Blizzard seems to be determined to step up it’s communication game for Hearthstone this year. Max McCall, Senior Designer, discussed some of the steps in creating adventures and expansions.
Most of the cards in a set stop changing about two months before it releases, but we can and do change cards up until a week or two before release. The design process is complicated because the folks who work mostly on card sets* are working on multiple sets at once. It’s complicated further by the fact that each set ends up having two teams work on it: an initial design team and a final design team.
The initial design team lays out the vision for the set. They determine the setting, the theme, the mechanics, and sketch out ideas for new deck types that support the set vision. They handle the names, art, and flavor text for each card. For most of the time that this initial team is working on the set, the goal isn’t really ‘make the set fun’ so much as it is ‘figure out what can be made to be fun.’ The goal is to figure out what the new set will be about and what new decks people will build with the cards.
Then, the initial design team hands the set over to the final design team. The final design team takes the set and makes it as fun as possible. A substantial amount of the work that the final design team does is to make sure the set’s complexity is appropriate. Weird and scary cards that reinforce the set’s theme are protected, but cards that are needlessly complicated are saved for another day. The final design team also ensures that the set has an appropriate power level. They play a ton of games to ensure that the new deck types are fun; part of that is making sure that they are strong enough to compete with current decks but not so strong as to obsolete them.
The final design team does this for three to four months per set. They ‘finish’ work on a set about two months before it is released, and move on to the next set. But, just because they’re working on, say, Mean Streets doesn’t mean cards in Karazhan are locked. The rest of the team (production, engineering, art, sound, QA, etc) spends that time working on visual effects and bug fixing, and we tweak cards in this period if we want to react to a new deck in live or discover a new interaction with the even-more-future set that we’ve moved on to.
*There are a ton of designers who don’t work directly on card sets, either. The folks who work on Tavern Brawls, Fireside Gatherings, adventure missions, new player experiences, new and reworked systems (e.g. set rotation, Arena changes, etc) and the UI elements that hold everything together are always working on newer and cooler stuff.
[Source]
@Hsaverageplayer
I can see where you’re coming from man; however, IMO, it’s not all Salt and baby rage.
– Miracle Rogue is preetty combo-deck and viable is putting it lightly…
– Don’t forget Reno priest! RZA represent!
– I experiment often on ladder and don’t always get rekt(though it’s gonna happen). The whole point of experimenting is to gain an advantage(using an unexpected card). The best way to better understand what works and doesn’t is by loosing, not every experiment is going to work 1st try, and after much refinement some experiments still won’t work period, that’s gonna happen in life as well as hearthstone, at those point being honest with oneself is healthy and for the best.
– while I agree that MSG brought some dangerous things to the game ( the current pirate package being the main viable early game, and the unforseen Jade issue that will arise if the pirates get nerfed) I truly feel that the developers are TRYING to improve the game and provided some really great content for alot of different types of players.
– perhaps the best course of action when tilting is to take a break, try something different, try a different game for a bit, try exercising for a few minutes, play with the dog…
Aaaaaand I’m out, Peace!
Yes, you are right about Reno Priest and Miracle rogue. I played these two a lot. Still, with the introduction of the new pirates, miracle rogue is a lot more aggro than before, and i do not really like that, but it remains a deck I really like. maybe i was a bit too harsh about the game, but the combination of the aggro shaman and the aggro warrior, the new jade mechanic, too many generally op cards, the horrible new mechanic of hand buff, all the time i had to lose over and over facing that cancer of a secret hunter, the death of patron warrior, now of tempo and freeze mage and control warrior, is too much for me to keep playing. Great decks die, Bad decks arise. IMO they MAYBE are trying to make the game better but they are doing everything wrong
The fact that the attacker chooses targets makes Hearthstone an inherently aggressive game – taunt aside, the aggressor always has the options; face or kill minions (MtG is the opposite, the defender generally chooses what to block with, or not, and how to allocate damage – but then MtG is a much more nuanced game).
If you’re grinding the ladder you want quick wins, faster games means more per hour, and as long as the win rate is consistent with slower decks you’ll climb the ladder faster.
