Hearthstone & Heroes of the Storm Summary (Day 2)

Hearthstone Fireside Chat and Q&A; Heroes of the Storm State of the Game and Battlegrounds Panel summaries! See below!

Tavern Brawls!

• Tavern Brawls are weekly content. Its there to give players variety between expansion launches.

• Tavern Brawls need to be fun. You want to keep playing because you love it.

• When they first discussed Tavern Brawls, they wanted to do a ranked ladder, including a legend rank.

• They didn't go with the ranked ladder so people don't feel pressured to play it for rewards but instead play it just because they want to.

• Build your own deck brawls are exciting for people who want to innovate since it changes the value of your collection.

• They've learned a lot from the pick your own class tavern brawls.

• A deck of just 30 minions wasn't very fun. Adding some random spells into the mix to fix that.

• All pick your class tavern brawls will use both minions and spells.

• Individual premade tavern brawls can appeal to different people and that's okay.

• They've released 21 brawls so far.

• The graph (see below) shows the amount of games played for each brawl.

• They will continue to improve upon brawls, including making new types.

• They've learned players like to really play with new cards with a new expansion launches, so they'll try to do stuff with the new cards when a new expansion launches, but maybe not all the time.

Individual Brawls

• Randomonium is the most popular brawl yet. But don't worry, they'll continue to innovate.

• They think Randomonium was the most popular because games were quick, you got to play with cards you may not have, and you can play strong stuff early on.

• People really like Encounter at the Crossroads because its helpful to complete class quests.

• The Webspinner brawl came into existence because of feedback during the Naxx adventure.

• Ragnaros vs Nefarian will be coming back next week. Nefarian will start with one less mana crystal.

• The Summoning Stone was created due to the popularity and fun of The Great Summoner's Competition.

• Summoning Stone was originally Shaman only, but it was more fun as Neutral.

• They tried to launch Captain Blackheart's Treasure a week ago to show off the Discover mechanic.

• This will launch is about 3 weeks.

The Mechazod Co-Op Brawl

• We saw the first co-op tavern brawl this week, they've received lots of great feedback for it.

• This was the most difficult brawl to create yet.

• They didn't have time to re-engineer the game to make the first co-op brawl very different from regular play, because they wanted to get it out this year.

• Thats why Mechazod floats between the sides of the board rather than having his own space.

• They tried many different placements for Mechazod.

• Middle of the board doesn't work, there's no room for it.

• They tried the center column, and players wouldn't be able to play minions there.. that was awkward.

• The top corner was also discussed.

• They didn't have all the things in place to stop things like Equality, Hunter's Mark against Mechazod, so they went with creating premade decks for the brawl.

• Premade decks promote working together with the synergy given to you. Really good for playing with friends.

• There are algorithms in place to make the brawl less random, but not entirely.

• For example, he won't just cast overclock every single turn, then he'd never attack.

• If Lorewalker stayed in played too long, the game got out of hand. That's why Lorewalker Cho dies after one turn to the Kill the Lorewalker card.

Q&A Period

• Yong Woo, Ben Brode, and Pat Nagle have now joined Mike Donais on stage.

• Pat Nagle works on Tavern Brawls!

• Ben Brode helps with content design and creative direction!

• Yong Woo is the producer. What does he do? He works with the team to figure out whats the most important for the team and works on their schedules to make sure stuff "happens correctly".

• They think a lot about randomness in the game and recent experiments with cards has taught them a lot.

• They like when you are guaranteed to get something via RNG, such as with Webspinner or Shredder.

• One of the concerns players have is with accessibility as the game ages.

• They have a designer on the team dedicated to new player experience.

• There is a special queue just for brand new accounts where they play only with other new players for a little bit.

• Tavern Brawls have been a nice way to give newer players more cards for their collections. It may be slow, but it's something to help.

• Uh oh, question about arena golden cards.

• Brode has been asking to see his collection's golden cards in the arena since forever.

• They're working on so many other awesome things, having your golden cards in the arena isn't something they've gotten to work on yet.

• "Lets get it done!" - Ben Brode 2015

• Having a chat with your opponent during a co-op tavern brawl when playing with a random person isn't something they're opposed to.

• They made the tavern brawl card pack reward from co-op require just playing the game instead of winning due to the communication issue.

• Maybe they can let you add each other as friends before the game begins.

• They like to create build around cards, especially when they encourage you to use weaker cards. Mysterious Challenger.

