We already see it epsort down alongside with the streams even really getting views like they used to. Then on top of it, Blizzard had to fill the lower ranks with bots to counter the lack of new players. How is it magic the gathering still going strong and Hearthstone like Titanic with people still on the ship listing to music as it sinks?
You think with all the bad design choices they would learn but don’t just keep making it sink faster. How Micorosft going to save the title in the shape it is currently in is beyond me. This new expansion is just another example of bad design choices to push the game more toward disaster.
It has been somewhat by choice just look at path expansions and current one more same old stuff nothing new. Since old gods, the game went downhill expansion-wise, it just repeats the same old stuff. More discovery, power-creep, manna cheat, and card draw it like a broken record on repeat.
Nathria was a hell of a expansion but people did by choice want cards like theotar nerf instead of make an effort to build decks who did not Win and lose by denathrius.
I not saying that there aren’t other issues.
But the biggest one is that. A culture of victimism even in a damm card game.
People are going to play what Blizzard prints in this game, and team5 pushes game design, not players. If Blizzard prints fewer discovery, manna cheat, and power-creep cards, no one going to be playing them.
If blizzard prints less of then people will play the ones that blizzard printed even if only 5% or less of the cards.
It’s really dumb that people still think that blizzard does not learn anything.
The problem is that people act all big but when it reaches the time to proof what they said they just don’t.
Basically people say they want an engaging game but when mechanics that make you think more are created they start yell like crazy instead of sit and learn.
You’re saying it player’s fault for the current Hearthstone, not Blizzard’s design choices. That sounds crazy it would be like COD having a weapon fire a nuke and kill everyone on the map. Course people going to play it because people like to win games and even if it is broken. Same as if it was a card but still dev made thing not the player at the end of the day.
I saying that blizzard created the game people gave feedback for.
It’s not a situation where someone is guilty or innocent.
Blizzard could actually have been better and bited the bullet thinking about the future of the game instead of only about the backslash on the decision of going against the playerbase at the time for example.
The client always has reason is one of the biggest lies of commerce in general.
I just saying that it would help a lot if people were more conscious of their feedback impact on the long run because it’s part of the reason it is in that state in first place.
it’s players fault that the game is frustrating ? no it’s in blizzard side where 's the problem , having a rock paper scissors meta just makes frustration and overpowered cards that hit the board and are uncounterable like denathrius , then geoler then more than this with colossus cards and all the other BROKEN cards not exhaustive ! ROFL.
first : they should nerf a ton of cards for balance sake . and balance all modes
second : they should award arena tickets you gain in standart and duels tickets.
We don’t have a real rock , paper in YEARS.
What we have nowadays is people making gigantic dramas on 45/55 matchups like they were really polarized or isolated cases.
You should read again.
Talking about the playerbase reaction to content not makes blizzard innocent from anything.
It’s really shows how people love to self victimize instead of consider by mere 1 second that some directions on this were pushed by players and that maybe there is something they actually can do.
They prefer this.
I say that because i know people can be better than that.
Otherwise i would not even make the effort.
man i am sure that you are talking to the millions of players who leaved this game because they wasq feeling the game was imbalanced between archetypes , or top legend players actually playing that say the same things as me ?
Not defending Blizzard here, just wanted to point out that the players make the Meta. Blizzard could certainly choose what the best deck will be if they wanted to, but after that all they can really do is pray that the resulting meta will be somewhat balanced.
It’s literally impossible for them to playtest enough to have it balanced (that’s also assuming everyone had the same definition of a balanced game, which I assure you they don’t). They likely get more data (more accurate too) from the first 24 hours of an expansion than they do in a year (or however long they have these in the works) of playtesting before release.
The best deck will be ‘ROCK’ and then ‘PAPER’ and ‘SCISSOR’ decks will come about as a natural result of people playing. People will want to play the best deck or the best decks counter and so on. Nerfs and buffs only help briefly, if at all, to eliminate ‘rock, paper, scissors’.
That being said, all this discover nonsense and mana cheating doesn’t help at all. I don’t know how it’s possible to even try and balance a game where half the cards played in a game might not have started in either deck. 1 or 2 mana cheating cards is fine, but they have so damn many now it’s frustrating.
No, the meta is created by blizzard rather than the players. They may not be insightful enough to know what meta they’re creating, but it’s still them making it. The best decks possible are an emergent fact about the cardpool, and the cards are made by blizzard. The players just discover the meta, they can’t will a deck into being tier 1 by wanting it enough.
e-sports is in decline in general, it’s not Hearthstone specific. Funding is declining too as game developers are no longer willing to invest as much money into e-sports either.
I think the problem with e-sports is that you have to be really into a game to understand what is going on. It’s a very inaccessible medium compared to regular sports or movies. It’s the reason chess tournaments never really went mainstream.
Investors massively overestimated the potential audience for e-sports, which turned out to be much smaller than anticipated.
LA Times (December 2022)
The hype around esports is fading as investors and sponsors dry up
The once-thriving esports industry has fallen on hard times as funding sources dwindle and signs abound that athletic competition via video games doesn’t have anywhere near the earning potential investors anticipated.
Since the summer, Team SoloMid and 100 Thieves — the two most valuable esports organizations according to Forbes — have terminated dozens of positions in total. In November, Evil Geniuses, one of the oldest esports groups, disbanded its North America team that competed in the highly popular game “Defense of the Ancients 2” and shifted their operations to South America.
Game publishers, too, are shrinking their esports operations and that’s trickling down to tournament organizers, teams and players. In early November, Riot Games said it will close its official Wild Rift leagues outside of Asia next year, choosing to focus solely on the world’s biggest mobile gaming market. And a popular Super Smash Bros. was terminated after not getting a license from Nintendo.
This is exactly the point. When you lose to a deck, it is skill issue. When they lose to a deck, “reeeeee blizzaaaard! FIX IT!!!”
It’s so predictable and yet so dumb.
Blizzard needs to stop looking at top 1k as the pinnacle and start balancing the game where there are actual players.
And I am going to take flack for this, but E-sports are dumb.
They dramatically over-estimated the interest. I know lots of people that drink, eat, hang out, play yard games, and gamble based on NFL, Serie A, EPL, and other sports. I know no one who acts this way about e-sports. Ever. At all.
They should just make good games and leave the “pro scene” to everyone else.
