Hearthpwn

I don’t know if this has been discussed yet but feel free to lock if it has. 

I haven’t been around since the beginning but as far as I know, this is the first time there isn’t a new location for an expansion. It’s weird to me, has Blizzard commented on this? If not, why are they mute about it, it’s unusual.

It can’t be a financial issue that creating a background is too expensive. Why is it happening do you think?

According to Blizzard, content is done a year in advance. What happened here?

Is it just a fluke or a sign of something else? 

Not sure if there is a new board or not (i assume that's what you mean), but I wouldn't be surprised. Seems to be in line with a lot of downsizing. I am also not too fussed, I think they take ages to make and I stopped noticing them a few years ago.

At one point they've made a new board for a mini-set release. It was great!

But then they slowly started doing things: adventures, trailers of mini-sets, then trailers for the expansions, different modes, and now - boards. The game feels dying slowly; the team... Ugh, I don't even know who's the game's director anymore. Probably, some woke gen z dude with green hair whose sex will be hard to find in the dictionary?..

Those guys that did the intro for three latest expansion looked... ummm... rather unconvincing and just goofy. I didn't believe them, I didn't see the true engagement, the love for the game, for the community. 

It's sad, but it is what it is.

I don't remember the last time I looked at the board, let alone interact with it.

I think what they’ve got going on is with all the interactions of these newer cards, it’s created a nightmare of coding that they did all of it on the old boards, and you would have to go back in and make every card interact properly with the new board.  But that’s not an excuse.  If it was a free game from a company nobody heard of that's one thing, when it’s Blizzard & they charge you $50 for a couple of signature cards, yeah, you damn well better bite the bullet, pony up the cash, and make the new board.  Otherwise, you won’t have a problem with the next expansion as there won’t be anybody left to play.  

To clarify, the thread isn’t about if boards matter, that’s beside the point, obviously. The point is: why is the absence of a new board in the upcoming expansion (an oddity) not commented by anyone at Blizzard. It’s not like it’s a minor thing. 

It could be that they intend to sell boards instead of giving them away for free. I find it bizarre that they would just not comment on it, if only to make something up to hide their true intention. 

Maybe they're making the same play as with the change to quests.

"Oh, we didn't realise the community would be so shocked by this change. They miss their boards that much? Well here, you can buy new boards for just 500 runes a piece!"

Quote from Zizka >>

To clarify, the thread isn’t about if boards matter, that’s beside the point, obviously. The point is: why is the absence of a new board in the upcoming expansion (an oddity) not commented by anyone at Blizzard. It’s not like it’s a minor thing. 

 The Hearthstone Twitter account posted about this, telling us they will talk about sometime this week. This isn't "Nobody is talking about this at Blizzard" - they have, and it's also the reason why no dev has talked about it. Whatever it is, it sounds like it's much bigger than just the board.  We will get answers, just be patient. 

Quote from Zizka >>

To clarify, the thread isn’t about if boards matter, that’s beside the point, obviously. The point is: why is the absence of a new board in the upcoming expansion (an oddity) not commented by anyone at Blizzard. It’s not like it’s a minor thing. 

It could be that they intend to sell boards instead of giving them away for free. I find it bizarre that they would just not comment on it, if only to make something up to hide their true intention. 

If they comment on this before the new expansion gets released it could affect pre-order sales.
The fact that they didn't comment on this yet implies that they don't expect a positive response to their decision regarding this topic.
There's still a slim chance that they'll continue to make new boards and just postpone the PiP board if they expect a big enough financial loss as a result of the community outcry.
But if i had to guess i'd say that they'll try to make the bad news sound less bad by also announcing some good news at the same time and just ignore whatever criticism they'll get afterwards.

Quote from 17Ducks >>

At one point they've made a new board for a mini-set release. It was great!

But then they slowly started doing things: adventures, trailers of mini-sets, then trailers for the expansions, different modes, and now - boards. The game feels dying slowly; the team... Ugh, I don't even know who's the game's director anymore. Probably, some woke gen z dude with green hair whose sex will be hard to find in the dictionary?..

Those guys that did the intro for three latest expansion looked... ummm... rather unconvincing and just goofy. I didn't believe them, I didn't see the true engagement, the love for the game, for the community. 

It's sad, but it is what it is.

Speaking as a woke gay man whose hair was recently blue and who has a gender studies-adjacent PhD, I would like to assure you that my mob and I have no thoughts one way or the other on Hearthstone boards and the availability thereof. 

I don't know why there's no new board but we haven't cancelled them.... yet. I'll be keeping my eye on them.

As to the other point... you thought the last 3 expansion announcements looked bad? I've thought they looked cringy, awkward and unfunny since Un'Goro or whenever it was Ben Brode left. 

I'm not nostalgic for the old days of Hearthstone particularly and I don't think the game went to shit after he quit, or anything like that, but he sure was good at the marketing stuff.

Funny, enthusiastic, didn't take himself that seriously, looked comfortable and charismatic on camera. Judging by the quality of the videos since left, these aren't qualities shared by that many video game developers. Which is hardly surprising as it's not their job and not really an overlapping skill set. But they should perhaps hire actors/public speakers. 

Thanks! I'm not on twitter, good to know. I agree with the other poster that it'll probably cause backlash since they're tiptoeing around it. We'll find out soon.

There are so many cosmetic items in this game, I never would have noticed this.

Will miss the new music. It's always bangin Ans often hum it to myself 

The PiP summer theme is really nice though, a new side board with summer vibe music would definitely be a great add-on 

I can promise you I never gave a damn about a game board. Not since Saviors of Ulduum. They're irrelevant.

Quote from Zizka >>

To clarify, the thread isn’t about if boards matter, that’s beside the point, obviously.

 If they don't matter, then why make the thread?

Canaries don’t matter that much but unexplained canary death is taken very seriously. 

Quote from IanFromAccounting >>

Canaries don’t matter that much but unexplained canary death is taken very seriously. 

 Hearthstone is about 10x cheaper than it was at launch: duplicate protection, core set, free rewards track, free bonus events. All this while they introduce more non-gameplay affecting cosmetics like hero portraits and signature cards for the whales. The game has been trending to more free to play friendly since launch and selling game boards is another set in the right direction.