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[Drkirby]

Please don't be Mech themed...

Just Embrace, it will likely have Mechs as a major theme. Its likely not going to be THE theme like GvG though.

What you should really hope is that is not another RNG themed expansion like GvG was.

The text around the teaser mentions Lightbomb with a bunch of other AoEs that are still in standard. Maybe they will reprint some older cards with this expansion, but that's likely just reaching.

 

[Kornflayx]

https://twitter.com/PlayHearthstone/status/790598967448842240

Please be Mech themed. I miss my Mech Mage

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Had lethal on last week's Brawl but opposing Warlock got Spirit Claws from Renounce Darkness and then played Southsea Deckhand for exact lethal. Added me right after and I accepted, but he didn't brag or anything. Disappointing.

Rank 15, ran into a Mage with all golden cards (Thalnos, Antonidas, Rag). Seemed like more style over substance.

 

[Cat Party]

I wonder what absurdly overpowered 2 drop Priest will get to try to make up for Purify.

 

[gutshot]

My guess is it won't be solely Gadgetzan themed. I think they might be going for some sort of Azeroth travel agency theme. My guess is we will see a few other post card teasers from other prominent WoW cities and locations.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

The main thing I remember about gadgetzan is people ganking from the rooftop where guards couldn't quite get to.

 

[Dahbomb]

Piloted Rager : 4 mana 3/3 DR: Summon a 2/2 Mech with no effect.
Mech Swarmer : 2 mana 2/3 Your next Mech costs 1 less.
Imp-ulsion : 4 mana deal 3 damage to a minion and summon 3 Imps.
Antique Rush Bot : 5 mana 3/3 Heal your hero for 7 HP.
Muster for War : 4 mana Summon 3 1/1s and equip a 2/2 Argent Lance.
Shielded Micro Bot : 1/3 Divine Shield Mech


Get hyped folks!


If Blizzard pulls this then that will be catastrophic for them. According to stats they are alrrady starting to lose players and definitely losing viewers. Releasing an expansion mostly filled with GvG reprints would be enough to see me uninstall the game.

 

[Raxus]

GvG 2.0

Wouldn't be surprised if they bring some old cards back out of rotation.

 

[clav]

Dr. Bloom.

Give your mechs +1/+1 to +4/+4. Minions chosen randomly.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

Amazing at some of the speculation based off a single pic without explanation is.

According to stats they are alrrady starting to lose players and definitely losing viewers.

According to which stats?

 

[Szadek]

I basically already made up my mind that I'm going to quite after the next expansion and it looks blizzard makes that decision even easier for me.

 

[Fixed1979]

*The word "safe" is not meant to constitute a binding agreement and does no imply safety, security, protection, preservation, peace of mind, confidence, reliability, dependability, or trustworthiness. Mayor Noggenfogger is not responsible for any accidents, burglaries, thoughtsteals, mind visions, hellfires, vanishes, whirlwinds, revenges, lightbombs, elemental destructions, excavated evils, consecrations, holy novas, flamestrikes, demonwraths, starfalls, shadowflames, swipes, explosive traps, arcane explosions, brawls, DOOM!s, lightning storms, blizzards, twisting nethers and other Acts of Old Gods, magical mayhem or disfigurement that may ensue. No beasts, demons, dragons, mechs, murlocs, pirates, or totems were harmed, abused, disfigured, dismembered, declawed, detailed, decommissioned, exorcised, disarmed, or toppled in the creation of this postcard. We take no responsibility on the claims made on this souvenir of propaganda, or any predictions, suppositions, predictions, prophecies,harbingers, omens, portents, or conclusions that may arise.

I don't really see any easter eggs anywhere...willing to be that Mayor Noggenfogger is a new legendary.

 

[Yaboosh]

I basically already made up my mind that I'm going to quite after the next expansion and it looks blizzard makes that decision even easier for me.

Lol, based on a postcard teaser. Awesome.

