The new expansion of Hearthstone “Storm City” will be launched on August 4th. Yesterday (7) we visited Blizzard’s development team, including senior initial designer Liv Breeden and chief final designer Alec Dawson to invite them Talk about the design concept of “Stormwind City” this time.
Q: Why is this alliance-themed expansion chosen for “Stormwind City”, while the previous expansion mainly based on tribes is based in “Spineland” instead of “Ogmar”? Can I ask the team to share the considerations for the acquisition of the expansion pack? Will it make the players of Warcraft feel that they are treated differently in the choice of representative locations for different camps?
A: We revolve the story around the process of upgrading these 10 mercenaries, so instead of choosing one for each of the alliance tribes, it is mainly based on low levels. This is the reason why I chose the Barrens before. I am a tribe player. The Barrens can express the feeling that the tribe is fighting for their own survival.
Alliance players are not the same. Alliance players were in cities with developed trade from the beginning, so we decided to put some trade-like and professional skills in this expansion.
Q: Will the future team have plans to use the Undercity, Ironforge, etc. as the theme of the expansion?
A: Of course it is possible. The atmosphere of Undercity and Stormwind is completely different, but this time it is selected based on level. The selected theme should be related to the story, and we will select the most suitable expansion theme based on the story.
Q: The theme of this expansion is based on Stormwind City. If you look at it from the name, does it mean that only alliances will appear in all card designs and art this time?
A: As mentioned earlier, we will follow the story of these 10 mercenaries, so we will use what kind of situation they encountered in Stormwind. It is true that most of the cards will come from the Alliance, but there are also some content from the tribal faction, such as Mystic Vadden, because he was imprisoned by the Alliance. He is trying to escape in his own way. The derived card is “The Master’s Strategy.”
Q: Can the team share the design ideas for this new keyword “replaceable”? Are there any restrictions on the use of this type of card?
A: We have also introduced a similar mechanism “recycling” in the past. This is a similar concept, but the effect is not as obvious as it is now. We wanted to try the effect of this mechanism at the time, so this time it is good for us to redesign this mechanism. opportunity,
The challenge is that in the designed interface, the usage of dragging cards into the deck is correct, instead of choosing one more than before, we hope that players can have some new actions besides playing cards, and they can do something else. thing.
In terms of limitations, we once thought about whether there are interchangeable decks, such as allowing other cards to get Buff, but if every card can be done, it will actually become no fun. A game will watch the opponent keep filtering the cards. It’s actually very boring, so we think that putting it on a certain key card will make this feature more distinctive, so we set the tone not to let too many cards show this keyword.
Q: Could you please share with the team why they want to add the “Mount” card to this expansion and its design philosophy?
A: Actually, this is not the first time that we have added a mount. In the past, “Sword Dragon Riding” was added to “Un’Goro Adventures”, but at that time there was only a mocking effect. This time the effect is very much. This also allows them to show through their personality, which is helpful to their development.
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Q: In addition to mounts, new types of card professional skills tools have emerged this time. What kind of changes does the team expect these two types of new cards will bring to the next battle and the overall environment?
A: We want to transfer the concept of professional skills to Hearthstone. For example, the “Prismatic Jewelry Box” is similar to jewellery. You can take the broken Holy Shield and make other things. The “Runic Mithril Rod” is similar to enchanting, collecting materials to achieve the effect. In Hearthstone’s concept of changing from one player to another player, this card can be used as an upfront investment, and it will generate benefits as the round progresses.
In addition, with this specialization, the positioning of weapons has become clearer. We can extend the concept of weapons to specializations and make the positioning of this mechanism clearer. We believe this is a mechanism that is worth developing and making good use in the future.
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Q: Can the team share the design concept for the mission line card? And why ultimately choose the three stages to get the most rewards as the final version, rather than more or fewer stages?
A: The number of stage 3 was decided very early, because 2 is a little bit less and 4 is a bit too much. Our new mechanism is still based on the presentation of the story. Therefore, when we think about the task line, we consider the final reward and effect. It is the battle cry of powerful subordinates to create passive effects, and we hope to present the plot through such a mechanism.
In the past, there were quest cards in “The Adventures of Un’Goro”, but at that time it was only effective when the quest was completed. But for the quest line cards, every stage completed has some effects, and you don’t feel that The cards seemed to be played in vain.
Q: In addition to the keywords mentioned above, can you tell us what interesting keyword capabilities were originally designed but were not adopted in the end?
A: We have thought about whether we can present it in the way of auctions, such as bidding shows a strong subordinate, but we have found that there is no way to find the best balance.
Q: A while ago, the first banned card “Stealer of Souls” appeared for the first time. As there are more and more models, will the development of cards be restricted as a result? Will there be a banned card list or adjustments to the system in the future?
A: In principle, we don’t want the banned card list to appear in the future. The original design hopes that the open mode can use various cards. The Soulstealer is a special case. We hope that he still has value in the standard mode, but his combination in the open mode must let us deal with it. In principle, we will first trust the player at the beginning and see how the player handles the strong cards.
Q: Can you slightly reveal the direction of major changes to the “Heroic Battlefield” in the future?
A: We expect a revision of Heroes’ Battlefield after Stormwind City, which will greatly change the “Heroic Battlefield”. It is estimated that 25-30 new subordinates will be added, and through this opportunity to show the difference between races and categories, Now some cards that are not easy to reach a good team are corrected or deleted. In addition, we will also consider adding the concept of damage ceiling, especially in the early stage that can cause a lot of damage.
The new expansion pack “Stormwind City” for Hearthstone will be launched on August 4th.
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