Bluetracker
Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.
WELL MET! I'm Ben Brode, the Game Director on Hearthstone. Ask me anything!
Hey there! In case you're new around these parts, my name is Ben Brode, and I'm the Game Director on Hearthstone.
I'm responsible for the overall design of the game, as part of a team of badass folks. I started at Blizzard in 2003, and started working on Hearthstone in 2008. Nowadays I spend most of my times in meetings, talking about the sick designs that our talented team comes up with. I tend to stay pretty active here on Reddit and on Twitter (@bdbrode), but I am excited to solicit questions directly – Reddit /AMA’s format is super cool. Having a dialog with the Hearthstone community is very important to me and the development team, and this is one of the easiest ways to facilitate that. I think Hearthstone is at its best when we work together to improve the game. Let's chat!
Ben Brode
Sure!
....starting on July 24th!! :)
Ben Brode
I have no idea!
I have never done VO for a game. /cryface
Ben Brode
Stonetusk Boar
Ben Brode
Who doesn't love memes? I'm actually working on a "meme review video" of my favorite memes. If I have to choose, I have a special fondness for 4 mana 7/7.
Ben Brode
We used to do a steady stream of new reveals of about 1 card a day, and it kinda dragged. The feedback we were getting was that hype was slowing down as we got closer to the expansion, and i think that's the wrong direction. Un'Goro had a dip in excitement, but ramped way up towards the release and used a similar strategy. Un'Goro felt awesome - let's see how this one goes!
I'm a little torn. I think there are pros and cons. The potential downside I'm most worried about is our ability to make Handlock really insane in Standard going forward with new cards, without pushing it into insanity in Wild. We'd like to make Handlock a thing again - and we can do that in Wild by moving the card that and buffing it, or by making new cards in Standard that are good in both formats. This doesn't mean we won't move/buff it, it's just something we're thinking about.
Yeah, but I think there's some complexity there. There are goals you are trying to solve with that suggestion - we are looking at other options that I think hit the similar goals that are maybe a little less complex.
Yes, we've considered that, limited-time cards that come back from Wild into standard for a while, and other crazy ideas to mix up the meta in between sets. I think it's one of Hearthstone's biggest opportunities. We took a stab at it recently with increasing the total number of cards each year. There are obviously downsides to that, and I think a lot of the ideas we've seen so far to tackle this problem have their own unique downsides. I don't think there's a silver bullet here, but we're trying some crazy things internally, like - what if we change the ladder format for the last month of a set? We tried "block constructed" and it wasn't as fun as we hoped, but maybe there's other formats that mix the game up in crazy ways that are really fun?
Confirmed.
We have a design that we are excited to try. I'm not sure it will be perfect out of the gate, but hopefully players will help us iterate into a great place. I wonder if just mixing it up is the right answer - like doing a new ladder format every 5 or so years. Once we know how long the feature will take to implement, we will start building it. There's a lot of iteration in that process, and once we start honing in on our final implementation, we'll communicate more about what we're planning. Our major goals here are: reduce the monthly grind for top-level players; increase progression for bottom 25% of players; get better match-making. We have another goal for improving the new player ranked experience - that's a separate change that's coming later.
Lord Jaraxxus!
If our players are playing a lot on console, it's the type of thing we'd consider. Right now it's pretty easy to whip out your phone or tablet anywhere - so it's not currently something we're considering.
We wouldn't be doing Wild Rotations out side of Hearthstone New Year. It's definitely a card that matches our red flags for cards that maybe shouldn't be in Standard forever. That doesn't mean we don't want combo decks or freeze mage - it's just that we want things to change each year!
PLEASE IF YOU KNOW DRE, TELL HIM TO CALL ME
Ben Brode
Yeah - We recently added way more powerful search functionality (i personally love searching for 'extra'), and deck copying/exporting. We'll continue to add features and refine current ones.
I will pass your message along to the folks who set those up!
ME TOO!
Ben Brode
Yep, there will be more minion-placement cards. Glad you like the mechanic!
