In the game of Hearthstone there’s going to be a change to a card. It previously read “Whenever you summon a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge”, but will now read “Your Charge minions have +1 Attack”. This is a significant change, because it basically destroys a deck called “Patron Warrior”, which relies heavily on this mechanic.

Ben Brode, one of the designers of Hearthstone, have released a video addressing the reactions from player.

It’s a change that makes sense for the designers, and the spirit of the game in general. But there are a lot of strong feelings among both amateurs and professional players. Reading comments on Facebook or similar places gives you nothing, because it boils down to everyone screaming that Blizzard can’t do anything right and they’re destroying the game with every change they make. PC Gamer published an article by Simon ‘Sottle’ Welch that dove into the reasons why this is a bad change for the game and one of the points he brought up is those that use the deck. One point that he makes is the following:

“You can argue that this isn’t a problem since it represents a level playing field for all involved, but that’s actually not the case. Imagine one player who has correctly identified that Patron Warrior was going to evolve into the best deck in the game. In response they have spent six months grinding games with the deck and their hard work was rewarded with qualification for BlizzCon. Now imagine another player, who for reasons unknown, chose not to learn the deck. Maybe they just didn’t like it. Maybe they didn’t identify quickly enough how good it was. Or maybe it was just too hard for them to bother with. They invest their six months practice into learning other decks, decks that are still strong, and that they are still allowed to play at BlizzCon. Which of these players do you think has an advantage?”

Hearthstone card: Warsong Commander

Hearthstone card: Warsong Commander

What he’s saying is that if someone is a one-trick pony, and can only play one deck to gain a high rank, they should be seen as equals with someone that can play other decks? I don’t care how good your sprint is, if you can’t swim you’re not going to compete in a triathlon.

I personally have no quarrels with the card being changed. But I am not a high-rank player, nor use Patron Warrior as my main deck. It’s a fun deck, and I know how to play it, but I have no problem with this change. I’m also a strong believer that a product is subject to change as the designer/developer/producer sees fit, it’s up to me to decide if I want to stick with that product, so if this is what Blizzard wants to do then they clearly in their right to do so. No matter what the reaction from, what I believe to be, a bunch of entitled players that can’t adapt to any change. Which, in my mind, makes you a bad player.