Dean Ayala Asks: What Would Get You Back Into Hearthstone?
Hearthstone's Dean "Iksar" Ayala had a question for those that used to main Hearthstone as a game but no longer do.
What do they need to do to get you back?
We're actually quite interested in knowing too. With many old Hearthstone players still frequenting our site to see what the game is up to or to chat with old friends, there has to be something the Hearthstone team could do to reel you back in?
Quote from Dean AyalaIf Hearthstone used to be your main game but isn't anymore, what would get you back?
I just want a mobile version that doesn't slow down after you copy a card for the second time. It feels like every time you shuffle a card into your deck or copy a card with Zola the game just starts to bog down... sometimes to the point of me being unable to play my entire combo.
Perhaps having Brawliseums be a game mode you can play just like Arena?
The general problem is a feeling of staleness. Many people-especially people who only recently started playing- only have a few viable decks, because currently every strong deck needs heaps of legendarys and epics. While it's understandable why those cards are so strong, in many cases people lose against the same few decks and can't switch their own decks. So how to counter this?
-A fast mode: while you still play against the same decks, the games will be less drawn out.
- some hidden challenges: what if, in 1 of a 1000 cases you don't meet "worthy opponent" but instead "Hogger"?! A chance based mechanism to find hidden quests, play against hilarious opponents and maybe even earn some cards would be an incentive to keep playing.
-fewer snowbally cards. While in some cases it is fine to have a strong turn, but sometimes the difference in power because of more legendarys (not skill) is grinding.
-Achievments: More goals to look forward to: Up to level 70? Maybe the possibility to gain some common classic cards through leveling?
I like your hidden quest idea, achievements, and fewer snowball cards. Feel like mechanics are taking the place of strategy in the game. It used be combos of 2 or 3 cards synergized to give you the edge on 3 turns or so, tipping it in your favor if your opponent couldnt counter. Now its 2 to 4 cards that just end the game if you get them.
Unless the next expansion is insanely fun, probably nothing. Since Boomsday launched, I've been playing only the bare minimum, just enough to get the card back each month. I figure when I don't care about that anymore, then I'm not coming back.
Sure, the meta is crappy and stale, an entire year worth of cards is currently unplayable cus they're simply too weak compared to what we already have, but I know for a fact it's gonna get way better when rotation hits. Old Gods and Un'Goro were, after all, the most enjoyable expansions in their time. But I'm not looking forward to it, I just don't really care anymore. I think it's time I moved on from this game.
1. Return the game to quality gameplay. Solitaire and OTK decks have made the game un-fun. This is not subjective either. This is fact. Players do not one one sided matchups where they have zero chance of winning, but that is the case in today's highly polarized meta.
2. Reasonable return for your dollar. I've purchased every expansion and I am still need 218,000 dust to complete the non gold set... ~2180 packs still needed... And that's with playing 95% of the time since beta...
Tldr; greed and too much simplicity has driven me away from this being the main game I played.
Work....basically work.
Unfortunately, what Hearthstone needs to bring players back are some major changes to the game, which I don't see Bli$$ard enacting since it will effect the bottom line. But in the spirit of the moment, here are some:
1. A revamped UI period, its old and needs a shot of 2019.
2. A revamped RNG match making system (which is not the "Bad match-up" formula you force down players throats).
3. True solo playing mode (not the the dungeon crap) which allows you to play the current cards and decks in a PVE setting (solo ladder play against an NPC for the more casual players).
4. Player created private leagues, with players controlling the league types.
5. And finally if the changes cannot be made due to coding issues, Hearthstone II - A truly new expansion. Out with the old, in with the new.
- Cheaper game and better dust economics.
- Epics would have the same rule as legendary card do.
- Getting cosmetic details for like doing something that you actually need to spend a lot of time on. (Something similar as golden heroes with 500 wins)
- "Weekly" adventure challenges that would be from the older adventures and would garant you something like 2 golden cards. (Rare/Common cuz Epic and Legendary would ruin the dust economy.)
- Better collection and quest sorting as "Hearthstone Mathematics" showed us on their channel and more like changing position of your decks, button to copy your deck code to get quicker acess of your deck for your friends - also for mobile players, better searching bar cuz now you can´t find like "taunt + deathrattle". ( Click here + Click here)
- Achievements!!! -> Even a little ones that would be about clicking like 10 times on rastakhan´s board on the "pyramid" or something similar.
- Hidden not hidden "reward cards" the same as it was in the past with like Old Murk Eye but with a lot more rewards.
- Better reward system for ladder cuz you don´t even have a motivation to play.
- Older cardbacks and skins and also doing a little story animations they did for them in the past. ( Click here )
- Something like older adventures cuz I really enjoyed them the most of all PVE adventures now around.
- Buffing cards that didn´t ever see any play just a little bit like Bestial Wrath , Illidan Stormrage and more so if you open them you aren´t that sad as a new player cuz you opened something not "metabreaking" but decent.
- Nerfing cards in wild/standard that are popular and unfun to play against - Barnes, Kingsbane, Aluneth, Jade Idol. (It´s always sad to lose just because one topdeck like I mentioned.)
- Better and detailed informations about patches/expansions/updates. (There is every time something new that wasn´t on the list like "Jaina nerf" and more that we need to discover, that shouldn´t be even a thing!)
- Tournament mode and maybe even new mode.