 

[QFNS]

They aren't gonna do reprints. IMO the poster above who said that we are likely to see post cards from other famous places is right. Azeroth Travel Agency sounds like a fun idea to make a lot of dumb/silly jokes around and we know Hearthstone is nothing if not into its silly jokes.

I would be surprised if they didn't make an allusion to the GvG stuff, but I doubt they do straight up reprints or even powered down reprints. That would be a bad idea for sure. I bet we get some mentions of stuff in the flavor text tho.

 

[Karsticles]

People are blaming hex now?

Blaming it for what? It's a bad experience, but I didn't see anyone see anything else about it.

Magic would actually be really successful if they shipped a remotely competent digital product.



It's incredibly successful in Japan, but it seems to have went about nowhere overseas.

It would be successful on name alone, but I think the problem is slog. Hex had this problem where you had to click 10+ times just to cycle through the stages of your turn, and it applied to your opponent's turn as well. It felt like a chore.

Eternal does a great job streamlining this. Instead of giving you continual interrupt phases, you get one at the most important phase: the combat phase. Both players can cast spells during this time. If your opponent casts a spell, you also get a chance to use any spell you have in response. It's very nicely done. If there's justice, Eternal will take off as the best MtG clone out there.

I thought that duelyst will beat him by far, since everyone trashes magic duels I never thought that it will have a good playerbase-


I want to play magic duels since I love magic, but getting a full collection there is super expensive and even though you are never getting duplicates on packs, it sucks a lot that you can't craft cards

Name can carry a lot. I mean, look at Hearthstone and Overwatch.

Eternal is very generous with card packs, by the way, and it has a crafting system.

shadowverse does great in japan? I always have wondered how there could be so many successfull free to play games with enough playerbase to sustain them.

Like, I have installed like 50 games this year just to do the initial gatcha, and it's like the 90% of them does well enough to keep living

Card games are absurdly cheap to make. Look at Faeria. 90% of that game's graphical budget must be on the opening title screen. Duelyst might be...the only card game that has actual animations for each minion? Wow.

I'll give shadowverse mobile a try, but the anime really turns me off. I wish Solforge mobile wasn't garbage.

Solforge got boring fast for me. I loved the upgrade system and lack of mana, but discarding your hand every turn leads to a dearth of strategic depth.

I wonder if at some point we will see an implosion of CCG, it's like everyone and their mothers are making one.

I recall playing one of kung fu panda, was ok, and last week I played plants vs zombies heroes, didn't convinced me at all

I know at least 4 other card games in the works. Now that Duelyst is successful, two other companies are already trying to copy it.

We are already in the digital card game explosion era. News are constantly popping up and we got Legends and Gwent on the way too which are more high profile.

Only company not trying to reap the profits of the digital space is god damn Konami. Though not at all surprised as it is Konami after all.

After learning how Gwent plays...I don't think it will hold my interest for more than a day. The gameplay is incredibly simplistic. It has less depth than Solforge even.

so i've seen two arcane golems dropped on me in ranked wild games (rank 12-10) in the past 24 hours

what is life

Isn't it amazing? I love Wild. Secret Paladin might be OP, but at least it costs 6 mana and I can plan for it. I can't prepare for two 8/8s to drop out of nowhere along with whatever else my opponent might play that turn. I think Standard actually has a higher power level than Wild, and people who only explore traditional archetypes in Wild are suffering for it. I took Midrange Shaman to Wild and must have had an >80% winrate. Nothing can handle that deck anywhere. I didn't even add Dr. Boom, but I killed a bunch of them on the way to rank 5!

I wonder what absurdly overpowered 2 drop Priest will get to try to make up for Purify.

Norther Shire Cleric
2 mana
1/5
Whenever a minion is healed, draw a card.

Piloted Rager : 4 mana 3/3 DR: Summon a 2/2 Mech with no effect.
Mech Swarmer : 2 mana 2/3 Your next Mech costs 1 less.
Imp-ulsion : 4 mana deal 3 damage to a minion and summon 3 Imps.
Antique Rush Bot : 5 mana 3/3 Heal your hero for 7 HP.
Muster for War : 4 mana Summon 3 1/1s and equip a 2/2 Argent Lance.
Shielded Micro Bot : 1/3 Divine Shield Mech


Get hyped folks!


If Blizzard pulls this then that will be catastrophic for them. According to stats they are alrrady starting to lose players and definitely losing viewers. Releasing an expansion mostly filled with GvG reprints would be enough to see me uninstall the game.

Outside of the actual Old Gods, WotOG was a really boring expansion. I am not confident that they have more in them.

 

[Nirolak]

I'm kind of just expecting them to have a post card that matches a theme of each of the prior sets and then maybe a Legendary that makes a call back to them.

 

[Dahbomb]

According to which stats?

The last Data Reaper report, the only stats we got.

While some individuals may possess the ability to overcome the inherent disadvantage when playing against Shamans, the Meta as a whole appears to be incapable of correcting itself. Our (albeit limited) data suggests that people are playing less Hearthstone or even quitting the game altogether.

You think Blizzard is going to come out and claim that stuff? They have been scrambling to get the good will back as of late and taking action with the patches even trying to fix Arena twice which they have hardly ever done before. They wouldn't be doing this if they felt something was wrong or off. It's not just Reddit drama.

 

[Nirolak]

It would be successful on name alone, but I think the problem is slog. Hex had this problem where you had to click 10+ times just to cycle through the stages of your turn, and it applied to your opponent's turn as well. It felt like a chore.

Eternal does a great job streamlining this. Instead of giving you continual interrupt phases, you get one at the most important phase: the combat phase. Both players can cast spells during this time. If your opponent casts a spell, you also get a chance to use any spell you have in response. It's very nicely done. If there's justice, Eternal will take off as the best MtG clone out there.

Yes, Eternal works very nicely.

I think the main thing they need to nail is making a digital version of Magic instead of just trying to 100% replicate the experience of playing Magic digitally.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

The last Data Reaper report, the only stats we got.

How does data reaper's stats show player count? lol

Or viewership?

edit:
Statista.com has HS as second most viewed per hour game on twitch for last month.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/507786/leading-game-content-twitch-by-number-hours-viewed/

 

[Dahbomb]

How does data reaper's stats show player count? lol

Or viewership?

Viewership of Blizzard HS events we have tracked through Twitch, that is non debatable.

Player base is more debatable but it's the best stats we have at the moment unless you have some better information.

 

[B-Dex]

Maybe it'll be piratey themed.... or desert trolls and ogres.

 

[sibarraz]

It Will be interesting i we had some data showing the playerbase from the release of the game to this day, at least Im sure that before an expansion there is a massive drop off until the next expansion.

Still is not a surprise to see a drop off, I feel like I have played this meta for a whole year and gets boring, I hope that blizzard introduces new mechanics, but I dont know why I have the feeling that they will introduce those when the year of the kraken ends

And even though I hate how people take data reaper as the absolute end on everything, is still a good parameter, since is showing that there is a trend in the hardcore/competitive playerbase of dropping the game

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

Viewership of Blizzard HS events we have tracked through Twitch, that is non debatable.

Player base is more debatable but it's the best stats we have at the moment unless you have some better information.

Then show these non-debatable stats. Sorry I don't just accept your assertions as fact.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/507786/leading-game-content-twitch-by-number-hours-viewed/

(hearthstone second place)

 

[Nirolak]

It Will be interesting i we had some data showing the playerbase from the release of the game to this day, at least Im sure that before an expansion there is a massive drop off until the next expansion.

