Tops 2019
To conclude this series, we need to be honest: much has been achieved in Hearthstone during the past year. Here is the list of what we considered positive for this year.
A unique narrative arc for all expansions and single-player modes
This Year of the Dragon has taken a little time to get into place. While the adventures began in the magical city of Dalaran (Rise of Shadows), we had serious doubts about the presence of more Dragons when the League of Explorers met up in Uldum to pursue Rafaam (Saviors of Uldum). In the end, it's all about the Dragonflight in Northrend, and to say the least, our favorite winged behemoths are more than present in the set.
The last single-player mode, Galakrond's Awakening, isn't available yet, but you have to admit that the first two — Dalaran's Heist and Tombs of Terror — are really quite long-lasting. The replayability is there, as well as the difficulty, and the rewards are really much better than the ones we've seen in the past (only one card back for all the puzzles in Dr. Boom's Lab at the time).
During the Hearthstone Press Tour of the Year of the Dragon, we had the privilege of previewing this mode and its rewards, and the developers had been attentive to our feedback regarding the rewards that were considered too inconsistent.
A more responsive and attentive Team 5
The transition is perfect to evoke the "new" Team 5. We were talking about it a few months ago, but since the departure of Ben Brode, who was adored by a whole scene, the instructions have obviously changed. Without pointing fingers at his management and his decisions as Game Director, it's obvious that his replacements are taking more risks in terms of time limits for card changes, which is a huge step forward in Blizzard's philosophy — and in Hearthstone's in particular.
Last year's Rastakhan Rumble 'forced' the developers to take a quick decision almost within a week (Nourish, Wild Growth, Level Up!, Saronite Chain Gang, Leeching Poison were changed from one day to the next on December 19, 2018). Genn Greymane and Baku the Mooneater were also removed from Standard (without their affiliated expansion) and sent to the Hall of Fame after only one year of loyal service, something that it would surely have been unthinkable to see a few expansions earlier.
Finally, Mike Donais, in particular, seems to be getting comfortable with the communication aspect of the game, and lends himself to the Q&A game on Twitch, on streams organized with his daughter, or on Reddit. In short, a communication that has evolved well, perhaps to compensate for the strong figure that Ben Brode represented?
New events that shake up the meta
Remove Genn and Baku from the Standard, change the mana costs of some cards in Boomsday Project, or bring back 23 cards from Wild mode to Standard for two months — all of these things have contributed to having quite different metas in the year 2019. Not everyone liked them, as Evolve and Pocket Galaxy have reduced some match-ups to "who picks the card first", but we have to admit that the ideas are there. Not yet perfectly executed, but they're there. And once again, it's a step forward.
Less indigestible HGGs and Worlds back at the Blizzcon.
The very first edition of the Hearthstone Global Games was certainly a great event, as the World Cup is in football for example. Bringing together all these rosters, the most mainstream or the least exposed, gave everyone a chance to show off. Unfortunately, the incredible number of games made the competition incredibly long and repetitive: the endless days of casting ended up tiring the viewers. The 2019 edition, which ended on December 23rd, was much lighter with only 32 teams of two players left. Although the competition was much less talked about, it had the merit of existing and delighting the teams who participated.
Still on the competitive side — and we already mentioned a lot of negative points about that in our Flops article — we can also note the return of the Worlds at the BlizzCon. It's an event that's bound to be more rewarding for the players, who undoubtedly prefer to triumph at Blizzard's biggest event when all eyes are on them. There will have been two World Champions at Hearthstone this year (Hunterace for the year 2018, awarded in April 2019 in Taipei, and Liooon at the BlizzCon). The pace should be good for 2020, with only one event at the end of the year a priori.
The latest addition: Battlegrounds
While we were expecting an expansion to be announced at BlizzCon 2019, no one saw the new Hearthstone game mode coming. It has a huge potential and showed it as soon as it was released, with many pro players returning to the game after being streaming Teamfight Tactics or other auto-battler games (Savjz, Dog, TidesofTime, etc...). In addition, Blizzard reacts very quickly to critics and has already done several balancing patches/added champions in its new baby. A $300,000 tournament has even been played, for a game that may well have a competitive future when it comes out of beta. A breath of fresh air that Hearthstone needed in these difficult times.
This series is coming to its end! We hope you agree with what we've mentioned above and in the previous articles. Feel free to comment if you do (or don't). Hearthstone has, despite what one might think, undergone a number of positive changes this year, and it was appropriate to remind you of them.
The year 2019 has been a busy year in Hearthstone. In this Christmas series of articles, the Millenium editorial team offers you a look back at everything that happened this year. Following our tops article, let's list what went wrong...
The year 2019 has been a busy year in Hearthstone. In this Christmas series of articles, the Millenium editorial team offers you a look back at everything that happened this year, starting with our Wish List for 2020!