This means that anything Blizzard does that improves aggro will always have more impact than anything that improves, say, control – that’s why Patches and Small Time Buccaneer are so powerful. It’s also partly why Priest was so weak (it’s predominantly a control class) and why Blizzard could create Drakonid Operative which, in any other class, would be OP as hell.
Essentially – if you don’t like aggro, you’re playing the wrong ccg.
Having said that, I actually find extreme aggro really boring to either play with, or against – I generally don’t ladder much. I’ve been having more fun in Wild lately than Standard… I know I’m playing the wrong ccg but I keep playing anyway (though less since MSG was released).
Wow, so much work and you achieved to make the game dull, stupid and unbalanced. I played the game at least 1 and a half year, i loved it, and after LoE it’s getting worse and worse. there’s cancer everywhere, the meta is all OP midrange and aggro decks which do not require thinking for being played (dragon priest, jade druid, aggro warrior, aggro shaman). These decks are tremendously strong and do not have a strategy. The only decks playable are renolock and reno mage, but still it is not fun to play always against the same cancer. control warrior, freeze mage, handlock, n’zoth pally are all dead. Experimenting is really hard cause you’ll get rekt all the time. RIP this game. Blizzard, I’m sorry but you are going in the wrong direction; you want the game to be for casual players and you keep it simple. For example, do you realize that there are no Combo decks anymore?!? this is a ccg, are there are no viable combo decks. Totally ridiculous. Yes, there are anyfin paladin and “confuse” priest, but they are weak and see virtually no play. So please don’t let the upcoming expansions be Crap again (not to mention the art, with every expansion the game seems more and more for children).
Agree
salty players, do u know the brainless deck are what kept the meta a meta? without them every1 will be playing long ass 24 hrs control vs control game aka see whos deck has more greedy value and legendary, please always remember the aggro pirates and shaman is what kept the meta aka the triangle balance in check.
The problem here IMO is that there is no balance, there are far too many people playing aggro. they are like 50% of the meta. Before giving up with the game, the only thing I did in my games was trying to survive aggression, and in the and i got bored
I agree … playing since Season 2, but it never was as boring as now … when i see the opening “small-time bucaneer + patches” i’m already getting angry … you play all the time against all the same aggro-decks … thats no more fun at all … i am slowly loosing the joy to play this game and i believe, that many others are thinking that way …. so please BLIZZARD, make some changes as soon as possible!!!
bring back variety in this (former fun) game!!!
thanks!
Don’t you think it’s more like the natural selection thing than card designers’ fault? Decks that are strong and easier to play will always become cancerous because many people will prefer them. In my opinion it doesn’t matter at all what cards Blizzard makes. The community is the reason of some decks being played a lot and some being forgotten. If there is one deck just slightly stronger than others, huge part of players will play it (just like aggro shaman right now) because surprisingly players like to win. It is impossible to make all decks exactly equally effective. There will always be some decks having an edge which become cancerous no matter what.
Balance changes that Blizzard does from time to time are good because they will usually nerf those cancer decks that are having an edge at the time, making an opportunity for another decks to become cancer. To be honest I can’t imagine more they can do to make the game balanced at this point. People will always prefer stronger decks (even decks that are only slightly better than others).
I agree that that the community is the problem, but that is mainly because Blizzard, as I was saying, wants to keep the game simple, for casual players, trying to appeal the more people possible. These people do not invest too much time in the game they just want to have some fun and are not looking for strategical depth, so they all play cheap and easy to play aggro. The error blizzard does is releasing so many OP card that really make aggro super strong. Small time buccaneer, patches, 4(6) mana 7/7, spirit claws, WTF?!? Pirate warrior was rising and saw some play before Gadgeztan, so they made it stronger. The hell? they could see it coming. they even introduced the new jade mechanic, the most stupid thing in the history of the game. And let’s talk about Drakonid operative. Why should that card be so good? Do they not remember that discover minions usually have a stats downside? So IMO it really matters what they release.
Hear! hear!, fellow who has realised how fcked up the game has been since karazhan. I support your statement fully. Stupid Blizzard and its overpowered designed face cards.
I disagree with the art part tho. I find the art preeettyyy good and it doesn’t seem childish to me.