Fond memories of those Hearthstone classic decks and the way things used to be aren't all off base, especially with regard to the difficulty of card games. There's a "power creeping issue" that needs to be resolved in order to keep new players streaming in, a game designer said in a YouTube address to fans.
Power creeping occurs when better, more powerful cards are introduced into the game, explained Hearthstone's Ben Brode, a senior game designer. It can also occur when a new card makes old ones better, he said.
"New players correctly feel that Hearthstone is becoming more daunting over time," said Brode. "That's really important for us to solve because we want lots of new players to continuing to come to Hearthstone—that's really important."
However, more important than figuring out something to keep the game's difficulty from rising uncomfortably high for new players is keeping the game fresh and exciting for existing players. Developer and publisher Blizzard has a commitment to its players to do so, stated Brode.
"In order to do that, we have to make exciting powerful cards," Brode said. "Part of the fun of a new expansion releasing is looking at your collection and trying to figure out what cool new decks you can make and shaking up the meta."
Blizzard wants to make "hundreds of additional expansions" for Hearthstone over "hundreds of years," he said. So it's important to get on the "right trajectory."
"We want to come up with the perfect solution, if there is one, and just try to make sure that we put Hearthstone on the path to success for the really long term," said Brode. "That's our goal, to make sure that we're not kind of sabotaging the long-term health of the game to make current content exciting and awesome right now."
Brode encourages players to keep the feedback rolling.
If you've come this far, you've gone over all of the important bits Brode has discussed. Check out his video address:
