I’ve been playing HS since Whispers and even back then I knew there were good aspects (convenience, creativity, and sportsmanship) and bad aspects (deck manipulation, card copying/stealing, spell burn decks, roping, and mindless aggro). The good parts kept me playing but I had to create a firewall against the bad so I confined myself to Casual so as not to be punished for conceding. I also love building original decks so Wild Casual became my natural home in the game.
Recently, I took a tally of the elements I found contentious and autoconcede to and the results surprised me. I probably concede four out of five matches anymore, not because the decks cant be beat, but because the decks and sometimes the players just zap any fun that might’ve been had. Couple that with constant iOS compatibility issues, sometimes leaving the game unplayable for weeks on end and it’s little wonder why. I’m still coming back but far less now and I’m starting to think they game may not have anything left to offer, at least for me. Battlegrounds holds no interest and Wild Casual is quickly approaching the same. Any other long time HS players feeling the same in any regard? What’s your take on HS’ evolution/devolution?
Imaginary Pressure - I had it in my head for a long time that if I wasn’t doing all I can to reach the highest rank possible, I didn’t deserve to play. This caused a lot of frustration and burn out.
Too Much Content - There is so much HS content, streamers, etc out there that I was beginning to become consumed by it - this caused me to tire of the game.
Weak-Minded - Consistently being referred to as a “snowflake” because I don’t care for emote spam made me feel like I had to endure BM otherwise I was “weak” or “soft.” I don’t push the auto squelch issue, but if they were to implement, I would probably tick that box.
Sportsmanship - I legit do not know when to properly use emotes because everyone interpets them differently. It’s bad if I don’t issue well-played after every match. It’s cocky if I WP after a win. It’s good if I WP after a loss. You should take your loss and play through a losing match. It’s only polite to concede. I don’t even know anymore.
Self Esteem - As much as I hate to admit this, I think a small part of my self esteem was tied into my rank. I took a break from the game and found other hobbies I enjoy in addition to my mobile games.
These are probably the biggest reasons I’ve quit…but what keeps me coming back are the friends I’ve made here. I genuinely miss them or sometimes a fun match will pop into my head and I miss it.
It’s like home to me - I might go out and explore other options, but I always come back and then kick myself because if I would have at least maintained…I’d have a lot more gold.
I could delve much deeper into this topic but I think you get the gist.
The problem with Hearthstone is that it wants to be both a competitive game for dedicated players and an “anything can happen” casual game for casual players.
As such it doesn’t really please anyone. Competitive players are frustrated with the RNG, while casual players are frustrated with insane decks that feel like being trampled over without even having the ability to do something.
Emotes are a failure, because they rely too heavily on how people interpret them.
The community… eh… guys, this is a game that anyone can install and play, it’s a hit or miss like every other community out there. Good and bad apples a lot. However, due to the tilting nature of high-rolls and RNG it tends to bring out the worst in people.
I’ve burned out three times on Hearthstone that resulted in long breaks. And all three times have zero to do with the above. The issue with Hearthstone is that it wants you to play, to play and play, until you get that one amazing game. No matter win or loss, just that one game where you feel satisfied by simply playing.
That’s the match after which you go “Man, that was awesome!” and you stop playing afterwards. The issue is that between those games you have at least 50 matches of blandness.
And if you try to take that blandness seriously as a videogame - you burn out, because it’s like trying to dig through concrete with a spoon. You might chip a small chunk or so and it technically gets you further… but it still feels like one huge waste of time.
If you ask me: you’re doing it right - just play Casual and concede if you don’t feel like playing and move on. That’s the only way not to burn out at this point.
Another sure way to really enjoy the game again is to find a community of people and/or close friends to play the game with. Yeah it’s the “better with friends” argument but it works. Especially if you’re in the same room/bar/café etc.
Definitely agree here. One of the Discords I’m a member of and check in every now and then has several pros who b*** quite vividly about the highrolly nature of the game, be it RNG to who-drew-the-wincon-first. Then you get other players on here and elsewhere, the more “casual” crowd who get burned out if it’s the same dang match every time.
