First, there was the yada yada corporate talk about them being supposedly sorry for not being open about the changes. Something that has been heard numerous times as of now, and it’s like they never learn. Yet, they still continue not being open about the changes that affect us. It’s all air talk.
If anyone truly believes they are sorry at this point, they deserve to get manipulated by them.
Some stupid stuff about HS being a game about the “ah-ha moments and the puzzle-y combat.” Whatever that means. Filler for the article, I’ll guess.
What follows are some empty promises about Arena, which, honestly, who cares? The bot problem remains.
Then… the crucial part.
They not only will not give a board for Perils in Paradise, but they went ahead and claimed that they will from now on only provide one board PER YEAR going forward.
Oh, and the excuse as to why? Implementing a Pet system, I kid you not!
That’s it. That’s the Looking Ahead article. Now tell me, what am I looking ahead to?
While making less boards, they’re giving more access and customization ability to the boards going forward. As someone who ignores the boards and doesn’t even know what they do when you click things, I don’t care and don’t find the change to be of any impact whatsoever.
I don’t know what they have planned for arena, but they say it’s big. It needs a big shake-up to stay relevant.
This is the most important part, in my opinion:
Hearthstone is here to stay. While it has evolved and adapted over the past 10 years, one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that there is an amazing team behind it, with as much passion and energy as ever. We have a fantastic upcoming slate of cards and themes, exploring new stories that can be told within Azeroth and beyond, as well as events and features that we hope will surprise and delight you all.
The emphasis is theirs. The game isn’t going anywhere at this time, so there’s still hope they can right the ship and change directions.
I think there is wide disagreement on what the game needs right now, and navigating that divide will be no small task. My biggest take away is that the game isn’t the game we started playing years ago as it has morphed into a different game. The most upset players seem to be the ones most nostalgic for the past.
I think the game is going in a good direction, although it’s a bit overtuned on this release. I also like shorter games and blowouts wins, so they’re making my day.
Ah, you just happened to return right when things were changing, with a pre-written wall of text about how this is actually a good thing. Sure thing, buddy.
I know long sentences and complex thoughts are difficult for some people, but others are quite adroit at organizing thoughts and typing rapidly.
None of this was pre-written.
I didn’t say it’s all a good thing, though.
I get where anything that isn’t doom and gloom seems positive to you, but others are capable of more nuanced assessments of situations, resulting in actual, productive discourse on a given topic.
I think anyone who has been around long enough is too sunk cost fallacied or addicted or simply bored, and thus will still play Hearthstone. The only difference will be the amount of people who pay. I haven’t given Blizz any money for Hearthstone is many many years. Hopefully with this news more people will realize this is the only way.
What I take from this is that game directors are on a big account-balancing endeavor.
They want to make the game smaller feature-wise so development time and costs are contained into the things that make money.
They want to take this development time into features that focus on these modes instead of taking more risks to expand the game with unsuccessful modes like mercs, duels etc
They want to come up with more enticing cosmetics, new seasonal events in twist and arena to make sure gold and dust sinks give ftp players enough fomo to open their wallets.
They will spend less money and time on complementary things that don’t give them money, like boards, thematic trailers, soundtracks etc.
So while I believe them when they say they don’t have a plan to shut down the game anytime soon, it seems pretty clear they are bleeding money big time. And ngl, their biggest problem rn is within the current design team. Not saying they’re incompetent, because they aren’t, but they need to seriously start learning how to make an enjoyable game that doesn’t prone half their players to rage quit and uninstall the game within a week of playing it.
Be careful what you say I’ve now had two posts removed from referring to the devs at all in them, I got a direct message saying so.
Apparently it’s against the ToS to mention devs of this game. Not clear if there are repercussions beyond just posts being deleted. I don’t care at this point as I will be leaving these forums shortly.
“Many members of the team (myself included) lurk in the Hearthstone communities because we’re huge fans of the game AND because we want your feedback. We have a shared passion and love for this game and want it to be the best it can be so we can enjoy it together“
Quoted from the “Going foreword “ recent announcement.
The hilarious part is apparently the people beating the “hearthstone is dead” drum can’t read well enough to spot criticism that isn’t over the top hyperboyle because a careful reading of my post gave them a mixed review and expressed concerns about their ability to navigate the divides in the player base.
You’re welcome. May the blessings of Elune be upon you.
Been F2P for years now. Not that I’m opposed to spend money on games. I in fact spend a lot, including HS at one point. But this team has done nothing to deserve another dime from me the past few years.
The second they require me to pay a penny I will uninstall forever. Unless they somehow manage to reverse course on their uninspired and lazy power creep releases every few months.
I dunno,i tend to believe that the people who didnt quiet a few years ago will never quit. But maybe 1 board a year will be the drop that floods the bucket so to say.
This is a really shortsighted way to run a business. It’s almost like most businesses these days have forgotten that the way to attract and retain customers is simply to provide a high quality product. There’s so much over complication that goes into calculating how to maximise micro-transactions short-term, rather than just focusing on creating a product that customers will give their long-term loyalty.
Many members of the team (myself included) lurk in the Hearthstone communities because we’re huge fans of the game AND because we want your feedback.
Nah, you aren’t lurking on the most popular topic in the OFFICIAL community, so I don’t buy it at all. They’re lurking on Reddit and X and that’s it. They aren’t even on Facebook.
Proof that they aren’t lurking here is what we saw here today where someone mass spammed the forums and not even a single moderator showed up.
I don’t even care about the board thing, I rarely notice those or card backs anyway.
I care more about the insane power creeping of cards and the constant lies told to us in the past.
They said there would be less charge minions because they understand it takes away from board interaction? We have more charge BS than ever before right now.
They said they don’t like non-interactive games, specifically metas where too much damage from hand exists. And yet here we are with a whole slew of decks that just do massive damage from hand.
They said they would would promise to communicate more and listen to feedback. They don’t do that at all unless the community unites with outrage and they seem to only respond as a way to calm the masses rather than work with them.
wow, what insightful considerations, it seems this thread’s creator must be a handsome, well-educated, tall, manly man. what a genius! he should become this site’s moderator!