When it emerged from open beta eight years ago,Hearthstonewas a titan.
It made millions of dollars.
It was among the yearly top 10 most viewed games onTwitchfor five years after launch.
And it showed us that a successful esport needn’t revolve around hair-trigger reflexes or high APMs.
Twitch viewers and player counts have levelled off since the glory days.
And, critically, is it still worth playing?
These have been bleak.Multiplelawsuitsallege widespread sexism, harassment and abuse.
Leaked chat messages implicatedat least one former senior Hearthstone developer.
Several current Hearthstone devs have been vocal in theiradvocacy for change.
And Hearthstone has had its ownshareofcontroversiesto boot.
And that’s a pity because there’s a lot of artistry here.
Hearthstone’s main mode, now clumsily named ‘Traditional Hearthstone’, is your normal collectable card game fare.
Build a deck of 30 cards and reduce your opponent’s health to zero.
Rinse and repeat till time stops turning.
And that hasn’t really changed over the years.
The new set themes are unfailingly delightful.
There have been dinosaurs and whispering eldritch horrors.
Last year was a World of Warcraft nostalgia trip with ten interwoven character stories.
This year has been anEDMVoyage to Atlantis, followed byVampire Cluedo.
Some sets are better than others, but new cards are always presented withthe same sparkleas thecinematic trailers.
Each set brings new gameplay mechanics but, with only a few exceptions, these innovations are usually ephemeral.
Spells now have ‘spell schools’.
There’s a new shaman totem.
Other than that, Hearthstone is still a mechanically similar game to the one that launched in 2014.
Design philosophy has changed more than mechanics, and mostly for the better.
Blizzard has toned down the randomonium, though not too much.
Hearthstone’s policy towards nerfs has become more permissive and overbearing cards are quickly tweaked.
New mini-sets periodically enliven the metagame.
And dev communication has improved tremendously.
Some loved it, but it rendered tinkering, meme decks and value-based ‘control’ strategies less viable.
Gladly, this year, with cards likePrince Renathal, janky value decks have reappeared.
Long may they prosper.
But the big three are Battlegrounds, Duels and Mercenaries.
‘Duels’, by contrast, never gained the popularity it deserves.
Based on Hearthstone’s really-rather-good single-player dungeon runs, Duels is a competitive deck-building roguelike.
Sometimes you get steamrolled by a luckier opponent.
But, like all good card games, it’s possible to make your own luck through careful decision-making.
And high-rolling an unbeatable deck is always a good time.
But, bafflingly, character power-ups were initially arbitrarily tied to your card collection.
Some of these restrictions have now been relaxed, but the damage is done.
Mercenaries, the most recent game-mode, is a rare miss.
Initially it looked like Hearthstone’s answer toSlay the Spire.
Instead, we got an uninspired and unpolished gacha RPG which does little to bring variety or replayability.
Early on, I painstakingly built a competitive team for multiplayer.
It was fine but sometimes felt deterministic and matches often went down to a coinflip.
Of course, part of the fun of CCGs is the community that develops around them.
Though diminished, it’s still in good health.
Early Twitch mainstays like Trump and Kibler are still around.
Others have moved on, but newer faces like RegisKillbin have replaced them.
Hearthstone esports continues, but viewer counts plunged when tournaments moved from Twitch to YouTube in an exclusivity deal.
And that’s a real shame as the quality of broadcasts is as high as it’s been.
The small team of casters are at the top of their game.
Jia and Darroch are unfailingly charming and insightful.
Jia, especially, takes game knowledge so seriously that she recently accidentallyqualified for a tournament she was hosting.
Lorinda and TJ’s transatlantic double-act is often laugh-out-loud funny.
And Raven and Sottle are good too!
All Hearthstone’s other major changes centre around the economy and cosmetics.
Traditionally, Hearthstone released hero skins sparingly, nay, glacially.
Also, you might now get ‘Diamond’ cards with 3D animations.
They’re fun in theory, but distractingly gaudy - impressive in a game as loud as Hearthstone.
The studio tried hawking one for 21.
Most additions exist to furnish the new seasonal ‘Tavern Pass’.
It’s relatively well designed, honestly.
The pace of unlocks is reasonable and, unlike Magic Arena, doesn’t feel like a second job.
Alongside that Tavern Pass came an overhaul to Hearthstone’s economy.
This caused uproar initially, but I seem to get slightly more stuff than before.
Rewards are front-loaded, so casual players should see more difference.
But it’s an extra layer of abstraction.
And despite these extra rewards, and the introduction of duplicate protection, it’s stillextremelystingy.
And that’s really the heart of the problem.
But, charitably, these are just the normal patina of age.
If money were no object, Hearthstone would still be an easy recommendation.
Duels and Battlegrounds are delightful.
(Some) steps have been taken to streamline the new player experience too.
The bloat of eight years is well hidden, and everything except mercenaries is infused with genuine fun.
Believe me, I’ve strayed.
I’ve dabbled in Runeterra and Gwent and Magic and Shadowverse.
But I always come back to Hearthstone.
Even so, it’s impossible to recommend Hearthstone to new players.
This ison top ofthe staggering upfront cost of existing cards andwithoutany extra goodies.
Then, when the next patch rolls around, your precious deck is often obsolete.
Some clever soul with a calculator has worked out exactly how hard to squeeze.
you’re free to find plenty more pieces like it in ourState of the Game hub.
