Hearthstone weekly quests were made harder to complete — but Blizzard has backed down

In a change that left the community completely flabbergasted and livid, this week Hearthstone increased the requirements to complete weekly quests by up to 200% while only increasing the XP those quests give by 20% to 25%. This change had been announced in the patch notes for patch 29.2, but the actual values hadn’t been yet disclosed:

[Progression] Some Daily and Weekly Quests have been adjusted to be harder to complete but will grant more XP.

When the patch went live, players were unpleasantly surprised to find out what those values were. Most weekly quests have had their completion requirements doubled or even tripled: for instance, the very commonly completed weekly that asked players to win five games of constructed now asks for them to win a whopping 15 games a week. That, by itself, would be a questionable change even if the XP reward had been increased from the previous 2500 to an equivalent 7500. But instead the new reward is only 3000 XP. That’s a 200% increase in the required number of games for a 20% increase in the reward.

Needless to say, the community has responded negatively to this, taking to forums and social media to express their displeasure, with some saying they won’t continue playing, or spending money on it, until this change is reverted. Hearthstone weeklies used to take a very fair amount of time to complete, but now more casual players may not be able to finish them every week. That means it will be much more difficult to complete the game’s battle pass to earn gold and other rewards.

It’s hard to understand how such a change was approved by the powers-that-be in the Hearthstone team. We live in an age where every game seems to include some sort of battle pass, and many of them require players to be seriously dedicated to that game if they want to earn all the rewards. The amount of time that every single game asks of its players borders on exclusive dedication — and while Hearthstone used to be a refreshing exception, this change makes it far less casual-friendly.

If their goal is to get players to spend more time in the game, I strongly believe that this change will have the exact opposite effect.

Update: In a blog post, Blizzard has announced that they’ve listened to the community feedback and have decided to scale the weekly quest requirements back down to “a number between what they were before and what they are now,” while keeping the XP increase where it is. This will happen in an unscheduled hotfix, and they’re going to share details on its timing “soon.” We’ll keep this post updated with any new developments regarding this change.

Originally posted April 16, 2024. Updated April 18, 2024.