- Both rewards for wild and standard ladder. (Maybe also something for tryharding arena)
- Autosquelch for tilting players.
- More events like we saw with Hakkar cardback.
- More statistics of your account.
- More rewards for achieving goals with your hero/account/collection.
- Being able to buy older expansions/adventures from wild via in-game shop.
- Being able to buy older adventures more times but you would need to complete them again and also complete heroic to get the cardback. (Or make events to complete your collection in wild - like "The Goblins Week" which you would have to complete something like "win 10 games in wild to get GVG pack")
- And as my last thing would be Underwater expansion with Atlantida theme but with wow/hs characters.
I´m really sorry If my intentions are bad or not the same as yours, have a good day/night everyone!
I used to play Hearthstone since closed beta, but stopped around Frozen Throne expansion came out. Why?Because game became too repetitive, expansion expansion expansion and worst thing is that with every expansion 30 or less cards are usable and others are garbage.
What would bring me back?
Achievement system - not hidden achievements like you have it now, but real achievement system that rewards titles, trophies that you can showcase on board and your opponent can see, different vanity items,maybe introduce platinum cards that can only be earned through achievements and so on.
Easier way to grind things or better way to spend money - i do not want to buy ,lets say 50 packs pre-order, and get garbage cards. At the same time i want to earn rewards in game, slowly but surely. For example you can give as way to earn specific cards, not just to grind for gold and dust, so we can disenchant bad cards to make cards we want.
Cheers!
Tournament Mode
I would like to see better ranked rewards, more ways to earn dust and gold, and cards should be less expensive to craft.
I've been playing since Beta. Thought about quitting recently because the game didn't award me the card back for Dec 2018 after I played 5 ranked games. So i'm only missing that one card back and it irritates me so hard, I tried to get ahold of a GM to fix it and they acted like I'm some kinda crook! Not like I'm asking for the Legend card back, and they tell me time after time they can't help me! It's really garbage, and it makes me so sick that I'm a whale in this game and I've spend hundreds of dollars and played daily for months at a time, and the one time they mess up and are supposed to fix something they treat me like a crook!
Blizzard is a greedy scum bag company now that doesn't care about it's fans or players.
Hearthstone dev team as a whole are afraid to print truly strong cards, and are too quick to nerf something! Nerfs are necessary sometimes, but not when it ruins a deck or makes a card unplayable!
Hearthstone should recognize it's fans are loyal and have been supporting them financially for a long time! The long term gamers deserve a reward, and ways to earn previous old rewards they got screwed out of or missed due to life reasons. More player appreciation events, and more game modes (seasonal), and stronger cards!
The meta just gets too staple after the first month. Just release a mini-expansion 15~20 cards after the 6 weeks of the launch of a expansion. Thah will change the meta and can be a way to fix Tier 1 decks without nerfs. Add more crazy cards that will change the meta with the expansions or mini expansions, i hate when a expansion is out but decks don't change because the new cards are underpowered or not fun to play or play against. And add new game modes, like a mode that you can only play with certain sets, that rotates every month, or no Epics and Legendary modes, things like that. I think people had enough of just Standard, Wild and Arena as it is, you can have that Tavern Brawl that had a selected pool of cards as an example, i came back after months just to play that.
less dust to craft, and more refund value for DE.
it does not have to be all that much, just a little would make F2P a much more viable option.
A change of the unfair dust system.
Or permanent quests with dust.
my biggest issue is how simple it is in the end. you have one strategy, have to follow it through and nothing changes from game to game. i swapped to duel links and it is much more fun. i can mess with my opponents strategy and their turn with the use of quick play spells and traps. i also think its a big deal that cards are restricted to "heroes" beyond the hero abilities thus opening up more strategic thinking.
to summarize, hearthstone just feels like a "babies first card game" and doesn't have long lasting depth.
More PVE content would be my personal motivation. I am not focused on earning legend rank or getting higher and higher in ranking. Usually my PVP matches end at maximum 5 games per day or even less (few games per week just to finish quests). I enjoyed first adventure the most (from Kobolds dlc) but the next ones were the same except different mechanics(for example: prizes for beating X levels) and of course Boom's solving puzzles adventure but Hagatha one and the last one were almost the same comparing to the Kobolds(except few mechanics as I said). I hope there will be more PVE content when at least 2 players participate like some tavern brawls.
I've played HS since beta until recently. Stopped around November and tried MTGA, as it was the 1st card game that got me into this "card game universe". The way they handle monetization is years ahead of Hearthstone. Definitely still some changes are required, as nothing's perfect, but what would make me get back in HS is basically what MTGA offers us :
Give us a better way to grind in-game currencies
The HS system's completely obsolete compared to MTGA. Grinding 30 wins for 100G, and a daily quest averaging 40-80g depending which quest you get. Give us a better way to grind the game without having to pay enormous amounts of money. Literally look at MTGA :
Let's be honest here, high-end streamers that are handing away 1k$ to blizzard each expansions can't even get all of the legendaries/epics in a single set in those packs. How do you expect your "normal" community to be able to have those cards if giving you 1k ain't enough?
Blizzard has made changes over the past few years when an expansion launches (logging-in legendary, packs, quests) which is great, but still, the daily basis grind still needs some love.
Making paid adventures a thing again. This game is too expensive for many people to main. Including myself, I don't play much since the last adventure year.