• They're watching Mysterious Challenger closely.

• Now with Patron Warrior out of the way, players can make decks to fight against secret paladin.

• They like the variety in having quests that progress at different rates.

• They try to split releasing content from releasing features to limit the risk with huge patches.

• They have a couple of patches planned before the content release after The League of Explorers.

• They don't think doing a baseline amount of certain tribes in each expansion is needed. Its more fun to mix it up.

• They will continue to explore new mechs.

• With the way the hearthstone service is setup, its  difficult to  have your collection travel with you.

• They really like the idea of tournaments in the game, but they aren't sure what exactly tournaments would be. They do talk about it though.

• They're working on deck slots.

• Brode wants to put some kind of marker on heroes which shows you have an active quest for them so you don't need to keep going back and forth to the quest log to confirm which quest(s) you have.

• Huge Toad - Name came from a QA analyst named Hugh Tod. Friend of Brode.

• They wanted to add more rewards of Classic Packs to help catch people up on the collection.

• Not a ton of super positive feedback with the arena pack reward, they're looking at it still.

• Having a variety of good options across the board for minions is important. They don't always just try to predict the meta when deciding to create new cards.

• Its possible they could create different ranked systems of play, but no current plans to announce.

• Yong Woo has threatened Ben Brode with beatings due to this comment.

• Digital-only can let them do a lot with formats, announcements soon, they're planning on radical stuff.

• Reno Jackson - There isn't a plan to have any kind of UI hint to show that you still have second copies of cards in your deck. They'll talk about it though.

• Alternate art scares them a bit. Art tells you what a card is right away. Heroes is a bit safer to do. They'll talk about promo cards more though.

Ben Brode on the Main Stage Stream

• They were brainstorming the idea behind The League of Explorers back in 2011.

• Chris Metzen had brought up The WoW faction Explorer's League and said they didn't receive a lot of love in WoW. The Hearthstone team saw an opportunity to use their previous brain storming to go with them as a theme.

• Legendary minions should be legendary. Elise Starseeker is no exception.

• They gave the artists time to do just whatever they wanted. One of the artists went all out on Elise and her tokens.

• Wing by wing, the new cards will make it into the arena. The drop rate of the new cards in arena will increased when the adventure is out to promote it.

• Ben was playing a Majordomo mage deck at the start of this season with Secrets, and dragons. He was knocked down to rank 20.

Heroes of the Storm

• Battleground where two Nexus Lords are fighting for control - tug of war and area control type of map.

• They wanted to create something really unique - all previous maps still have 2/3 lanes, mercenaries and a core.

• Devs asked themselves "do maps really need a core?"

• First layout of Towers of Doom did not have a Core - there were 5 forts, sort of circular float to it. The towns themselves were the map's mechanics. Whoever owned more towns first would get more points.

• It was a failed experiment - it was kinda anti-climatic. Intense at first, but with mostly non dramatic endings. Current maps have that epic feeling!

• They went back to a more standard design - Towers of Doom has unique mercenaries however!

• Grave Golem - replaced by the Headless Horseman from World of Warcraft. Completely different mechanic - when you cap this mercenary, it shoots volleys of spirit energy towards the enemy bases.

• Altars - places on neutral positions along the battleground, a hybrid control territory on the map.

The Art of Towers of Doom

• They feel it's kinda boring playing on the same battleground over and over again, so it's all about creating unique and varied gameplay experiences.

• They wanted it to have the mood of a Dark City. Color is very important for that.

• Inside the structures they want "warm" colors to make the outside feel cold.

• Victorian like architecture, lots of dark iron and foreboding structures.

• Lots of textures in this map (ancient stones, dilapidated wood, rusty stuff). Ancient town feeling.

• Dark... but not depressing!

• Bell Towers (of Doom) > Necromancer Tower. When destroyed it will explode but will rebuild belonging to the opposite team.

• Town Structures - Armory Town / Farm Town / Blacksmith Town. Personality to each town.

Arena Design

• Devs are always trying to find new ways of making the game mode challenging and fun for players.

• Lots of them were super excited about a fighting arena mode for a while now.

• Great for players who want something completely different from Quick Match and Hero League.

• Random hero selection (from a pool of 3 - based on an archetype). Focus on fast-paced action around a single objective.

• Quick and easy to jump into.

• They wanted the mode to be even more action packed than the standard Heroes match, and even shorter.