Ben Brode
We will eventually make a new Druid and Warlock hero. :) I can't spoil how we plan on making them available just yet.
Regarding Tyrande - our goal was to find alternate ways for regions that were not eligible for the offer to get access to Tyrande and we've been working with our regional offices to make that happen. We've already done it in many regions - seems like we haven't hit yours yet and I'll follow up on that.
Ben Brode
Yes. I don't really like "profile" pages, but I want to do this in a different way. Hopefully more details later this year. Although, I'm not sure it will be handled the same in every region.
Ben Brode
1) Reduce grind for top-level players.
2) Increase progression for players stuck at rank 20-ish.
3) Get better matchmaking for bottom 25% players.
4) Make the experience better for new players.
We're hoping to make 1-3 better first. #4 is a separate feature for us and is coming later.
The biggest challenging is making those things better without losing what we like about our current system. Our current system is SUPER clear about what you need to do to rank up, and I think that's upside. I'm pretty confident we can do both here, though.
We have a design we are excited to try out, once we know how it changes through implementation, we are going to announce the details. Hoping for later this year.
Ben Brode
You know, I'm not sure. I kind of feel like Ragnaros has got a big head about the whole thing. Someone needs to take him down a peg. Like, c'mon, chill out, man.
Ben Brode
Yes. This is definitely a place we have a lot of room for improvement.
Ben Brode
Lord Jaraxxus
EREDAR LORD OF THE BURNING LEGION
Ben Brode
Some day we will make Shadow Priest work, together.
That pizza menu wasn't mine! It was someone else's desk. I was on the Night Crew when that shot was taken and I shared a desk with someone who was on the day crew.
Ben Brode
I used to do a lot of client engineering on Hearthstone, but I haven't gotten to do that in a long time. That's probably a better question for one of our Engineers, sorry!
Ben Brode
I've always loved Control Paladin. I also loved Yogg-and-Load.
Gina's Pizza, in Irvine.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ginas-pizza-and-pastaria-irvine
I get the Calzone, no Ricotta, Meatballs, Cilantro, Mushroom.
Also, get the Rasta Salad with Cilantro dressing. MMMMM
Ben Brode
We are definitely seeing players compete at high levels without spending any money at all. If you want literally every card in the game, that's tougher to do, but we are listening to community feedback here. We recently made pretty big changes to the way our Legendary drops work in packs, and are giving everyone a free Legendary Death Knight Hero with the new set. There will also be a lot of opportunities to earn packs of the new set, through some upcoming events and through the single player missions that will be free with the new set.
Ben Brode
I have played so many card games in my life - Magic, Overpower, Wyvern, Netrunner, Pokemon, Battlespirits, WoW:TCG, the Mortal Kombat TCG, Rage.... I freaking love this genre.
Ben Brode
This is a gross oversight on our part. I will see what I can do.
Also, long time no see! Welcome back!
Ben Brode
Trying to figure out how to be a Game Director. It's kind of terrifying.
The advice Dodds gave me: "Don't fuck it up"
Ben Brode
There is already a perception that your cards reduce in value over time because you can't use them in Standard. I think that's not a healthy perception for the game - and this kind of change would exasperate the problem. We are going to bring back Wild cards for sale, which should make Wild more accessible.
Ben Brode
Deck size is the one we've discussed. But we aren't currently considering any changes. Game length has remained remarkably consistent over every meta, and it feels pretty good (about 7.5 minutes on average).
Ben Brode
Yes!
Eventually we'd like to find ways to get things like old Hero Skins and card backs back into the hands of newer players, but this isn't something that I think we need to do right away and we have a couple other big fish to fry.
Ben Brode
Charge sometimes is great. I love the Hogriders, and I love the Charged Devilsaur. Charge makes you feel powerful, and that's important.
But you're right, it's been our biggest balance challenge. I'm not sure what the future of Charge will be. We might just keep nerfing Charge cards over time.
Ben Brode
Yeah, definitely. We are very close. I often have lunch with the directors of the other teams. A lot of people on the other teams meet up with each other to share ideas.
