Hearthstone changes the community wants in 2019

Hearthstone’s client has not undergone any major quality of life changes since its inception. Now, fans are increasingly clamoring for the five-year-old game to shake things up.

Case in point: A recent thread on Twitter from prominent pro Pathra Cadness gathered a ton of attention from the community, and offered several ideas that could significantly improve Hearthstone. This is clear evidence that the Hearthstone community is ready for change with regard to how they engage with the game.

One thing Pathra mentioned that seemed like a fantastic idea, based off the community reaction, was the ability to drag and drop decks in the deck editor within the game client. When choosing the deck you’d like to play, your decks are presented to you in the order they were created. This means when you make a new deck, you’ll have to go all the way to the end of your deck library to select it.

Often times, players have numerous decks they like to swap between while playing. Giving players the ability to drag their decks and organize them in whatever order they prefer would make it much easier to swap between preferred decks. While this is just a small quality of life change, it would be a great improvement to the client.

Hearthstone’s client has not undergone any major quality of life changes (that are noticeable by the player) since its inception. While the client definitely serves its purpose, it can sometimes feel clunky and disorganized. Players on PC will often have their client lock up while loading into a match due to connection lag on the end of a mobile player. Part of the reason the client hasn’t undergone major change is likely due to the fact that Blizzard would need to overhaul the client for so many devices.

Another thing players have focused a lot of discussion around is a new game mode. Pathra suggested the possibility of a 2v2 mode. While this may sound confusing, other card games have implemented successful 2v2 game modes and some even see tournament play.

Magic the Gathering has a 2v2 game mode called Two Headed Giant where players use their own decks, but have a shared health pool. Yugioh also has a 2v2 mode, which spawned from an episode of the anime. Player’s minions and spell cards assist each other, and just like MTG, they share health.

While implementing a 2v2 mode into Hearthstone would be difficult, it wouldn’t be impossible. Players could use their own deck or a shared deck. They could alternate taking turns and could have a shared health pool. There could be a group system similar to Overwatch so players could join the mode with friends. Though these suggestions seem simple from a consumer perspective, we have to assume they’re probably much more difficult to implement from a developer perspective. That being said, the general feeling in the community seems to be that players would love any kind of four-player game mode.

Another thing players seem to be itching for is more in-game rewards outside of card packs and dust. With titles like Fortnite, League of Legends, and Apex Legends dominating the world of gaming at the moment, players are constantly having new visual cosmetics put in front of them. While Hearthstone does offer a few alternative Hero portraits by way of cash shop or special events, there aren’t nearly as many as players would seem to like.

Many of the portraits that are in the game currently were tied to special events that no longer happen. Khadgar is one of the coolest portraits in the game and at the time of publication there is no way to obtain him and no plan to make him obtainable in the future. If Hearthstone had more portraits that were obtainable in-game like Arthas, it would be another reason for players to log on and grind. Not only that, but players would be actively grinding toward a visual reward, not just dust and coins.

Other suggestions from the community include more card backs and ways to get them, more solo player modes, and more rewards for hitting win count milestones. While most of these changes are easier said than done, they would bring new life into the game and its community. If Hearthstone were to implement something similar to a battle pass where players could earn direct rewards for their time invested, it might give old players a reason to revisit the game besides a new expansion.