• They wanted players to be able to form new creative strategies.

• They tried "all random" at first, but it didn't work. Players need some control and choice.

• 10x Hero Mode - randomly chosen by the matchmaker; gives everyone the same hero choice.

• A game with 10 Johannas in internal playtesting took 30~ minutes. That's why they added some rules to their team compositions.

• Heroes with very little damage cannot be chosen in this 10x mode (Medic, Johanna, Abathur).

• In other Arena matches, cannot roll more than 2 warriors or more than 2 supports.

• Players start at level 10 and do not level up. No talents as well, all they choose is the Heroics.

• Benefits: low learning curve when playing new Heroes (since they are all available). Focus on moment-to-moment action. No falling behind in power.

• Hero respawn timer is 15 seconds.

• Behind the scenes they're already adding new Arena battlegrounds, and expanding mechanics. Breaking even more rules.

Art of Arena

• Garden Arena (daylight version) > Tournament grounds, to make it feel like a renaissance fair. Jousting arena with knights fighting each other.

• Spectators behave differently depending on how much action is happening. In a multi-kill they all cheer for you!

• Garden Arena (night version) > population winding down, sitting around a campfire.

• Garden Arena (underground) > glowing plants! Really claustrophobic, not man-made like the Haunted Mines.

• Temple Arenas (bizarre, oasis, desert).

Q&A

• They absolutely want a WoW based battleground. It's just a matter of time and they're aware of what players want.

• Teleporter in Towers of Doom is meant to give players a quick-travel tool to contest points on the other side of the map. It's meant to fight snowballing.

• They want to release maps for all franchises (like the Diablo one for Eternal Conflict), they just want to make sure they nail it.

• They allow Lost Vikings in Arena mode, but are still trying to figure out how to allow Cho'Gall.

• Is it possible to make completely destructible maps? The idea is awesome, but they don't know if that's feasible. The more feedback they receive on this end, the more likely it is to happen in the future.

Who's Considered Overpowered Now?

• Lili and Murky have the highest win ratios.

• Lili has seen increased win ratio due to heroes like Thrall and Raynor being picked more often.

• Murky has had a high win ratio for a year now. So even though he isn't picked often in competitive, he isn't the highest priority right now.

Recap 2015

• Technical Alpha > Beta > Launch on June

• First year for E-Sports on Heroes - Heroes of the Dorm (nationally broadcast and vert big) and Road to Blizzcon Tournaments

• 11 new heroes added this year - 43 total heroes!

• 4 new battlegrounds - 9 total!

Balance Tools & Their Uses

• The win ratio they strive for Heroes to have is 45-55%.

• Heroes like Lost Vikings are at the top, while Abathur and Stitches are more towards the bottom.

• Talent pick and win ratio are also an important indicator of hero balance.

• Tournaments and E-Sports serve to identify the future meta beforehand - very important to determine necessary balance changes!

• Player Feedback is another tool for game balance - Forums, Reddit, Twitter. So keep sending your feedback!

Big Issues

• Kerrigan - melee assassin, initiator for her team, all-in aspect getting in the middle of enemies and bolstering her survivability.

• She had an extremely low talent diversity - with even low win rates for less picked talents.

• Improved Talent Diversity - by sharpening her role, giving her build options, and making her viable in competitive play.

• Changed 8 talents, cut 4 previous ones, created 3 new ones - much improved talent diversity!

• Uther - melee support, has lots of burst healing, very strong and complete kit. Very stable win rate (across most skill levels) at 50% win ratio.

• BUT he's always picked or banned in competitive games.

• They believe his strongest trait is to "disrupt coordination". Which is what competitive play is about.

• Divine Shield - cooldown from 70 to 90 seconds.

• Eternal Devotion - ghost duration decreased from 10 to 8 seconds.

• They are meant to be minor changes, to bring him down a notch. They don't want to overdo it!

• Cho'Gall

• Two-headed hero, controlled by two players. One player is the warrior Cho, who controls the movement, and the other is the assassin Gall, who's responsible for the damage and combo'ing his abilities for maximum impact.

• They cannot balance based on a previous template like with Greymane or Lunara. They don't have a "two heroes in one" template.

• Playtesting games with Cho'Gall often ended in a snowball, either in favor and against him. Early game advantage / lead grows out of control.

