The summer event of Hearthstone shows a sad trend for players. Year after year, there are fewer rewards for players: Blizzard is becoming stingier, as a YouTuber now demonstrates.
To excite players for Hearthstone and to bring a bit of relaxation into the game, the developers repeatedly release small events. The events feature special game modes or additional rewards that make matches more lucrative than regular matches without the event. For example, additional card packs, more gold, or arena access are up for grabs. However, this has gradually decreased in recent years.
Where does the information come from? The YouTube channel ‘Hearthstone Mathematics’ often deals with the numbers surrounding Hearthstone and analyzes the game over the years. Especially based on the “Midsummer Fire Festival” , it shows that the rewards have been decreasing over the years. This image illustrates it:
In 2017, there were still double gold from quests for 2 weeks, three arena passes, and several card packs. In 2018, there was only the double bonus, and in 2019 even a fixed amount for gold and packs.
In summary, the equivalent of rewards in those years was:
- 2017: 13 – 28 packs (or more)
- 2018: 8.5 packs minimum
- 2019: 7.5 packs maximum
Thus, the rewards from this event have diminished.
The community is outraged, only sees greed: The corresponding post has already received more than 6,900 upvotes in the Hearthstone subreddit. Players complain that Hearthstone (and thus Blizzard) has become increasingly greedy over the years.
This is evident not only in the summer event but also in the general costs that a deck incurs to even be able to play.
Most competitive decks now require many expensive cards, so players must invest more to still have chances of winning. For some, Hearthstone is increasingly leaning towards Pay2Win.
Does the fun of the game outweigh this? However, it must also be said that the developers made a particularly strong effort in 2019 in terms of gameplay. The summer event had a very special Brawl that was essentially a “mini-adventure” and linked the story between the two expansions “Rise of Shadows” and “Saviors of Uldum”.
So when weighing the pure fun of the game against the rewards, the picture may not be quite as negative.
How do you see the development in Hearthstone? Have the developers become “stingier” over the years? Or do we not need that many rewards?
Do you already know the Hearthstone card that is smarter than the players?
