Hearthstone’s Quest Requirement Fiasco Shows How Out-Of-Touch Blizzard Has Become

After Hearthstone’s lackluster 10-year anniversary event, where players were given a shockingly low amount of freebies, many weren’t exactly too happy with the game. But to make the situation worse, Blizzard has now taken a decision that seems almost baffling to even think about. The company shockingly tripled the requirements for its weekly quests, providing players with only about a 25% increase in rewards.

Really disappointed by the 10 year anniversary rewards. It’s just the gift cards in golden
byu/jessereser inhearthstone

This led to widespread outrage from fans on just about every forum. Many players stated that this is a classic case of Blizzard wanting to boost engagement metrics, and forcing players to play Hearthstone more each week. Some others have added that it might be because of the current meta, which is quite terrible, and could be the reason why so many are tuning away from the game.

After the rampant backlash, Blizzard backed down from the change. However, it failed to address the main issue, which was the absurd increase. Even the reduced values are almost double the previous requirements, with players wanting complete reverts. This whole fiasco really goes to show just how out-of-touch the studio has become to think any of this would fly. Here’s why.

Blizzard’s Response To The Situation Reeks Of PR Talk

Some players were able to predict the company’s decision to increase the requirements as a classic “door-in-the-face” technique. And Blizzard did exactly that. After the negative response it got from fans over the quest changes, it released the following statement:

Our aim with the adjustments was to give all our players goals to play towards, and to reward our most engaged players (who would likely still complete the Weekly Quests without too much difficulty) for their commitment to the game. But we’ve heard your feedback and it’s clear that we pushed too far.”

But, players had already seen this coming from a mile away. Especially because the newly reverted values are still unbelievably tedious to do on a weekly basis. It’s not a proper compromise, since players still have to do twice as much work, for about 25% of the reward. Many have added that this is the value Blizzard wanted to end up at but clearly started out with numbers that were thrice as high to make this increase seem more appealing.

The Situation Has Blown Up In The Company’s Face

While Blizzard might have been hoping to have players be happy with the reduced quest requirements, it’s clear that no one was impressed with them. And now, many people on the subreddit and official Blizzard forums, have been claiming that they are outright quitting Hearthstone. For some, these quest changes are what makes Hearthstone go from a casual game they can play a couple of times a week, to their main title.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1c64azz/the_math_isnt_mathing/

Simply put, the game, especially with its current meta of Aggro and Combo decks taking over the ladder, just isn’t good enough to be most players’ primary game. But it looks like instead of trying to fix the meta and creating ways to re-engage the player base, Blizzard is focused more on trying to force them in through engagement metrics.

Even the players that haven’t outright quit, have mentioned that the quest changes have made them play less, not more. So it’s clearly having the opposite effect to what Blizzard intended. This really just goes to show how the company has failed to understand where the players’ priorities lie. 

Without A Full Revert, Some Players Will Simply Not Return

While longtime players of Hearthstone might continue to truck along, it’s clear that folks who treated the game as more of a side game they could play every now and again, might not return. Without weekly quests, these players are losing out on a huge chunk of their XP. This can get in the way of completing their Tavern Pass and generally make collecting new cards and rewards much harder.

Hearthstone’s 10th Anniversary Big Brain Decisions
byu/Enzevil inhearthstone

But beyond just losing casual players, this change does a lot to harm the loyalty that even existing players have to the game. While much of Hearthstone’s issues can be attributed to corporate greed, I find it tough to see how no one in the current developer team raised their voices or tried to stop this change from going through. The predictable way it all played out really just goes to show this was calculated beforehand.

Players might just end up getting used to it in the long term, but I think this patch has done quite a bit of damage to the fanbase as a whole, especially in regards to how much time and money fans are willing to spend on Hearthstone. Clearly, the devs making it don’t care about the time put in by players, and want you to spend as much as possible, for the smallest reward.