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!
I had played for only about a week when the "sorry" emote was taken out, and I got really confused by that. I wasn't sure if it ever existed or if my mind was playing tricks on me.
1. I can see why people want an auto-squelch button but the reason is more like: The emotes don't carry an exact message and can be misinterpreted. Emotes should be very precise in its meaning.
2. Emotes should change with the length of the game. On the first turn you can use a genuinely "Greetings", once. Even if you faced the 5th jade druid in a row, he won't know if you mean it sarcastically. But as mentioned above emotes should be precise in its meaning.
After a disconnect (I'm only playing on mobile, so that happens every 3rd game) you could have an emote like "Sorry, I disconnected" and you can only use it once.
Maybe you can disable emotes while the opponent is roping, because he needs to think fast. But on your turn you can say something like "Uh, that was close", again: only once.
3. New emotes should be introduced very carefully! A "be right back"-emote could lead to players leaving for fun, just because they have an excuse for it. Others could encourage BMing, see point 1.
But I could even see an insult emote work: "Your mother was a murloc", "You smell like a leper gnome". This is funny and maybe you can let off some steam after bad RNG, without a real insult.
All in all I like the small interactions with your opponent via emotes. And I like the special emotes between some characters like Malfurion & Tyrande. But emotes need to be much more precise.
The Emotes Guide:
"Sorry" - spammed while dealing lethal damage
"Greetings" - occasionally used by polite players at the start of the game, spammed after huge board swing or dealing lethal damage
"Threaten" - used quite often after losing against lower Tier or Pirate Warrior deck (usually combined with Add Friend emote spam)
"Well Played" - spammed after huge board swing or playing Keleseth followed by Shadowsteps on turn 1
"Wow" - used after surprising non conventional plays
"Oops" - spammed after player realised he missplayed or having lethal next turn
"Thanks" - spammed after receiving an unintentional advantage from opponent
Wow = look how "skilled" you are
I only want emotes in single player and that's it.
For what?
Auto-Squelch in the options, should be a must. Most online games have it, especially if you play FPS, Gwent TWCG has it. You haven't got to use it but the option should be there.
It's just bad game design and arrogance on Blizzard's part.
I really miss Gul'dan's "sorry", it was so sarcastic
Most emoties i want is permanent mute
Once they added 'Wow', I wanted something better like 'that was awesome!' or something like this. Each time I see that my enemy is playing unusual deck, I always tap that' Wow' and it sometimes feel like BM instead of actual congratulation.
There should be custom emotes option so we could for example add something from Kripps soundboard ;)
Your welcome seems to have the highest toxicity potential, but otherwise the list makes a lot of sense. Sorry is still at the top easily just due to how it was used for me. I never spammed it like a turd, it was just omg I topdecked lethal sorry man. I think they should add an auto mute button for the future, but they should bring some more options to emotes
Removes 'sorry' because people were 'abusing' it, but leaves the 'THREATEN' emote. Because apologizing is so hurtful.
Blizz logic101
haha I would just want a setting that squelch ALL emots in every game all the time ;P
We should have had a "YOGG TIME" emote when it was really popular.
old post,is't?
This is exactly what i think, well no, in fact i think worse >:)
I would love a hurry up emote - so many people are just too slow to play this game