Still is not a surprise to see a drop off, I feel like I have played this meta for a whole year and gets boring, I hope that blizzard introduces new mechanics, but I dont know why I have the feeling that they will introduce those when the year of the kraken ends

Activision's new IR report won't be out until November 3rd, but:
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...991E7/Q4_2015_ATVI_Earnings_Press_Release.pdf
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...TVI_News_2016_5_5_Activision_Blizzard_Inc.pdf
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...0459ABE5/ATVI_Q2_2016_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf

On November 6, 2015, Blizzard Entertainment revealed that Hearthstone®: Heroes of Warcraft™
had surpassed the 40 million‐registered‐player milestone. On November 12, 2015, Blizzard
launched The League of Explorers™, the third adventure for the franchise, with 45 new cards. This
Adventure sold over 20% more units as of the first 6 weeks after launch than the prior Adventure
in the same time frame. As a result of this new content, and continued strength across platforms
and geographies, Hearthstone hit all‐time franchise highs in multiple categories, including
MAUsA, at the end of Q4.

Blizzard had the biggest Q1 online player community in its history, with MAUsA of 26 million, up
23% year-over-year, reflecting strong engagement with the broader portfolio. Hearthstone®:
Heroes of Warcraft™ surpassed the 50 million registered player milestone.

Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft had record total quarterly time spent with the launch of the Whispers of the Old Gods™ expansion.

You will notice they went form 40 million registered players in Q4 2015 to 50 million in Q1 2016 (this was the period between expansions, there was only an adventure), and then hit another record MAU again after Old Gods.

 

[Q8D3vil]

When you reach rank 5 thats when Shamanstone begins.
btw, fuck barnes into 11 auctioner in rogue.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

Activision's new IR report won't be out until November 3rd, but:
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...991E7/Q4_2015_ATVI_Earnings_Press_Release.pdf
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...TVI_News_2016_5_5_Activision_Blizzard_Inc.pdf
http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...0459ABE5/ATVI_Q2_2016_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf





You will notice they went form 40 million registered players in Q4 2015 to 50 million in Q1 2016 (this was the period between expansions, there was only an adventure), and then hit another record MAU again after Old Gods.

Record breaking monthly active users after Old Gods expansion... It's Dead Jim.

 

[BananasWithGuns]

Up to 3500 gold now, should easily be able to hit 5000 before the new expansion.

Wonder if 6000 would be a feasible goal at this point.

 

[sibarraz]

With 5000 gold I got almost anything that I needed in old gods, it also helped that blizzard gave 13 FREE packs, hope to see this again


Since now I have a job, I will pre order the expansion this time

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

I got really far with like 1500 gold with old gods, but I also had a ton of dust in part due to dusting cards that went into wild (not all of them, but a lot of bad ones). Now I have like 1.5k gold and maybe 4k dust. I'll probably get up to around 3k gold or more by the time the expansion releases. And then factoring in dust from each month ranked rewards, at least another 1k dust. I think I'll be fine with that little. Maybe I get lucky and get some legendaries in packs, I'll be in a great spot.

 

[JesseZao]

They aren't gonna do reprints. IMO the poster above who said that we are likely to see post cards from other famous places is right. Azeroth Travel Agency sounds like a fun idea to make a lot of dumb/silly jokes around and we know Hearthstone is nothing if not into its silly jokes.

I would be surprised if they didn't make an allusion to the GvG stuff, but I doubt they do straight up reprints or even powered down reprints. That would be a bad idea for sure. I bet we get some mentions of stuff in the flavor text tho.

So it could be a "treasure box" expansion with bits expanding every previous expansion and some fresh stuff.

Edit: somebody found gadgetzan.com similar to how the karazhan.com registration was "leaked." Might not be a multiple destination expansion after all.

 

[Dahbomb]

Then show these non-debatable stats. Sorry I don't just accept your assertions as fact.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/507786/leading-game-content-twitch-by-number-hours-viewed/

(hearthstone second place)

This doesn't say how HS viewership has progressed in 2016. What are the stats post Karazhan? That's what I am specifically talking about here and what the VS report was talking about. LOL might be the #1 game on Twitch but for all we know it's on a steady decline.

I have the stats on me in graph form but I can't post it from work. Have to wait until evening until I get back.

