A new patch for Hearthstone is live and includes a few changes meant to make gameplay more enjoyable. This should please players who find it slightly frustrating.
Yesterday, a new patch for Hearthstone was implemented, which not only brought the event “Revenge of the Mechs” but also many small improvements and bug fixes. One change should particularly please players as it is likely to reduce frustration. Players will now face fewer matchups against the same players or classes consecutively.
What has been patched? In addition to 18 changes to cards, there was a small adjustment in matchmaking. In player assignment, Hearthstone will now try to avoid making you face the same player multiple times in a row. Matches against the same class consecutively should also become significantly less common.
However, this cannot always be guaranteed. Exceptions may occur when only a few players are available at a rank in the region (for example, at the start of a new season).
Why is Blizzard doing this? The developers did not specify an exact reason for this change. However, the reason seems obvious. There are frequent complaints on Reddit that players are only facing exactly the same deck. It’s not fun to be defeated by the same hunter deck three or four times in a row.
To bring a bit more variety to matches, this new rule effectively forces players to encounter different opponents and decks. This helps minimize frustration.
Larger queues as a consequence? Right after the patch, players experienced some issues. Many could not log in or faced particularly long queues. According to some players, the problem still persists. It is unclear whether this is due to the changes in matchmaking or a completely different reason.
What do you think about this change? Is it good and sensible? Or should matchmaking not be influenced like this?