Which is why I play Elemental/Cyclone Mage when I’mfeeling burned out on the meta - it’s a crazy rolllercoaster pretty much every match lol
That’s one of the big reasons I like our Discord that the members from here made. I’ve got folks on my friends list from there and these forums that I know will challenge me to a match and use something I’ve probably never seen before. It’s refreshing as hell. I had a coworker who played with me on the night shift, but I’ve moved to days and he no longer works here. Those nights when we had spare time to get a lot of games in were hella fun, though.
So much I agree with in this post.
1- I, too, feel the frustration and self-esteem issue associate with rank. As a result, I almost exclusively play casual. I’ll get my 5 ranked wins each month. And sometimes I may try to run up to rank 15. But that’s enough. To be on a streak at 16/2 and only need one win to hit 15, but then I lose and drop to 16/1 and now I’m 3 wins away. Aaaaarrrrgghh!!! It’s so infuriating. (inb4: Lol rank 16… Fine, just imagine it’s rank 6 going for rank 5.)
2- This hasn’t really affected me. I really enjoy the select streamers I watch. I only watch youtube videos, so they are typically highlights (or lowlights) and almost always interesting. My favorites are Thijs, MisplayTV, Regis, and Warshack (I’d watch you more Rob if not for the potty mouth).
3- As one who does advocate for the auto-squelch, I’m with you here. The emotes really, really bother me. Even a comeback win after my opponent drops an obnoxious “Well Played” prematurely isn’t really satisfying enough to offset that sour taste of the emote.
4- Again, the obviously obnoxious emoting before lethal really bothers me as well as obnoxious emotes in response to a bad play. So I squelch. I’m not interested in pleasantries offered from a complete stranger through an emote on a phone game, so I feel no loss missing out on them due to squelching.
5- This is kinda the same as #1.
Now, none of these have led me to quit. I did, however, make a conscious decision to spend less money on the game until they decide to implement an auto squelch toggle. But I continue to play, but almost always on casual and almost always with squelch.
I’m actually in that Discord but I just don’t type much, I just lurk and look for fun decks to play.
Same here, Chenvaala mixed with some other cards that synergize well with a lot of cheap spells is just glorious and that Avalanche card is a beast! (Ok, it’s an elemental but you get my point)
I watch SaucyMailman because he only plays Wild and sometimes RisaiTV because he’s so chill and thinks about his plays. He’s also really good about answering questions in chat.
I’ve watched Rob a couple times but I’m not much of a drinker, and I feel that he’s after a more adult audience and that just isn’t me.
I took a break and really focused on analyzing myself and learning how to enjoy the game.
I played a few matches last night and my losses didn’t nearly hurt as bad so I think I’m on the right track.
Love me some Regis. A fellow St. Louis man, as well!! I’d call Kibler the better deckbuilder/player, but in terms of straight content, Regis is easily my favorite HS personality.
I like Regis, but just the actual gameplay videos. Kibler seems a bit too … pretentious? Misplay is great at explaining all his plays (even his misplays)… just gotta get accustomed to the accent. And Thijs, of course, is the goat.
Spot on, Bos. I also will add that it can bring out the worst in people when it feels ‘unfair to lose‘; be it due to RNG, the insane decks you have to play to win (power creep is a factor there), or the net-decking some might feel that makes any player look smart (when they aren’t really), and how quickly predictable the games become as a result when you see the same few decks over and over.
The whole ‘premise’ of Hearthstone is that it supposed to be a FUN, STRATEGY-DRIVEN little card game. Too much RNG (a bit is fine) and predictability take those two out of it.
I do think though that there are solutions to fix these issues so it can return to at least being fun and about strategy rather than ‘pure luck’.
What, really? How about a custom game mode where you can play with your own rules? At the very least, since you say “return”, you could just ban all of those new pesky OP un-fun cards to have a battle like in the good ol’ days just like the game is meant to be played. But maybe you can think of something even better. Although it depends on what they would allow us to change. And of course if it’s ever going to be a thing. But I’m hopeful because it would be the best for everyone: Tryhards can play even more competitively and casual players can have even more fun. The best of both worlds!
