This article is opinionated and written with the intent to have a discussion with the community.
Let us know in the comments how you feel - just keep it civil!
I received an email from Blizzard on Tuesday asking me to fill out a survey that would take around 10 minutes of my time. I'm always interested in these types of surveys because they give you an insight into what the business side of Hearthstone is thinking about and what avenues may be used to improve the game.
From experience past surveys I've filled out, there honestly wasn't a whole lot of questions that truly stuck out, it was primarily asking about how you felt about Saviors of Uldum, but the question that did is the topic of this article. That question wanted to know what things in Hearthstone I felt were fairly priced and if I felt I needed to spend money to remain competitive or have fun. Disclaimer: Yeah, I do.
Note that the below quote is formatted exactly as appeared on the survey. Survey images further below. Remember that surveys do not indicate anything will actually change, Blizzard is just collecting feedback!
Quote From Blizzard How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements about the value of Hearthstone cards to you?
- The Saviors of Uldum Pre-Purchase Bundle of 50 cards plus random Golden Legendary and Card Back was fairly priced
- The Saviors of Uldum Pre-Purchase Bundle of 80 cards plus Druid Hero Portrait, random Golden Legendary and Card Back was fairly priced
- Classic card packs are fairly priced
- The Tombs of Terror Adventure Pre-Purchase Bundle was fairly priced
- I get good entertainment value for the MONEY I spend playing Hearthstone
- It is necessary for players to spend money in order to have fun in Hearthstone
- It is necessary for players to spend money in order to stay competitive in Hearthstone
- The Explorer Bundle of 20 packs from past expansion was fairly priced
- I get good entertainment value for the TIME I spend playing Hearthstone
The Fun and Games End Here
I don't think someone put these questions on the survey just for fun. Getting to know how your players feel about the pricing of content isn't something they can just pull up perfect numbers for. Yes, if Hearthstone isn't selling as much content while the player base remains just as active compared to past expansions, that can show dissatisfaction for it, but, you still don't get the full picture. Personally, I don't think every bundle available is truly worth my money, but as soon as you add in something exclusive, as someone who likes to complete collections, I feel forced to buy it for that cosmetic alone but don't get a chance to really say why I made the purchase. Macrotransaction cosmetics are one hell of a drug.
So, why are they asking about it now? Well, if you're like me and frequent several places of Hearthstone discussion each day, you've likely seen a solid chunk of community members upset with the pricing model of Hearthstone, with more posting frequency about it as time goes on. Although this may not be the opinion of the majority, Hearthstone is over 5 years old now which does give it some merit and it is absolutely vital that Blizzard gets the full picture.
This question being asked says to me that this without a doubt has been talked about internally and is feedback taken seriously. Maybe the results of this survey help determine the 2020 plans for Hearthstone, we are only 6 months away from the Standard rotation after all! It would not surprise me at all to see large changes to the new player experience and helping the veterans of Hearthstone still feel good about the game. I know plenty of people that have quit the game and moved on because they felt like Hearthstone was no longer worth their money, so I really do hope this is a step in the right direction to keep this game successful.
The Classic Experience
One popular suggestion out there is that the Classic set is a bit too expensive, with a popular argument being brought up of it being too much for new players to get into the game. Blizzard has done many things to improve this such as giving out Classic packs every week for winning a game in the Tavern Brawl, including Classic packs in several bundles, giving them to us in quests for participating during special limited-time events and the ultra-cheap Welcome Bundle (10 packs + Legendary). That doesn't mean the set is fairly priced though, that just means newer players don't have to put down such a large investment on the game and can get brought into it as a F2P / small investment player initially.
In an ideal world, I'd cut the cost of Classic Packs by half (real money and gold) and with that, the amount of dust those cards give you and how much they cost to craft. By doing so we let new players get cheap and easy access to some fantastic evergreen cards such as Archmage Antonidas, Edwin VanCleef, Preparation, Brawl, and Leeroy Jenkins. I'd maybe buy a round of 40 packs just to try and finish up some of the Legendary cards I'm missing since the investment would be so small. All that needs to happen is anyone with Classic cards currently, give them dust to counteract the reduction in how much our cards are worth.
It may end up with me buying fewer packs in the next expansion due to the surplus of dust, but player happiness would definitely skyrocket and the value for that set would as well. And while we're on that topic, let's also get a reduction in cost from some of the very old Wild sets, making the format more accessible, thanks!
Having Fun
Now, that does leave the other big question - is it necessary for players to spend money to have fun or stay competitive? I do still feel this would be the case even with changes to how Classic cards could be obtained. There is way too much power in Legendaries and while you may not get dupes of them anymore, they remain the hardest cards in the game to obtain and the only reason why I feel like I am required to purchase card packs past the pre-order bundles. That's not to say that's entirely a bad thing if Blizzard wants to make boatloads of cash, but it does not feel great.
When Hearthstone costs, at a minimum, more than the price of 2 AAA title launches every expansion, I question myself if it is worth it vs the time I'll actually play on the Standard ladder. I've personally been more interested in the solo adventure content than the actual constructed game over the past couple of expansions since Standard... hasn't been the best of experiences. I've certainly had fun, but Blizzard has just felt way too slow to react to problematic cards. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate that we are in a time where Hearthstone gets actively updated with card changes and awesome events that change up how we play - it's a thousand times better than the old days - but there's only so many times I can slam my head against the 30 minute game Warrior that I'll almost certainly lose.
