What would you say were the biggest changes in HS history?

(!) Talking about the main playmode (so no BG/Mercs/Brawl)

I recently reconsidered, that Quests were actually worded "Win x games with classes Y/Z" not "Play (...)" and event though this change was some years ago, I feel like this wasa massive change to the better. So I wondered what the biggest changes in HS history were so far. For better or worse, concerning gameplay, meta, playability ...

So:

* Reworking the quests to award playing, not winning

Other changes that come to mind (some surely self evident)

* Introducing Adventures (Naxx) / Expansions (GvG)

* Introducing new classes

* Making Discover an Evergreen KW

* More than 9 deckslots ^^

Adding the rank floors (when they switched to the star system). It felt a lot better to pilot a fresh (or meme) deck knowing that you wouldn't tilt yourself right back to the beginning. 

Well, let's review some history then;

Core set release

- Probably the most significant change for all players, whether new or old. Prior to this change, for new players to collect the classic set can be and often is a nightmare. Imagine this, to play face hunter in 2016, you'd still need 60% of classic cards available. And whenever an epic card is required, there's when you know you're screwed. Took me nigh on 2 years before I had most of the rares in classic, imagine what its like for a starting player.

Also, core set changes means we'll get to see old cards come back to standard, which is always nice.

No dupes from packs.

- Another big one in history. Prior to the changes, it wasn't unusual to collect 5 copies of useless epic cards every expansion. It wasn't all that uncommon to not have all the rares either, from 80 packs. Thankfully, those are all things of the past

Quests changing from 'Wins' to 'Play'/ allowing quests to be completed with friends

- I kid you not. There was a time when hearthstone simply roadblocked you from completing quests, because certain classes were simply unrepresented in the meta. Today, we have tons of choices, even with poor classes. Back then, there were like 2 tier 1 decks and everything below that is trash. Mercifully you can complete quests in casual mode, which is where I did most of mine.

Rush keyword

- Yes, the best and most influential keyword is not discover, its rush. Aggro games back then used to be fairly insurmountable, because most classes simply dont have initiative. Hence why Fiery War Axe was once the best card in the game.

Today, rush is printed on just about everything. Its often taken for granted that its literally introduced only in 2018

And last but not least

The reward track

- The sheer amount of controversy generated by this topic alone would suffice it a high seat in hearthstone's history, but it also marked the beginning of an era.

Hearthstone monetization boomed hard after this was introduced. I cannot easily point out when hearthstone started decaying, but if I had to pinpoint an area, it would start around this time, culminating in a more noticeable decay around the sunken city expansion.

Could it be that hearthstone has pushed so far into the 'live service' area where you're expected to commit long hours to the game to keep up? Maybe. All I can say, is that hearthstone used to be a game I play to chill. Its no longer the case after the introduction of the reward track.