 

[Interfectum]

So anyone placing bets on a Hearthstone console announcement at Blizzcon just so they can fuck with Gwent? Seems like something Blizzard would do.

 

[Htown]

I hate Shaman so much

it's so STUPID

it's not possible to have enough board clears in your deck to deal with Shaman's bullshit

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

This doesn't say how HS viewership has progressed in 2016. What are the stats post Karazhan? That's what I am specifically talking about here and what the VS report was talking about. LOL might be the #1 game on Twitch but for all we know it's on a steady decline.

I have the stats on me in graph form but I can't post it from work. Have to wait until evening until I get back.

You said it declined. You said the stats were non-debatable. There is no real showing of declination. The last time Hearthstone dropped to 5th was August 2015 and that was only for esports hours. Every month has had hearthstone in top 4 for esports hours and total viewing hours for the past year with only that one exception I noted. source

Big picture, hearthstone is doing great in viewership, both esports and regular viewing.

So anyone placing bets on a Hearthstone console announcement at Blizzcon just so they can fuck with Gwent? Seems like something Blizzard would do.

@playhearthstone did tweet a meme about hearthstone watching mario, but I don't think they'll be announcing something. If they do, it'll be a surprise.

 

[irfaanator]

i wouldnt call 15% esports viewing to be great. It's actually pretty sad compared to other games

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

i wouldnt call 15% esports viewing to be great. It's actually pretty sad compared to other games

It's only comparing the amount of esports hours to the total viewing hours. Compare it to counterstrike in August 2016. Counterstrike has a higher esports % but it also has less total viewing hours and total esports hours compared to hearthstone, respectively (and combined).

Having a higher amount of non-esports hours isn't a bad thing. I think that happens with hearthstone simply because the game is very watchable just being played on ladder.

 

[bangbang i'm a timpani]

How do you all rate the expansions so far?

Nax: Good
GvG: Broken
BRM: Good
TGT: Trash
LOE: Godlike
WOTG: Good
Karazhan: Trash

 

[irfaanator]

you just said that it was doing great in esports viewing. A 15% of total viewing doesnt seem all that great for a game that blizzard is pushing as an esports. Especially with world championships happening next month and the championships happning around this time. All you can really say that is nobody is tuning into these big "ESPORTS" events that blizzard is trying sell and not many really care about HS esports which as we can see from esports companies dropping their HS teams in the past couple of months.

 

[Cat Party]

How do you all rate the expansions so far?

Nax: Good
GvG: Broken
BRM: Good
TGT: Trash
LOE: Godlike
WOTG: Good
Karazhan: Trash

Pretty much perfect summary.

 

[Drkirby]

I personally think Naxx was more Broken than GvG was. Though to some extent that was on purpose, since Blizard wanted to sell the ideas of expansions to the player base.

 

[Yoshichan]

Nax: Broken (in a good way)
GvG: Broken (in a bad way)
BRM: The best of the best
TGT: Awful
LOE: Very good
WOTG: Old Gods = Great, aggro cancer shit = trash
Karazhan: lol

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

you just said that it was doing great in esports viewing. A 15% of total viewing doesnt seem all that great for a game that blizzard is pushing as an esports. Especially with world championships happening next month and the championships happning around this time. All you can really say that is nobody is tuning into these big "ESPORTS" events that blizzard is trying sell and not many really care about HS esports which as we can see from esports companies dropping their HS teams in the past couple of months.

Yes, it is doing great. It's top 4 each month for the past year. How does that translate to "nobody is tuning into [hearthstone esports]..."? In August it moved up to 3rd place, so relatively speaking Hearthstone did better than it did most months in 2016. That doesn't indicate decline.

Just take a minute to understand that you're focusing on the % share way more than it deserved to be focused on. Because even at 15% share, it still is out performing CSGO and every other game below it on the chart in terms of total viewing hours. If it's share was 1% and it still has more esports hours than every other game, that would be mean that the game is doing exceptional in both esports and total viewing hours.

