On August 30, Hearthstone is adding a new patch to the collectible card game. In addition to a new Battlegrounds season, Mercenaries updates, and bug fixes, this new patch adds the long-awaited reporting feature to the game, meaning players can finally alert Hearthstone to troublesome players in the community.
Since Hearthstone’s release, players have had no reliable way to report griefing, harassment, or intentionally rude behavior, which has cultivated a toxic environment in the game. With the reporting feature just around the corner, Hearthstone can take the first steps toward fixing that issue.
After the patch goes live, players will be able to report individuals on their friends list, as well as current and recent opponents, through the social tab in the bottom left corner of the screen. To report a player, one simply selects the Options menu when engaging with the troublesome player’s name and selects the Report button. According to Hearthstone, inappropriate names, harassment in chat, and deliberately rude gameplay habits are all grounds for reporting. Though excessive emoting and roping are tricky to cite as inappropriate behavior, they could still qualify for punishment by Blizzard under the right circumstances or with enough proof.
Patch 24.2 also marks the start of Battlegrounds Season 2, which comes with a bevy of changes to the Hearthstone game mode. Battlegrounds is receiving a number of balance changes, the new Quest mechanic, and a Season Pass Rewards Track. Equipped with all new Battlegrounds cosmetics, including skins, emotes, and finishers, the new Rewards Track has both Premium and normal rewards like its traditional Hearthstone counterpart.
Players are relieved Hearthstone is finally implementing the report feature in-game. Though the only way to chat in Hearthstone is by being friends, an unfortunately common practice is to friend a previous opponent, only to flame them in chat. Many devious players also use “rope bots” to intentionally farm game time, inconveniencing players and ruining experiences. Now, players will be able to reduce these incidents within Hearthstone to create a better experience.
However, the reporting feature is a silver lining to the storm cloud many fans consider Patch 24.2 to be. The new monetization model for Battlegrounds with its Rewards Track is extremely unpopular, and the implementation of the new Runestones currency has been met with outrage from Hearthstone fans. Hearthstone will have to see how well the new Premium Rewards Track fares after it launches–if players boycott the new system, it may be forced to reassess its business model.
Hearthstone is available now for mobile and PC.
Source: Hearthstone