Game format

The Play mode screen with Wild format selected. Note the Standard format selection button at the top-right.

Coming in spring 2016, game formats present two distinct ways to play Hearthstone: Standard, and Wild.

While Wild format will maintain the previous rules of Hearthstone, Standard will add new ongoing restrictions to which cards can be used, aiming to create a fresher and more focused Hearthstone experience.

Game formats will be available in both Ranked and Casual Play mode matches, as well as duels. Wild is the default game format, and will be the effective game format in all other game modes, including adventures, although Standard format may be used for "the occasional Tavern Brawl".

Standard format will only include card sets released in the current or previous calendar year, as well as the Basic and Classic sets. Cards from other sets will not be available in Standard format matches, and during Standard matches, random effects such as Murloc Knight, Summoning Stone or Discover will only select from current Standard options. Standard format will be updated when the first new expansion is released each year. When Standard format arrives in 2016, Curse of Naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes will be marked as Wild format, and will not be available in Standard format play.

Standard format will also affect the availability of adventures and card packs, as well as crafting and disenchanting of cards from adventures. Card packs from Wild expansions will no longer be available from the Shop, and will no longer be granted as rewards. Wild adventures will also not be available for purchase through the Shop, although players who have already unlocked at least one wing of a Wild adventure will be able to unlock the others with gold. Instead, players will be able to craft and disenchant these cards for regular Arcane Dust amounts, including those from adventures. Players will also be able to craft and disenchant adventure cards from Standard adventures, as long as they have already unlocked them through the adventure. Regardless, players will still be able to play any adventure they currently own.

With Standard format presenting a new way to play Hearthstone, the introduction of game formats will be accompanied by a wave of changes and nerfs to existing Basic and Classic cards, including class cards. The arrival of the new format will also bring 9 new deck slots, allowing players to create separate decks for each format without destroying old ones. Details on upcoming card changes will be announced closer to the arrival of Standard format, although some cards have been mentioned (see below).

Game formats and most related changes will be released alongside the next expansion, in spring 2016. The additional deck slots will arrive some time before that.

Wild

Wild format or Wild presents an unrestricted playing experience without the deck restrictions of Standard format. Wild format is unchanged from the previous Hearthstone experience, allowing the use of cards from any card set. Wild is the default game format, and is used for all game modes where game format selection is not available.

Wild format is unlocked for new players once they obtain a card which is not available in the current Standard format. Prior to this the player will only be able to select Standard format (where game format is available) and create Standard decks.

Wild cards can only be obtained through crafting. Card packs from Wild expansions will not be available from the Shop, and Wild cards and card packs will never be granted as rewards. Wild adventures also will not be available from the Shop, although unlike Standard adventures players will be able to craft cards from these adventures even if they have not purchased them or completed the relevant boss encounters. Wild cards will have the same crafting costs as Standard cards.

"The format where anything can happen", while Wild will initially resemble Hearthstone exactly as it always has been, with an ever-increasing pool of cards to choose from, and competitive play focused on the Standard format, Wild format has the potential to become less balanced over time. The developers will "be paying more attention in Standard", with "a little bit of difference of tolerance" to balance problems between the two formats. The removal of design space restrictions for the creation of new cards may also lead to some unusual card interactions, due to performance in Standard format being the priority for designers. However, the developers insist they will still pay attention to card balance in Wild format, and act if necessary to prevent it from becoming too unbalanced.

The prefix Wild is used to refer to cards, game modes and adventures which fall within the Wild format, or which are only available in Wild format. For example, a Wild adventure is one which is no longer part of Standard format, while a Wild game mode is one which uses Wild format. Cards which are not currently valid in Standard format are termed Wild cards.

The symbol for Wild format will be the classic Hearthstone swirl, as seen on the Wild format selection button on the Play mode screen.

Standard

The Year of the Kraken is coming!

Main article: Standard format

Standard format or Standard is the more balanced and competitive Hearthstone format. Games played in Standard format include only cards from card sets released in the current or previous calendar year, as well as the Basic and Classic sets. Cards from other sets cannot be included in decks used in Standard matches, and random effects such as Murloc Knight, Summoning Stone or Discover will only select from current Standard options.