 

[Mulgrok]

I would rate expansions

Nax: broken
GvG: broken
BRM: mixed - Thuarissan enabled a lot more consistency for OTK decks
TGT: mixed - added more fuel for aggro and slower decks
LoE: mixed - faster decks got faster and slower decks got slower
WotOG - balanced
Krazahn - mixed - faster decks got faster while slower decks got slower

 

[irfaanator]

Yes, it is doing great. It's top 4 each month for the past year. How does that translate to "nobody is tuning into [hearthstone esports]..."? In August it moved up to 3rd place, so relatively speaking Hearthstone did better than it did most months in 2016. That doesn't indicate decline.

Just take a minute to understand that you're focusing on the % share way more than it deserved to be focused on. Because even at 15% share, it still is out performing CSGO and every other game below it on the chart in terms of total viewing hours. If it's share was 1% and it still has more esports hours than every other game, that would be mean that the game is doing exceptional in both esports and total viewing hours.

% is what you should be looking at. Idk why you want to look at raw numbers when raw values are honestly one of the worst things to look at. It could have 1 billion hours total views and 50 million esports view. Would that make it a better esports viewing than other games that have a higher share of esports viewing? No. Even in raw esports viewing number it barely edges out csgo with 500k. And theyre even calculating their % wrong too. Theyre taking 5/34.5 instead of 5/40 when talking about the share % of esports. So it has an even lower number of 12.5% esports viewing. All that means is that HS is doing fine as a casual twitch viewing. Im specifically looking at % of esports which is a more telling argument of how much viewers care about the esports aspect of the game and how well companies/third parties are pushing this aspect. % allows a normalized field where all games can be compared equally to each other in terms of how well they're enticing consumers to the competitive side of the game. Blizzard wants HS to be an esports but its not doing a great job

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

% is what you should be looking at. Idk why you want to look at raw numbers when raw values are honestly one of the worst things to look at. It could have 1 billion hours total views and 1 million esports view. Would that make it a better esports viewing than other games that have a higher share of esports viewing? No. And theyre even calculating their % wrong too. Theyre taking 5/34.5 instead of 5/40 when talking about the share % of esports. So it has an even lower number of 12.5% esports viewing. I don't care about total hours on twitch. All that means is that HS is doing fine as a casual twitch viewing. Im specifically looking at % of esports which is a more telling argument of how much viewers care about the esports aspect of the game and how well companies/third parties are pushing this aspect. Blizzard wants HS to be an esports but its not doing a great job

First off, the total viewing hours includes the esports hours. There aren't 40million total viewing hours because you don't add the total viewing hours with the esports hours. The esports hours divided the by total hours = 14.7%.

You're basically saying that for esports to succeed, non-esports has to fail. That is completely wrong and frankly backwards way to look at this all.

edit:
And to again stress the point that despite being only at 15% esports share, it still has half a million more esport hours watched than CSGO whom has a higher esports %. It still has TRIPLE the amount of esports hours over supersmash bros despite supersmash bros having higher esports share because the game is simply not watched otherwise, relatively speaking.

 

[irfaanator]

First off, the total viewing hours includes the esports hours. There aren't 40million total viewing hours because you don't add the total viewing hours with the esports hours. The esports hours divided the by total hours = 14.7%.

You're basically saying that for esports to succeed, non-esports has to fail. That is completely wrong and frankly backwards way to look at this all.

I dont know how you get that im saying the non esports has to fail. You are thinking in terms of a ceiling in total number of viewers that watch the game. If you have 100 ppl watching HS and 15 are watching the competitive side as well. Then next month you have 200 people watching HS with 100 people watching competitive. You've grown both sides. Still dont understand why you are looking at raw numbers. Tbh i dont think you understand so im gonna drop it

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

I dont know how you get that im saying the non esports has to fail. You are thinking in terms of a ceiling in total number of viewers that watch the game. If you have 100 ppl watching HS and 15 are watching the competitive side as well. Then next month you have 200 people watching HS with 100 people watching competitive. You've grown both sides. Still dont understand why you are looking at raw numbers

That is literally your logic you are stating. For the % share of esports to increase, that means LITERALLY the total non-esports hours has to drop, aka fail.

