Hearthstone Summit 2019 'Angus Waves announced about' Dragon Year 'New Season Summary & I asked developers variously

Blizzard Entertainment has held " Hearthstone Summit 2019 " (HSS2019) in Ohbaing, USA, and released the latest information on " Haasstone " including new expansion. Participating in HSS 2019, I asked developers various new expansion, while confirming the new element of "Horse Stone" which continues like angry like newly "Dragon Year" and new functions.

Burn it! Dragon Year - Hearthstone
https://playhearthstone.com/ja-jp/blog/22912682

The venue is close to the Blizzard Entertainment headquarters "Hotel Irvine"

Photographing is forbidden at all for the recital held by inviting Western media and Japanese media. With over 30 minutes presentation, plenty of content, including new features and new content quite ahead of the others, was announced.

As a result, the contents of the new extension of the Haasstone news which is lifted at the time of article posting are as follows.

◆ Dragon Year - In Haasstone, the new season selected from the constellation clock that appears in the world of "World of Warcraft (WoW)" will start in April, but following the "Ravens of Glass Year" in 2018 It became "Dragon Year".

Furnace side discourse: Welcome to the Dragon Year! - YouTube


The year of the Dragon is "the year of change".

In the Dragon Year, the first trial of 'Draw one story throughout the year' will be done by three extended versions. Hearthstone has emphasized the story, but by drawing one story throughout the year, it is said that "a more dense story" will be delivered to the player.

Free "single play mode" is added for "Dungeon Capture" fans. It consists of all 5 chapters and Chapter 1 is free. In the beginning you can play with a mage, and if you win 8 matches you can unlock 2 heroes. From Chapter 2 onwards you can purchase at 700 G and all chapters can be unlocked at 2400 yen.

Blizzard said that he added the largest content ever. I was able to experience the single play mode actually at the presentation venue but it is still a secret about the contents. In response to feedback from the media and comments and opinions, as reflected in the game, it is said to have been made public earlier.

◆ Hall of Fame

By entering the annual "Hall of Fame" every year, "returning to nature", "Doom guard" and "divine grace" became unusable.

Furthermore, it was announced that two cards "Moon eating bug" and "Gen · Gray main" entered the Hall of Fame without waiting for the usual rotation "2 years", and applause was welcomed at the venue It was.

◆ New features
· Deck automatic creation tool - "Deck automatic creation tool" which will automatically configure deck from newly created card pool will appear. It automatically determines the synergy of the cards and their cards and completes the deck, which means that it is possible to respond to how big a card pool is.

· Randomizer of card back design - The function "Randomizer" which will pick the design behind the card randomly will be added. Each match will randomly choose a design from behind the cards you have.


◆ Interview with developers I interviewed the two Hairstone developers who served as presenters at the presentation meeting.

Q:
First of all, introduce yourself.

Ben Thompson (hereinafter referred to as "Ben"):
It is Ben Thompson. After working as a lead artist and art director at "Haasstone", he is now a creative director, and it will be almost ten years.

Mike Donai (hereinafter referred to as "Mike"):
It is Mike · Donnai of the lead game designer. He is one of the earliest designers of Hearthstone. At the time there were only teams with me and Ben Broad, but now we have grown to more than 20 design teams. Prior to developing Hairstone, I was developing (real) card game such as "World of Warcraft (WoW)" and "Magic: The Gathering".

(Note: Haasstone is a game derived from the world of WoW, but hearthstone developers are not limited to WoW, they are composed of people from a wide range of genres and game development)

Q:
Many cards are inducted in the Hall of Fame in the past year, including those announced at HSS 2019. Traditionally I was waiting for two years until the entrance into the Hall of Fame, but this time I made it earlier. How did you change under the judgment, how did you choose cards in the Hall of Fame?

Microphone:
Certainly, unlike classics, expansion cards have been handling the entry into the Hall of Fame in two years and this is my first time to have the Hall of Fame in earlier than 2 years. The reason is to "make the game really fun". Among them, "Baku (moon eating baku)" and "Gen (Gen · Gray Main)" had a great impact on the meta. Many users were playing on even and odd decks using Gen and Baku, but we decided to enter the Hall of Fame to keep the game fresh and enjoyable evolution. However, this is only a special measure and this operation will not continue in the future. We will consider it on a case by case basis.

Q:
When announcing the entrance to the Hall of Fame, applaudings came from appliances from Europe and the United States. Was this a reaction to "Gen and Baku's Hall of Fame"?

Microphone:
Probably it was. There are also many players that "Gen and Baku are already plenty", and in the new expansion version "change" was sought. It will be really fun in the Dragon Year.

Q:
This time it is "special correspondence". Why is special this time?

Ben:
Speaking of bug and gen, it was as expected. We greatly changed the handling of meta and created three types of "odd", "even number", "neither", greatly changing the treatment of meta. However, there are also aspects that you can not do while conscious of odd and even numbers in the design you want to do in the coming year. With regard to such a case in this case, the development team can make a set more freely by letting it enter the Hall of Fame earlier than planned. It is judgment after considering the story and mechanics of 2019.

Players can trust the cards and constantly aim for development that will follow future possibilities. It is development while assuming the past while assuming things that will appear in the future. Of course, I hear the voice of the community. On a case-by-case basis, I am thinking what is the best choice for players.

Q:
What have you learned from powerful cards like Baku and Gen? Will there be similar cards in the future?

Microphone:
I want to leave the value that a card is unique, unlike other cards. I think that is the attraction of the card game of Haasstone. At the same time, the effect that affects the game from the beginning to the end can be too powerful to hurt the enjoyment. What is important is the overall balance. As a question answer, I think that similar cards will come out again. Some cards are rare, so they always give new lessons. It is important to keep meta fresh.

