Image by G2 Esports
The Hearthstone guru of G2 states that he is fed up with how Hearthstone has developed over the years, and would rather play games he deems competitive.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events one of Hearthstone's most well-known players, Adrain "Lifecoach" Koy, announced that he will no longer focus on the game. In his latest daily vlog, titled "No more RNG", the German explains that after doing some thinking and reflecting, he sees no value in further pursuing a competitive career in Hearthstone, as the game feels too coin-flippy to him. Furthermore, all skill-heavy and interesting mechanics have been taken away by nerfs, hurting the competitive aspect of the game.
"You will never see me talking about Hearthstone ever again, from this day on, because I'm just fed up. I thought about it, and I just realized - hey, since three years they are doing nothing for the competitive scene, rather the opposite, they are always going in the wrong direction, and at this point I really have to assume that they are either not capable of changing that or that they are not willing to do that."
"Patron would be a good example. Like, Patron was such a mechanic [that] somebody who was extremely, or who was very good at the game, could take these Patron mechanics and could be really successful with it. But on the other hand, the numbers indicated that people were doing less than average; it wasn't even a strongest deck on the ladder, at least not over all levels. And the reasoning for that was, because it actually took certain playing strengths to even utilize the Patron mechanic, because if you didn't have the certain playing strengths, Patron was not a deck for you. It was just way too weak. This is a very good example of why I think Hearthstone doesn't have the future, at least competitively."
Lifecoach continues to state that he now focusses on GWENT, a card game from The Witcher universe. He feels that in GWENT you lose due to your mistakes, and not uninfluencable RNG like in Hearthstone. GWENT challenges him more, which appeals to him.
"I'm playing Gwent now, yeah? And Gwent is a great game, the competitive scene is really being taken seriously and also the playing fun is above. They don't say, "Hey, we simply try everything, so that even the last dude can understand everything from the game", they say, "OK, our game is complex and competitive, but we also have something for you guys to begin the game."
For those wondering what now will happen to tournaments such as the ESL Trinity Series, in which Lifecoach is still competing, there is no need to worry: He will still compete in tournaments with skill-heavy and interesting formats.
Watch Lifecoach's full vlog below: