Hearthpwn

I'm 100% genuine here:

I don't know if I want the announcement to be a total disaster or not. I think the worst case would be something inbetween a 'good' or 'bad' announcement.

I'm a whale (spent more than 1,5k Euro at this point), got all golden classes, reached legend and have a full collection. I am/was addicted to hearthstone.

 Since the last year was so incredible bad, I finally managed to play less and spent less. Basically I only bought the pre-orders and nothing more (that might sound bad/funny to some of you but for me spending only 50€ instead of 200+€ on an expansion is a HUGE deal). I still never miss a quest, but some days I only log in to re-roll 50s and do all quests on the 3rd day. So I finally managed to get control over my play habits.

To get me re-interested in the game Blizzard would need to do one or more of these things:

• 4 expansions a year, so the meta doesn't get stale so fast. The last 1-2 month of an expansion cycle feel so bad that I genuinely hate playing the game in that period. Or release more cards in a set. Why does nobody question the number of cards we get in a set? Back with GvG and TgT they had a fraction of people working on a set and they still release the same number of cards today, that doesn't make sense. Also I'd wish that they changed their design strategy when it comes to expansion cards. At the moment it feels like they design around 20% of the set to be playable in standard, of which 10-15% actually see play. 50% of the cards are made with meme and/or arena in mind. And 30% of the cards are meant to drive you mad when you open them in packs and to keep random-card-generating-effects in check. The way to make the meta feel fresher and especially healthy longer would be to switch these 3 numbers around. Design 30-40% with the clear intent of constructed play, maybe then the meta doesn't get solves in 2-3 Weeks. I'd also be fine with a mini-mid expansion after 2 Month, maybe with 2 neutral legendaries, 1 class legendary, 1 class epic (and maybe class rares/commons) that clearly are aimed to push a certain archetype more. Maybe release it for a set price of ~20€. That would help fight staleness as well.

• Create a final solution to the classic and basic set. Facing these same cards for YEARS gets worse every day. I'm an advocate for a rotating core set. It wont happen because they keep on nerfing classic cards (which they wouldn't need to if they planned to rotate them, right?) but maybe they have some other solution up their sleeve. If they don't want to do that, nuke the basic/classic set completely. Change every card that sees common play to +1 mana, I don't care.

• Announce 1-2 COMPLETELY new Modes to freshen up the game. Something like Sealed would be nice to me, building decks from packs, somehow create that sealed experience of passing packs around. I'd also love a mode of rotating sets as we have seen it with the tavern brawl. Basically anything that gives new deck building possibilities. A 2 vs 2 mode maybe? Something like 3-4 expansions (even from wild sets) that rotate monthly. Make old Tavern Brawls accessible, a pauper and or peasent format. Fix the Casual format. There is no clear purpose of it right now.

• Finally get a grip on wild mode. Everybody who plays it a lot knows that wild is a complete mess right now. Of course its playable, that's not the point. What I'm talking about is a VISION of what they want wild to be and then act accordingly. I'd also love a 'true' wild - legacy mode where cards are unnerfed and a mode like the current wild with balance changes. The way its now is horrible, something unclear in between. Some broken stuff gets nerfed, some others like Big priest roam free. I want a clear answer on what they want to do and how they are going to do it. All the nerfs to classic and basic cards hit the wild mode so hard, it makes me really angry. I get that a 2 mana equality for EVER in standard can not be handled. No questions asked. But why is the solution they take to make the card unplayable and delete every wild control paladin deck in the process? That's what I'm talking about.

• Do something about the social situation with this game. Hearthstone has always been trying to sell this 'tavern' fantasy. However I've never felt more lonely in hearthstone than in any other game. The friend request system is HORRIBLE. If I want to add someone out of genuine interest, they don't accept it out of fear of harassment. If I accept one in around 80% of the time I get told to watch my family burn to death in a car crash. And even if it miraculously happens and 2 like minded people meet - (at least in my case) - after 1-2 weeks they just turn into Number #57 on the list, I have no idea why I added them in the first place, nobody dares to write the other person first. Silence. What do I want: a complete overhaul of this system. Add GUILDS. Some form of Chat lobbies like in Warcraft 3, moderate them! Anything to improve this loneliness would help.

• Finally, do something for the long term, committed player base. I get that new player acquisition is the most important thing for Blizzard. Fine. I think they really nailed it right now with ranks 50-25 and giving out free stuff. However its time to give 'us' something. Us players that spent a lot of money, that genuinely care, that went with Blizzard through thick and thin and stayed loyal. Give me some sort of progression system outside of ranked that makes me interested in playing the game again. The one thing I'd love the most would be a WoW-esque achievement system. I'm talking HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of Achievements. Tie cosmetic rewards with them or simple in-game currency. The thing is - if they focus more on new player stuff or fixing their competitive environment - only a fraction of players can theoretically gain anything from that. Achievements - even if they are clearly aimed at the more invested and long term player - can improve the game experience for everybody in theory.

• Add more cosmetic rewards. One thing I've been telling myself for YEARS now is that I've never seen a game with so much potential as hearthstone. But for some reason they never act on it. In terms of (sell-able or acquirable through play) cosmetics there is so. much. stuff. they could so. New boarders like the golden one, titles, custom emotes, custom game boards, let us upgrade normal cards to golden cards, .... There is so much that can be done here.

• Improve ranked game play. Don't allow me to face the same player twice. Counter-queuing feels horrible. Even in Wild at non legend ranks it happens all the time, even if its the same decks. It really feels bad to me at least. Just prevent that from happening, please. Also personally I don't see any motivation to play ranked to higher than rank 5. I've hit legend and got the card back - there is no real reason for me to repeat that. I hit rank 5 just by doing quests after around 3-10 days. For the other ~25 days I only feel empty and not motivated to play ladder at all. (please don't tell me to enjoy the game just by playing it - blizzard would need to implement one or all of the points above first so I could enjoy it again).

• Get a better collection manager online. The current one is not bad at all. Don't get me wrong. but after 5 years the game basically looks the same as when it came out. Like an old car - it did its job and you genuinely like/d the car, but now its time to move on to something new and better. Let us drag/organic decks, let us store decks and deck codes in-game, show us the cards that get generated by other cards (Lich king/Ysera cards for example) In the collection manager.

I think I could go on for a bit but the message is clear. I need some general changes / overhaul to the base game in a way I outlined above to get me back. Otherwise I will quit, I've managed to play and pay less hearthstone and for the first time in 4 years it feels like I have the chance to get away without feeling bad. So again, I don't know if I want the announcement to be a blast or a catastrophe, lets see. =)