Q:
I knew from the early stage that the odd number and the even number are strong. Some cards nurtured or excluded in order to weaken it, but can cards return to their original state with the exit of Gen and Baku?

Microphone:
The recent balance change was on the assumption of Gen. and Baku 's Hall of Fame entry. For example, 2 mana's "equality" is particularly strong with combing with "enthusiastic fire masters" and "sanctity". It was changed while looking at the balance in the future, there is no plans to restore "equality" and "totem of flame".

Q:
In the Dragon year, there are no bugs and gens, and many of the decks that have been used so far disappear from the standard. How will it affect the variation of the deck after April and how to play the player?

Microphone:
The change will be big. The three expansion cards are gone. Because there are no cards of the strongest category in the game along with Gen and Baku such as "Death Knight" "Kobold and the Labyrinth of the Hidden Treasure". "Doom guard" and "return to nature" will also disappear as announced at HSS 2019. I believe that "cards that have not been used in the past three expansion versions will be used in the future". New extended cards will also be in the spotlight. As the whole card is renewed, it is always exciting at the appearance of the new expansion version.

Q:
I feel that classic pools are getting weakened more and more including this 3 pictures. If this trend continues, if a player with a blank comes back, does not have a familiar classic card disadvantageous, do not you remember the sense of loss of class identity?

Microphone:
I believe it is important to guarantee that classic cards will continue to exist for returning players. Now the proportion of classic cards occupying decks is 40% to 45%. Therefore, it can be said that the degree of thrill and change by new expansion is small. I think that I want to change the situation slightly. I'd like to maintain a state where there are many good cards with classic cards at 20% level, but I would like to adjust such as returning if it seems too little.

As for the identity of the class, the change applied to the druid is an easy-to-understand example. It is a card that tells us the druidlieness that left "classic of wild" in classical with mana attached. The same thing is true for a card that teaches that mages use spells as well as mages' mana worms. And "returning to nature" is a bit off the druid's identity "I like to make mana". Druid is not a class to remove minions. So, by setting "returning to nature" into the Hall of Fame, we aimed to make the druid's identity clearer. The identity of the mage does not change, but the power level is a bit different. As a result, it is important not to be like playing for the same 24 druid cards several years ago.

Q:
If 3 cards are lost this time a big hole will be created, will you introduce a new classic card in the future?

Microphone:
Balance is kept. "Doom guard" is a devil with the theme "to throw away", so we introduced a new devil and a "throw away" mechanic. It will also appear in the future expansion version. However, we adjust so that the number of classic cards will be the same for each class.

Q:
In the future will one class of new cards come out in three classes?

Ben:
That's right.

Q:
On "deck automatic completion tool" announced at HSS2019. Everyday, to respond to meta changing everyday there was an announcement "Continue updating with new technology", please tell me a little more detailed mechanism.

Microphone:
Actually, this tool has been used internally for a long time and is quite powerful. Meta data is updated daily. In order to make the meta stable, it is based on the data of the high ranked high skill players within the ranking ranking 5 among others. The problem is between two and three days after the expansion version was released. During this time it is time to gather data and it will be unstable. At first it is a fumbling and unique deck is used a lot. One month before the release of the new extension, the tool function is implemented, and we will work with less data for a while from the release. Over time, the tool should be more effective. In the internal test, overall good results have been achieved. I think that it will be an encouraging existence.

Q:
It is implemented with a patch before the announcement of the new extension and it will be stable when released.

Microphone:
To the end, it is in the meta at that time. After the new expansion release, it may be confusing for judgment for a few days.

Ben:
As was announced, Randomizer of card back design will also be released at the same timing as the deck automatic completion tool.

Q:
In the announcement on the theme of the Dragon Year, at first glance that "transformation" and "return to origin" seemed contradictory concepts. How are you getting along with that?

Ben:
"Origin regression" means to reinforce the storyline of Haasstone, by spotlighting the previous extended version, by focusing again on the old character and mechanics, it is possible to recall "nostalgia" somewhere It means that I want to respond to my thoughts. This is not to increase your keywords to blindly, but to evoke old familiar things. In the new extended version, no doubt new mechanics will be introduced, but I think about those that make it easier to introduce and fun by combining with the previous character.

Q:
What was the impression of looking back on the year of ravens?

Ben:
First of all, I think that the story was abundant and it was good. "Witchwood" has a bad feeling, each personal favorite such as the explosive theme in "mecha mecha strategy", and "Tenoru Vudu festival" can introduce the world of troll, each is impressive and interesting It is impression that it is that it is. Ravens Glass Many things I learned through the year are utilized in the 2019 Dragon Year. For example, I was able to make heroes and decks by collecting old elements such as dungeon capture all together, so I think that the year of ravens was "a place of learning".

Q:
There are sudden announcements that the official tournament of Heroes of the Storm censored last year, and some fans are worried about the news of Activision and Blizzard Entertainment layoffs . Does the same thing happen to Hairstone next year? If you are aware that the two people are not in a position to decide it, if you have a message that will reassure fans of Hairstone.

Ben:
I can understand feeling insecure from the community standpoint. However, Heroes of the Storm and Haasstone are different development teams if the game characteristics are different. I think that adopting an entirely new constitution in the competition scene of Haasuton this year will be a good basis for believing that the future of Haasstone is bright. As the championship gets closer, various information will be announced. I believe that the format we are introducing is the best for both players and audiences. I am confident that all our decisions are only ones that make fun of the game and competition scenes.