Hearthpwn

Hearthstone's Most Wanted Emotes

Emotes. It’s a wonder how something so simple, so brief, and so seemingly innocent can cause such strong feelings. Emotes are a surprisingly divisive topic among the Hearthstone community, so with that in mind, it seems prudent to acknowledge a few things before we get started:

• A lot of players want there to be NO emotes in the game at all, let alone any more then we currently have available.
• A lot of players want there to be an auto-squelch feature instead of any more emotes.
• A lot of players feel that no matter what emotes there are or aren’t the majority of opponents are going to use them in bad manners (BM), so what’s the point?

If you fall into one of the above categories, reader beware! The rest of this article is going to talk about the emotes that the community most wants to see added to the game. Feel free to skip right ahead to the comments section and let us know which category you’re in and why! That being said, let’s begin!

“Sorry”

By and large, the most wished for emote was one we actually used to have. “Sorry” was replaced with the “Wow” emote around the time that the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion was released. Pretty much since then, players have been clamoring for its return. Not big fans of its replacement, even a year and a half later the request is still going strong.

So why did it disappear and why do people want it back? Well, according to Ben Brode, it just wasn’t very useful and they already had “Wow” recorded…but a large portion of the internet suspects it was because players were abusing it and it got annoying.

The people who want it back seem to want it to genuinely express an apology. Maybe they had to answer the doorbell and accidentally roped their opponent, or their opponent had a terrible run of RNG and they want to express something like “that was bad luck”. The “Sorry” emote could encompass a lot of different meanings in one, and sure not all of them were polite, but that’s life.  

“Good Game”

I know, I know, doesn’t “Well Played” already cover this? Well, it does…and it doesn’t. A lot of players want a dedicated emote instead of having to rely on “Well Played” for everything. They argue that “Well Played” is too generic, or too overused, or too perfunctory.

Many complain that “Well Played” is used sarcastically too often for it to serve the purpose of genuinely wishing your opponent a good game. A common wish is to be able to say some variation of “Thanks stranger, for taking the time out of your day to play a game with me for our mutual enjoyment” but since that won’t fit in a speech bubble some form of “Good Game” would work.

Perhaps you wouldn’t want to use this with every opponent, for instance with a habitual roper, but some games just stand out as being exceptionally fun or well played and you want something a little more meaningful than an end of game “Well Played”. Considering this emote would be used only at the end of a match, it might not be realistic for Blizzard to create an emote that’s a one-trick pony, but who knows? Keep hope alive, GG-ers!

“You’re Welcome”

We already have a “Thanks” emote and a large number of players wish there was a companion emote to go along with it, a simple “You’re Welcome” emote. Whether that’s because they want to genuinely say “You’re Welcome” to a genuine “Thanks” or use it for more nefarious reasons, that’s up the individual player and game. Either way, this emote has been requested again and again by community members.

Polite players looking to respond to their opponents “Thanks” currently only have the option of saying “Thanks” back and hoping their meaning gets across.

Overall, the majority of requests for new emotes seemed to be serious and genuine. Most players who want more emotes want them for additional interaction with their opponent. Sure, there was a fair amount of sarcastic suggestions and plenty of emotes that could only be meant to BM, but they weren’t the main part of the conversation. 

Bonus Emotes

The following suggestions weren’t as popular or discussed as seriously. Even if it’s highly unlikely they’d make their way into the game, they’re still worth mentioning. Whether that’s because they’d be dead useful or just good for a few laughs is up to you to decide.

• “Seriously?”
• *sigh*
• “Hurry up!”
• “BRB”

It’s impossible to predict if Blizzard will add or change any emotes in the future, but what do you think? Do you wish emotes would go the way of the dinosaur? Do you think emotes would just result in more BMing or would it make the game friendlier? Do you tend to use emotes in a genuine or sarcastic manner? Are there any emotes you want to see added? Let us know in the comments!