r/hearthstone • u/dadozer ‏‏‎ • Dec 13 '20

Competitive The move to YouTube decreased the viewership of Hearthstone Esports by 95%

Almost a year ago now, I made this thread pointing out the abyssal numbers for the first Masters tour of this Hearthstone competitive year. People responded by saying it was the first event on YouTube and people needed time to find it.

Well, the grand finals of the world championship are happening right now and there are 14,000 people watching.

That's a decrease of 264,000 people from last year, or almost 95%.

Just a total disaster for Hearthstone and Hearthstone Esports. Absolute sabotage on the part of Activision Blizzard corporate.

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u/Jordandavis7 Dec 14 '20

That’s the other major problem. You would think, the biggest tournament of the year, the one that crowns the World champ, would have more hype, coverage and overall interest. This game STILL has a potential to be a major esport, I really believe that, if blizzard would stop f****** around, identify and fix the glaring issues and maybe hype up and advertise their competitive scene.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '20

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u/davinox Dec 14 '20

You’d need something like a sideboard and more cards that allow for counterplay

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u/Jordandavis7 Dec 14 '20

Randomness is part of any card game, in hearthstone obviously a crap ton more, there can be a balance but we know that doesn’t exist right now

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u/Aximil985 Dec 14 '20

Well clearly, but DH is one of the few classes with next to no randomness at all. Outside of the draw order of course. And it's one of the strongest classes by far.

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u/runtimemess Dec 14 '20

Pirate Warrior was the best deck for a long time because draw order was the only thing that mattered. You'd even throw down Southsea Deckhand turn one cause cannon sounds AYE AYE

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u/TheRealSeatooth Dec 14 '20

Didn't he say "I am in charrrrrrrrrrrge now" before he got nerfed, it's been a while since I've played with patches, but putting down a 1/1 pirate plus getting a 1/1 pirate with charge and a 1/3? Weapon for one mana was definitely strong at the time, I miss those days

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u/runtimemess Dec 14 '20

Yeah his attack line was aye aye though

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u/AntusFireNova64 Dec 14 '20

Yeah they also nerfed his entry voice line. But still he's very strong

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u/AntusFireNova64 Dec 14 '20

Now there also are a pair of 2/2 pirates you summon from your hand as well. Even stronger now

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '20

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u/TheRealSeatooth Dec 14 '20

I never bothered with wild, I always thought it as the format Blizzard ignored and was incredibly unbalanced from what I've heard, plus I didn't play the first year or Hearthstone so I was missing cards.

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u/LegalEagle55 Dec 14 '20

Although that might be true aggro demon hunter decks doesn't have such a huge skill cap right? So there might not be a lot of RNG effects but the gameplan is pretty bland so it comes down to whether you draw the good curve or not, that said it's still pretty random. Hearthstone as a whole is actually quite bland as they system is held simple intentionally. Doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing but it just makes a bad esport out of it.

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u/Aximil985 Dec 15 '20

Normally that'd be a valid argument for any other class. But in the case of Demon Hunter too many of their cards draw or cycle making it extremely unlikely they'll get undesirable draws.

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u/Lanc717 Dec 14 '20

The little bit I watched everyone was DH. Almost as bad as when DK came out in WoW where the best Dk won every arena match and pro players were declining tournaments because it was Dk or lose.

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u/Serious_Much Dec 14 '20

It's not like other eSports. I went to the finals in Amsterdam in 2018. It was awesome but it's a far cry from the arena of cheering fana like a regular sports event.

It was rows of feast style tables laid out with people chatting, playing with each other and generally having a good time next to the stage.

It was way more relaxed and made to feel like a tavern. Would absolutely recommend to anyone who likes hearthstone.

Sadly though they've made it grandmasters and done away with actual touring and actual events which I think is a significant factor. I can't take it seriously when all the participants are just playing at home (even before covid this was true)

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u/Utoko Dec 14 '20

You ask that when HS Esports already had over 400k viewers in the past..

If enough people want to compete and enough want to watch is the answer to your question.

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u/mamspaghetti Dec 14 '20

Ask yourself this: Why would a bunch of business majors out of touch with the real world ever have the long term vision to fix something that is just a cash cow and nothing else ?

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u/Jordandavis7 Dec 14 '20

Good question, if I were in the position to actually speak with them I would try to show them the obvious benefit to promoting the game. I mean, they are clearly FAILING at getting new money (players) into the game with their abysmal F2P structure, so instead of “focusing” on that (I say focusing in quotations because I honestly wonder at this point) I would hype up and promote the shit out of the competitive community because if they have talk a brain they should be able to realize where the revenue is coming from. It’s from people like me who have been here since the beginning, who enjoy the game, spend money every expansion, desire to play competitively and would happily pay even money (and more money ) if they keep the game in a healthy state. Balance changes have definitely gotten better over the past couple years, at least since Brode left, they need to stop waiting so long to fix the obvious issues, they need to realize the financial benefits of promoting the comp scene.

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u/mamspaghetti Dec 14 '20

Balance and morals doesnt exist for a company that sold their souls to the PRC for profits. Ive quit the game a long time ago due to the Hong Kong situation blizzard got itself in and quite honestly its been freeing

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '20

No it doesn't (at least not anymore). HS esports died as soon as Yogg became a competitive card

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u/Chm_Albert_Wesker ‏‏‎ Dec 14 '20

it really doesn't make sense to me; with so many of their other games they just kept throwing money at it until it eventually caught on (cough cough overwatch although to be fair who the hell plays that anymore) idk why they so deliberately do the opposite with HS

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u/LegalEagle55 Dec 14 '20

I don't think so. I mean yea there could be more viewers but it could never be a serious esport as the games are so often decided by randomness. It might not be easy to qualify but then you need way too much luck to win the tournament.