, and Warrior has 1 that's a bit spicy. Paladin and Warrior have some deficits that we're working on fixing. I don't want to see them at the bottom of the tier list for much longer. Garrosh and Uther deserve better. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @koljan016 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre #JusticeForJustice (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What are the plans to keep BGs more balanced, overall? Would we ever see high or low outliers removed from the pool to push everyone to the middle? Are there other ways to keep balance or make the pass purchase feel worthwhile?

@PizzaCardRips @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS Right now we are operating under the philosophy of redesign over removal, such as Elise and Pyramad. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Thoughts on the Bolf/Mal'ganis and Jailer interaction?

@DatMageDoe @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Seems awfully silly, and a little bit spooky. We'll be very aware of it and respond accordingly if necessary. But like, maybe we embrace our new Bolf overlord? /s (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'm in data science and love Hearthstone. I recently did some text analysis on Hearthstone for Reddit and I was wondering if anyone on the team does anything similar to see what the cards you print look like from a bird's-eye view? https://t.co/4ngnsyHBsp

@qwerty111111223 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS One thing we do internally is user testing to rate clarity and then compare that set over set. We also have a bunch of dashboards for all sorts of data. This was really cool to look at btw. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are collossals exclusive to sunken city? I know there weren't any in Castle Nathria but I thought it was a really cool flexible concept that could be used in diff situations

@zzackkennedyy @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We've discussed this a bit. Colossals are very high impact cards, but they're also fairly well-liked and a lot of fun to design. We're open to making more if they fit a specific theme, but nothing in the works at the moment. (Source)

@zzackkennedyy @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS https://t.co/f3gB4kDO1V (Source)

@JohnEvMcIntyre @zzackkennedyy @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS https://t.co/qpXo3Wt020

@AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre @zzackkennedyy @themattlondon @Celestalon @Chakki_HS https://t.co/cEe184kiI4 (Source)

@Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre @zzackkennedyy @Celestalon @Chakki_HS https://t.co/3IxNDzb375

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre @zzackkennedyy @Chakki_HS https://t.co/kg0RJmlPaK (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre How is the process behind the creation of a new keyword/mechanic?

@Gab__HS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre It varies from set to set. We budget about a 6 week period for mechanic exploration, and in that time we throw just about everything at the wall to see what sticks. Lots of playtesting and iteration with a group of about 6 people. (Source)

@Gab__HS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre In some sets we find fun stuff really quickly, and in others it takes a little longer. Things like Galakrond and Locations weren't finalized until months into the design process. Colossals were locked in much sooner. (Source)

@Gab__HS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Lots of iteration! Our first ideas rarely stick. We get stuff in, test it with the team, then decide if the idea is worth refining or if we should move on from it. We often come back to old ideas that felt close as well. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Cool to see this, hopefully we see more (Maybe regularly??) I'm hungry for mystery. Has there been any recent case of "Unicorn priest" where there's a deck that looks very strong on playtests but hasn't been discovered publicly yet? If so, any hints to find it?

@carryberto @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre players basically find everything, and if they don't, we probably didn't either. (Source)

@carryberto @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Definitely Bean Shaman (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre How do you feel about the power level of the infuse cards and particularly neutral infuse cards outside of Denathrius and the 9-mana minion? The 5-mana infuse 5 to deal 5 and the 7-mana infuse 3 to gain their stats seem significantly lower power level than others

@IDew802 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'm generally pretty pleased with where Infuse landed, with a couple exceptions. Sinfueled Golem is quite weak, but we sort of knew that before it was released. Cards like Priest of the Deceased and Stoneborn Accuser are simple foundational Infuse pieces, but don't see much play. (Source)

@Songbird_HS @IDew802 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre +1 to this and Priest/Stoneborn Accuser at least slap in arena! (Source)

@IDew802 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I think overall Infuse is actually more consistent than I thought it would be, and the play rate is pretty good even when you take Denathrius out of the equation. Cards like Famished Fool and Insatiable Devourer seeing play is great. I didn't really expect Devourer to be good! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are you going to add more Diamond cards and expansion coins for older sets (that don't have any) in a near future? I've been waiting for my Diamond Nzoth and Yogg/Cthun coin for a while.🥺

@imik_plays @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Yes! Several more Wild Diamonds are coming. Still several months away, but coming! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Favourite Muppet of each of you?

