Next things on the list

[ivko]

Hey all, long time no speak!

Here are the our current plans so you guys know what to expect:

1. This week we are working on a relatively big bug-fix update.
2. Next week starting on the 16th, we are going to discuss some rebalance changes and the new cards design.
3. Two weeks from now, maybe on the 24th to 26th, we will hopefully have the cards in the game for testing.

This is all provided that we can manage to finalize designs before the 16th. It is hard because we are trying to lay out the foundation of a new "set" with this bunch of cards, so we need to play A LOT ahead.

I have one important question for you because I'm personally too biased towards open information - should we close this forum to only the people on the balance team, or let the "world" watch as we are tweaking the new cards design (and be possibly jealous that they can't still play with them)?

[Maximvs]

Well I know this game like the back of my hand, and I'm not part of any team.

[VitamineC]

It would probably be a lot easier to build hype around new cards, if they weren't visible to everyone weeks ahead. One week of artwork teasers or something along those lines every month sounds like it would be way more exciting. Keeping the tweaking process hidden would also prevent people from getting frustrated over a card design they really liked getting changed/nerfed before it's even released.
Of course everyone on the balance team would have to agree to not leak everything.

Since we have a fairly broad spectrum of players ranging from casual to competitive on the team, feedback should be diverse enough without involving the entire community.

[Rinriet]

It would probably be a lot easier to build hype around new cards, if they weren't visible to everyone weeks ahead. One week of artwork teasers or something along those lines every month sounds like it would be way more exciting. Keeping the tweaking process hidden would also prevent people from getting frustrated over a card design they really liked getting changed/nerfed before it's even released.
Of course everyone on the balance team would have to agree to not leak everything.

Since we have a fairly broad spectrum of players ranging from casual to competitive on the team, feedback should be diverse enough without involving the entire community.

+1 to private things with controlled spoilers for hyping

[Lord_Xenon]

I'm not sure about making it secret. New cards can be secretly tested, but old cards rebalance should be public. Destroying/changing decks is not a thing you want to see as it hit(b despina...). This can be a eat or go change(it's already so changed, so stfu as we don't change it again).

[freebie]

ivko, forum is not like crazy active... I honestly am confused that people want it to be a secret. Come on, I can't take that seriously. If we are to judge how the previous new cards were handled, I think it was much better when people knew what they were/to expect. Was there some negative effects? Making the knowledge of upcoming cards exclusive to only select few, so they can feel special, seriously? I mean they can play em early on, test em and decide their fate, isn't that enough? Gonna ask again, what year is this ? Devs around the world working on a online games are much more respected/liked when they are open and transparent.

As for the hype note on Vitamines post, as I said, few people are active or visitng forum, it is not huge deal, and cards are realeased like - 1-2 weeks after that? If it garners more attention it is even for the better (you don't get that by secrecy lol). Also I don't remember anyone complaining or overreacting to changes on the previous batch of new cards, actually it was rather mature talks and discussions from what I red.

[ivko]

It's not about feeling special, not at all.

The problem is that people will judge the cards before they are finalized, which could be a bad thing. For example we could make a card that is too OP and we would have to nerf it after testing - this could make people feel like we killed a good card. The opposite could happen too - a card is too underwhelming, and players see it before we boost it. In this case they could mistakenly think that this expansion isn't going to be good.

Also, appetite for card news is so HUGE that even if very few people visit the forums, the news will spread like fire - you can trust me on that!

[Lord_Xenon]

This argument seem to resemble, that you fail at balancing first. Else you wouldn't have this problem or? New cards can be secret, but not the old ones. Trashing them and don't fixing them is a no go.

[Ravignir]

I think we should make new cards secret and post some artworks, so people would guess what these cards do.
And I agree, we should make rebalanced cards public.

I also think we should release cards a week after balance testing ends (so we can build hype even more by giving more info about these cards)

[An Albun]

Hearing about card previews was always so exciting, waiting for the stream or if you missed it watching it when you get home/wake up! Being part of the reveal is just as fun, planning a stream/video, chatting about the changes they could make in decks etc. Its not about secrecy as much as excitement imo.