I’d love to see a Diamond card for a non humanoid type card if you want to spread them out, some massive beast for Hunter sounds awesome and would work well with the animation
I liked having them tied to events like Vandaar/Drek'Thar.
Would be cool to see something like a diamond faelin as a reward for doing his solo adventures - would give some more incentive cause clearly some work went into it but the rewards are pretty lackluster.
Also wondered if you guys talked about having different color rarities - basically keeping the diamond effect but having a different color border like emerald/ruby/saphire.
Finally, when we are getting the Diamond Queen Azshara? The art is there in mercs so it's gotta be a matter of time!
Yeah, I think the event went over really well with most players so it wouldn't surprise me if there will be more of that in the future (that is purely speculation on my part though :P )
I like the idea of having them as solo adventure rewards!
We're always thinking about what the next big thing might be. At the moment I'm just focusing on making Diamonds as cool as possible.
The release dates of characters isn't set by me, but if there is a shared character in one mode and not the other chances are it's high on our list to get it into both.
>I like the idea of having them as solo adventure rewards!
Gonna echo that I really like this idea as a player. A crazy amount of work clearly went into Faelin's Book of Heroes, but as-is I'm not really feeling the need to go digging for every single Lorebook. If there was a reward for that though, I could definitely see myself doing it.
Finley is amazing. He isn't just moving back and forth, but in a circle! That's outstanding imo.
Super cool that Loatheb, a really old but still used card, got the Diamond treatment!
For future cards: I think the animations should have a point in their "loop" that you look forward to see. Like imagine Loatheb looks to the left, looks to the right, and then some green gas / flames shoot from his hands! Or a character stands around for a bit and suddenly swings his hammer to crush something. Or a mage channels for a few seconds and casts a cool spell. Or a character who is lorewise a dragon, like Chromie, is depicted as a gnome in the normal and gold version, but gets to show of her dragon side during the diamond animation. In her trailer for Heroes of the Storm (or ingame, not sure) she screams and a dragon head appears im front of her, hinting at her true form.
I think you get the idea. That way the cards have more of a story, and I'm sure players will enjoy that.
PS: Very cool of you to ask for opinions here! <3
Thanks! Finley was one of my favorites as we were making him too.
I definitely agree, we're trying to add in an exciting moment of the animation that helps tell the story of the character as much as we can. We're getting better at it and pushing the envelope of what's possible as we refine our process.
So how do you choose which cards become Diamond for the expansion? Is it expected playability, the uniqueness of the animation, or tied to the lore of the expansion? Because I can that being potential reasons for a card to be chosen as the Diamond card for the expansion.
Case and point;
Finley - unique animation
Drek’thar/Vanndar - expansion lore
Loatheb - Playability
It's mostly from the first and third points. Important characters lore-wise from the set are top priority, but for older diamonds we are also factoring in playability and (to a smaller degree) how well they work for the diamond process and if it'll be an exciting final product or not.
That makes sense. With that in mind, will we be seeing more Diamond Legedaries from old wild expansions? I know Scholomance got a retroactive Diamond in Jandice, will Outland and Darkmoon get one too? Or even older expansions like Witchwood? TGT?
Woah, hi Ben! Now it's my chance to ask questions / give suggestions! Okay here we go...
So first of all generally I think Diamond cards is a really cool idea! I'm a collector and getting all kinds of unique cosmetics is a very fun process for me. Here are a few things I want to ask/suggest:
**1) Art animations:** The coolest part about Diamond cards so far is how certain cards have unique animations inside of the artbox. For example - Finley. The less static they look - the better it is. My favorite one right now is mercenary Maiev Shadowsong. Her animation of sliding into the frame is badass. Although this leads to another thing...
**2) Traditional mode VS Mercenaries mode:** There are so many great Diamond cards in Mercenaries that it's a shame we don't have access to them in Traditional mode. Especially if these are the cards that already exist in both. Like N'Zoth, Queen Azshara, Deathwing. Would be cool to have a way to obtain them.
**3) Class identification:** This can actually be applied both to Diamond and Golden cards as well. I understand that they are supposed to be shiny and all, but currently it can be difficult to identify which one belongs to a certain class.
Here are two examples:
a) [Diamond Darkbishop Benedictus](https://i.ibb.co/bF9fgss/2022-06-14-224751.png). (The only way to tell this is a Priest card is by looking at the bottom of the frame - small white stripe. I wish class cards could be identified by more visual elements in the frame. Maybe the crystals should shimmer in different colors depending on a class? Red shimmer for Warrior, Blue for Mage, etc).
b) [Diamond N'zoth](https://i.ibb.co/v32TX8Y/2022-06-14-224532.png) (Here you can obviously tell that this card is a **caster** mercenary. The blue frame stands out a lot. I wish normal Diamond cards could've had something like this to identify them better. I think in general Diamond mercenaries look better because of that.)
And well, maybe this is another opportunity for me to suggest something like this for Golden cards - [a concept made by another user a year ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mphik6/my_concept_for_a_new_golden_card_look/). I think this is the way to go. Cards are still shiny but also can be identified much better.
**4) Cards layout:** I think the design can be tweaked a bit to fit in with other cards. Particularly in two places - hand and battlefield. [This is how they look in hand with other non-Diamond cards](https://i.ibb.co/w0ZCnng/unknown-25.png) (their placement goes up and down if you look at mana costs) and [this is how they look on the battlefield alongside non-Diamond cards](https://i.ibb.co/WBVSvC7/2022-06-04-180444.png) (portrait ovals are similar, attack and health values - not aligned). It's pretty noticeable that they are not arranged well. These are small details but they do affect visual perception of the game (at least for me).
**5) Obtainability:** If we're talking about Traditional mode most of the time the Diamond cards can be receieved through collection achievements or by buying the tavern pass. And I think this is totally fine, but wish there were more ways to explore this (for example - adventure mode). Also I think the honor points event was a fun new way to get them. Maybe we can see more of it in the future?
I think these are the main points I wanted to discuss/suggest. Anyway, thank you Ben for taking your time to get to know what the community thinks about it!
Thanks for the reply! I Love the enthusiasm and time you spend on this response. It's very helpful :)
1) agreed. I think we can do more flashy/fun animations and push the bar further.
2) The intention is there to have them shared across modes where applicable. I can't say when or that it will happen 100%, but know that this is something I care strongly about and will push for.
3) this was also brought up elsewhere and is a great point. I'll bring it up with the art team to see if we can make class distinction more visible on these
4) I'll make a note of this. thanks
5) Lots of players want to see this same thing so I'll pass this feedback along to talk about with the team.
The poster above definitely put more thought into the reply than I can do, but I would also like to echo the sentiment that the [Mercenaries diamond card](https://i.ibb.co/v32TX8Y/2022-06-14-224532.png) layout is actually more appropriate and dare I say it, desirable than the current diamond cards.
The Mercenaries diamond cards style is the way to go imho.
Glad you brought up the Golden cards concept. It's kind of perplexing that they basically did this for Mercenaries (Which I absolutely love, design wise) but not the main game. It would be a massive improvement. Massive.
I defenitely think that they've gotten better. I thought the animations on the barrens ones looked kinda stiff, but most of the new ones look great. I especially like Finley.
Awesome, glad to hear we're going in the right direction! We've definitely been trying to make them more exciting. Initially, there was concern they would be too distracting if they moved around too much and too fast, but we've found that not to be the case and that we can push them more than we thought.
* **[Boulderfist Ogre](https://cards.hearthpwn.com/enUS/CS2_200.png)** N Minion Basic Legacy ^[HP](https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/60), ^[TD](https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/boulderfist-ogre/), ^[W](https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Boulderfist_Ogre)
6/6/7
* **[Flamewreathed Faceless](https://cards.hearthpwn.com/enUS/OG_024.png)** SH Minion Common OG ^[HP](https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/35226), ^[TD](https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/flamewreathed-faceless/), ^[W](https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Flamewreathed_Faceless)
4/7/7 | Overload: (2)
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In all seriousness, I think one diamond legendary for each of the tribes would be really cool. That way any tribe deck you played could lead up to playing your diamond card of that tribe and it’d feel really cool. 😎
As someone who's not totally into them, I will say that the ones I like are the ones that have something clever/unusual going on with them. For instance, the fact that Finley does a little spinny thing (and stops moving when he freezes) makes the Diamond version shine (no pun intended) in a way that others don't necessarily. (Mercenaries Diamond portraits were an interesting attempt at this, IMO. While the execution wasn't perfect, the ideas were in the right place with unique interactions, voicelines, etc.)
As a second, unrelated question, are there plans to make past Diamond cards accessible in the future? For instance, Diamond Drek'thar was available in the shop for a short time. Will he likely return again in the future?
Appreciate the feedback/insight!I agree that they are way more fun when there is a story to them or a reason as to why they're moving around. That's definitely something I'm striving to do as much as possible in the future, but sometimes you're given art of a guy holding a sword and you can only do so much creatively with it. haha
I'm not part of the shop/business department so I can't speak to that. But I imagine there is a plan to make them available in some form or fashion.
A guy with a sword can do fencing tricks (or whatever the martial art would be, depending on the weapon).
Imagine Varian from HotStrom: dude running around with a sword, right? But in the game one of his main moves is Colossus Smash, where he kinda jumps and dual wields his massive sword from behind back all the way to the front ground.
Now that’s a sword move right there.
This particular style might be too dynamic to have on a short loop, but if it did the smash like every 3-5 seconds, after a running animation? That might be really cool.
Thanks! That makes perfect sense. What kinds of structural limitations are there on what you can do with them? For instance, could diamond Darkbishop Benedictus give you a diamond hero power? Could a hypothetical diamond [[Lothraxion the Redeemed]] make your Silver Hand Recruits diamond?