Ben Brode
A class needs unique "space" - i.e. things they can do that nobody else can do. Only Paladins get Divine Shield, or "setting Attack/Health", or 1-mana Secrets. Mages are the best at AoE and Blasty single-target spells.
I think we are already having trouble carving out awesome space for 9 classes. I want us to find more unique things for Warlock to do, for example. I think adding a 10th class makes this problem much more difficult, as we could be using that space to make our core 9 classes more fun.
Also, you would be less likely to open cards of your favorite class in card packs, the more that we have in the game.
Something I often think about - what is the 'perfect' number of classes? What would be too many? Is 15 too many? How about 50? I kind of think the number even be less than 9, except that we have some important fantasy considerations.
I'm actually super excited about the way Death Knights are coming to Hearthstone! Making a Death Knight starting hero means making an ultra simple Hero Power.... but now we've been able to create much crazier hero powers.... and we've made NINE different Death Knights. I'm super pumped.
Ben Brode
i have a foil pikachu already, no thanks
Ben Brode
One of the biggest things that helped was the rotation. I think adding the Hall of Fame and hitting those 6 cards allowed us to see the "freshest" meta yet. This is a bit more of a challenge for the last set of the year. I think if anything, we could have gone lighter mechanically, and saved some of our new mechanics for set 3 of the Year of the Mammoth.
But I think the team did an awesome job on the set, yeah. Dinosaurs!
Ben Brode
Yes, love Magic. There's a lot to learn from a game that has a 20+ year history. Not many games manage that, and I'm hoping to grow old with them together. :)
Ben Brode
Yes, we are planning on making a change in an upcoming patch. Details to come.
It's something we continually evaluate. We're currently seeing some players getting large collections without paying a cent, and that's pretty awesome. We've recently made big changes to the way Legendaries drop in packs, as well as giving everyone a free Legendary Death Knight Hero in the new expansion.
Ben Brode
We've been thinking about it a lot. It's a feature we think makes sense for Hearthstone, but we have nothing else to say regarding it right now.
Ben Brode
Cool idea! I don't think we'd see stuff from other games outside of Tavern Brawls and Card Backs, though.
Ben Brode
I had Luna Grill. I got the Gyros. Oh, and the stuffed grape leaves.
This might help.... but then again it might not: https://bbrode.svbtle.com/how-to-get-a-job-in-games
Ben Brode
I don't feel like we have basically ever been restricted on cool new features due to the parity we shoot for between platforms. We have wildly talented UI Designers who are up for the challenge.
Ben Brode
Hero cards are a new thing that replaces your hero, not transforms them. It's a bit weird because these 9 hero cards feel like a transformation, but it's possible to turn from Anduin -> Jaraxxus -> Deathstalker Rexxar -> Jaina DK Hero -> Uther DK Hero, for example. (assuming you do some weird thoughtsteal shenanigans.) I think seeing the art of the hero helps you understand what's going on in the game, and what Hero Power your opponent is going to be using from now on. If you play Deathstalker Rexxar as Jaina and then it looks like Jaina still but with the Rexxar power... I dunno, that seems very weird to me.
Ben Brode
Better with Pepperoni than with Canadian Bacon
Ben Brode
We are nearly done with design on set 3 of the year of the mammoth. We are hard at work on the first set of next year, and are brainstorming ideas for the second set of 2018.
Yes
No
Ben Brode
Soon! Hoping for sometime this summer.
Ben Brode
Donais just walked by and I asked him this question - He said "Boar, but also Prep, Innervate, and Malygos."
Ben Brode
http://imgur.com/a/6MaKU
Ben Brode
J. Crew
Ben Brode
Yes!
https://careers.blizzard.com/en-us/students
Ben Brode
Thanks for coming everyone! Lots of great questions! I answered as many as I could in 2 hours, but HOLY CRAP There's like 1500 questions!! I tried to hit the ones with the most upvotes. Sorry if I didn't get to yours! Thanks again! :)
Ben Brode
oops. I spelled it exasperbate and spellcheck failed me. Fixed!
Ben Brode
no, not me, sorry!