Hearthstone director Ben Brode answered some interesting game-related questions from Twitter on Tuesday in a segment called “Hearthstone Support.”
Will Cubelock get a nerf? Will it be possible to get old cardbacks in the future? Why do cards only get nerfed but not buffed? Which cards will be added to the Classic set? Which college degree does the Brode-man believe is best for becoming a Hearthstone World Champ? Find out the answers to those questions and more:
Transcript:
Q: Are there any alternative ideas for The Coin, or players going second?
A: No. There’s currently a 49% win ratio for players going second, and we feel that this is close enough to feel balanced.
Q: Will cards ever be rotated into the Classic Set?
A: This is very possible, but nothing planned as of yet. We feel as though Mage, for example, as too few Classic cards due to the introduction of the Hall of Fame.
Q: How did you come up with hero cards like Jaraxxus?
A: We originally wanted an alternate Warlock hero for both Horde and Alliance, and crafted a deck around each. The Alliance variant was based on the character Wilfred Fizzlebang, who summons Jaraxxus as a surprise boss in World of Warcraft. When playtesting the deck, the playtester immediately said “I’m playing as Fizzlebang – is Jaraxxus in this deck?” We then immediately made Jaraxxus to fit the deck.
Q: If we have nerfs, why can’t we have buffs as well?
A: Putting all cards into a “playable” state is not the goal. Some cards are intentionally bad. We also like printing cards later on that make those previously bad cards better. For example, Mysterious Challenger suddenly made Secret Paladin amazing.
Q: With the new rotation, can Wild card packs be purchasable again?
A: You can buy Wild sets and adventures on the website. We did this intentionally to keep the in-game store clean.
Q: Will Dungeon Runs be updated to go with the new expansion?
A: We are adding new single-player content with the next expansion that plays a lot like Dungeons Runs, but is not a direct addition to the currently existing Dungeon Runs.
Q: Which college degree do you believe would help most with becoming a Hearthstone World Champ?
A: Forget college, just play the game more!
Q: I haven’t played Hearthstone in over a year and would like to get back into it. Are there any resources that can help me?
A: The subreddit, forums, and streams are all great ways to learn the game and get back into the swing of things.
Q: Will tourney mode have sideboard support?
A: No.
Q: Why aren’t there female kobolds?
A: There are. Hard to tell, maybe.
Q: Where did the inspire mechanic go?
A: We enjoy playing with new mechanics instead of bringing back old ones, but we may bring it back in the future.
Q: When will we see Pepe in Hearthstone?
A: We haven’t discussed this yet.
Q: Will there be ways to get older cardbacks?
A: Yes, but we need to find a way to do so that will both be rewarding for the players obtaining the cardbacks, as well as not upsetting the players that have had those cardbacks already.
Q: Is Cubelock a concern/on your radar?
A: Yes. It’s a skill-intensive deck and we don’t have any decisions or changes to announce, however we are closely following the most popular and successful decks for each season.
Q: What’s your favorite golden card?
A: Crushing Walls
Q: Have you given more thought to increasing deck size? For example, 60 card decks in it’s own game mode?
A: It may make an appearance as a tavern brawl or other one-off fun game mode, but nothing is planned to add this to the core game.
Q: Will we get a “Spectate random match” button?
A: No plans for this yet, however watching streams is a good way to spectate instead.
Q: Will you ever add an award for fully leveling up your hero?
A: Players already have a progression system in the form of getting golden class and Classic cards as they level the hero. I would like to expand this later, but we have no plans at the moment.
Q: With the recent reversed nerf to Molten Giant, does this mean other cards could potentially get their nerf reversed as well once they rotate out of standard?
A: We will look over these cards on a case-by-case basis in the future, but Molten Giant was a one-off in this case due to its following and ability to fit in multiple deck archetypes.
Learn more about Even and Odd decks from upcoming Hearthstone expansion, “The Witchwood.”
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