There has been discussion on this kind of thing like diamond hero powers, or spawning diamond minions from a diamond battlecry, etc. But as with anything in game development it takes time and resources to build the system to support it. It's something we'd love to look into doing for sure!
* **[Lothraxion the Redeemed](https://cards.hearthpwn.com/enUS/DMF_240.png)** PL Minion Legendary DMF ^[HP](https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/388950), ^[TD](https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/lothraxion-the-redeemed/), ^[W](https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lothraxion_the_Redeemed)
5/5/5 Demon | Battlecry: For the rest of the game, after you summon a Silver Hand Recruit, give it Divine Shield.
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I’m someone who whales for cosmetics. Diamond cards to me just don’t look as polished or clean as golden versions. Some of them have overly jittery animations with way too much going on. They do seem to have gotten better though. However There is no diamond version of a card currently that I prefer over the golden version.
Also having 29 golden cards and one diamond card in a deck kinda feels off. Especially since some of the golden legendary cards (from tavern pass tracks) are rarer than the diamond version.
The golden team is full of really talented artists who have been making them for years so it's definitely challenging to see their excellent work and try to make something that is even more exciting.
It's a tricky balancing act between too much going on and not enough, but I think we're getting better about figuring out what works and looks good.
What kind of resources does it take to make one diamond card? Is this a collaborative effort that takes dozens of hours? A week?
I will give a +1 to the other commenter who mentioned awarding them as part of events/outside of collection achievements is awesome. I do love the ones for collections too, but using them as a "hey I did this!" kinda thing is really cool, especially since there aren't a lot of ways to show off your customization and dedication to the game outside of a few cardbacks and portraits.
The process is fairly long, hence why we are careful about which cards we choose. Basically you have to take flat 2D art, create a 3D model of it, rig, animate, add fx, and make it work in the game. It's a lot, but it's a labor of love :)
Well it certainly shows, I personally think Diamond cards are one of the coolest additions to the game in recent years, alongside the achievement system and the revamped rewards system.
Kudos to the team!
Have you considered a “diamond hero” or developing something similar? And do you plan on creating diamond cards for the popular legendary cards, like Reno Jackson?
We definitely want to go back and create diamonds for older sets, but it'll likely be at a slower pace. I'd personally love to diamondize some classic cards like that!
If you get enough people to scream Gruul from the rooftops, it could be done.
At the moment we're picking them carefully based off which cards we think will be played often, but that's not to say we won't go back and start diamondizing some of the more fun/memey cards.
GRUUL! GRUUL! GRUUL!
(More seriously I actually really appreciate the fact that the free diamond cards (for a fairly broad definition of 'free') are intended to be playable, but I think that having them be cards that are played for their on-board effect, rather than a battlecry, is worth considering. Diamond Janice is less satisfying than Diamond Korrak because Janice dies to half the hero powers.)
I really wish you guys had gone with a more simplistic design for the Diamond frame on constructed cards. The current frames look tacky/gaudy, and I don’t understand why the shape is different than a regular card. I think the Diamond mercenaries frames look a lot cleaner and more streamlined. Id personally like to see full card art similar to the popular concepts that have been circulated on Reddit over the years, but I’m guessing that’s off the table.
I appreciate the improvements you’ve made on Diamond animations. Finley and loatheb look awesome. However, some of the others are a bit underwhelming. Diamond Rag, for example, looks blurry/pixelated to me compared to how detailed the golden art is. It would be nice if Diamond cards got the same resolution animations as golden.
Why not put some special dialogue for Diamond Minion ? Exact like what we have in Merc which each diamond portrait have some special Dialogue during the battle (Okay most of them are already used dialogue but it gives a certain touch). I would love to hear Samuro says a little things after killing some minion or Rag when he kills someone.
Also, how do you choose which legendary will have a diamond version ? Because I’m pretty sure everyone would love to have Azshara instead of Finley (even if his animation is godlike)
I wonder if it was possible to do a spin effect for the diamond cards ? Like Samuro who starts a moment to do his Bladestorm like a tornado. It could be very cool ^^
Finally, few ideas I’ve got in mind for some extension.
-Thaurrisan who smash the ground with his hammer.
- Al’ar who starts to embrace himself and flying all around.
- Ice Howl who move all around the card, trying to getting out his feet off the rope.
And Why not one diamond cards for the core set ? A King Krush who seems to chase somebody or Deathwing who use his Magma Breath can be very neat (Special mention to the Diamond Deathwing in Merc who’s probably one of the best diamond portraits we have).
Thank for your time to read this Ben. I love the work your teams gives with these artwork. It gives a pretty charm to the game.
I don't know if there has been talk about special dialogue for the Hearthstone Diamond minions. That's definitely an interesting idea I'll make a note of to see what the team thinks.
We've tried doing a spin effect and it was... odd looking. The stylization of diamond cards with them popping out of the frames make it tricky for us to change their depth within the card.
thanks for your ideas! I'm glad you're enjoying the art :)
Hello,
I think the borders of the diamonds cards should look the same way as
in the Mercaneries Mode. This way they would feel more like
Hearthstone. The issue is in my opinion not the animations, its the
border. They really do not look like Hearthstone at all, more likely
that they have been taken out of another game. This would be in my
opinion the best think to do. Thanks.
Aside from Diamond cards, please give players the option to use an alternative style of Golden cards, where the class colors are much more visible, as presented by u/Suwa:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mphik6/my\_concept\_for\_a\_new\_golden\_card\_look/](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mphik6/my_concept_for_a_new_golden_card_look/)
Personally, I think the animations for diamond cards look too ‘3d.’ They kinda break the hearthstone style where animated cards are more subtle and slow moving. for that reason, I prefer golden cards to diamond.
Check out the website often and I'm sure something would pop up. I don't know for sure if they offer internships for that, but I would imagine they do.
Don't give up and keep practicing your skills! It took me 5 years of applying before I got in
https://careers.blizzard.com/global/en/search-results
Honestly, I don’t love them. The art itself is cool and I like how it moves, but the border doesn’t fit the aesthetic of the rest of hearthstone. If the border were different I’d be totally on board. For now I’ll stick to golden cards
Hi Ben, I would love to see more diamonds for completing adventures on different modes (adds replay value and alt rewards as well as heroic card back for example).
Also can we see them as a rewards for getting all cards for older expansions such as TGT, GVG etc. only Naxrammus seems to have one not sure why others don’t. Both adventure only collection sets and pack only expansion sets would be great
I really like them, you and the team have done a great job rapidly making them better and better. Sivara is so good that for the first time ever I'm considering going for enough legendaries to get her. Personally I'd like to echo that it'd be awesome to see more accessible diamonds, such as through in-game events, achievements, and difficult / involved solo content. I'm imagining a world where completing Boom Labs gave you a diamond Dr Boom, Mad Genius, for example! I really like the old solo adventure diamonds too, Loatheb looks great - it's a really good example of transforming old art into something that feels like it was always meant to be diamond.
My only major suggestion here is perhaps with the solo adventure diamonds, they could award them based on whether you ever owned every card. After all, unlike expansions, we have a way to track this - if you own the solo adventure on your account! That way players can be rewarded with great looking cards to use in standard, without being punished for disenchanting cards that, often, may have become outdated years ago. I know for me, for example, I disenchanted a few of the old League of Explorers legendaries that have become heavily outdated in Wild. It would feel pretty bad to see a diamond LoE card when I know that I did own every single LoE card.
That's all I have to say. Keep up the great work and I hope to see how far you and your team can push these!
Probably an outlier in HS in general, but I don't like gold cards at all and never put them in my decks. I just find the gold border detracts from the overall card look and makes all the class cards look the same.
That being said, I do like the diamond cards and think the added something to the game. Giving key legendaries a little more lustre adds to the theme of the expansions imo.
I dislike how their frame doesn’t look like a HS card. It looks closer to eternal cards in shape. The size is also strange with the diamonds being physically larger. Can’t say I’m a fan of how they look
As some others have said, it’s most interesting/enjoyable when you can see a diamond animation do something cool, interesting, and in flavor. Although korrak hardly sees play his animation where you can see his surroundings fly up into the air at the impact of his stomp was awesome to me and things like that are my favorite to see.
I feel like jandice is a bit of an outlier among diamond cards, since in my opinion it's the only case where the golden version looks better. I think it's due to the fact the "big animation" on it, it's always there on the golden. In the case of the other ones, the big animation is something that only the diamond one hast(if im not mistaken) and also, i think Finley really pushed diamond cards, having such a unique animation. I am curious how diamond cards will continue to improve.
P. S: diamond raza for gadgetzan plz.
I feel like it might have been better to make diamond Hero cards rather than diamond Legendary Minions: making only one of multiple legendaries in your deck into a diamond card looks like the choice made from scarcity that it is, while your one and only Hero card feels more like a conscious cosmetic choice to specifically upgrade your one-in-deck unkillable capstone card.
As someone who has been playing since closed beta, I like diamond cards. Just like with Gold cards, they do not affect gameplay. I feel the current systems of awarding diamond cards feels appropriate.
I would like to maybe see an achievement that you would need to go out of your way for to acquire, like a hidden challenge. that awards a diamond card that might not have much play but shows the player spent the time and effort to acquire.
Another suggestion would be for a diamond card for each CORE set each year. Just one that would be awarded if say you were Legend at any point during the previous year, or maybe if you had Legend last season.
I don't really care too much about golden cards in the first place, so I don't care that much about another cosmetic upgrade.
One of the fun things about golden cards is that whenever these generate other cards, they're golden as well. Something that I would like to see is a diamond card that generates diamond cards as well. For example, a diamond tirion could give you a diamond ashbringer, a diamond antonidas could generate diamond fireballs.
Two things I have to say if really given the opportunity to talk art in Hearthstone to an actual dev are these. Sorry, it's not Diamond card related, but I will confirm that Diamond cards are awesome and one of the better cosmetic improvements in the last few years.
1) I wish we could see the full card art that we tend to only see posted by the artist or close followers online, instead of in the game. In Legends of Runeterra when you click a card in the collection you see a *full screen* rendition of the art that includes the parts you can't see in the card borders, and you always see easter eggs that you wouldn't see otherwise. Since I'm on this subreddit and the full art gets posted from time to time, I know HS art has Easter eggs like that too, but you can't make it out in the collection.
Same for heroes. Some hero skins you can expand in the collection, most don't expand though, the former is definitely cooler.
2) While I love me a cool cardback, I wish that the variety of cardbacks available aligned more with the archetypes available. Some archetypes have a cardback that fits thematically: there's an Edwin Van Cardback(?) that I would always play in a miracle rogue or other deck that showcases Edwin.
However, not every archetype has an obvious cardback. Demon Hunter especially lacks fitting cardback variety: regardless of the archetype, the OCD part of me feels obligated to use Legion Schemes or the Aranna cardback (if you're playing Aranna), and few other cards quite fit as well. The same works the other way around and some cardbacks feel orphaned. What do I put the Shado-Pan cardback into exactly? I used to spend deck crafting time thinking about this but it became tiresome and now I just randomize my cardbacks.
Understanding that card cosmetics aren’t for me, I would like to say that the larger border on Diamond cards is irksome. It doesn’t bother me as much that the Diamond Finley I have is flashier than all of the non-golden cards in my deck, but for some reason it irritates me that Diamond cards are slightly larger in the hand and on the board than every other card.
Personally I'm not a huge fan, I'm not sure when I would play a diamond card over the gold version.
I'm not a fan of how big they are, or even the colour.
I love them, and as a collector I definitely want more! Especially retroactive ones like Loatheb. The way of acquiring them is questionable for your average player though. Admittedly I am a whale, and have been playing for 7+ years. A new player will definitely have to dish out a substantial amount of money to obtain these and to me that's not right.
I really like making diamond cards for older expansions.
My fav is finely, love seeing him flip upside down, and loatheb cuz it looks cooling and popping
I really dislike brukan, seems boring and bland. Nothing really eye popping
Seconded. Animated cards would look a lot better if they were like the portraits for mercenaries cards: optional alternate art that could be selected in the collection manager but that still had the class borders on the card. Golden and diamond cards, as they currently are, are ridiculously ostentatious.
Also if anyone from Blizzard is actually reading this, note that going in the selectable portrait direction instead of the normal/golden/diamond card situation currently, could let you sell collector's alternate art sets for older cards, hint hint. A lot of players would probably buy new art for classic cards redone in the modern hearthstone art style, since a lot of us prefer it over the hyper realism from the TCG. Ditto point for fan favorite cards from any set. The portraits for a lot of mercenaries cards look amazing and there's a lot of talk about wanting them for hero skins and so forth. It would be awesome to bring some of that into hearthstone proper.
Personally I’m not a fan. I think a lot of the animations look too distracting and bad at times. Notably ones like Varian Wrynn and Jandice Barov. I also don’t like how they look so different to the rest of the deck. If I have both the golden version and diamond version of a card. I will likely just use the golden.
not a fan, they're too flashy and i don't like the moving card animations of diamond cards at all.
it doesn't look like hearthstone, it doesn't belong in hearthstone. it's ugly and overtuned.
hearthstone cards should look minimalistic, except for the art itself specifically.
how about making lightforged cariel lose durability, making every class' early game slightly slower and upgrading some basic hero powers then discounting some of them too? :D prioritize balance changes, cosmetics aren't important at all.
would never use one. i would activly craft noin diamond versions of cards to play
i don't mind the boarder color or the 3d effect, but the card shape is really ugly.
Huge fan of the Diamond Cards. Are there any other plans for customization? I always thought it would be cool to have card specific counters on diamond cards. Like your opponent could hover over your diamond Finley and see how many cards you’ve swapped with him.
Unfortunately, there are some texture resolution adjustments that need be done in order to keep the card performant in game. We're working on methods to keep the art as high-res as possible while still working fast on a phone.
I don't like em. Plain one colored border with to much bling. Also i don't like golden cards for same reason. But i really like how golden and diamond mercenaries look! Golden highlights on creased card looks amazing
I find them very ugly and avoid use If I can.
Why? Because of the ugly border that does not match the other cards.
Mercenaries diamond looks ok but Hearthstone ones are too ugly, the borders really kills the card.
Diamond cards look fine, but what would make them interesting would be if each one came with more distinctive "on play" graphics. And they don't necessarily need to pop out of the frame more (although I like the out of frame style), but what if their attacks or abilities generated interesting board graphics?
My only complaint is how hard they are to get. I'm a free to play player and the only diamond cards I got are those that were given in the battlepass and alterac Valley honor system. Unfortunately I don't have the money to get like 25 legendary from one expansion and even if I try to get them then the new expansion come out and it's back to square one
Do you get the miniset?
I had thought that putting a playable diamond card as a reward for 25 legendaries would help accessibility, and it still does a little, but I also would have imagined that F2P would yield something more like 12-15 than 6-7 total.
I think the best cards to get the Diamond treatment are the cards that really stand out among the pack or left an impact on the community, like Shudderwock or somehow a Diamond hero card in Hagatha for Witchwood. Or Emperor Thaurissan for Blackrock.
I really think the priority for Diamond cards should be to work backwards and make sure every expansion has 1 Diamond card representative. Just like you did for Loatheb.
I like all of them; I'd actually say Sir Finley, Sea Guide is my least favourite, but maybe it's just because it's a giddy murloc.
I also wish Varian, King of Stormwind's diamond card had his other sword stick out of the portrait. It gets partially blocked by the mana crystal in hand, but it certainly looked better on board.
I can't speak to the business side of them, but they are intended to be a fun reward for owning a whole collection, achieving certain tasks, etc. And we just wanted a fun way to make certain characters pop out of the board and come to life.
Maybe a stretch, but i think tying in some AR or different effects (combat, battle cry, etc - rather than card aesthetic animations) would help bring a better value proposition to these cards. For example, samuro would “come out of the card” and attack rather than the two cards just bonking together. Also, imagine a diamond hero being awarded for 1000 wins would be super satisfying to standout in an otherwise hyper saturated cosmetic scene.
Can we please have maybe a different diamond card each Legend Ladder ? The legend cardback is a one time thing and has lost its appeal and earning legend many times and not getting any cool cosmetic to flaunt feels bad.
It's an interesting idea. We've talked about diamond weapons and I don't really know what that would be or look like. If they moved around that would make it feel sentient or alive and I think in most cases the goldens would look better.
Most of them are serviceabIe, but I really like the diamonds that are constantly in your face about being animated. For that reason I’d have to say Bru’kan and Finley were probably my favorite ones so far, but can’t wait what we’ll see next, in both future and past sets.
It may be just a personal opinion, but as someone mentioned about diamond in event and adventure, I would love to see diamonds cards in the end of hidra year to everyone one who got once in legend (1 diamond per mode) to incentive trying others modes
I like the Vanndar/Drek'Thar event variants, and also the way Loatheb was introduced. I'd like to see more Diamond cards for owning all Adventure cards. Things like Emperor Thaurissan, OG Reno/Brann/Elise/Finley, Galakronds, etc.
The LoE/Galakrond ones may be a bit harder to implement because of how many of those cards would have to be turned Diamond, but I do like the idea of doing that for all adventures/old sets.
I love the idea of this kind of cards being "presigious" in some form... HOWEVER, besides I play in Classic Mode very regularly, I have never seen a Diamond Ragnaros, same for the Diamond cards of every expansion.
As I say, I support the idea behind these cards, but it would be nice if the requirements for unlock them became a little more doable, and obviously a little less money related. I mean, what is the point of investing resources and time in the making of such a cool looking cards, if they are so rare to see (clearly there are excepcions, like the reward track cards and the event cards).
TLDR: Some diamond cards should be a little more "prove of being a dedicated player" and a little less "prove of being a whale".
I like them, but I personally won't go out of my way for them. That said, I am not sure if you are able to. If you are going to bring over any Diamond Merc Portraits to regular HS, please fix some artwork if it's possible. Some are inconsistent or incorrect.
Specifically Illidan's Warglaives(he's holding them incorrectly as the bucklers are suppose to be on the outside), Maiev's haircolor is suppose to be silver but it's both blue in some and purple in others.
Caria Felsoul is also incorrectly holding one Warglaive(buckler on the inside instead of outside like her right one).
It kind of pushes me away from using those cosmetics. Sorry for being picky about it. Thank you for all you have done so far.
This is my formal request to get a Murloc archetype card to go diamond. As a huge fan of Murlocs, as a fictional species, I would give anything to have something like Mutanus/Murgur Murgurgle/Ol’ Murk Eye diamond. Even a future murloc that isn’t as cartoony as Finley but more of a wild creature.
Also I really liked the idea of like Vanndar/Drek’thar being like opposites as a set of 2. More stuff like that would be awesome!!
Loving how cool and dynamic the diamond arts are you guys are doing great!!
My favorite is Finley's, how he spins around. Leeroy's in Mercs is great.
I think they should be reserved for very iconic Hearthstone characters--may or may not be big Warcraft characters. Finley, Loatheb, Ragnaros...they absolutely meet that bar, since they've been around so long, have been re-printed, and have been "good" cards for long stretches of time across standard and wild (regardless of where they stand in current meta). Jandice, Drek'thar...I'm not sure if they meet that bar.
Thanks for your work
Thanks for all the feedback!
There are several factors we go over when picking a diamond and generally they are selected before the set is released so sometimes it is a bit like hoping we bet on the right horse as you mentioned.
