With the current expansion The Grand Tournament a lot has changed in Hearthstone. Ben Brode talked in an interview about why certain cards have not yet been nerfed …
Deck Slots, Paladins, and the Grim Patron Warrior
There has been a lot of discussion about Hearthstone since the last expansion. Why hasn’t the Secret Paladin been nerfed? Why are all Warriors still playing Grim Patron? What data do the developers have about the players? Ben Brode, the senior designer behind the game, addressed many questions in an interview with pcgamer.com. We have translated his answers for you and summarized the most interesting aspects.
Why the Secret Paladin Has Not Been Nerfed Yet
A major thorn in the side of most players is the Secret Paladin, which currently dominates many areas of the game. Especially due to the card “Mysterious Challenger“, the Paladin seems unstoppable. For 6 mana, the Challenger has stats of 6/6 and also puts all of the Paladin’s secrets onto the board – ideally, it draws 5 cards and plays them directly.
Opponents now have a hard time playing around all the Paladin’s secrets and often have to sacrifice their entire board, unless it has already fallen victim to a Equality-Consecration combo. Brode acknowledges that the Secret Paladin is very strong but thinks it is still too early to talk about nerfs. The Grand Tournament is still young and one must wait to see if the meta shifts a bit.
Will There Be More Deck Slots Soon?
Another question addressed the community’s repeated demand for more storage capacity for different decks. While Blizzard emphasized a year ago that 9 decks were absolutely sufficient, they seem to have bowed to the ongoing demands: There will be more deck slots. However, Brode is still not entirely sure how these should be implemented in the game. “The first logical answer is not always the best,” he said. They want to take their time to find a good solution that satisfies everyone. Whether this means that additional slots will require real money remains to be seen – how long it will take is also still unclear. “It probably won’t take five years,” Brode joked.
What Does Blizzard Know About Its Players?
It is also interesting to know what Blizzard knows about the players. The developers have access to all of the players’ decks, can track their win rates with individual classes, and find out how often they have played a specific card. They know which cards are hardly ever used and can track trends well. All of this helps a lot in identifying potential candidates for a nerf.