The whole Hearthstone team has also been doing an absolutely wonderful job with their community engagement this year too, although not as high as where'd I'd love to see it, it's better than ever.
When you compare it to other games I could be playing or activities I could be doing with my time, Hearthstone is one hell of a deal compared to paper Magic or woodworking, but I wouldn't have much fun without using real money to acquire tons of packs.
Do You Think Classic Packs are Fairly Priced?
Let us know in the comments below what you think about the pricing of Classic packs. What about other types of content Blizzard mentioned in the survey?
Other Noteworthy Questions
- Which recent bundles you knew about and whether you liked them or not.
- If you knew about the Fire Fest-E.V.I.L. and Onward to Uldum events and your satisfaction with them.
- What kind of rewards you wanted to see out of future events.
- How you felt about Hearthstone - "On its way down" "Holding ground" "On its way up".
- Have you been watching esports, attending a tournament, or watching streams.
The Survey Screenshot Dump
These are most of the questions in the survey. Some pages were not included if they were not of interest. All images can be clicked on to open the full image.
Comments
That would be so great! It‘s a refreshing meta for basicly no developpment cost. New cards are often build arounds and will still be necessairy to play the game in all it’s diversity. The incentive to spend money remains but the cost for individual decks can easily be cut in half.
Old players get nostalgia and diversity.
New players don’t need 6 legendarys for a single deck.
The worst part about the current classic set is, that half the legendarys are completly useless but disenchanting them only decreases the chance to open actually usefull cards.
The dusting system have generally been underwhelming, imo, especially regarding rares and commons, which also happens to be the cards you get in practically any pack. I think it would go a long way just to have the 1/4th value set for those rarities aswell.
So 10 dust per common and 25 per rare.
Saviors of Uldum has been one of the best designed expansions ever, in my humble opinion, and it seems like they're getting better with their general designs.
I agree that the refunded dust can be higher.
BUT I also have to say that the dusting is imho the best way to get cards that you need / want, compared to ANY other digital TCG.
I'm glad that Blizzard is starting to realize that prices need to be changed. None of my friends play any longer, and my enjoyment has start dwindling. With next rotation, if I continue playing, it might be mitigated to wild (No matter how much I love the game, I can no longer shell out this type of money on a game).
Indeed, HS is increasingly expensive, and I think it starts feeling forbidding for new players in Standard.
I am not sure what the best solution is, but probably the Classic set needs a rework, and I would be more radical than simply halving the cost.
Most of the Classic set is consistently useless in every expansion, and could easily be HoFed for good, just to clean things up.
With the exception of few cards, that should be reworked entirely, in order to give a solid option that should be always available, be it Neutral or Class (my typical example is Holy Nova, which is horribly useless, and has prompted the devs to continuously add new broken AoE to Priest through the years: just make Holy Nova a decent card!).
So, what would survive from such a process, should simply be made part of the Basic set, and call it a day. To be unlocked with Class levels (exactly as you unlock golden Basic now), so that new players have a way to be fairly competitive fast enough, through sheer farming.
At that point Standard sets can stay as expensive as they are now, generating the same revenues, while not being forbidding to newbies.
Halving the crafting cost of Wild-only cards should also be a thing, to encourage players to at least try the mode. And/or make HoF cards free for everyone.
They've been nerfing Basic and Classic cards that show up in decks too often, to make sure new expansions actually lead to a different meta each time. Fewer powerful cards makes it less attractive to get Classic packs.
I think that in the long run, they'll either have to merge Classic into Basic, as you suggest, or implement a rotating Classic set, as Brian Kibler has been saying for a while.
It would be nice to see prices reduced. Ever since PvE needs gold to unlock I'm having trouble keeping up with new expansion releases.
This is really cool to see. Heard about these surveys the last few years and was always curious to see one.
Thanks for posting.
I purchased witchwood (last preorder I did) specifically because it was about the best value we've ever seen in HS, I wouldn't mind seeing a special dust event once a year like Gwent when you could craft a golden for half the value or something. Small things like that would go far IMO - the dusting system is abysmal it genuinely needs to be reworked.
Edited to add: I've been playing since may 2014 and still don't have a full classic set if that tells you anything
"I've been playing since may 2014 and still don't have a full classic set if that tells you anything"
I'm not sure how much it tells us, TBH, because you stop buying classic packs pretty quickly. If you don't buy classic packs, you'll miss out on the garbage epics, etc. that you'd never waste dust crafting. I'm pretty sure I don't have every epic, again, b/c a lot of them aren't worth the dust.
In 2014/2015 there were large gaps in expansion releases (you had adventures) where indeed you would be purchasing several classic packs with gold. Not sure if you were around during that time. Also you get around 30x Classic a year now.
Conservatively, I've opened well over 300-400 classic packs. That should be enough for a full classic collection.
Most tavern brawls reward Classic packs and there is also the spectate daily quest. So it's probably around 55 free Classic packs per year. More if you get lucky with Twitch drops for playoffs/finals.
I've been playing almost non-stop since open beta and I don't have a full Classic collection either.