Fan Critique: Hero Power Design

Author's Note: In order to keep this article as short and succinct, I will not be explaining the basic mechanics of the game. This article is for those who have already some experience with Hearthstone

Hero Powers is the key defining Mechanic of Hearthstone that differentiates it from every other online CCG. While we all know how Hero Powers work, it is important to breakdown its main role in the game in order to:

1. Determine the cost/value of the Hero Power 2. Establish its impact on the resource economy At a basal level of understanding its value, a Hero Power definitely has to be weaker in effect than a card that is of equal cost (i.e. 2 mana), because unlike a card, a Hero Power will always be available to the player, whereas a card is a limited resource (i.e. 30 of them in a deck). Players have attempted to put a mana value on the attribute of a card being a card: while it is not official, it has been generally agreed that it is priced at about 0.75 mana.

A good starting comparison would be the Paladin's Hero Power, and the card 'Lost in the Jungle' summons two Recruits for 1 mana. If we were to add the value of it as a card, it will be approximately 2 mana. Comparing both side by side, we see that the Hero Power is effectively half as efficient in exchange for infinite long-term utility. 'Infinite long-term utility' is difficult to put an actual numerical value. However for the most part, it is clear that the impact of the hero power on the state of the game is small enough to discourage the player from using it too often, else the opponent would quickly outpace him in tempo with actual cards. This general rule is what has been keeping the 'infinite long-term utility' in check. Of course, Hearthstone has designed cards that synergise with the Hero Power of the same class in order to reward players for maximizing a relatively weak resource. It ranges from the cards we already had since day one like the Warrior's Shield Slam, to the other more blatant mechanics like Inspire that specifically has the Hero Power trigger certain effects.

Then came along Baku and Genn.

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While they might have different effects, the design intention is effectively the same: encourage a specific deck-building in order to allow for the player to have a more powerful infinite long-term value than the opponent. Justicar Trueheart proof that an upgraded Hero Power was indeed powerful.

During the era of The Grand Tournament, the only classes that used Justicar were mainly Warriors with 52.7%, followed by Priest with 20.3%. Both classes were playing primarily control decks, which meant that they were often mana inefficient, thus having the floating mana to use their upgraded Hero Power in order to recover from any damage they had taken in the early game. With that said, this was balanced by the fact that Justicar Trueheart was a Legendary that costs 6-mana, which meant that you wouldn't consistently draw it on turn 6 -- and even if you did, the opponent still had turn 1 - 5 to outsdrace the player using Justicar.

Justicar Trueheart also demonstrated the fundamental problem of Hero Powers in Hearthstone: Not all Hero Powers are equal to begin with. There was a reason why that only Priest and Warrior were the only two classes that could effectively use this card - the late game nature and the weaker body of the card meant that it was more suited for Hero Powers that were better in the long game. A Hunter is never going to be able to play a 6 mana 6/3 just to deal an additional one damage every turn.

The same problem is exhibited during Baku and Genn's reign. Although Genn saw some amount of success, Baku decks generally had a higher win-rate and thus we will be looking at Baku's statistics. Only Paladin, Rogue and Warrior were able to effectively use Baku.

Paladin having the ability to consistently put out 2 bodies every turn meant that opponents would eventually run out of cards that could deal with boards that go wide (since cards, unlike hero powers, are not infinite!), leaving the paladin to always successfully build up a big board and buffing them all at once for the win. This somewhat worked with Justicar, but being able to do that on turn 2 - 4 is more effective since Area-of-effect cards often were reserved for a board of minions with bigger stats and not just 1/1s.

As for the Rogue, it was often discussed that it had potential with Justicar, as having access to the ability to deal 4 damage with 2 mana makes it the strongest hero power since you can control the board easily. However, doing it on turn 6 and later meant that you often didn't have enough health to use it effectively. With Baku however, that problem is mitigated, allow you to kill off small minions off and control the early game easily. Hench-clan Thug definitely gave more value to the Hero Power too, complimenting the odd deck perfectly.

Last but not least, the Warrior persisted and not the Priest because the Warrior is able to gain Armor above his max health, while the Priest cannot heal himself in the same way.

Alright, so I have highlighted the strengths of Baku in these classes. So what's the issue if other classes can't use it effectively? Other classes do have access to other types of decks that could compete with them in power level to some extent, right? That's not the issue. The main issue arises with 1) the stifling of other deck-types of the Baku classes from existing, as well as 2) the limitation of design space. 1) The Stifling of Other Decks The value gotten out of the powered-up Hero Power is so much that the decks end up having the highest win-rates versus any other deck type in the Baku classes. It is difficult for Team 5 to make cards that would lead to a deck that would be better than Baku, because any strong odd-cost cards they make in the future would also potentially add more strength to the Baku deck as well. Which leads to the second point: 2) The Limitation of Design Space Because of this, as long as Baku and Genn exists, every single card must take into consideration that their design will lead to a boost in Baku and Genn decks thus making balancing extremely tedious. Even after rotating out from Standard or placed in the Hall of Fame, we will be facing the same problem in Wild.

What does this mean for Hearthstone? It means that the meta will be quickly stale on the ladder, since players are discouraged to play other types of decks. Potential card ideas are not possible due to the existence of Baku and Genn.

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How do we balance Baku/Genn then? Possible Solution #1: "When in your hand" instead of "Start of Game" + This ensures that it will not consistently activate at the start of the game, and if it you do your hand is holding on to an expensive below-average card. - Might lead to the "Prince Keleseth" syndrome

Possible Solution #2: "If your deck has no class cards" instead of "If your deck has only odd/even cards"

+ A much more severe drawback than just even/odd cards, and allows for more design space in the future. Possibly even a new deck type of non-class decks

- Might kill this card entirely

NOT a Solution #1: Improve the Hero Power upgrade for classes with weaker upgrades - Might possibly lead to ALL classes using Baku/Genn decks, resulting in much less variety in the meta

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Conclusion The complaints from the player base that the 'meta was stale' at some point was not completely unfounded -- the fact that players have to contend with Baku for one whole year before rotation definitely hurts the state of the game. However, Blizzard has done many other things right before, like altering cards midway through a season in order to allow for new decks to arise and more cards to be designed. Perhaps, Blizzard will make a move to change things for Baku and Genn too! With all that said, Baku and Genn was an impactful and interesting take on card design that revolved their game-defining mechanic, but effects that give players an advantage from the very get go for the rest of the game is potentially unbalanced and design space limiting.