Tbh i dont think you understand so im gonna drop it

You didn't even bother to read the chart clearly and yet you're going to just claim I don't understand? w u t

 

[clav]

My guess is it won't be solely Gadgetzan themed.

It probably is considering the url domain lookup shows Blizzard as the owner of Gadgetzan.

 

[Karsticles]

How do you all rate the expansions so far?

Nax: Good
GvG: Broken
BRM: Good
TGT: Trash
LOE: Godlike
WOTG: Good
Karazhan: Trash

Coming at this as someone who joined right after LOE:
Nax: Power creep but interesting and exciting ideas.
GvG: Awful.
BRM: Excellent
TGT: Failure
LOE: Excellent
WOTG: Mediocre
Karazhan: Boring

 

[Dahbomb]

You said it declined. You said the stats were non-debatable. There is no real showing of declination. The last time Hearthstone dropped to 5th was August 2015 and that was only for esports hours. Every month has had hearthstone in top 4 for esports hours and total viewing hours for the past year with only that one exception I noted. source

Big picture, hearthstone is doing great in viewership, both esports and regular viewing.

Alright got off work, here are the stats:

May: 49.53 million views (pre Old Gods/new Rotation/new Balance patch)
April: 41 million (Old Gods)
June: 35.4 million
July: 31.7 million
August: 34.5 million Karazhan reveal
September: 33.52 million (post Karazhan meta)

Ocober isn't completed so no stats on it yet.

Again it doesn't matter that HS is #2 or #4 relative to other games... it's about how it has performed relative to itself since the rotation and whether it has improved or declined. And going off of these stats and what other tournament organizers/commentators have been saying, HS has been on the decline viewership wise especially in the E sports scene (and your other link proved it with the lower percentage compared to other games).

Hearthstone isn't dead and is still very healthy, I never stated anything to the contrary. In fact for the earlier part of the year it had gone up year to year but not so the case later in the year after summer. But Karazhan failed to generate major interest in the game, it should've been a bump up for the game but instead to pick up the slack Blizzard has had to put out 3 significant patches in a very short amount of time which is UNPRECEDENTED since the game's formal release.


On a different topic but here are my ratings for all the expansions:

Naxx: Very strong competitive adventure with low variance but the abundance of Deathrattles put the game on a worse path overall.

GvG: Probably the worst overall expansion in the game right now. Ridiculous power creep and the most RNG infested expansion to date. GvG and Naxx combined have put a stranglehold on the Wild format.

Blackrock Mountain: Ended up being a very solid adventure all around but it had to be in the Standard rotation as BRM cards couldn't compete with Naxx/GvG cards. Dragon cards eventually got to see enough play which meant that a majority of BRM cards saw play.

TGT: Conceptually a cool expansion but it had the opposite problem of GvG where the cards were too weak. Even in post Standard rotation a lot of the cards saw no play. At least the variance was low in it. Weakest class Legendaries as well out of all the Expansions.

LoE: Best adventure easily. Lots of game defining Legendaries, strong tools for classes all around and central Discover mechanic was decent enough.

Old Gods: Best expansion in fact. Not a lot of variance when you think about it. Most importantly it had the best spread of class Legendaries and actually managed to make 10 drop Legendaries usable. It's main weakness is that the class tools were not balanced accordingly, some like Shaman/Warrior got too much and some like Priest and Rogue not enough. Unlike TGT, the central theme of Old Gods was generally successful (Yogg, Nzoth and Cthun see competitive play and Yshaarj clearly has potential).

Karazhan: Weakest adventure yet. High variance, non interesting cards and mechanics. Most of the playable cards fit into existing decks or enable a degenerate archetype with blatantly busted cards to push the archetype. It's "on rails" card design at its worst.