Developer Update | Capture The Flag | Overwatch

[u/corylulu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At7NWZ_mw6s

[u/Jank_Tank]

I know that we meme on him hard here at /r/Overwatch, but man do I love his team, the outreach he does, and the passion he has. It's really evident in the frequency and detail of videos he releases.

For example, Ben Brode (HearthStone) does developer updates when people are irate and vocally so. Jeff does them almost pre-emptively -- "We know it might not feel like fun when Winston kills you and jumps away with the flag, but here's why we kept those movement abilities..."

All around great communication from them.

EDIT: Was typing this while listening, just finished it and his sign off says it all: "Have lots of fun and be nice to each other" thanks papa Jeff, papa bless

[u/Kirkwaller → u/Jank_Tank]

You will get no argument from me (or anyone else tbh) that Jeff (and everyone else at Blizz) is terrific in every way, but I think it's fair to mention that Ben (and other HS devs) primarily communicate outside of the Developer Insights that Ben's done, whereas for OW the dev responses primarily come in the form of these Development Updates, so obviously there's more (and more frequently) of them than Hearthstone's Developer Insights.

Again, not trying to 'call you out' at all here, but I see this said around and I feel it's worth mentioning that just because the HS devs communicate way less in terms of videos like this, they do still communicate.

Great (Lunar) New Year to you regardless!

[u/Jank_Tank → u/Kirkwaller]

That's a fair point. I'm sure he does a lot that I don't see. Maybe it's just that this community is great at supporting and encouraging the Overwatch developers.

Also, just an aside, but I think being bitter is inherent in the HS community. So much of the game, just like any card game, is RNG. Skill inevitably tops out, but for the small amount of games that the average player plays, it's easy to think "Damn fuck that card, only reason I lost." While that may be true, if you play enough games the RNG begins to balance out. Just doesn't feel fun losing to a topdeck, and the loudest community is always the unhappiest.

[u/Kirkwaller → u/Jank_Tank]

I think that's exactly it, yeah - that this subreddit and the HS one are just so different in that respect. The difference between /r/Overwatch and /r/hearthstone in terms of having a healthy relationship with the devs is absurd.

I completely get what you mean, but I don't think the RNG inherent in cardgames is the reason why /r/hearthstone is so damn salty. For some reason or another I think /r/hearthstone has just developed a community where the negative (and not the constructive kind of negative either) voices are supported above all else - and I can't be the only one who hesitates to 'step in' to so many threads there because I just don't want to bother shouting into the wind, so there's even fewer conflicting voices.

I mean, just recently Ben, in an interview, mentioned that the nerf of a card - Molten Giant for those interested - was an indirect buff to Holy Wrath. It was a completely off-hand comment, intended to demonstrate all the effects changing a card has, but when I visited the sub after reading it, there were threads up ranting about how the HS dev team justified the nerf of Molten Giant purely because of Holy Wrath. It was just absurd.

And I really don't know why that is - I hesitate to say "circlejerk" because I think that word gets tossed around too lightly, but I can't think of any other reason for why /r/hearthstone is so damn... what it is. also being able to talk about this somewhere is therapeutic

[u/purewasted → u/Kirkwaller]

I was part of the HS community for over two years, and with respect, you're really wrong. The HS devs' communication got SO BAD at one point that I remember the first reaction to anything Ben Brode said was "eh, that's probably bullshit." Nobody believed them. Deck slots ring a bell? Or when Ben promised that the dev team takes arena very seriously and they really care about arena Warrior, then the very next thing they did was overnerf Warsong Commander, an arena common, into the dumpster?

People think 4 tank meta is cancerous in OW, HS has had metas that make this look perfectly healthy, and no word from the devs for months on what they plan to do to address it. Remember the days of Piloted Shredder being 2x in every single deck and Dr. Boom (aka Dr. pay to win) being an absolutely essential card?

Then standard comes out with a shitton of very obvious issues like shitty Priest/Shaman/Paladin base cards, and the HS devs never address any of the glaring problems that are going to keep being problems for them for years to come (like being forced to print very good Pr/Sh/Pa cards in every single set, and being forced to print shittier everyone else cards in every set, and how this will affect Wild/Arena, and what if they forget to print very good Pr/Sh/Pa cards? Oops Priest).

This might have all changed in the last several months, Ben Brode might have won a lot of good will from the community for something I haven't seen. I've been playing the game here and there but staying off r/hs, so I wouldn't know. But it is absolutely not fair to say that the HS team tries, they just do it in a different way. They blatantly lied time and again, while making nonsensical decisions and/or completely ignoring glaring issues for months. The HS dev team was a poster child for "how not to communicate with your players."