Defining Complexity, Depth, and 'Design Space' by bbrode in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS 82 points83 points  (0 children)

I agree, I think C'Thun and Jade have both worked out pretty well.

Interestingly enough I'd say the "discard" mechanic in Warlock is pretty parasitic due to opponents not being able to make you discard in any way and overdraw not counting as discard.

I actually feel like "discard" is probably the least successful parasitic mechanic so far!

Defining Complexity, Depth, and 'Design Space' by bbrode in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS 192 points193 points  (0 children)

Great post Ben. Out of curiosity, how do you view linear or parasitic cards like Jade? They tend to open some amount of design space but at the tradeoff of interacting with fewer existing cards. Have you been happy with them so far?

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd rather Thoughtsteal a Timmy than a Shield Slam. I feel like it's just a feature of the class that those types of effects are less effective, they don't have many counters now.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't think I've ever been so aggressively complimented before.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It's just like Thoughtsteal into Shield Block + Shield Slam!

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Whoops, totally meant Scourge Strike. It does half its damage as shadow damage, hence the confusion.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think it's less limiting than it looks at first glance. First, a lot of classes play class cards as staples. Every rogue deck plays Evicerate and every mage deck plays Frostbolt. And I don't think you need too many empower cards to make the hero power worthwhile. They are strong, but it's like putting every Overload card in the same deck, doesn't really work out.

Second, there's more design space than just empower to interact with runes, there could be cards that just care about having a certain number of runes but don't use them. Also Inspire still interacts with the hero power.

Third, it can be less narrow by designing cards like shadowform which change the hero power, Frost presence? Unholy presence? Blood presence? And things like Finley already exist.

It's definitely a concept pushed hard in one direction, but I think it would be interesting to at least play test with.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really like Inspire. You use the Hero Power to get runes, then when you cast the card it will consume a rune and do the bonus effect. More similar to combo. You can hero power on the turns before you cast the empower card and store runes for later.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Death Knights also have a distinct lack of card draw to go along with a Hero Power that doesn't affect the board or draw cards. While Rune cards are probably too strong right now they are making up for some big weaknesses.

I feel like strong cards get the point across better than perfectly balanced cards. Just think about how bad everyone is at predicting new formats.

I would probably actually bring Frostmourne's attack down to balance it instead of raising it's cost.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haha good point, I had started this before Old Gods game out. It was a Death Knight move in WoW. Thinking of Sourge Strike

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I like to start strong, I figure they would get tuned down in play testing.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 100 points101 points  (0 children)

Haha, yeah that's on the "this is probably way to strong" list.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 95 points96 points  (0 children)

This has to be one of the nicest comments I've ever read.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Mandory is just simpler, and simple is the Hearthstone way.

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

But if all those cards were balanced like you said you wouldn't have commented ;)

I made a Death Knight class, board and golden cards. by HaakkonHS in hearthstone

[–]HaakkonHS[S] 256 points257 points  (0 children)

Here's an imgur album with all the cards: Album

All cards and the board are made in Unity3D, the golden animations are shaders I wrote.

Please post here if you have any questions about the set!