• Really hard to balance because he's 2-in-1. If he's ahead then he can wreck havok really easily, and if he's behind he can be picked off and the team immediately loses TWO heroes!

• Scaling Changes

• 65% of the games are really close! (only decided towards the end) ... they wanted more of this.

• Cho'Gall helped them realize that scaling was an issue, and what lead to snowballs - hence why they implemented the "Test Map" released on Morales patch.

• Benefits

• Players can still fight while behind!

• Roles were sharpened. Your character feels like what they're supposed to be from the start.

• Wins feel more meaningful. It doesn't feel like you're stomping other teams.

• Consequences

• Early game matters less - which lead to "increased death timers".

• Takedowns should be a "power play", which gives you map control and allow you to take objectives more easily.

• This is all coming with the Cho'Gall update in a couple weeks!

Future Balance Updates

• Gazlowe Updates

• Improve E-Sports viability.

• Enhance his zone control.

• Couple crazy ideas (not sure if they will make it): talent that makes your turrets shoot a laser while you're charging yours; another crazy idea is an active that he starts throwing scraps around and he has to run around and pick them up.

• Nova Updates

• Improve talent diversity.

• She walks a thin line (balance) between casual vs competitive.

• Increased skill cap on her skills/talents - one of the ideas being analyzed is "if you land a Snipe, it increases the dmg of your next Snipe by a %".

• Tychus Updates

• Increase his win rate - it's kinda low now.

• If they're only going to make him stronger (flat buffs) he might simply push aside other assassins (Valla, Raynor).

• They want him to be a Unique assassin on his own.

• Might become a "tank buster" assassin.

Matchmaking & Online Updates

• 80% of their games are "even" on their matchmaker. That means the MMR numbers are at least well paired.

• 65% of the games are at least close on levels.

• 20%~ are launched with the matchmaker knowing that the match is not very well paired.

• These are averages, but may vary from player to player. Some player might experience a 95-5% variation, while another experiences bad matches 50% of the time.

• Improvements in 2015

• Early on for New Users, MMR was inflated (slightly more than "bottom"). They didn't get matched by games played. Now both factors are fixed!

• New User win ratio was 38%, which is bad. Now after changes, it's 48%.

• Rank was a combination of skill and games played - now there are more placement matches, where rank reflects player skill.

• Rebuilding the Matchmaker

• The original matchmaker came from Starcraft 2 - but the two games are very different! It's much harder to put together a "fair" match in Heroes due to variation.

• Old system builds games quickly, takes into account the thousands of players searching for a match, then starts swapping players to find a "good match". Complicated system that doesn't work when they add rules (similar matchups, parties, not having a support).

• The new 10 minute limit (up from 6) does not help that scenario! That's why people are still experiencing bad matches.

• New System

• Builds games to be good. Relies less on player swapping around. Creates a queue!

• On simulations the new system looks much better.

• They WANT to release it over the next couple weeks. They cannot promise it, but that's the plan. It's their TOP PRIORITY right now!

• 2016 Goals / Fixes

• Improve MMR accuracy.

• Mirror team composition in quick match (not same heroes, but same categories).

• They have months of data for calculating "Team MMR".

• Use match performance to adjust MMR.

• Per Hero MMR adjustment.

• Ranked Play

• Their original system was a mix of Starcraft + Hearthstone.

• The current system is a little bit too harsh. If they want to be accurate (MMR), you're always prone to dropping in ranks.

• Right now there's not enough transparency for players (why they ranked up or dropped in ranks).

• Death Recap Screen - likely coming early next year! Will contain heals and shields too!

• Bans were tested throughout this year on competitive, and the devs loved it. Also coming very soon!

• Grandmaster League

• Talent Gating (requiring hero or account level to unlock talents) = removed.

• Free Hero Rotation from 7 to 10 heroes.

Q&A

• They don't really manipulate players' perception on things. If the community tells them a hero is weak or strong, they might wait to either see if the community figures it out, or wait for the community to just PROVE the devs wrong. Both cases are a win-win scenario for them.

• The decision to remove 3-4 parties from Hero League was based on the intention to improve the matchmaker - sort of a defensive stance from them. Ideally they want such a good matchmaker that they can re-add 3/4-player parties back to Hero League. Or maybe do an unranked draft.

• On Twitch viewership and sheer game popularity - the devs are aware of that, and everything they do (new features, heroes, matchmaker changes) is with the intent of improving the game and making it better.

Towers of Doom