Agreed. I really think the outrage is way out of proportion personally.
Blitzchung used an official Blizzard tournament to advertise his personal political stance. That is not acceptable and deserves a punishment whether his stance is ,,right,, or ,,wrong,, and Kibler did acknowledge this. People take this as Blizz saying ,,Ye we don't support freedom and human rights so you can't say that stuff on our broadcast,, which is obviously not true.
Maybe the penalty was too severe...but you can't expect a company to risk loosing millions of dollars from the China market just because of one player that broke the rules.
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Even if I play Magic The Gathering since 25 years, I understand that Hearthstone is based on semplicity, so that players with different backgrounds, age and requirements could play it. While this, does not really mean to be a comparison between HS and MTG, I think that some point will clarify why HS has been a declining game in the past years while MTG has always been growing. The evolution of MTG during the years, has seen the game evolving it's mechanics and becoming extremely complex while keeping some base mechanics for players who wanted to keep it simple. This avoided the game to feel boring and offered both complexity for some players and semplicity for others.
After 4 years playing HS I feel that this game has failed improving. Each expansion is the same thing, yes new cards, new keywords but after a month play a new expansion the hype is gone, the new keywords become obsolete and the next 3 months is just completing the daily quest to accumulate Golds for next expansion. Blizzard purposely refused to add cards where you need to click 2 times on the board to make them work. Too complex, that's not gonna keep the game simple.. why this game does not have any other card that stays on the bord that is not a minion? Would adding something like a Planeswalker (a card that has abilities that you can activate each turn but that cannot attack) be too much for the game?
However, failing to add new elements is not the most problematic aspect. I invested hundreds of dollars in this game and I still feel a free to play player. In each expansion, I am able to craft 2 or 3 decks (if I purchase the pre-order). Now, how long do you think I am gonna be interest in playing 2 or 3 decks in 4 months blizzard? Shouldnt spending 50$ allow me to have access to the whole expansion? I think you got too greedy Blizzard and I really disliked the strategy you designed to get even more money from people.
By looking at the new card game Runeterra, Riot developed a strategy that allow you to have access to almost the whole expansion more easily. Now, this is not only a "free is better" concept but the point is that you have access to the cards whitin a few months so that by acquiring new cards you can slowly create new decks and refresh you interest in keep playing. The beauty is that this applies to people who are free to play and those who spends money (they can just acquire cards a bit faster). This simple concept allows players to play new things and not burning themself in 1 month because they can only craft 2 or 3 decks. On a personal note, I am also extremely interested in the mechanics in Runeterra: -extremely interactive -higher complexity if you wish to find it -simple if you wish to keep it so -NO RANDOM. I cannot stand anymore the random factor in HS. I don't know whether Blizz wish to add variety through "random" because they refuse to add new mechanics or whether they wish to reduce the skill factor, so that even if are bad you can still win and you don't feel stupid. In Runeterra, skill is more important and if you wish to a avoid it, you can still build decks that allow you to win without thinking too much.
One last thing: I mostly play HS on smartphone and Tablet. The countless games I lose everyday because the game fails to reconnect after a very brief disconnection or while I try to do something else in backgrounds during my opponent turn are not justified. HS is out from many years and this is not possible. It makes me refusing to play the game.
I am a Blizzard investor and loyal player since several years, an old Diablo 2 player (and Diablo 3), level 1000 in Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch player but the frustrations I getting with HS are just too many and I am leaving this game for Runeterra.
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No, the first post was simply closed by admins and suggested to reopen it here
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Well, it's a bit different with me. I am a very rational person and the only reason for not quitting before was the lack of valid alternatives. I was frustrated but I knew I was going to keep playing. As Runeterra will go on Smartphones, I will leave HS.
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I strongly support Kibler's opinion and his brave decision.
Historically, changes are made from people deciding to fight for their rights, freedom or improving someone's condition.
At the same time we have to recognize that Blizzard was caught in a very unfortunate spot: Blizzard had a really rough time in the past year and after last Blizzcon their stocks dropped 50% of their value. They are doing the best they can to grow as company (admitting some mistake) and trying hard to lunch themselves in the mobile markets with Diablo and Call Of Duty. China represents a huge market for them and Blizzard reacted so that they won't see the doors closed to such a big effort. Indeed If you look what happened between China and Apple you'll understand what Blizzard is worried about..
I think Blizzard overreacted with the player and should reconsider some choice but what you guys would do in their position? Would you risk losing an entire market that represents your opportunity to recover from the past? Blizzard doing well, also mean they have more money to invest in games, R&D and pulling out better content.
Again, this a really difficult situation to handle and their first attempt to fix it wasn't taken well. I am a person on the side of the values but guys you have also to understand what Blizzard is facing right now. They are seeing potential hundreds of millions of $ at risk for one person reaction to a political situation.