Hearthstone's upcoming expansion “Perils in Paradise” will not add a new game board, and while this may seem like a minor mistake to you and me, it is quickly snowballing into a pessimistic prediction about the game's future among many fans.

Game boards are just such a thing: the various contexts in which Hearthstone is played. The game currently has 36 boards, some of which are only available in WIld mode, and aside from the visual interactivity of, for example, the Naxxramas board, which makes a squishy sound when you click on a spider egg and eventually releases the spider, the game play has no impact on the gameplay.

Nonetheless, the absence of a new board in Perils in Paradise is palpably felt. Nevertheless, the absence of a new board in Perils in Paradise is clearly felt. It is not the absence of a board per se that is the problem, but the fact that it is perceived as a reflection of the state of the game.

Hearthstone, of course, is 10 years old, and perhaps no longer Blizzard's eye candy, or at least the eye candy of its accountants, so the game is slowly, but inevitably, heading into some sort of maintenance mode Some worry that the game is slowly but inevitably heading toward some sort of maintenance mode.

“I'm honestly shocked,” writes redditor daddyvow. 'This seems like such a small thing, but it means so much. It shows what is going to happen and how much effort they want to put into this game. I feel like they have their priorities all wrong.”

“I don't think we're going to go into maintenance mode anytime soon, but I think we're heading in the direction of less creativity and no new surprises like new classes/modes or crazy new mechanics,” Gram64 wrote. It's just going to be three standard expansions every year, with no real innovation and no soul.”

Gram64 writes.

Some compared it to Blizzard's 2015 MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, which slowly fell into disuse after Blizzard decided to move some of its developers to other projects and discontinue its pro league. At the time, Blizzard promised to “actively support the game with new heroes, themed events, and other content the community loves” despite the shift, but by 2022 it was all over.

“I don't want to spread doom/doom,” redditor Lexail wrote.

“But I've already faced this at HotS and the simple stuff is gone first; HotS stopped giving free mounts at every BlizzCon and also stopped in-game flags/remotes.”

To be clear, Blizzard is not saying they are moving resources away from Hearthstone, but this response reflects a broader lack of trust in the studio: in 2021, Activision Blizzard from the state of California The company's working conditions, as revealed by a civil rights lawsuit filed against it, were ultimately settled for $54 million, and the company lost an immeasurable amount of credibility.

But as we noted at the time, problems had been brewing for years before that, including the disastrous announcement of Diablo Immortal, the layoff of hundreds of employees, the banning of Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai, a Hearthstone pro who sued for freedom in Hong Kong, the so-called anti evidence includes the hiring of former Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend, who is known for advocating the use of torture against detainees as part of the so-called War on Terror.

To some extent, if the game was played a decade ago, we can expect to get quite a few shocks along the way. But what we're seeing in this debacle is how little room Blizzard has for maneuvering in terms of player trust, which can be seen throughout the publisher's suite of games. PC Gamer's Hearthstone expert Tim Clark also recently noted that the studio has imposed “obviously terrible” changes aimed solely at boosting “bogus player engagement numbers.”

Team 5 acknowledged their current unhappiness on Twitter and said, “We are listening to your questions about what will change and why, including why there is no new board for ‘Perils in Paradise’. Please wait for an update on that next week, along with what the team is focusing on for the future.”

He writes.

Inevitably, Blizzard's somewhat cryptic tweet hasn't quieted things down: many players want to know why it's taking a week to release a statement addressing ongoing concerns about the state of the game, and of course some suspect bad news is on the way .

For now, though, there is only speculation and little reason to expect a major change in direction anytime soon. I would be very surprised if the planned announcement is anything more than an explanation, an apology, and perhaps “better things to come.”