@Seba_SN @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/Gzf9Es4goE (Source)

@Seba_SN @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/n02MvFXPvf (Source)

@Seba_SN @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/GyqCrgJVFx (Source)

@Seba_SN @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/T0K47Fba8a (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Huge Hearthstone (and Mark Rosewater) fan, so to crib an idea from him: Do you have any memorable cards that didnt make it through final design that embody the idea that complexity/‘interesting’ design doesn’t always equal a fun design?

@PaxLillin @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre The original design for Murloc Holmes for sure. It was essentially a game of Guess Who that assigned a different suspect as the killer in each game, and then had you jump through hoops to find them. It was massively complicated, but very fun on paper! Not so much in actuality. :( (Source)

@themattlondon @AlecoGereco @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Was there any conscious effort to lower power level with this rotation?

@J_Alexander_HS @themattlondon @AlecoGereco @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @JohnEvMcIntyre Not to the degree of "let's print weaker cards", but there was some effort to not support powerful strategies from last year (questlines come to mind). (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre about cosmetics : will you want to add more ? like card frame ? Hero Power frame ? Hero Frame ? 🙂 about features : Detailed stats like BG ? Copy an adverse deck to try it after a match ?

@Negilahn @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre These are all things we've talked about, and we think there are some cool ideas here! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I dont know if yall have ever answered this before but how do yall make the music for legendaries? And voicelines too for all the cards

@Kyleliu78545008 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We have an awesome sound department that makes our musical stingers for legendary cards, and we write the VO. We'll usually spend a week or so writing VO for all the characters in a set, and then there will be a solid month when all of the recording happens. (Source)

@Kyleliu78545008 @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre One of the most fun parts of the job is getting to sit in on these VO sessions to provide character context or clarity for the Directors and Actors. I've gotten to work with some very cool people. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Favorite ice cream flavor?

@TomCarterHS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Chocolate Peanut Butter (Source)

@TomCarterHS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Pistachio (Source)

@TomCarterHS @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Cookie Dough (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Do balance patches before mini-sets ever affect any final tweaking on those mini-sets?

@WardrumHS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre Not too much. We generally finalize miniset balance shortly after expansion launch. We have some room to make final adjustments if a later balance patch would cause something to be way off. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'm absolutely fascinated (and overjoyed) with the choice of Revendreth and a more "wow" centric feel to the theme of this expansion. As an avid hunter player, I was SO hyped to see wild spirits actually get its own card, same with rogue's flagellation. (1/2)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I guess the main question that I have is how do you teeter the line between something thats more centered around things in "wow," compared to something easier to access, but centered in the warcraft universe (i.e. ungoro).

@TheInfinitePez @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We definitely like to ride the line between realism and absurdism a bit. Nathria is quite a bit more absurd than the Year of the Gryphon, for instance. Each set we have to find that balance and just depending on the theme or the story we want to tell, it will vary. (Source)

@TheInfinitePez @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre But I think even if you're doing ridiculous things like killing an unkillable Eternal One or sending a Murloc detective to the afterlife, it's really nice to have those faithful touches still. The Covenant spells being accurate for the classes of the suspects is a nice touch imo. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre So have you guys ever thought about collectible neutral spell? Like a neutral quest or something?

@Trimutius @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre yeah, i'm sure it'll happen one day. neutral quests are tricky because we'd have to find a way to make it feel like a different deck across all the classes. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre This is for purple! As the features lead, can you tells us in broad strokes what your next priorities are when it comes to features for the game? How’s the collection manager improvements going? that one has been mentioned before. (Hoping for a speedy recovery! 🙏🏻 much love)

@Gambito_HS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Thanks. Covid sucks, but I'm getting through it. Appreciate all the love. Features priorities… A lot of what we've worked on so far this year has been a bunch of small and medium sized projects. The next few things for us are… much bigger. (Source)

@Gambito_HS @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre So, our immediate priorities: 1) Get these several big things out the door. 2) Catch our breath and add some more polish to all the things we've done recently, react to feedback, etc. 3) Start figuring out next big projects. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Any plans to make boar shaman a thing in the future??

@HS_Copa @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre i can imagine there being at least one animal related shaman archetype in future sets. (Source)

@Chakki_HS @HS_Copa @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre We already have parrots and fish. Isn't that enough? (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Which minion or hero do you feel you are the most relatable to in terms of personality?

@KaysaCat @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Zephrys, because I try my best to grant wishes, and sometimes I even get it right! (Source)

@KaysaCat @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I hate to say it but probably Guff. I love nature! I go hiking almost every weekend and animals are the best. (Source)

@KaysaCat @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Xyrella (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Is it too late to squeeze Uther of the Ebon Blade into next year's core set? I think he and the jailer would get along well

@adam_noodelman @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre No, but… (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are there any relics in the miniset? Maybe a 2 mana powerhouse? 👀

@Vaapad1_HS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre No Relics in the mini-set, but I will say I'm really happy with where Relics landed and I'd be open to doing them again in the future. Mechanics like Jades and Relics are really easy to overdo, but when they're done carefully I think the gameplay is fun. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are these AMA's going to become a regular thing? Regular and open communication is probably what I'm going to miss the most about Iksar.

@0352Suchti @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We don't have a schedule yet, but the plan is to make these a regular occurrence. With our 6+ brains combined we can hopefully answer as many questions as 1 Dean! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are there plans or can we get a ▶️ collapse option for ‘recent opponents’ and ‘recent chats’? That list gets pretty long and I mostly only care about my friends list which is forced below this ‘recents’ list. Ty 👍 #Hearthstone

@FCBoogax @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Yeah, we have some additional polish to the Friends List that we've made some UI mockups for, but haven't gotten a chance to implement yet. It's on our list! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre So there is the harvester of envy card and the stronewright says "I am the harvester of wrath" when played. So my question is, were there originally harvesters of "insert of deadly sins here" legendary minions?

@notbigbando @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Good catch! Revendreth has a court of Harvesters that all act as the Harvester of a specific sin. The Stonewright is designated as the Harvester of Wrath. The Harvester of Envy is actually named The Tithelord, which is why his attack VO is "Pay your tithe!" (Source)

@notbigbando @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre The Countess is also the Harvester of Desire! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What was the thought process behind the Secret Rogue cards in Nathria? Since the game gave me Halkias I've been experimenting but it feels like optimal usage of each of the Secret synergy cards goes in completely separate decks.

@TreeckoRalts @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Honestly, this Secret Rogue iteration is a bit of a miss. If I could go back in time and change something about Nathria, I probably wouldn't do Secret Mage/Rogue even though Secrets are a thematic fit for the set. (Source)

@TreeckoRalts @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre It's especially difficult to design Rogue Secrets in a format where there aren't any, because you pretty much need to make all 3 auto includes which limits how unique they can be. They all need to be foundational pieces like Dirty Tricks, but we can't keep making Dirty Tricks. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Is there any discussion to rework past expansions to improve old cards to be able to compete in todays wild hearthstone? I believe nostalgia regarding specific cards cant outweigh an overall increase of the game’s quality. Also it can be worked around. 💪🏻🔥

@GattiBonati @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Discussion, yes. But it's not as simple as making every card in The Grand Tournament cost (2) less.

@themattlondon @GattiBonati @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @JohnEvMcIntyre great, guess i have to go re-do the next balance patch… https://t.co/u87kdazwaA (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Any plans to update the mass disenchant? As someone who gets rid of the non-golden cards but make sure I keep two of that card in some version whether that be 2x golden, 1 normal,1 golden. Any plans to add the option to say keep golden and disenchant all non golden dupes?

