Custom Mechanics
Making Custom Mechanics is no simple task. Since I design my custom expansions in a yearly method it allows me to better understand design space at given times and plan mechanics that work well together in a balanced way.
Many years ago I designed what I call my "Base Set Revamp" of Hearthstone. I did this prior to the Core set rotation plan that was announced in 2021. I made this revamp to even out design space in classes and add cards for a base set rotation I had planned years prior. This revamp gave each class 4 class specific keywords and classes that already had class specific keywords got fewer such as shaman with Overload. This revamp plan also led my idea to add more cards given to each class during an expansion. The goal of the revamp was to smooth out inconsistencies in the game and expand class identity in order to open up more archetype variety in my future designs.
Many of my class specific, neutral, and expansion keywords and mechanics have already made it into the game. For example, my class specific warrior keyword Fury was exactly the same as the Frenzy keyword that was added during Forged in the Barrens. Avenge was a paladin specific keyword that was added as a Battlegrounds keyword with the exact same effect and name. My Neutral keyword Focus was the same as the Spellburst keyword that came out during Scholomance Academy. These are just a few of many examples of how my designs are aligning with Hearthstone's own development team.
When I design my keywords and mechanics I look a lot into theming and wording to make sure mechanics are very readable and could work well in the future if they were ever to become evergreen. I also take into account the feasibility of my designs and how they could be implemented to work both in the PC and Mobile clients for the game.
For example, one set mechanic for my Sun Well themed custom expansion is introducing mana types and customization of the mana tray a player earns throughout a game. Another expansion's theme is slotted cards, where gems could be inserted into them in deck creation to customize effects. I have done a lot of thinking on both these effects and have drawn up multiple plans for how they would function.
Custom Classes
I held off on designing custom classes until I saw that demon hunter was announced. Seeing the Hearthstone team's approach to designing a completely new class into the game gave me lots of ideas and inspiration. Knowing that the team added demon hunter, I inferred that death knight and monk were surely in Hearthstone's future.
I started with death knight since I thought the class would be the next one introduced into the game. I felt that death knight would fall somewhere between the playstyles of warrior, priest, and paladin. Therefore I made its Hero Power 2 mana to gain 1 Armor and Scry and its upgraded version gain 3 Armor and Scry. Scry is a common keyword in other games and I thought it would work well in Hearthstone. It looks at the top card of your deck and you can decide to keep it there or move it to the bottom of your deck. I felt that this fit the class and was a neat mechanic. I did a lot of research into World of Warcraft and from it I got the idea for theming of a class around undead minions, gaining some armor, having weapons, and deathrattles. I gave deathknight 4 custom keywords as well in design. One of them was almost exactly the Reborn keyword that came out during the Saviors of Uldum expansion.
Monk is the class I expected the Hearthstone team to release last and I thought it fit the playstyles between druid, rogue, and shaman. I made monk's Hero Power 2 mana to heal a character for 1 health and give your hero +1 attack this turn. Its upgraded version doubled the healing and the attack similar to druid's upgraded Hero Power. From what I found in World of Warcraft, monks were all about martial arts, meditation, healing, buffs, and brews. Therefore, I wanted to translate it the best way I could into Hearthstone through its' keywords. One of monk's keywords is Zen, it's similar to my paladin keyword Judgement where the card changes based on the game state. Zen looks at the number of friendly minions on your side of the board and depending on if it's even or odd it does a different effect.
Death knight and monk are classes I expect to see in the game one day. However, I also made many other custom classes such as Bard, Shifter, and Berserker for example. I designed them to be on the same power level, theme, and card design standards I use when designing for already existing classes. Making custom classes allows me to think outside of the box and refine my design skills even further with the puzzle of designing and implementing new classes that fit well in an existing game.
Minions with the keyword Avenge trigger an effect after a certain number of minions die.
Cards with the keyword Search prompt the player to pick from 2 class specific cards to add to their hand.
Cards with the keyword Zen look at the number of friendly minions on your side of the board and depending on if it's even or odd it does a different effect.
Cards with the keyword Empower can be dragged over a player's deck to pay mana to upgrade them.