Blizzard’s Hearthstone team’s recent decision to significantly increase the difficulty of weekly quests is leaving many players frustrated and confused. The team chose to triple the work required for these quests, without proportionally increasing the respective reward, perplexing many as this change does not apparently increase profitability – players can’t expedite quest completion with purchases and thus such a move shouldn’t necessarily boost pack sales. This seemingly dissonant decision spurred a vast backlash in the Hearthstone community, with many declaring their intention to leave the game, subsequently pressuring Blizzard to announce and implement changes to the intensive quest requirements.
Despite this course correction, the changes are still far from satisfactory. Blizzard’s fix primarily involved reducing the number of required wins from 15 to 10, while retaining the same experience rewards. The issue persists in that this still demands 200% more effort from players for a mere 20% more reward. Player confusion remains predominant as the change doesn’t appear to offer any advantage to either party – players are required to invest more time and effort with little gain, while the change itself does not seem to incite a sales increase for Blizzard.
The general consensus is that this has been a disappointing course of action for the company, particularly in the lead up to the card game’s 10th anniversary. The confusing and seemingly unbeneficial changes have ruffled feathers in the Hearthstone community, leaving many wondering what tangible benefits Blizzard had hoped to achieve through altering the quests in this way.
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