Ten years ago, Hearthstone was launched and it changed the way I thought of card games. While the Warcraft franchise was no stranger to collectible card games, this would be the one that finally cracked the code. Plenty of other card games would try to mimic it for years to come, but few would be as good, let alone better, than Hearthstone. But lately, it’s difficult to shake the feeling that Hearthstone is running on fumes. The release of the new expansion, Perils in Paradise, only seems to cement the feeling that I’ve been wrestling with for a while. This might be the end of my time with Hearthstone.
I’m a person who does his best to always look like I’m ready to go to the beach at a moment’s notice. I shop at Tommy Bahamas, I have a ton of Tiki statues sitting behind me. This expansion feels like it should have been made for me. So, why don’t I care?
Let’s be clear about one thing right off the bat: I don’t believe this is the result of developers who no longer care, or anything like that. At worst, it could be a lack of ideas or experience. However, I’m willing to bet it’s simply pressure coming from budget and morale in the ever tightening business vice that is Blizzard Entertainment. The first real sign of this came last year with the expansion, TITANS.
Despite the attempt at going “big and bold” with the design, everything surrounding the expansion felt lackluster and limited. The announce trailer was a far cry from the songs and incredible animations of previous trailers like Madness at the Darkmoon Faire or Saviors of Uldum. The expansions theming was limited in scope and entertainment. It lacked originality and creativity, which were two of the biggest strengths of the card game.
Fast forward a couple more expansions, and Perils in Paradise didn’t even get an animated trailer at all. The second expansion in the game’s tenth year barely has anything interesting to show. Honestly, I couldn’t explain to you the theme of this expansion outside of “it’s at the beach, I guess?”
Part of that comes down to, what feels like an extremely muddled concept. There’s no real tie to existing Warcraft lore. Hearthstone is at its best when it’s putting a spin on familiar settings or characters, like One Night in Karazhan or Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. Sure, a trip to the beach sounds nice, and there’s some super cute cards, but what’s the unifying thread? And after the recent increase in daily and weekly quest requirements with few additional benefits, what should feel like a vacation feels more like a chore than ever.
The whole thing feels like random ideas strung together by the loosest of threads. This lack of focus is extremely evident when you look at the pre-order bundle, which includes Hakkar the Houndmaster as it’s premier hero skin. Why is a one-off boss from WoW Legion the central hero skin for this expansion about the beach? He’s not in the sun, he’s not going for a swim. It’s just him, being a Legion dude. There’s no cohesion here. It’s not like the beach is being invaded by sun-bathing infernals. There’s a lot of looking through this expansion and asking “why?” without ever finding an answer.
Now, I’m somebody who obsesses over things like themes and flavor. Maybe all of this is something that’s only a problem to a person like me. What should really matter are the cards, right? It’s only been a little while since the expansion launched, but my initial impressions? They’re not great. It’s one of the most lackluster batch of mechanics I’ve ever seen. There’s drinks, which are just spells you can use a couple of times. It’s Twinspell with an extra spell attached, and the card Barrel of Monkeys has been doing it for a year. Then there’s locations, which have been in most expansions for a couple years now. And finally, the real big one, is the keyword Tourist.
If you have a card with Tourist, it allows you to add Perils in Paradise cards from another class to your deck. I’ve wanted to have true class-hybrid decks for a while now, so I like this mechanic in theory. But in execution, it’s way too limited. Each class has one tourist that only allows cards from one other class. But, you can only add cards from this expansion. If you don’t have that legendary card with Tourist, you’re out of luck. Even more than the legendries in TITAN, your deck’s entire gimmick hinges on having your class’s all-powerful rare card to get any work done. At the end of the day, I’m only using a few new cards in my existing decks. I’ve only made one new deck to make use of the Hunter card I got with Tourist, and it’s okay. It’s not particularly interesting.
Ten years is a long time to play any one game. There’s a good chance that a lot of this is just me running my course with the game. And that’s fine! Games come and go. This just feels like we won’t have much of a game to ever come back to at this rate. Blizzard has managed to pull off 20 years of World of Warcraft. I would argue that the game is in the best place it’s ever been, too. Conversely, It just seems like something else is going on with Hearthstone. We’ve lost modes, we haven’t had any new single player content in years, and the biggest celebration for the game’s tenth anniversary was held inside World of Warcraft. The fatigue damage is starting to take its toll.
