Hearthstone’s most recent expansion – Rastakhan’s Rumble – followed the trend of the last few sets by introducing a brand new hero card into the game. This time, it was the forest troll chieftain and warlord, Zul’jin. He’s a well-known character in World of Warcraft, but how did Blizzard’s Team 5 go about adapting him for Hearthstone? Lead Initial Designer Peter Whalen told me all about it.
IGN: Before we dig into Zul’jin specifically, I’d love to know broadly what you’ve learned about designing hero cards – from the Death Knights through to subsequent cards and how that informs what you might do looking ahead.
Peter Whalen: The biggest lesson I’ve learned about hero cards is that people love hero cards. They absolutely love them. When we did the Death Knights in Knights of the Frozen Throne, people really liked them then. We took a set off and then we brought them back with Hagatha
Source: IGN.com Hearthstone's Peter Whalen on Designing Hero Cards and the Evolution of Zul'jin