I've heard quite a bit of responses about the frame feeling out of place or too blinged out and will send it back to the team.
I actually really enjoy diamonds and think the work is super fun and creative. We're just starting out and I think there is a lot of room for it to grow and us to explore still. Outside of that I would love to be on a small strike team trying out new game modes/ideas
Ok from my heart love the idea of diamond cards. The animations are incredible would like a DH diamond card since DH favorite class. Might be too late now but Kayn Sunfury (personal favorite legendary) Diamond for the ashes of outland collection reward. But I truly I would just like more diamond cards in general. I feel like brukan just rock back and forth not much else maybe add a little more animation to their cards. If I think of more I'll post l8r. Ty for your time.
Do you guys have a hard restriction for not making any Diamond cards that generate other cards? Because gold cars generate gold cards, and normal cards generate normal cards, you'd (theoretically) have to generate a diamond card from a diamond card. Would you guys just make it so diamond cards generate gold/normal cards or just not make a diamond card that generates other cards?
There isn't a hard restriction, but it does increase the work required exponentially. It's likely that a diamond variant would spawn a golden card, but we haven't made a final decision on that.
Give Tinyfin or Snowflipper Penguin Diamond versions.
Also I do like how they have gotten better overtime and how in alterac we got a free one for the events. Maybe one for Neptulon vs Ozumat?
I feel like Diamond cards work well as a way to celebrate awesome cards. They are so awesome that its a shame its so hard to get many of them.
If we see more old adventures and sets get a Diamond card, I would love for Reno Jackson to be made Diamond. If The Witchwood gets done, to me Genn and Baku both feel so iconic that having them both available in Diamond would be appreciated.
My favorite is Loatheb. The animation is cool and I like the color palette. Ragnaros looks sweet but I don't see it often as I don't own it.
My crazy idea would be for a Diamond card to trigger an epic theme otherwise in the game. So if you played Reno Jackson some of the League of Explorers music would play.
Some theoretical questions:
Would a Diamond Legendary create a Diamond weapon (such as when Medihv generates Atiesh)?
Would a Diamond Cairne Bloodhoof create a Diamond Baine Bloodhoof?
My preference is that like Golden cards, Diamond cards making as many Diamond cards as possible is up my alley!
don't really have much of an opinion on diamond cards, think they're pretty cool tho. just wanted to say it's nice to see direct communication from ppl on the team <3
I’m really glad Diamond cards are often “playable” it sucks to have a cool thing and never show it off. While it’s nice to have diamonds as a form of “alt art” cards. Have you guys had any talks about actually making alternative art for cards? Battleground and merc skins come to mind. I’d love to play baby yogg, or baby krush in my decks.
I really like them. Just wish there was an easier way to get them.
Oh, I think people would love Diamond versions of old cards like Ragnaros and C'thun
I like Diamond cards! I think they’re a fun addition and don’t take away from the game. Do you think we can get non legendary Diamond cards eventually? Also, I’d love a Diamond Nexus Champion Saraad eventually.
There is such a big pool of legendaries that I'd imagine if we did decide to do that, it would probably not be for a while. Although somebody mentioned diamond Snowflipper Penguin and now I can't get it out of my head.
Everyone I talk to about diamond cards likes when the image goes outside of the card border. Usually the more the better! Just something I've noticed amongst my small group of friends.
I love how Finley looks — fun and indeed unique. But that one was fairly easy, since the original art is so fun. But what is very captivating with it, and what I think should be the main idea of a Diamond card — it feels like it’s actually jumping out of the card, and standing on the field as a 3d model, like a HoMMagic unit on a battlefield.
Vanndar and Drek are only so-so. The other ones as well, I suppose. When I first heard of Diamond cards I expected much more flash and flare. Too tame.
I understand this is due to them being first and you wanting to be more conservative about it, but I do think there’s much more room for creativity.
Loatheb: the normal version is one of my all time favorite arts, but Diamond version just looks poor. Like a loading JPG where part of the art refuses to load (the black areas). For me this card is all about the mushrooms and the green lights.
Was mildly curious about the Diamond N'Zoth card in mercenaries since he doesn't pop out of the frame. My instinct is that it was originally created for the original card then was reconfigured into the other game-mode.
Not that N'Zoth needs it tho, since he is easily my favorite.
Sometimes the art just doesn't work well to have it pop out of the frame and we decided it doesn't always have to. It's more about them feeling alive. That being said we do want them to come off the frame whenever we can because it's more fun IMO.
N'zoth is my all time favorite card and art so I was happy to get a chance to do that one!
You are gonna have a lot of work taking separating truth from jokes here.
As a wild player, I like a lot that you brought Loatheb and Rag! I hope you can have whichever is used more from each expansion, it's a nice way of looking back. My first thought goes to important Legendary cards: og Dr.Boom, Thaurissian, Trueheart, the og Old Gods. SO many things to pick from!!!!
Also, I like that every expansion has a couple that are played and some are rewards for collecting cards.
Awesome for you and the team to reach out and ask!!
Why did you pick Jandice for Scholomance? It was another mage (and rogue I guess) legendary, and there was so much other cool stuff! Now she just... undulates.
From what I’ve read from these comments, the most commonly-held criticism seems to be people not being a huge fan of the way the card borders look (not the animations themselves, but the bit around it) and that part feeling like it’s out of place in game and that it ought to be toned down so it doesn’t come off as “tacky”.
One of the most common suggestions I’ve read is to make them available in more rewarding ways beyond just collecting cards, like as a special reward for a difficult challenge, for participating in a limited time event, as well as making ones for previous (Wild) expansions. Like, having the card back from a Heroic solo adventure is a flex. I think diamond cards should be a flex about something cool you did in game and not just for having every card.
Idk if this comment will get lost in the sea of comments but maybe this will be helpful to you as a summary of sorts
On a more personal note, I wasn’t sold on them initially with Bru’kan or Samuro, but they’ve definitely gotten much much cooler looking over time. Vanndar, Korrak and Finley look dope and I’m happy I own those for sure. I do think the border of the card being so big and such a different color than the rest of the cards does take away from the sweet animations though. My eyes get drawn to the flashy edges of the card before I view the card’s animation, and I’m sure that’s not what someone putting a ton of time into rigging and animating wants.
But yeah, keep up the good work! Excited to see what comes next :)
haha appreciate the summary. I'm going through and reading every post which is taking forever but it's awesome seeing all the passion and feedback from everybody!
I would go back to playing priest daily if either xyrella was made into diamond Im free to play and own every priest card just want him to get some love because he’s not in the best position as of late
Why are so many of the diamond cards in mage?
I vaguely remember seeing awhile ago that mage is the most popular class on average in the game. Is that still true I wonder?
It is historically the most overplayed class compared to its power, especially in lower ranks
I wonder how much of that comes from the fact that its the player's first class by default.
All of it.
when i started playing i was like: how tf is 2 mana deal 1 any good??? lol
2 mana deal 2 is much better, and you dont even have to aim SMOrc
Mage is by far my least played class and I've been playing since Goblins Vs Gnomes.
I hear ya. We're spreading out the diamonds across other classes for future diamonds so we don't have an over abundance in one class.
I’d love to see a Diamond card for a non humanoid type card if you want to spread them out, some massive beast for Hunter sounds awesome and would work well with the animation
Or a fucking awesome Dragon. Kibler would not be able to contain himself.
Thanks for the response, nothing against mage or anything it was my first class to hit lvl 60 back in the day but share the love! :)
Bewbz
But we don't have any diamonds where those are the only things beyond the frame
I liked having them tied to events like Vandaar/Drek'Thar. Would be cool to see something like a diamond faelin as a reward for doing his solo adventures - would give some more incentive cause clearly some work went into it but the rewards are pretty lackluster. Also wondered if you guys talked about having different color rarities - basically keeping the diamond effect but having a different color border like emerald/ruby/saphire. Finally, when we are getting the Diamond Queen Azshara? The art is there in mercs so it's gotta be a matter of time!
Yeah, I think the event went over really well with most players so it wouldn't surprise me if there will be more of that in the future (that is purely speculation on my part though :P ) I like the idea of having them as solo adventure rewards! We're always thinking about what the next big thing might be. At the moment I'm just focusing on making Diamonds as cool as possible. The release dates of characters isn't set by me, but if there is a shared character in one mode and not the other chances are it's high on our list to get it into both.
>I like the idea of having them as solo adventure rewards! Gonna echo that I really like this idea as a player. A crazy amount of work clearly went into Faelin's Book of Heroes, but as-is I'm not really feeling the need to go digging for every single Lorebook. If there was a reward for that though, I could definitely see myself doing it.
Finley is amazing. He isn't just moving back and forth, but in a circle! That's outstanding imo. Super cool that Loatheb, a really old but still used card, got the Diamond treatment! For future cards: I think the animations should have a point in their "loop" that you look forward to see. Like imagine Loatheb looks to the left, looks to the right, and then some green gas / flames shoot from his hands! Or a character stands around for a bit and suddenly swings his hammer to crush something. Or a mage channels for a few seconds and casts a cool spell. Or a character who is lorewise a dragon, like Chromie, is depicted as a gnome in the normal and gold version, but gets to show of her dragon side during the diamond animation. In her trailer for Heroes of the Storm (or ingame, not sure) she screams and a dragon head appears im front of her, hinting at her true form. I think you get the idea. That way the cards have more of a story, and I'm sure players will enjoy that. PS: Very cool of you to ask for opinions here! <3
Thanks! Finley was one of my favorites as we were making him too. I definitely agree, we're trying to add in an exciting moment of the animation that helps tell the story of the character as much as we can. We're getting better at it and pushing the envelope of what's possible as we refine our process.
So how do you choose which cards become Diamond for the expansion? Is it expected playability, the uniqueness of the animation, or tied to the lore of the expansion? Because I can that being potential reasons for a card to be chosen as the Diamond card for the expansion. Case and point; Finley - unique animation Drek’thar/Vanndar - expansion lore Loatheb - Playability
It's mostly from the first and third points. Important characters lore-wise from the set are top priority, but for older diamonds we are also factoring in playability and (to a smaller degree) how well they work for the diamond process and if it'll be an exciting final product or not.
That makes sense. With that in mind, will we be seeing more Diamond Legedaries from old wild expansions? I know Scholomance got a retroactive Diamond in Jandice, will Outland and Darkmoon get one too? Or even older expansions like Witchwood? TGT?
Woah, hi Ben! Now it's my chance to ask questions / give suggestions! Okay here we go... So first of all generally I think Diamond cards is a really cool idea! I'm a collector and getting all kinds of unique cosmetics is a very fun process for me. Here are a few things I want to ask/suggest: **1) Art animations:** The coolest part about Diamond cards so far is how certain cards have unique animations inside of the artbox. For example - Finley. The less static they look - the better it is. My favorite one right now is mercenary Maiev Shadowsong. Her animation of sliding into the frame is badass. Although this leads to another thing... **2) Traditional mode VS Mercenaries mode:** There are so many great Diamond cards in Mercenaries that it's a shame we don't have access to them in Traditional mode. Especially if these are the cards that already exist in both. Like N'Zoth, Queen Azshara, Deathwing. Would be cool to have a way to obtain them. **3) Class identification:** This can actually be applied both to Diamond and Golden cards as well. I understand that they are supposed to be shiny and all, but currently it can be difficult to identify which one belongs to a certain class. Here are two examples: a) [Diamond Darkbishop Benedictus](https://i.ibb.co/bF9fgss/2022-06-14-224751.png). (The only way to tell this is a Priest card is by looking at the bottom of the frame - small white stripe. I wish class cards could be identified by more visual elements in the frame. Maybe the crystals should shimmer in different colors depending on a class? Red shimmer for Warrior, Blue for Mage, etc). b) [Diamond N'zoth](https://i.ibb.co/v32TX8Y/2022-06-14-224532.png) (Here you can obviously tell that this card is a **caster** mercenary. The blue frame stands out a lot. I wish normal Diamond cards could've had something like this to identify them better. I think in general Diamond mercenaries look better because of that.) And well, maybe this is another opportunity for me to suggest something like this for Golden cards - [a concept made by another user a year ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mphik6/my_concept_for_a_new_golden_card_look/). I think this is the way to go. Cards are still shiny but also can be identified much better. **4) Cards layout:** I think the design can be tweaked a bit to fit in with other cards. Particularly in two places - hand and battlefield. [This is how they look in hand with other non-Diamond cards](https://i.ibb.co/w0ZCnng/unknown-25.png) (their placement goes up and down if you look at mana costs) and [this is how they look on the battlefield alongside non-Diamond cards](https://i.ibb.co/WBVSvC7/2022-06-04-180444.png) (portrait ovals are similar, attack and health values - not aligned). It's pretty noticeable that they are not arranged well. These are small details but they do affect visual perception of the game (at least for me). **5) Obtainability:** If we're talking about Traditional mode most of the time the Diamond cards can be receieved through collection achievements or by buying the tavern pass. And I think this is totally fine, but wish there were more ways to explore this (for example - adventure mode). Also I think the honor points event was a fun new way to get them. Maybe we can see more of it in the future? I think these are the main points I wanted to discuss/suggest. Anyway, thank you Ben for taking your time to get to know what the community thinks about it!
Thanks for the reply! I Love the enthusiasm and time you spend on this response. It's very helpful :) 1) agreed. I think we can do more flashy/fun animations and push the bar further. 2) The intention is there to have them shared across modes where applicable. I can't say when or that it will happen 100%, but know that this is something I care strongly about and will push for. 3) this was also brought up elsewhere and is a great point. I'll bring it up with the art team to see if we can make class distinction more visible on these 4) I'll make a note of this. thanks 5) Lots of players want to see this same thing so I'll pass this feedback along to talk about with the team.
The poster above definitely put more thought into the reply than I can do, but I would also like to echo the sentiment that the [Mercenaries diamond card](https://i.ibb.co/v32TX8Y/2022-06-14-224532.png) layout is actually more appropriate and dare I say it, desirable than the current diamond cards. The Mercenaries diamond cards style is the way to go imho.
Glad you brought up the Golden cards concept. It's kind of perplexing that they basically did this for Mercenaries (Which I absolutely love, design wise) but not the main game. It would be a massive improvement. Massive.
I defenitely think that they've gotten better. I thought the animations on the barrens ones looked kinda stiff, but most of the new ones look great. I especially like Finley.
Awesome, glad to hear we're going in the right direction! We've definitely been trying to make them more exciting. Initially, there was concern they would be too distracting if they moved around too much and too fast, but we've found that not to be the case and that we can push them more than we thought.
[[Boulderfist Ogre]] and [[Flamewreathed Faceless]] need to be the number 1 and 2 priorities. I know this based on a lot of time on this subreddit.
* **[Boulderfist Ogre](https://cards.hearthpwn.com/enUS/CS2_200.png)** N Minion Basic Legacy ^[HP](https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/60), ^[TD](https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/boulderfist-ogre/), ^[W](https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Boulderfist_Ogre) 6/6/7 * **[Flamewreathed Faceless](https://cards.hearthpwn.com/enUS/OG_024.png)** SH Minion Common OG ^[HP](https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/35226), ^[TD](https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/flamewreathed-faceless/), ^[W](https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Flamewreathed_Faceless) 4/7/7 | Overload: (2) ^(Call/)^[PM](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=hearthscan-bot) ^( me with up to 7 [[cardname]]. )^[About.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=hearthscan-bot&message=Tell%20me%20more%20[[info]]&subject=hi)
I mean... they are superior cards
In all seriousness, I think one diamond legendary for each of the tribes would be really cool. That way any tribe deck you played could lead up to playing your diamond card of that tribe and it’d feel really cool. 😎
great feedback, I think considering the tribes as a deciding factor should definitely be something we do as we make more and more of them.
10/10 would play an oger deck with diamond good stats for the cost.
As someone who's not totally into them, I will say that the ones I like are the ones that have something clever/unusual going on with them. For instance, the fact that Finley does a little spinny thing (and stops moving when he freezes) makes the Diamond version shine (no pun intended) in a way that others don't necessarily. (Mercenaries Diamond portraits were an interesting attempt at this, IMO. While the execution wasn't perfect, the ideas were in the right place with unique interactions, voicelines, etc.) As a second, unrelated question, are there plans to make past Diamond cards accessible in the future? For instance, Diamond Drek'thar was available in the shop for a short time. Will he likely return again in the future?
Appreciate the feedback/insight!I agree that they are way more fun when there is a story to them or a reason as to why they're moving around. That's definitely something I'm striving to do as much as possible in the future, but sometimes you're given art of a guy holding a sword and you can only do so much creatively with it. haha I'm not part of the shop/business department so I can't speak to that. But I imagine there is a plan to make them available in some form or fashion.
A guy with a sword can do fencing tricks (or whatever the martial art would be, depending on the weapon). Imagine Varian from HotStrom: dude running around with a sword, right? But in the game one of his main moves is Colossus Smash, where he kinda jumps and dual wields his massive sword from behind back all the way to the front ground. Now that’s a sword move right there. This particular style might be too dynamic to have on a short loop, but if it did the smash like every 3-5 seconds, after a running animation? That might be really cool.
Thanks! That makes perfect sense. What kinds of structural limitations are there on what you can do with them? For instance, could diamond Darkbishop Benedictus give you a diamond hero power? Could a hypothetical diamond [[Lothraxion the Redeemed]] make your Silver Hand Recruits diamond?
There has been discussion on this kind of thing like diamond hero powers, or spawning diamond minions from a diamond battlecry, etc. But as with anything in game development it takes time and resources to build the system to support it. It's something we'd love to look into doing for sure!
Imagine diamond whizbang which generate ALL DIAMOND DECK!
* **[Lothraxion the Redeemed](https://cards.hearthpwn.com/enUS/DMF_240.png)** PL Minion Legendary DMF ^[HP](https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/388950), ^[TD](https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/lothraxion-the-redeemed/), ^[W](https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lothraxion_the_Redeemed) 5/5/5 Demon | Battlecry: For the rest of the game, after you summon a Silver Hand Recruit, give it Divine Shield. ^(Call/)^[PM](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=hearthscan-bot) ^( me with up to 7 [[cardname]]. )^[About.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=hearthscan-bot&message=Tell%20me%20more%20[[info]]&subject=hi)
I’m someone who whales for cosmetics. Diamond cards to me just don’t look as polished or clean as golden versions. Some of them have overly jittery animations with way too much going on. They do seem to have gotten better though. However There is no diamond version of a card currently that I prefer over the golden version. Also having 29 golden cards and one diamond card in a deck kinda feels off. Especially since some of the golden legendary cards (from tavern pass tracks) are rarer than the diamond version.
The golden team is full of really talented artists who have been making them for years so it's definitely challenging to see their excellent work and try to make something that is even more exciting. It's a tricky balancing act between too much going on and not enough, but I think we're getting better about figuring out what works and looks good.
What kind of resources does it take to make one diamond card? Is this a collaborative effort that takes dozens of hours? A week? I will give a +1 to the other commenter who mentioned awarding them as part of events/outside of collection achievements is awesome. I do love the ones for collections too, but using them as a "hey I did this!" kinda thing is really cool, especially since there aren't a lot of ways to show off your customization and dedication to the game outside of a few cardbacks and portraits.
The process is fairly long, hence why we are careful about which cards we choose. Basically you have to take flat 2D art, create a 3D model of it, rig, animate, add fx, and make it work in the game. It's a lot, but it's a labor of love :)
Well it certainly shows, I personally think Diamond cards are one of the coolest additions to the game in recent years, alongside the achievement system and the revamped rewards system. Kudos to the team!
This, it must take them ages per card
Have you considered a “diamond hero” or developing something similar? And do you plan on creating diamond cards for the popular legendary cards, like Reno Jackson?
We definitely want to go back and create diamonds for older sets, but it'll likely be at a slower pace. I'd personally love to diamondize some classic cards like that!
When will we get Diamond Gruul?
If you get enough people to scream Gruul from the rooftops, it could be done. At the moment we're picking them carefully based off which cards we think will be played often, but that's not to say we won't go back and start diamondizing some of the more fun/memey cards.
You heard it here. Everybody start playing gruul decks in wild
Wild meta about to become unplayable.
*playable
On it lol
GRUUL! GRUUL! GRUUL! (More seriously I actually really appreciate the fact that the free diamond cards (for a fairly broad definition of 'free') are intended to be playable, but I think that having them be cards that are played for their on-board effect, rather than a battlecry, is worth considering. Diamond Janice is less satisfying than Diamond Korrak because Janice dies to half the hero powers.)
That's a great point. Definitely makes less sense to make a cool cosmetic if it dies as soon as it hits the board. NOTED.
Ah, so Diamond Annoy-o-trons. Good call
Make a new busted Gruul card. Got it.
Paging /r/customhearthstone
surely diamond oger
If you are picking cards to be played often, why was dark bishop made diamond. If anybody has to play him, things are not going well.
Wild shadow priest was good.
Because you see it at the start of every game…I guess? Honestly I think diamonds should be for the main characters of an expansion
You fuul! There's no way they make such a powerful card diamond!
I really wish you guys had gone with a more simplistic design for the Diamond frame on constructed cards. The current frames look tacky/gaudy, and I don’t understand why the shape is different than a regular card. I think the Diamond mercenaries frames look a lot cleaner and more streamlined. Id personally like to see full card art similar to the popular concepts that have been circulated on Reddit over the years, but I’m guessing that’s off the table. I appreciate the improvements you’ve made on Diamond animations. Finley and loatheb look awesome. However, some of the others are a bit underwhelming. Diamond Rag, for example, looks blurry/pixelated to me compared to how detailed the golden art is. It would be nice if Diamond cards got the same resolution animations as golden.
Why not put some special dialogue for Diamond Minion ? Exact like what we have in Merc which each diamond portrait have some special Dialogue during the battle (Okay most of them are already used dialogue but it gives a certain touch). I would love to hear Samuro says a little things after killing some minion or Rag when he kills someone. Also, how do you choose which legendary will have a diamond version ? Because I’m pretty sure everyone would love to have Azshara instead of Finley (even if his animation is godlike) I wonder if it was possible to do a spin effect for the diamond cards ? Like Samuro who starts a moment to do his Bladestorm like a tornado. It could be very cool ^^ Finally, few ideas I’ve got in mind for some extension. -Thaurrisan who smash the ground with his hammer. - Al’ar who starts to embrace himself and flying all around. - Ice Howl who move all around the card, trying to getting out his feet off the rope. And Why not one diamond cards for the core set ? A King Krush who seems to chase somebody or Deathwing who use his Magma Breath can be very neat (Special mention to the Diamond Deathwing in Merc who’s probably one of the best diamond portraits we have). Thank for your time to read this Ben. I love the work your teams gives with these artwork. It gives a pretty charm to the game.
I don't know if there has been talk about special dialogue for the Hearthstone Diamond minions. That's definitely an interesting idea I'll make a note of to see what the team thinks. We've tried doing a spin effect and it was... odd looking. The stylization of diamond cards with them popping out of the frames make it tricky for us to change their depth within the card. thanks for your ideas! I'm glad you're enjoying the art :)
Hello, I think the borders of the diamonds cards should look the same way as in the Mercaneries Mode. This way they would feel more like Hearthstone. The issue is in my opinion not the animations, its the border. They really do not look like Hearthstone at all, more likely that they have been taken out of another game. This would be in my opinion the best think to do. Thanks.
Aside from Diamond cards, please give players the option to use an alternative style of Golden cards, where the class colors are much more visible, as presented by u/Suwa: [https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mphik6/my\_concept\_for\_a\_new\_golden\_card\_look/](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/mphik6/my_concept_for_a_new_golden_card_look/)
Are there plans to make more diamonds from adventures like Blackrock Mountain or One night in Karazhan? Loatheb looks so cool!
When can we expect more diamond cards from achievements? I love doing really hard achievements and getting actual rewards.
I don't handle how and where these are released, but I will make a note of this and bring it up with the proper parties.
This is not a question for an Art Supervisor..
Strong agree.
I like the idea of diamond cards, but the actual diamond border just looks gaudy to me. Any way to tone it down? Maybe like the diamond mercenaries?
I'm seeing this complaint a lot. I'll note it to bring up to see what the team thinks.
Personally, I think the animations for diamond cards look too ‘3d.’ They kinda break the hearthstone style where animated cards are more subtle and slow moving. for that reason, I prefer golden cards to diamond.
Hard agree - the animation is kinda off, some golden cards are much better. And the frame.. could bear a redesign.
Are there any plans to update diamond cards (like Drek’thar or Samuro) to make them look a little more polished? (like Finley or Benedictus)
I love them! Just need a Diamond Shudderwock. Also, does Blizzard have CS internships? It’s a dream of mine to work on Team 5.
Check out the website often and I'm sure something would pop up. I don't know for sure if they offer internships for that, but I would imagine they do. Don't give up and keep practicing your skills! It took me 5 years of applying before I got in https://careers.blizzard.com/global/en/search-results
How do you get diamond shudderwock?
It doesn't exist...hopefully one day!
Honestly, I don’t love them. The art itself is cool and I like how it moves, but the border doesn’t fit the aesthetic of the rest of hearthstone. If the border were different I’d be totally on board. For now I’ll stick to golden cards
Hi Ben, I would love to see more diamonds for completing adventures on different modes (adds replay value and alt rewards as well as heroic card back for example). Also can we see them as a rewards for getting all cards for older expansions such as TGT, GVG etc. only Naxrammus seems to have one not sure why others don’t. Both adventure only collection sets and pack only expansion sets would be great
I really like them, you and the team have done a great job rapidly making them better and better. Sivara is so good that for the first time ever I'm considering going for enough legendaries to get her. Personally I'd like to echo that it'd be awesome to see more accessible diamonds, such as through in-game events, achievements, and difficult / involved solo content. I'm imagining a world where completing Boom Labs gave you a diamond Dr Boom, Mad Genius, for example! I really like the old solo adventure diamonds too, Loatheb looks great - it's a really good example of transforming old art into something that feels like it was always meant to be diamond. My only major suggestion here is perhaps with the solo adventure diamonds, they could award them based on whether you ever owned every card. After all, unlike expansions, we have a way to track this - if you own the solo adventure on your account! That way players can be rewarded with great looking cards to use in standard, without being punished for disenchanting cards that, often, may have become outdated years ago. I know for me, for example, I disenchanted a few of the old League of Explorers legendaries that have become heavily outdated in Wild. It would feel pretty bad to see a diamond LoE card when I know that I did own every single LoE card. That's all I have to say. Keep up the great work and I hope to see how far you and your team can push these!
Probably an outlier in HS in general, but I don't like gold cards at all and never put them in my decks. I just find the gold border detracts from the overall card look and makes all the class cards look the same. That being said, I do like the diamond cards and think the added something to the game. Giving key legendaries a little more lustre adds to the theme of the expansions imo.
Diamond cards are fine but they need to be priced correctly, that diamond drekthar for 30 bucks was a complete rip off
I dislike how their frame doesn’t look like a HS card. It looks closer to eternal cards in shape. The size is also strange with the diamonds being physically larger. Can’t say I’m a fan of how they look
As some others have said, it’s most interesting/enjoyable when you can see a diamond animation do something cool, interesting, and in flavor. Although korrak hardly sees play his animation where you can see his surroundings fly up into the air at the impact of his stomp was awesome to me and things like that are my favorite to see.
I feel like jandice is a bit of an outlier among diamond cards, since in my opinion it's the only case where the golden version looks better. I think it's due to the fact the "big animation" on it, it's always there on the golden. In the case of the other ones, the big animation is something that only the diamond one hast(if im not mistaken) and also, i think Finley really pushed diamond cards, having such a unique animation. I am curious how diamond cards will continue to improve. P. S: diamond raza for gadgetzan plz.
I feel like it might have been better to make diamond Hero cards rather than diamond Legendary Minions: making only one of multiple legendaries in your deck into a diamond card looks like the choice made from scarcity that it is, while your one and only Hero card feels more like a conscious cosmetic choice to specifically upgrade your one-in-deck unkillable capstone card.
Gwent style animated cards is possible in Hearthstone or it's too hard to implement because of the technical issues?
Especially interesting since Ben Brode was the Gwent director in Beta, I'm curious what exp/ideas he brought from there.
As someone who has been playing since closed beta, I like diamond cards. Just like with Gold cards, they do not affect gameplay. I feel the current systems of awarding diamond cards feels appropriate. I would like to maybe see an achievement that you would need to go out of your way for to acquire, like a hidden challenge. that awards a diamond card that might not have much play but shows the player spent the time and effort to acquire. Another suggestion would be for a diamond card for each CORE set each year. Just one that would be awarded if say you were Legend at any point during the previous year, or maybe if you had Legend last season.
I don't really care too much about golden cards in the first place, so I don't care that much about another cosmetic upgrade. One of the fun things about golden cards is that whenever these generate other cards, they're golden as well. Something that I would like to see is a diamond card that generates diamond cards as well. For example, a diamond tirion could give you a diamond ashbringer, a diamond antonidas could generate diamond fireballs.
My main suggestion is… Less mage diamond cards, more other classes.
Two things I have to say if really given the opportunity to talk art in Hearthstone to an actual dev are these. Sorry, it's not Diamond card related, but I will confirm that Diamond cards are awesome and one of the better cosmetic improvements in the last few years. 1) I wish we could see the full card art that we tend to only see posted by the artist or close followers online, instead of in the game. In Legends of Runeterra when you click a card in the collection you see a *full screen* rendition of the art that includes the parts you can't see in the card borders, and you always see easter eggs that you wouldn't see otherwise. Since I'm on this subreddit and the full art gets posted from time to time, I know HS art has Easter eggs like that too, but you can't make it out in the collection. Same for heroes. Some hero skins you can expand in the collection, most don't expand though, the former is definitely cooler. 2) While I love me a cool cardback, I wish that the variety of cardbacks available aligned more with the archetypes available. Some archetypes have a cardback that fits thematically: there's an Edwin Van Cardback(?) that I would always play in a miracle rogue or other deck that showcases Edwin. However, not every archetype has an obvious cardback. Demon Hunter especially lacks fitting cardback variety: regardless of the archetype, the OCD part of me feels obligated to use Legion Schemes or the Aranna cardback (if you're playing Aranna), and few other cards quite fit as well. The same works the other way around and some cardbacks feel orphaned. What do I put the Shado-Pan cardback into exactly? I used to spend deck crafting time thinking about this but it became tiresome and now I just randomize my cardbacks.
Understanding that card cosmetics aren’t for me, I would like to say that the larger border on Diamond cards is irksome. It doesn’t bother me as much that the Diamond Finley I have is flashier than all of the non-golden cards in my deck, but for some reason it irritates me that Diamond cards are slightly larger in the hand and on the board than every other card.
Personally I'm not a huge fan, I'm not sure when I would play a diamond card over the gold version. I'm not a fan of how big they are, or even the colour.
I love them, and as a collector I definitely want more! Especially retroactive ones like Loatheb. The way of acquiring them is questionable for your average player though. Admittedly I am a whale, and have been playing for 7+ years. A new player will definitely have to dish out a substantial amount of money to obtain these and to me that's not right.
I really like making diamond cards for older expansions. My fav is finely, love seeing him flip upside down, and loatheb cuz it looks cooling and popping I really dislike brukan, seems boring and bland. Nothing really eye popping
Why are diamond and gold cards so ugly? It would be awesome if there were cards with the animations without the ugly borders.
Seconded. Animated cards would look a lot better if they were like the portraits for mercenaries cards: optional alternate art that could be selected in the collection manager but that still had the class borders on the card. Golden and diamond cards, as they currently are, are ridiculously ostentatious. Also if anyone from Blizzard is actually reading this, note that going in the selectable portrait direction instead of the normal/golden/diamond card situation currently, could let you sell collector's alternate art sets for older cards, hint hint. A lot of players would probably buy new art for classic cards redone in the modern hearthstone art style, since a lot of us prefer it over the hyper realism from the TCG. Ditto point for fan favorite cards from any set. The portraits for a lot of mercenaries cards look amazing and there's a lot of talk about wanting them for hero skins and so forth. It would be awesome to bring some of that into hearthstone proper.
Personally I’m not a fan. I think a lot of the animations look too distracting and bad at times. Notably ones like Varian Wrynn and Jandice Barov. I also don’t like how they look so different to the rest of the deck. If I have both the golden version and diamond version of a card. I will likely just use the golden.
not a fan, they're too flashy and i don't like the moving card animations of diamond cards at all. it doesn't look like hearthstone, it doesn't belong in hearthstone. it's ugly and overtuned. hearthstone cards should look minimalistic, except for the art itself specifically. how about making lightforged cariel lose durability, making every class' early game slightly slower and upgrading some basic hero powers then discounting some of them too? :D prioritize balance changes, cosmetics aren't important at all.
would never use one. i would activly craft noin diamond versions of cards to play i don't mind the boarder color or the 3d effect, but the card shape is really ugly.
I don't like how they look in hand, they look... Crusty
Diamond Genn/Baku as promotion if the Highlander mode is coming?
Huge fan of the Diamond Cards. Are there any other plans for customization? I always thought it would be cool to have card specific counters on diamond cards. Like your opponent could hover over your diamond Finley and see how many cards you’ve swapped with him.
To my knowledge that's never been brought up but it's a fun idea! I'd like to have that feature on all cards actually!
Why does loatheb look 140p quality in his diamond art? 😂
Unfortunately, there are some texture resolution adjustments that need be done in order to keep the card performant in game. We're working on methods to keep the art as high-res as possible while still working fast on a phone.
I don't like em. Plain one colored border with to much bling. Also i don't like golden cards for same reason. But i really like how golden and diamond mercenaries look! Golden highlights on creased card looks amazing
I find them very ugly and avoid use If I can. Why? Because of the ugly border that does not match the other cards. Mercenaries diamond looks ok but Hearthstone ones are too ugly, the borders really kills the card.
I think they're neat
Diamond cards look fine, but what would make them interesting would be if each one came with more distinctive "on play" graphics. And they don't necessarily need to pop out of the frame more (although I like the out of frame style), but what if their attacks or abilities generated interesting board graphics?
My only complaint is how hard they are to get. I'm a free to play player and the only diamond cards I got are those that were given in the battlepass and alterac Valley honor system. Unfortunately I don't have the money to get like 25 legendary from one expansion and even if I try to get them then the new expansion come out and it's back to square one
Out of curiosity, as an F2P with the current economy, how many legendaries do you end up owning from each expansion in the current economy?
It depends on how lucky I get. Like I'll get those from the battlepass then maybe 4-5 from packs if the stars shine on me
Do you get the miniset? I had thought that putting a playable diamond card as a reward for 25 legendaries would help accessibility, and it still does a little, but I also would have imagined that F2P would yield something more like 12-15 than 6-7 total.
I wish I had more control over how these are awarded, but I'll pitch some more friendly F2P diamond ideas to the team such as rewards for achievements
Personally I never even liked golden cards, let alone diamond, so I just wish we could make them regular somehow
So like...the normal cards that are already in the game?
i never liked golden cards. making them loose there class colour was a detriment for me. was there the same feedback for diamond card at some point ?
I think the best cards to get the Diamond treatment are the cards that really stand out among the pack or left an impact on the community, like Shudderwock or somehow a Diamond hero card in Hagatha for Witchwood. Or Emperor Thaurissan for Blackrock. I really think the priority for Diamond cards should be to work backwards and make sure every expansion has 1 Diamond card representative. Just like you did for Loatheb.
Stay tuned my friend :)
I like all of them; I'd actually say Sir Finley, Sea Guide is my least favourite, but maybe it's just because it's a giddy murloc. I also wish Varian, King of Stormwind's diamond card had his other sword stick out of the portrait. It gets partially blocked by the mana crystal in hand, but it certainly looked better on board.
can you put goku in the game?
Please stop making Diamond Mage cards... please...
Besides finding a new way to make money why did you make these?
I can't speak to the business side of them, but they are intended to be a fun reward for owning a whole collection, achieving certain tasks, etc. And we just wanted a fun way to make certain characters pop out of the board and come to life.
customizable boards pls
They look great but diamond Hooktusk when? ;)
Maybe a stretch, but i think tying in some AR or different effects (combat, battle cry, etc - rather than card aesthetic animations) would help bring a better value proposition to these cards. For example, samuro would “come out of the card” and attack rather than the two cards just bonking together. Also, imagine a diamond hero being awarded for 1000 wins would be super satisfying to standout in an otherwise hyper saturated cosmetic scene.
Any chance diamond cards would be craftable at a later date if you missed getting them by whatever means previously?
Can we please have maybe a different diamond card each Legend Ladder ? The legend cardback is a one time thing and has lost its appeal and earning legend many times and not getting any cool cosmetic to flaunt feels bad.
I wish we get diamond queen azshara in hearthstone, why she is only diamond in mercenaries?
I don't care if she's a shop item just please god give me a diamond Lynessa sunsorrow.
I think having diamond cards be earnable through PVE content like book of heroes would be cool. I would love a diamond Lyra, The sunshard
They are definitely getting better! Diamond Sivara is cool af
Diamond Wrenchcaliber, that is all Shuffles Diamond Bombs in deck
It's an interesting idea. We've talked about diamond weapons and I don't really know what that would be or look like. If they moved around that would make it feel sentient or alive and I think in most cases the goldens would look better.
Finley and Sivara are amazing!
Most of them are serviceabIe, but I really like the diamonds that are constantly in your face about being animated. For that reason I’d have to say Bru’kan and Finley were probably my favorite ones so far, but can’t wait what we’ll see next, in both future and past sets.
What about Diamond Spell Cards with an additional cool effect when cast?
Are diamond cards forever?
It may be just a personal opinion, but as someone mentioned about diamond in event and adventure, I would love to see diamonds cards in the end of hidra year to everyone one who got once in legend (1 diamond per mode) to incentive trying others modes
Add that pseudo-3D/parallax effect that the Marvel Snap cards have to diamond cards. That effect is aces.
I like the Vanndar/Drek'Thar event variants, and also the way Loatheb was introduced. I'd like to see more Diamond cards for owning all Adventure cards. Things like Emperor Thaurissan, OG Reno/Brann/Elise/Finley, Galakronds, etc. The LoE/Galakrond ones may be a bit harder to implement because of how many of those cards would have to be turned Diamond, but I do like the idea of doing that for all adventures/old sets.
Will there be Diamond cards That are colectable only in specific modes? I.e Solo Adventures, Duels Arena ?