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Like if I own five copies of a card in normal and three copies of it in Golden. When I click mass disenchant it will disenchant the five normal and the one golden leaving me only two golden. This feature would be nice QOL change

@JNytemarePierce @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre This (and numerous other upgrades to Collection Manager) are still something we've love to do. They're just a really big chunk to bite off. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What’s going on with the miniset lore? Going from Denathrius’ faked murder to Sylvanas’ trial with not a lot of transitional information of how we got from A to B is a bit confusing. Where’d Murloc Holmes go? What did he deduce?

@Sieckmeyer @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre This is something I was pretty concerned about actually. It's really hard to tell stories in a card game, and if people aren't super active on social media they won't see the story beats that the PlayHearthstone channel are posting to try to bridge the story gap. It's jarring. (Source)

@Sieckmeyer @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre The mini-set isn't a direct continuation of the Nathria story in this case. Denathrius was revealed to have faked his own death, and now we're detouring to Torghast. You'll see some of the suspects in the art pieces, but there isn't a super clean wrap up here which makes me sad. (Source)

@Sieckmeyer @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre An adventure would have tied a really nice bow on the Nathria story, but we just didn't have the time or people to make it happen. Good learning for next time. Maybe don't make a super narrative heavy set that we can't satisfyingly conclude. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre @Songbird_HS what card didn't make the mini set or the main set you really wanted to see in there?

@TitoSantanaHS @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I wanted Dead Blanchy to be the Mage Legendary, but I was vetoed and she ended up being the Sinrunner. I just think Blanchy has the most ridiculous story. I want to know what evil deeds landed her in Revendreth!!! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We've been seeing more "for the rest of the game" effects recently, is that part of a design shift or just a coincidence?

@contigwrites @themattlondon @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'd say it's a bit of a coincidence. I am personally starting to become a bit uncomfortable with the amount of "rest of the game" stuff we currently have in standard, so I'd probably let it breathe. I don't want it to be a crutch we use to make things impactful. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Was the change of the balance cadences represented positive change or do you find more people find it annoying that the game is constantly being tweaked (harder to pick up and play)

@Impact_onfire @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre The increased frequency of patches isn't without cost - certainly some people are reporting that they feel like it is harder to keep up with the meta. On the whole though we feel like the benefits of more frequent patches have been outweighing the downsides so far. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Gotta ask the obvious: Any plans for a Death Knight class soon or are we at the hush-hush don't tell stage?

@JockyRhonson @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre If you're looking for Death Knights… Wrath of the Lich King Classic comes out on Monday! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I really love all attempts at balancing using buffs, thanks for always trying so hard! 🥰

@gtluizmoratelli @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/XdbwTq1opC (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre any plans to try to implement discoverability in the game? for example sometimes I have a hard time entering constructed because I have no idea what to play until I go to HSReplay. I also love duels, but I barely touch it because, again, I have no idea what to play.

@Wiibomb @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I would love to add more discoverability into the client, especially as it pertains to discovering existing decks. What the would look like is still a big TBD, but this is something we've talked about and an area we know we can improve on. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Which mode do you play the most?

@nirmayn2454 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Standard and BGs (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre would you consider playtesting with current top players?

@nirmayn2454 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I would love to increase the amount of communication we do with top players. That said, doing full playtests with them would be super complicated to organize (from a tech and legal perspective) and aren't likely to happen any time soon. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Any plans or ideas to make a more social hearthstone mode? Maybe something more co-op focused? Hearthstone has a very strong community but it doesn’t feel like it has a great mode for meeting and making new friends.

@obviouslee24 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I am VERY passionate about bringing more social modes to card games - as are many others on the team. I think about this a lot. It's something we'd love to do once we feel like we have a clear vision which we're excited about. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre How satisfied is the team with the overall power level of the game. I remember at one point there was discussion of a mass nerf to bring the power level down, is that something you are still considering?

@BionicDoor @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I actually re-invigorated this discussion right after joining the team! We had a few meetings about it. We decided to wait and see how the power level landed after the Sunken City rotation, and decided against doing something like this because we were happy with the power level. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre How are all of you guys doing today? Not exactly about HS but still is nice to ask!

@EnderPl97808651 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'm doing fantastic, thanks for asking! It's my 31st bday today and I'm going out to a fancy🍕restaurant soon. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Years ago there were the events we got like Terror in the Tombs where Nzoth and rag came back from Wild and the fire fest-EVIL. There hasn’t been anything like those things since. Is the the team planning on more events between sets and mini set reveals that shake things up?

@Corpssavy66 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/7qykKJ2gSj (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Hey, I have a Wild question! So before the Lightning Bloom nerf, Big Shaman was able to summon Neptulon on Turn 1 when going second. But the earliest Big Priest can do it is Turn 2 :( Thoughts on buffing Shadow Essence to 5 mana so Big Priest players can experience true joy? 🥹

@Doc_Delight @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre https://t.co/1bDCx3XNGs (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Will we ever have the ability to ban playing against one class?

@RandyTreibel @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We've had discussions before related to trying new things with the ladder, bans among them. Something like this might be possible in a future temporary event, but it is low probability to be a mainline feature any time soon. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I hope all of you are doing well… I have a question… for the 10th anniversary of HS, can you guys make the og heroes Legendary cards for the Core Set with their current state in WoW. For instance: Ascended Uther, Chained Garrosh, King Anduin, Admiral Jaina, etc.

@HolyKnight077 @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre this is a fun idea! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre did everyone wish aleco a happy birthday

@RidiculousHat @themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I forgot to (Source)

@RidiculousHat @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Most of us did. I think I said something snarky instead, so, happy birthday, @AlecoGereco ! (Source)

@Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Okay let's start answering these questions! And remember to check out Lobby Legends, live now! https://t.co/VfPUsMPW45 (Source)

That's a wrap. Thanks for asking and reading. Please follow this group for more dev insights Check out @PlayHearthstone for the latest Mini-Set Spoilers Watch the latest report on today's court proceedings: https://t.co/i1KDwTuVGh Lobby Legends is live: https://t.co/VfPUsMPW45 (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Why does the team often release underpowered cards in modern expansions without buffing them later on?There are always 10-20 unplayable cards in each expansion for both standard and wild which could be instead really cool if buffed..🥸✌️

@GattiBonati @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre No matter how powerful a set is, there are 10-20 cards that are always the weakest. If you buff those cards, it just makes other cards the weakest ones. When does it stop? (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre are there any decks you thought somebody would have figured out by now, but it never happened?

@TitoSantanaHS @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Unicorn Priest, right? (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre More to Matt than anyone I think, but can we have some Tavern Brawls make their way into the Modes menu? Brawl Blocks and Co-ops are what I'm thinking of. Thanks!

@qwerty111111223 @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Buttons on any menu have a HUGE COST. It's incredible. But it would be wonderful to give Tavern Brawl players some options. There are risks, of course. We haven't settled on something we love just yet. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What kind of UI improvements are you thinking about or planning for Arena?

@kolstIRL @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We are still in the "wouldn't it be cool if" stage. So I don't want to say and create too much hype. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Would Hearthstone ever have an expansion with a collaboration? For example, cards with characters from Overwatch or even something like Dragon Ball or Marvel?

@nirmayn2454 @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We've talked about it. I have a sweet Tracer hero card design. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are you going to make these AMAs a weekly thing or is this going to be more feeling-like at random times? And are you going to switch/add more devs to this AMA answering group in the future as well?

@imik_plays @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Too soon to tell. But if the community wants it, we want to be here. Communication like this is super important. Hearthstone has a deep bullpen of passionate developers. The future is looking very sweet. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre would you ever consider adding some female Silver hands that popped up 50% of the time when you summoned one?

@TitoSantanaHS @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We saw this question and all started talking about it. There are some issues with card identifiability, but for something like this maybe we could make it work. Will investigate. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Are there any news you can share about Classic's mode future?

@Quinterro_ @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'll parrot what Dean said in a previous AMA. Classic has been great for the game. It was awesome to see old school pros come back and take it for a spin. Since then, the mode has dipped in popularity. We're weighing our options re next steps for Classic. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Will we ever seen an update to the old dungeon runs? (K&C, rise of shadows and uldum) They're some of my favorite pass times while I'm at work, would really like to see new treasures and card pools.

@Yaboipuns @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Brad and I have talked about this! Just gotta find time and resources. (It's not coming anytime soon, though.) (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Please buff old wild cards. More cards = better play experience for wild players —> more people turn to play wild —> more spending on old content alongside current content. Overall better game.🛐❕

@GattiBonati @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I wonder if people would like that. Personally I think it's a wonderful idea. It would be great to give players an easier way to play competitively in Wild. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre What do you think about changing Arena/HC Duels rewards? E.g. Getting rid of those 5 gold, letting us choose which pack to open instead of the newest expansion (imo would be very good change to returning players). Are there any plans about it?

@Quinterro_ @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre No plans to change up rewards right now! (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Is there any discussion to make the brawliseum a permanent mode such as arena? I think people would love it.

@GattiBonati @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We've really loved seeing the excitement around more frequent Brawliseums. We're still trying to perfect the model as a limited-time event. (I'd love to see unique cosmetic rewards.) So a permanent mode isn't under discussion just yet. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Nathria’s been awesome, and the mini-set’s looking exiting! When recording voice lines for new heroes, is a “Sorry” still recorded in case of Noggenfogger?

@MrAceofKings @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We do still record "Sorry" emotes. Also "Pirate Day" emotes. https://t.co/A8fP0Q6kh6 (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Any talks of reworking/buffing old cards from wild expansions? Players would certainly love and commit monetarily for a larger pool of viable cards.🔮🔮🔬

@GattiBonati @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre I'll answer this question in the form of haiku: A slippery slope Reworking/buffing old cards But…but…but…but…but… (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Castle Nathria set was heavily inspired by WoW. How do y’all feel about using characters and themes from WoW in comparison to Hearthstone originals? How are the chances we get more of these ”cross-promotion” sets in the future? (I played shadowlands, I thought it was great)

@Savjz @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We like to do both. Every set draws inspiration from the world of Warcraft, but we saw Nathria as a great opportunity to jump on what was current. We'd love to do it again. But as you can imagine, we have a long list of sets we want to make. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Wouldn't it be possible to have a free arena with no rewards? Even though I know some people would restart until they had "perfect decks" I would love a place to practice in-game drafting.

@gtluizmoratelli @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre We've talked about things like this. Maybe an auto-battler where you draft and then your deck gets ranked. Re-rolls are an issue – bigger than with Duels. So a mode like this isn't a guaranteed it, nor is it as easy to implement as snapping your fingers. We're still thinking. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre This is so very awesome to see, but I fear it might not get the attention it rightfully deserves during the busy card/mini-set reveal period potentially overshadowing the Q&A. A week from now might've been a bit more peaceful and ideal, but I suppose we'll take what we can get!

@Saor17614198 @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Thanks! We wanted the community to know that there is an open line of communication here. So we wanted to do this ASAP. I don't see why it should be a one-time thing. From my perspective, connecting with players like this helps us make a better game. (Source)

@themattlondon @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Do any of Hearthstone’s original characters, like Aranna or Hooktusk, have unusual skills and/or abilities you wouldn’t know by looking at them?

@ArticPyre @Songbird_HS @Celestalon @AlecoGereco @Chakki_HS @JohnEvMcIntyre Kurtrus loves to decorate! Xyrella plays Overwatch. Dr. Boom used to have a hobby, but he forgot. (Source)