With an outdated set, keywords like “Inspiration” disappear. Does Blizzard want to keep Hearthstone “simple”?
In Hearthstone, the game is divided into specific years. After the Year of the Kraken, we are now in the Year of the Mammoth. In plain text, this means that only certain card sets can be used in the “Standard” game mode – specifically, all sets from the current and previous year.
Hearthstone: The keyword Spare Part no longer appears on new cards
Ultimately, this not only reduces the number of available cards but also the keywords. For instance, the “Inspire” mechanic from “The Grand Tournament” has completely disappeared along with the card set. New cards no longer carry the old keyword. The keyword “Spare Part” has also vanished.
Not all fans like this, which is why there were inquiries in the official forum about why Blizzard removed, for example, “Inspiration”.
According to developer Max McCall from Blizzard, there are several reasons for this:
- Each set is someone’s first. New players would be overwhelmed with too many keywords.
- Fewer “active” keywords allow developers to better support the individual words, ultimately leading to a better gameplay experience per expansion.
- Each expansion would become slightly less “exciting” than the previous one. If all keywords had to be considered, a large portion of the new cards would only feature “old” mechanics.
Besides that, all cards can still be used in the “Wild” game mode – there, all cards with all keywords are allowed.
What do you think about this? Do you wish for the old keywords to come back? Or do you think it’s good that some of them are disappearing from the Standard game over time?
