It looks like Blizzard may have botched the new Hearthstone reward system in a big way.
What began as presumed paranoia by the community has become mathematically backed outrage by smart people on Reddit—outrage so large it’s attracted some of Hearthstone’s biggest names, including Octavian “Kripparian” Morosan.
Hearthstone’s new battle pass appears to give players less gold for time spent while playing ladder. In a series of posts on the game’s official Reddit, Hearthstone streamer Jesse Alexander outlined how the new reward system can cause players to miss out on thousands of gold per expansion cycle.
Slowly but surely, more Hearthstone personalities have started to speak out against the new reward system. Kripparrian, who’s undoubtedly the most popular name in Hearthstone history, also summarized his thoughts on the new reward system in a tweet.
Kripp echoed many of the same concerns as players across Reddit. In a follow-up tweet, Kripp said another important part of the issue is how confusing the system is, adding that fans “shouldn’t need Reddit’s brightest minds to figure out if the system is good or not.”
In addition to Kripp, more big names are speaking out against the system. Dekkster, Solem, and Zeddy, among others, have made videos pointing out the issues and voicing their displeasure with the new track. A large part of the community’s ire toward Blizzard over the new reward system comes from the belief that they were blatantly lied to.
On numerous occasions during the lead up to the new launch, Blizzard assured players the new system wouldn’t take away any of the gold they could earn. In a Hearthside chat video from October, Dan “Frodan” Chou asked senior Hearthstone designer John Yang about this. Yang said “we’re absolutely not taking away any of the gold you can earn.”
