Hearthpwn

I agree with all that. 

But your question was: "why do boards matter?" And the answer I was getting at was: "they don't, but reduced budget for free stuff might be a bad sign for the overall health of the game."

Quote from host_arnold >>

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?

 I don't know how to explain 'beside the point' any further. 

So based on the answer of Blizzard:

When we decided not to make a board for Perils in Paradise, we should have let you know earlier. Moving forward, we will ensure that you get early visibility on changes like this and give you more information on what we’re working on instead.

Couldn't agree more.

We are still planning to release one new board per year, but we also have some ambitious ideas that we know will be a significant undertaking. Pulling back from three static game boards per year to one allows us to begin work  on the coolest possible dynamic stuff - like a system to choose your favorite boards, and pets(!). We’ve also heard so much positive feedback about C’Thun and so are working on some truly groundbreaking new hero skins. It’s TOO SOON to go into more detail about what’s coming, but we will fast-track putting all existing Hearthstone boards into the Standard format board rotation.

I don't speak PR maybe someone can translate for me? One new board? Didn't each expansion get a new board in the past? I'm confused. 'Pulling back'? Is that PR lingo for: ''I'm letting you know we'll go from three boards to one''?

Quote from Zizka >>

So based on the answer of Blizzard:

When we decided not to make a board for Perils in Paradise, we should have let you know earlier. Moving forward, we will ensure that you get early visibility on changes like this and give you more information on what we’re working on instead.

Couldn't agree more.

We are still planning to release one new board per year, but we also have some ambitious ideas that we know will be a significant undertaking. Pulling back from three static game boards per year to one allows us to begin work  on the coolest possible dynamic stuff - like a system to choose your favorite boards, and pets(!). We’ve also heard so much positive feedback about C’Thun and so are working on some truly groundbreaking new hero skins. It’s TOO SOON to go into more detail about what’s coming, but we will fast-track putting all existing Hearthstone boards into the Standard format board rotation.

I don't speak PR maybe someone can translate for me? One new board? Didn't each expansion get a new board in the past? I'm confused. 'Pulling back'? Is that PR lingo for: ''I'm letting you know we'll go from three boards to one''?

 I don't know if this is meant to be a joke or not, but in case this is an actual question with some "stuff" added for flavor:

Instead of having three boards per year and a Standard set of boards consisting of those that are currently tied to Standard expansions, the plan moving forward is that they'll only release one new board per year, but also add Wild boards to Standard, let you pick favorites, and add customization options (pets).

They stress that they still continue to release one new board per year, so that people don't think they give up on them entirely, and "pulling back from... to...." is a way of saying that they shift their efforts.

So we’ve established the boards don’t matter. Hearthstone give away so much. Packs, gold, legendaries, frequent balance changes, awesome new cards, skins. This community is dark man. They could give away 5 legendaries right now and people complain and cry ‘oh but we didn’t get 10 wtf this game is dying’. 

Personally I think the game is slowly dying.  Not because of the lack of a new board (though this is perhaps a sympton), but because of the inability or lack of desire to try and release balanced, interesting new stuff.  I think they've lost sight of whats actually fun in a card game (though I concede this is obviously different for different people and whether you are using or facing a particular card).  Additionally I feel the tourist mechanic is just a cynical way to gate class cards behind a legendary. All of this reeks of getting as much cash as possible (and cutting costs) before pulling the plug.

That said (and in the interest of fairness), I do feel the game is more generous than ever with free stuff (though that wouldn't have been the case if the proposed quest changes had gone through).  I barely played for the last few months and still had over 6k gold for the new expac.  More than enough to get a few decks together.

I would say that the Devs don't seem to learn from their own mistakes adn that makes it seem like they've run out of ideas.  Shockspitter was a really unfun card that was vastly overpowered by design and led to some terrible game where you just died from hand.  It got nerfed and no longer see's play.  What did they print with this expac? Lamplighter - ends up being functionally the same in a class which can abuse it even more than hunter (Rogue). Brann became a universally hated card...so they printer Brann...which became a universally hated card.  Who could possibly have predicted this.../s

Ironically, docile individuals who complain about people 'crying' are also the same people who benefit from changes which result on pushback from the community (the pushback on the implementation of the first reward track is a good example). Keep on believing companies are your friends. If it weren't for people putting their feet to the fire when they try to pull a quick one, you'd have a lot less 'free' stuff than you have right now.

Read xdharma's reply on the first page if you're still confused about the decision on the board changes. He explained quite well. 

I believe people are overlooking the significance of aesthetics for the brand, not just for appearance. Saying that you don't care and can't remember the last time you looked at the board is like saying "I don't care what my cheeseburger is wrapped in. I can't remember the last time I looked at a wrapper." It's true. But if McDonald’s started wrapping their burgers in old newspapers, you'd probably be a little surprised. And no, that wouldn't be a good sign for McDonald’s as a whole. 

Quote from lv426a11 >>

Personally I think the game is slowly dying.  Not because of the lack of a new board (though this is perhaps a sympton), but because of the inability or lack of desire to try and release balanced, interesting new stuff.  I think they've lost sight of whats actually fun in a card game (though I concede this is obviously different for different people and whether you are using or facing a particular card).  Additionally I feel the tourist mechanic is just a cynical way to gate class cards behind a legendary. All of this reeks of getting as much cash as possible (and cutting costs) before pulling the plug.

That said (and in the interest of fairness), I do feel the game is more generous than ever with free stuff (though that wouldn't have been the case if the proposed quest changes had gone through).  I barely played for the last few months and still had over 6k gold for the new expac.  More than enough to get a few decks together.

I would say that the Devs don't seem to learn from their own mistakes adn that makes it seem like they've run out of ideas.  Shockspitter was a really unfun card that was vastly overpowered by design and led to some terrible game where you just died from hand.  It got nerfed and no longer see's play.  What did they print with this expac? Lamplighter - ends up being functionally the same in a class which can abuse it even more than hunter (Rogue). Brann became a universally hated card...so they printer Brann...which became a universally hated card.  Who could possibly have predicted this.../s

 

 

 That balancing part has been like that since they put a bunch of random Twitch streamers as their balancing team a few years ago.
Turns out that people who are good at the game aren't necesarily also good at balancing / designing cards (who would've guessed).

They are making aaaall the mistakes mtg was making in the early days (and more extreme), but the difference is Team5 isn't ever learning from their mistakes; they just keep repeating them.