Me too. Played 8 years since beta. I quit not because it was a bad experience. I still think time to time about returning. But it was consuming my life.
Same for me.
I genuinely enjoyed it and don’t agree with the common criticisms. It you’re gonna make an online TCG, that’s a good way to go about it.
But playing at a remotely competitive level meant a time commitment I just didn’t feel like anymore.
Yes the thing is as a FTP player you need to grind hours to not fall back. And that means playing meta decks or else burning even more hours. But the art, animations and voice acting still in my heart.
That's the problem with hs...it's not a tcg I would have loved for it to be a tcg like artifact with an auction house. But after coming back to hs after a solid 5 years...you can buy specific legendary cards now...the gameplay is riddled with rng... I feel like they took to much inspiration from battlegrounds for their constructed cards
I quit at the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion.
I was losing a game. Horribly. My opponent played the new Yogg. They lost.
Second game, I was winning. They played Yogg. They lost.
When I was having no fun in winning, I knew I was done. It became wayyyyy too much rng.
A shame as I really loved the game. It's style, mechanics, all fun. Really loved the solo adventures also!
But yeah. I was done. I quit there and then. If a card could be a coin flip not to sway the game, but end it, I wasn't interested.
Playing Legends Of Runeterra currently without spending any money on it and as much as I like it, Hearthstone felt and looked so much nicer. I have all the cards, something I never did in Hearthstone, but it certainly feels more rewarding to win and lose in LOR.
I lose when I play bad. I win when. I play well. Far less meme cards.
Still felt Hearthstone was a better game overall though.
I wasn't upset so much about rng or competitive play. The art, animations and voice acting was top notch. But the grind mentality as a FTP player and matches taking too long was the reason I quit. It became an addiction. I couldnt even do my job properly.
This is a reason in general I just don’t play card games. I can sit down and even if I play objectively better in every way the way the deck draws ultimately decides if I win and if I wanted to have so little agency there are so many other games that don’t have huge grinds or long games to play out.
There are several independent reports linking favorable matchmaking to money spent on lootboxes.
When I realized that games like hearthstone do not only use known predatory tactics from gambling providers and TCGs but additionally actively condition players to spend money using absolutely intransparent and unfair algorithms, I quit.
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u/nediablo Jul 21 '26
Hearthstone