As our own Tim Clark wrote when he complained about live-service games that waste players' time just to boost fake player engagement numbers, "Nearly everyone reading this, whether to increase the all-important average daily user count that shareholders love Whether it's to increase the important average daily user base that shareholders love, or simply in the hopes that they might drop some money into the MTX store, they will be familiar with games that use predatory designs to keep players logged in."

The main example he cited was the change to Hearthstone's weekly quest system, which tripled the goals players had to reach to complete quests, while only adding 20% more experience. This was not a popular change, to say the least.

Blizzard was quick to respond with the typical "we've heard your feedback" message, saying, "It's clear we pushed too hard. However, rather than repealing the changes altogether, they have simply been fixed, and the difference is not that great. As noted in the latest patch notes, the new weekly quests include things like "Play Battlecry cards 75 times (instead of 100)" and "Win ranked Hearthstone games 10 times (instead of 15)." The first change tripled the difficulty of completing the quests, and this change also doubled the difficulty of completing the quests and slightly increased the rewards as well.

Not surprisingly, the adjustment has not been well received by the community, as can be seen on Reddit. As one player put it, " Do they even understand basic math to make 100% more work and get 20% more exp?". This is what Blizzard always does. This is Blizzard's usual practice. This is what Blizzard always does. Other players simply state their intention to uninstall. Some say, "It's not so much that I like the game, it's that I don't like the fact that it feels like a weird corporate maintenance index."

If you're looking for another alternative, there are plenty of digital card games that are better than Hearthstone. Magic: The Gathering Arena just added a new expansion, a cowboy-themed set of cards that encourages crime.