Standard format aims to create a fresher Hearthstone experience. With older cards steadily eliminated from the format, the meta will shift more regularly and more significantly, since new cards will have a larger impact. Design space will also be increased, since older cards will no longer restrict the possibilities for creating new cards. The combination of a smaller card pool and less limited design space is also expected to help the developers to balance the game. For newer players, Standard format will mean a smaller pool of relevant cards, making it easier for players to acquire the cards they need to be competitive.

The focus for balance and design work, Standard format will be used for all official (and likely most unofficial) tournaments going forward, including the Hearthstone World Championship and Hearthstone Championship Tour.

The prefix Standard is used to refer to cards, game modes and adventures which fall within the Standard format, or which are only available in Standard format. For example, a Standard adventure is one which is currently part of Standard format. Cards which are currently valid in Standard content are termed Standard cards.

Notes

For notes regarding Standard format itself, see Standard format

• Players will be able to select Standard format through the Play mode selection screen, or when challenging a friend to a duel.
  • Players queuing in Standard or Wild format will always be matched against players queuing in the same format.
  • When challenging a friend to a Standard format duel, both players will only be able to use Standard format decks.
• At the end of each Ranked season, players will receive a Highest Rank Bonus chest based on their highest rank in Standard or Wild format. For example, players will be able to obtain each month's card back by hitting Rank 20 on either the Wild Ranked or Standard Ranked ladder. This means that players are free to focus on climbing the ladder in whichever format they prefer.
  • However, the Highest Rank Bonus chest will only grant card rewards usable in the current Standard format.
• Ranked wins in either format will jointly count toward acquiring golden heroes, with no change from the current system.
• Players will have a separate rank in Ranked Standard and Ranked Wild play. This will be initially set based on the player's current rank at the point game formats are added to the game. From then on, Standard and Wild ranks will function separately and will increase or decrease based only on matches within that format.
  • Only the player's rank in Ranked Standard play will be displayed on their friends list.
• Casual play will continue to use a single MMR, shared between Standard and Wild play.
• Card backs, battlefields and alternate heroes will be unaffected by game formats, and will be usable in either format.
  • There are no plans to alter or create new versions of the "Legend" card back.
• The split between Standard and Wild is not expected to have any "significant effect" on the time taken to find a match when queuing.

Decks and the collection

• Decks can be either Wild or Standard decks, with the latter only able to include cards appropriate to the current Standard format. Players will be able to select deck type in the collection. Switching a deck to Standard will mark all current Wild cards for replacement.
  • When game formats are added to the game, all decks containing current Wild cards will be converted to Wild decks, while those without any current Wild cards will be converted to Standard decks.
• There will be a filter to show only Standard cards. Right-clicking on a card will reveal whether it is Wild or Standard, although this will not otherwise be clear. There will be "visual clues" to show whether the player is building a Wild or Standard deck.
• The new deck slots can be used for either Wild or Standard decks, without restriction. The 9 additional slots will unlock once the player has unlocked all 9 heroes.
• Players can use Standard decks to queue for any type of play, since all Standard card sets are also eligible in Wild play.

Card changes

• The introduction of game formats will be accompanied by a wave of changes to existing Basic and Classic cards. The changes will likely be nerfs, with no "buffs" (improvements to cards) planned.
• This will be the biggest balancing change the released game has ever seen. However, Ben Brode expects less than 20 cards in total to be changed.
• Druid has been repeatedly mentioned as the class likely to see the largest number of nerfs, due to so many of its core cards belonging to the Basic and Classic sets. This is something the developers have "known for some time" they would eventually have to deal with.
• While no list of cards or planned changes has yet been released, various cards have been mentioned by official sources:
  • Ancient of Lore
  • Keeper of the Grove
  • Savage Roar
  • Force of Nature
  • Leper Gnome
  • Knife Juggler

Adventures

• While adventures are referred to as Wild or Standard, this only reflects the crafting options for the adventure's cards, and whether they will be usable in Standard format matches. All adventures will themselves be played in Wild format, allowing cards from any set to be used.
• The developers are "still talking about what the future of [Wild adventures] is", although for the time being the emphasis is on helping new players to focus on the latest adventures. According to Yong Woo, the developers are "excited to make use of [Wild adventures] in the future", but haven't yet decided on the details of their return.
• The changes to crafting adventure cards will make it cheaper to access many cards, since players will not have to purchase one or more wings in order to obtain a single card.

Arena

• Arena will continue to use the Wild format for its matches, allowing the use of cards from any set. However, Arena rewards will only include those currently usable in Standard format.

History

The problem

"Mostly we’ve kind of been trying to look towards the future of Hearthstone and make sure that we’re set up to be fun and exciting for many years. We don’t want Hearthstone to be a game that’s just around for a year, we want it to be around for a lot of years, and when we think about the cadence of releases and how to keep the game fresh and exciting, it’s not too hard to see where Hearthstone is headed if we don’t make any changes. The problems are that the game gets less and less versatile and dynamic with new releases because they have more cards to compete against, and it’s hard for new players to get into. Given those two problems we just felt like we had to do something." - Ben Brode

Prior to the announcement of game formats, players had expressed widespread concern over the future of the game. With an ever-increasing card pool, the effort and/or money required by players to create competitive decks was steadily increasing. The increasing range of card packs and adventures was also a concern regarding new players, who might have a hard time knowing where to start. More critically, the need to have new cards impact the meta was cause for concern over power creep, due to the need for new cards to outshine older options in order to get played. Without power creep, the prospect of certain cards staying in their dominant positions indefinitely increased the call for nerfs on cards like Dr. Boom and even Piloted Shredder. With no plans to stop adding new content, it was admitted that this was a problem that would only get worse as the game expanded.

Discussion

In September 2015, 5 months before the feature would eventually be announced to the public, Blizzard took the unprecedented step of inviting prominent community members, streamers and competitive players, to a special meeting where the problem of the game's ever-expanding card pool was discussed, and current plans shared. Those invited included Trump, Reynad, Gnimsh, StrifeCro, Brian Kibler, Savjz and Eloise. The company's "work in progress" plans for game formats were presented to the group by members of Team 5 as well as Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime, for feedback, criticism and suggestions.

Several significant changes were made as a result of this feedback. "Legacy" format was changed to "Wild" format, in response to Kibler's suggestion that the title should feel more connected to Warcraft lore. Wild format was given its own Ranked ladder, something suggested by Savjz. Trump and Kibler were also in favour of rotating the Classic set out of Standard format, due to concerns that keeping both the Classic and Basic sets perpetually in Standard would eventually lead to stagnation. While the developers did not choose to adopt this change - due to wanting to keep a reliable core of cards in Standard for returning players - they did decide to remove Goblins vs Gnomes from the initial Standard format line-up, where previously only Curse of Naxxramas was to be removed.

Other ideas were not adopted. Notably, the removal of Wild adventures from the Shop, making them impossible for new players to purchase, was criticised by community members but was not changed. However, the developers explained that there were possibilities for the future of such adventures. Despite some disagreements, community members expressed appreciation at the openness and receptivity of the developers.

While the developers had planned to announce the upcoming changes prior to BlizzCon in early November that year, after the feedback received during the community sharing it was decided to hold off on this, taking more time to tweak and discuss their plans before revealing them to the public. Brode explained that the face-to-face community sharing had been better than the usual forms of interaction such as watching community members' streams, describing the meet up as "wildly beneficial". He also confirmed that similar events would be held in the future.

Announcement

Game formats were officially announced February 2, 2016. Ben Brode states, "We didn’t feel like we were at the point of disaster just yet, but that feedback got louder and louder. If we didn’t do something soon it really was going to be affecting things for us."

Reception to the plans were mixed, with concerns over losing access to old adventures one of the main points of contention. Some players reacted negatively to what they felt was effectively the removal of many of their cards from play (due to their no longer being allowed in Standard), while others praised the creation of a sustainable plan for the future of the game. The future of Wild format was widely debated, with some players believing it would go on to serve as an interesting and active format, and others predicting it would quickly become unbalanced and barely used before too long.

External links

• A New Way to Play (announcement blog) (2016-02-02)
• PC GAMER: Ben Brode on why Standard Hearthstone has to ditch the old card expansions (2016-02-02)
• Designer Insights with Ben Brode: A New Way to Play (2016-02-02)