LactationSpecialist

I guess it's polite, sure, but to say "Thanks for the report" which was a report on something that has been reported on constantly and not saying "We are aware of this issue and working on it" or something of the sort is just... ugh... And if you guys aren't working on it that's really messed up.

You also make it sound like it's a literal 1->0 change that could have easily come in the last patch which is really sad tbh.

For context, this is the flow of the comment.

Respond to a thread to talk about how things like this happen. Say thank you for report. Check to see if it's tracked internally for a fix, because I don't know. It is.

edited

LactationSpecialist

Check to see if it's tracked internally for a fix, because I don't work on Duels

What are you even talking about?

Ugh, downside of checking into multiple fixes simultaneously. Same answer, though. I haven't fixed a bug for a couple years, so I generally don't know what stage low priority bugs are in. Have to check after seeing reports.

Fixed in future build. Between break and all the things we had to do when we got back from break I didn't push for this to get fixed in a build before 19.4 (quickly approaching). In retrospect, this probably should have been prioritized sooner. Pretty bad experience. SOON THOUGH VERY SOON

Chm_Albert_Wesker

so much to unpack here:

• saying 'demon hunters' was a success from player metrics is the most tongue in cheek thing i could have ever read. the class was forced into top tier and then oppressive in every format it's ever been good in, so if player metrics just means that people are playing it then ya that tends to happen when you make a tier 0 class out the gate

• no rush for a new class after they butchered the last one's release

• champion could have been neat but tricky to balance; really not that different from a hero card with a passive like the 10 mana Reno card except they take a spot on the field instead of your hero power

• reprints don't make any sense to me from anyone's perspective: it invalidates people who already have the card, minimizes (at least fractionally) interest in a new set because fewer of the cards are new, and because of the prior point deducts from sales when a small tweak into a new card would essentially be better for all parties involved. if they want an older card to be back in standard, just reverse-HOF it

When I say Demon Hunter success, I'm not referring to the play rate of Demon Hunter. As you mentioned, that can be skewed by a lot of things. Namely card power or the difficulty of obtaining those cards.

It refers more to how many people are playing constructed, how often they play, and when their play tailed off when compared to previous expansions. There are too many variables to be 100% certain the reason for this was Demon Hunter, but our research led us to believe it was likely the case.

PUZZLE? already did puzzle lab, such a tired theme ugh

yes

Ganrokh

If you've ever heard of Slay the Spire, this is the same style of mode. You'll start each run with a deck full of basic cards. After each battle, you'll be offered a choice of card to add to your deck. Also similar to dungeon run, but there should be random events and other such things mixed in with the battles.

Edit: disregard this!

We'll share more details later, but it really won't be similar to this at all. Mercenaries is different from constructed Hearthstone similar or even more than Battlegrounds is different than constructed Hearthstone.

yoloswagrofl

Why not? He's a noted huge anime fan. He said if he got his wish there would be anime-style alternative Hearthstone card art.

can confirm, huge anime fan

currently watching jugutsu kaisen and tower of god

love this

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Fulgent2

He sent the screenshot to himself by email...? And then he screenshotted that email? Wait what.

I then put it in MSpaint and took a picture of my monitor with my phone but the screenshot of the actual legend image was so small you could barely see it. The things you do for a good meme....

Kaplan is the best to ever do it. Was the single biggest reason I was inspired to get into the games industry. He then became my inspiration for wanting to become a designer. A great listener, leader, mentor, and friend. There is some sadness in losing a great person to work with, but happiness and excitement for whatever comes next. I speak for all of Hearthstone in wishing Jeff the absolutely best in his post-Blizzard life.

You rule, Jeff.

Grats :)

Xandroid881

Orochimaru really fit as warlock

damn two obvious and awesome fits

Orochimaru Warlock would be my jam

[deleted]

[deleted]

Wut

Our focus has been on supporting each other and planning action for how we can make our work a better place for everyone. Something we've clearly failed at in the past.

Having any celebration is a hard sell right now. I can assure you the only hesitation we have with moving forward with things like streams or card reveals is out of the respect for our co-workers. This is an incredibly important time to reflect and make sure we chart the best path forward. There is no gag order, no legal team telling us what we can and can't say. Our focus is simply on each other right now.

All that said, we still care about our work and are still passionate about delivering a great game. It's the whole reason most of us are here in the first place. We don't have plans to delay our launch or push back further developments. We are just taking time to make sure we get this moment right.

ZirGsuz

I'm with you on this one. I don't love purely defensive decks, but they're a distinct flavor that should have a place in the game - especially as they've existed for the last year or so. Things like the Risky Skipper warrior combo or even the earlier builds of control priest last expac that focused heavily on the Samuro+Apotheosis combo seem like they should have a recurring place in the game.

I think where the frustration comes in is the control decks with 6 board clears, infinite spot removal, and cheap threat generation. Those decks just have so many ways to ignore your threats that they're just about as uninteractive as super degenerate aggro decks that kill you by turn 5 with burn. That said, those decks rarely truly exist. I've only played since Witchwood but Cubelock and the Rise of Shadows era Control Warriors were about the only decks that ever got that bad IMO.

FWIW, I agree that a purely defensive deck should have a place in Hearthstone. The same is true for decks like treachery warlock, mill rogue, freeze mage, etc. We're just unlikely to make those styles very popular or dedicate a large suite of cards to them. If someone wants to play a 38% mill deck because it's their favorite thing in the game, great. If that deck is 54% and exists as 15-20% of the population, that's not so great.

I think this context was lost here because this response wasn't meant to be exhaustive thoughts on control decks. I was trying to make the point that just because warlock and mage have decks that ignore fatigue damage, that doesn't mean they counter all control decks as a result. It means they counter fatigue decks, which we're okay with.

LittleBalloHate

Iksar, thanks for this response! I definitely understand where you're coming from, but as a person who just so happens to prefer slow, grindy control decks and exactly mill decks (your other example), I think I would just reply that "oh you can play it, it will just be very bad and have a 38% win rate" isn't much better than saying "it doesn't exist."

I converted from Magic because I was already invested in Blizzard games and because I wanted to play with friends, and my deck preferences in MtG were mill decks and mono-blue control styles. I had long ago given up hope that mill decks would be meaningfully viable in Hearthstone, but with this phrasing, it feels like both of the archetypes I prefer will just not be viable going forward, and I gotta say, that feels super bad. I'm not sure that you can (or should) do anything about it, but I did want to add my voice to say that I don't feel included in the plans you're laying out, here.

Again, slow grindy control decks are fine and will continue to exist. I'd argue we just came out of a meta where a slow grindy control deck was top-tier (Priest). Mill decks and fatigue decks are niche strategies that will always have some place in the game, just not in a highly competitive capacity. Outside of maybe exactly odd warrior, this has always been the case in Hearthstone. This isn't a change in design philosophy. If you've been happy with the mill or control decks of the past that you've played, then you'll likely still be happy looking forward into the future.

“On the other hand, if you’re hoping for significantly longer Hearthstone games, that’s not going to happen. Fast-paced action with a fair share of board battles is the target state for the game.”

This is an opinion quote from an article, not from me or anyone on T5. Honestly I must have done a terrible job explaining, because nothing I wrote in the AMA was directed at how much T5 loves or hates control decks. It was simply stating that pure fatigue decks having counters (like Ignite) was something we were okay with. Control decks are great, we'll continue to make control-centric cards, long live control as an archetype.

Wait...these...

How did you...

THESE ARE OUR T'S

RETURN THEM TO US RIGHT NOW OR ELSE