A new hotfix caused chaos in Hearthstone in the Mercenary mode. Blizzard has given trolls a powerful weapon.
Hearthstone is fundamentally designed to prevent trolling and insults. As for communication, there are only a few emotes available, and they have a cooldown if too many are spammed in a short time. But now Blizzard wanted to fix a problem in the Mercenary mode and inadvertently opened the door for trolls.
Win-trading was apparently a problem: Farming coins is important in the Mercenary mode. Because Blizzard doesn’t want coins to be too easily earned, a change had already been made to the mysterious wanderer. The community found another way to earn coins easily – win-trading in the brawl pit.
The brawl pit is the PvP mode in the Mercenary mode. Victories provide a solid amount of coins, and there are only a few players at higher ranks. Arrangements were made to quickly gain victories and earn coins.
Blizzard fixes win-trading but allows trolling: To curb win-trading, the developers introduced a new rule. Coins are only awarded for a victory if at least 3 mercenaries on the opposing side are defeated.
This is intended to ensure that there are real fights and to eliminate win-trading in quick succession.
Permission to troll was found: However, this rule has not only restricted win-trading – it has made any form of victory null and void. In the forum and on the WoW subreddit, players now report that they automatically surrender in PvP battles as soon as 2 of their mercenaries are defeated.
This effectively prevents the actual winner from receiving any reward.
Community is angry – once again: The player base of Hearthstone is extremely angry about this change. In the subreddit, someone posted a screenshot showing that it took exactly 11 minutes before the first players realized that they could simply take a victory from the opponent by conceding early. Once players recognize after their 2nd mercenary’s death that they are unlikely to win, they simply concede – robbing the winner of their loot.
Generally, the atmosphere in Hearthstone is extremely tense right now, as Blizzard continues to implement change after change in the Mercenary mode, gradually removing the fun from this already controversial mode.
It is expected that Blizzard will revise this hotfix again.