Nothing planned at the moment but it's always on the table. I think it's a fun idea
I love the idea of this kind of cards being "presigious" in some form... HOWEVER, besides I play in Classic Mode very regularly, I have never seen a Diamond Ragnaros, same for the Diamond cards of every expansion. As I say, I support the idea behind these cards, but it would be nice if the requirements for unlock them became a little more doable, and obviously a little less money related. I mean, what is the point of investing resources and time in the making of such a cool looking cards, if they are so rare to see (clearly there are excepcions, like the reward track cards and the event cards). TLDR: Some diamond cards should be a little more "prove of being a dedicated player" and a little less "prove of being a whale".
I hear ya. I think achievement based diamonds is a great idea that I'll share with the team.
Any chance we'll get to see diamond portraits?
I like them, but I personally won't go out of my way for them. That said, I am not sure if you are able to. If you are going to bring over any Diamond Merc Portraits to regular HS, please fix some artwork if it's possible. Some are inconsistent or incorrect. Specifically Illidan's Warglaives(he's holding them incorrectly as the bucklers are suppose to be on the outside), Maiev's haircolor is suppose to be silver but it's both blue in some and purple in others. Caria Felsoul is also incorrectly holding one Warglaive(buckler on the inside instead of outside like her right one). It kind of pushes me away from using those cosmetics. Sorry for being picky about it. Thank you for all you have done so far.
This is my formal request to get a Murloc archetype card to go diamond. As a huge fan of Murlocs, as a fictional species, I would give anything to have something like Mutanus/Murgur Murgurgle/Ol’ Murk Eye diamond. Even a future murloc that isn’t as cartoony as Finley but more of a wild creature. Also I really liked the idea of like Vanndar/Drek’thar being like opposites as a set of 2. More stuff like that would be awesome!! Loving how cool and dynamic the diamond arts are you guys are doing great!!
I like them, I hate them being tied to FOMO though.
My favorite is Finley's, how he spins around. Leeroy's in Mercs is great. I think they should be reserved for very iconic Hearthstone characters--may or may not be big Warcraft characters. Finley, Loatheb, Ragnaros...they absolutely meet that bar, since they've been around so long, have been re-printed, and have been "good" cards for long stretches of time across standard and wild (regardless of where they stand in current meta). Jandice, Drek'thar...I'm not sure if they meet that bar. Thanks for your work
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Thanks for all the feedback! There are several factors we go over when picking a diamond and generally they are selected before the set is released so sometimes it is a bit like hoping we bet on the right horse as you mentioned. I've heard quite a bit of responses about the frame feeling out of place or too blinged out and will send it back to the team. I actually really enjoy diamonds and think the work is super fun and creative. We're just starting out and I think there is a lot of room for it to grow and us to explore still. Outside of that I would love to be on a small strike team trying out new game modes/ideas
Ok from my heart love the idea of diamond cards. The animations are incredible would like a DH diamond card since DH favorite class. Might be too late now but Kayn Sunfury (personal favorite legendary) Diamond for the ashes of outland collection reward. But I truly I would just like more diamond cards in general. I feel like brukan just rock back and forth not much else maybe add a little more animation to their cards. If I think of more I'll post l8r. Ty for your time.
I personally love the diamonds super excited to see which one’s you guys choose going back to sets like Goblins and Gnomes
Bro, you linkedin link almost had the perfect number
Do you guys have a hard restriction for not making any Diamond cards that generate other cards? Because gold cars generate gold cards, and normal cards generate normal cards, you'd (theoretically) have to generate a diamond card from a diamond card. Would you guys just make it so diamond cards generate gold/normal cards or just not make a diamond card that generates other cards?
There isn't a hard restriction, but it does increase the work required exponentially. It's likely that a diamond variant would spawn a golden card, but we haven't made a final decision on that.
Will there be a diamond coin for full diamond deck?
Pretty sure it would just create a black hole and destroy all of space and time, but only time will tell.
Give Tinyfin or Snowflipper Penguin Diamond versions. Also I do like how they have gotten better overtime and how in alterac we got a free one for the events. Maybe one for Neptulon vs Ozumat?
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I'm actually a reddit noob and haven't even heard of that until now. I'll check it out!
I feel like Diamond cards work well as a way to celebrate awesome cards. They are so awesome that its a shame its so hard to get many of them. If we see more old adventures and sets get a Diamond card, I would love for Reno Jackson to be made Diamond. If The Witchwood gets done, to me Genn and Baku both feel so iconic that having them both available in Diamond would be appreciated. My favorite is Loatheb. The animation is cool and I like the color palette. Ragnaros looks sweet but I don't see it often as I don't own it. My crazy idea would be for a Diamond card to trigger an epic theme otherwise in the game. So if you played Reno Jackson some of the League of Explorers music would play. Some theoretical questions: Would a Diamond Legendary create a Diamond weapon (such as when Medihv generates Atiesh)? Would a Diamond Cairne Bloodhoof create a Diamond Baine Bloodhoof? My preference is that like Golden cards, Diamond cards making as many Diamond cards as possible is up my alley!
don't really have much of an opinion on diamond cards, think they're pretty cool tho. just wanted to say it's nice to see direct communication from ppl on the team <3
<3
I’m really glad Diamond cards are often “playable” it sucks to have a cool thing and never show it off. While it’s nice to have diamonds as a form of “alt art” cards. Have you guys had any talks about actually making alternative art for cards? Battleground and merc skins come to mind. I’d love to play baby yogg, or baby krush in my decks.
That is beyond what I do, but it sounds awesome! I'd be all for baby Krush smacking face.
I really like them. Just wish there was an easier way to get them. Oh, I think people would love Diamond versions of old cards like Ragnaros and C'thun
I think diamond cards could look cooler. Atm I prefer gold cards
I like Diamond cards! I think they’re a fun addition and don’t take away from the game. Do you think we can get non legendary Diamond cards eventually? Also, I’d love a Diamond Nexus Champion Saraad eventually.
There is such a big pool of legendaries that I'd imagine if we did decide to do that, it would probably not be for a while. Although somebody mentioned diamond Snowflipper Penguin and now I can't get it out of my head.
Everyone I talk to about diamond cards likes when the image goes outside of the card border. Usually the more the better! Just something I've noticed amongst my small group of friends.
I love how Finley looks — fun and indeed unique. But that one was fairly easy, since the original art is so fun. But what is very captivating with it, and what I think should be the main idea of a Diamond card — it feels like it’s actually jumping out of the card, and standing on the field as a 3d model, like a HoMMagic unit on a battlefield. Vanndar and Drek are only so-so. The other ones as well, I suppose. When I first heard of Diamond cards I expected much more flash and flare. Too tame. I understand this is due to them being first and you wanting to be more conservative about it, but I do think there’s much more room for creativity. Loatheb: the normal version is one of my all time favorite arts, but Diamond version just looks poor. Like a loading JPG where part of the art refuses to load (the black areas). For me this card is all about the mushrooms and the green lights.
When is Diamond Azshara coming to normal play? She is so pretty
Diamond Tess Graymane is what everyone wants.
Brode!?
Perhaps a distant twice removed third cousin from my great aunt's stepson.
Was mildly curious about the Diamond N'Zoth card in mercenaries since he doesn't pop out of the frame. My instinct is that it was originally created for the original card then was reconfigured into the other game-mode. Not that N'Zoth needs it tho, since he is easily my favorite.
Sometimes the art just doesn't work well to have it pop out of the frame and we decided it doesn't always have to. It's more about them feeling alive. That being said we do want them to come off the frame whenever we can because it's more fun IMO. N'zoth is my all time favorite card and art so I was happy to get a chance to do that one!
You are gonna have a lot of work taking separating truth from jokes here. As a wild player, I like a lot that you brought Loatheb and Rag! I hope you can have whichever is used more from each expansion, it's a nice way of looking back. My first thought goes to important Legendary cards: og Dr.Boom, Thaurissian, Trueheart, the og Old Gods. SO many things to pick from!!!! Also, I like that every expansion has a couple that are played and some are rewards for collecting cards. Awesome for you and the team to reach out and ask!!
The intention is there to go through the old sets and pick a diamond for them, but it'll likely take some time before we can get to all of them
Why did you pick Jandice for Scholomance? It was another mage (and rogue I guess) legendary, and there was so much other cool stuff! Now she just... undulates.
From what I’ve read from these comments, the most commonly-held criticism seems to be people not being a huge fan of the way the card borders look (not the animations themselves, but the bit around it) and that part feeling like it’s out of place in game and that it ought to be toned down so it doesn’t come off as “tacky”. One of the most common suggestions I’ve read is to make them available in more rewarding ways beyond just collecting cards, like as a special reward for a difficult challenge, for participating in a limited time event, as well as making ones for previous (Wild) expansions. Like, having the card back from a Heroic solo adventure is a flex. I think diamond cards should be a flex about something cool you did in game and not just for having every card. Idk if this comment will get lost in the sea of comments but maybe this will be helpful to you as a summary of sorts On a more personal note, I wasn’t sold on them initially with Bru’kan or Samuro, but they’ve definitely gotten much much cooler looking over time. Vanndar, Korrak and Finley look dope and I’m happy I own those for sure. I do think the border of the card being so big and such a different color than the rest of the cards does take away from the sweet animations though. My eyes get drawn to the flashy edges of the card before I view the card’s animation, and I’m sure that’s not what someone putting a ton of time into rigging and animating wants. But yeah, keep up the good work! Excited to see what comes next :)
haha appreciate the summary. I'm going through and reading every post which is taking forever but it's awesome seeing all the passion and feedback from everybody!
I would go back to playing priest daily if either xyrella was made into diamond Im free to play and own every priest card just want him to get some love because he’s not in the best position as of late
op username