Aside from Blizzard walling off Arena by making it too expensive to play now, the biggest issue with most modes of the game (standard, battlegrounds, arena to a degree) is that they design cards with the intention of making very specific deck types super easy to navigate for even the lowest-skill-level player. From a revenue standpoint, I am certain this is the company’s best strategy, short-term. But what that creates in the long term is a mindless grind of an experience where nearly every game plays out the same way. I have been playing the game since 2016 and I have never seen a time when there has been less in-game decision making or thought as to how to navigate not only your deck, but around your opponent’s. Most matchups now are simply paint by numbers: draw good card, play good card. Rinse and repeat with little deviation until someone is at zero health. I know people complain about power creep, which I agree with to a point, but the bigger issue to me is the game play is just so damn boring and predictable, regardless of who you queue in to. It has been like this for a while, but it wasn’t always this extreme of a problem, IMO. As a former MTG player, the thing that hooked me on Hearthstone was the creativity needed — both with deck building and in-game decision making — to be a successful player. While both of those can still be useful, they are not a requirement to win with one of the four or five “top” decks that get spoon fed to the general player pool each meta. And that’s without mentioning what appears to be clear neglect from a tech standpoint, ie, crashes/disconnects etc.
This has been a thing in card games for years now, well before Hearthstone existed. A lot of people don’t care about the creativity/homebrew aspect n just wanna win n dunno how to properly homebrew themselves.
That’s what happens in anything ranked, because you HAVE to win
Welcome to Mobile Gaming. It’s been like this for nearly 20 years.
But it was, as soon as you reach competitive ranks
As with anything, the novelty wears out, only the motivation prevails. Or discipline, but that kinda comes along with long-term motivation.
That is, if you believe in motivation.
Ofc they are, if your plan is to win consistently and find wins where 99,99% wouldn’t
Welcome to constructed modes in every card game ever.
You are probably in top-100 if you think that Owlonius Druid or Starship Warlock are easy.
Or you just don’t consider the existence of these decks bc they are too difficult for players of low ranks, so difficult that you don’t encounter them and forget about their existence, and it means that devs actually don’t have the intention that you mentioned.
Sorry, the problem is on your side anyway. You are too good, so good that decks that are difficult for the majority are easy for you – or you are relatively bad, then you should consider that such decks exist before judging.
This is a fair assessment, I just think it glosses over too many nuances. I am definitely somewhere in between the skill levels you mention. And of course there are outlier decks within the meta that require thought to navigate well. But as you point out, the average player pool is not experiencing those decks on a regular basis. 99% of decks align with the devs’ predetermined desire for gameplay style for that meta, which in turn makes them inevitably paint by numbers and boring, IMO. I also understand, as many others have pointed out, that this is typically how mobile card games are and have been forever. I don’t argue that. My problem and contention is that Hearthstone was once one of the best of these games bc it DIDN’T lean into that style or design as much as the others. For instance, waaay back when Jade Druid was wreaking havoc on the meta, like 8-9years ago, I hated that gameplay bc it felt predictable and gave opponents little agency to play against. BUT, I didn’t hate that meta or think about quitting the game bc there was a large enough pool of players in standard playing interesting decks/styles. Over the years, HS devs went from designing for one or two paint by numbers decks per meta, to making the whole meta that way. Bottom line is, if you find that style of play interesting, more power to you. I personally don’t. Obviously all of this is subjective, and I, and what I find entertaining in this game, likely have both changed in the past 10 years. Regardless of what the devs have or haven’t done. My point in posting at all is to respond to what most of us who have played the game for a while seem to be feeling — that the game isn’t that interesting right now. At the end of the day, it’s about personal taste. Some people like broccoli and some don’t. Neither is wrong.
You’re correct.
You don’t know How to express It as much as you think but you’re correct.
I could Go deeper on How the game got there but to really go deep i would have to explain stuff like how many choices made to make the game healthier are cumminating to this scenario and we have to ditch some of those but i think people aren’t prepared for this discussion yet.
If i would fix this.
For starters i would make all specific type tutoring in the game cost atleast 3 mana. No exception.
By specific i mean any tutoring that is any more specific than saying “a minion” or " a spell".
And then proceed from there dealing with the issues that would 100% happen.
That because the first and most important thing to make decks and matches not play like a movie is card draw variance.
If everything is always on hand you don’t need to navigate your game plan.
Therefore tutoring has to not be the First answer to everything.
Then some cards would probably have to Go to chop block and in this case we are talking about either nerfs that Will make they never see play again or Just outright banning to wild.
Both are “good enough” to me nowadays.
And after that nightmare leave a Memo on disruption design on devs desk.
It is important that they design more or less fair disruption.
And by more or less fair i mean exactly that. One example i like to talk about is How Far watch post should make into the core.
Nothing is better than it to punish decks that go draw heavy trying to combo you as early as possible while being a decent choice of a card.
They either stop drawing one turn to answer It or accept it’s devastating effect.
Well said. Agree with all of this. Again, most if not all, of what you mention as needing to be fixed or done away with were all things they did as active choices to make the game more paint by numbers for the newest and most casual player. My whole reason for posting was I see/hear players complaining about the state of gameplay as if it just evolved by accident this way. It didn’t. This is Blizzard telling us which players/customers they value more. And BTW, it is their business and they have a right to try to make as much money as they can. So when they make these decisions they feel will make them the most, so be it. It just isn’t for me the way it used to be anymore. I assume they have calculated for the loss of players such as myself (I am far from a whale but I used to spend maybe a $50-$100 a year on the game but haven’t in a couple years now bc of these changes). But maybe I give them too much credit.
Seriously, do people want to win at video games?
Seriously, do people cheat and hack just for the clout of saying they have the ability to?
Seriously, do elitist condescending p.o.s. constantly try and make people feel bad about speaking thier mind?
Seriously.
First of all, they lost, doesn’t mean someone hacked the game, suck it up. Second, hacking a video game and an online game are different, the latter requires hacking the server in this case, which isn’t just going to be a slap on the wrist if you’re caught. Third, how about practicing what you preach?
I’m gonna have to call you out a bit Raiden… you sound like a child throwing a tantrum. These people are pointing out their opinions on the format of a game they used to enjoy… we understand their will always be trolls, hackers, and people that abuse on the internet… but just because those people exist doesn’t mean we have to say “Here kids, get into that unmarked van”, or “that person threw a brick through your window, well it happens” … we as a community want to steer away from that, and have fun with people in an online game that we enjoy… rather than just “deal with it”