All Comments

Looks like a very versatile guy who doesn't sacrifice much for that versatility.

I don't love that your first-round Kill Command is so weak unless you have a Beast merc on the team, but otherwise Rexxar seems like fun.

Jaraxxus + Rathorian + Tamsin seems very strong to me. Rath makes rushers while Tamsin makes taunts. Meanwhile, Jaraxxus throws fists all over the place.

I like that they found a way for Murlocs to be zergy in Mercenaries, but it seems rather slow. Like, how often is your Giantfin going to survive long enough to make use of the Navigator's buff?

At high levels, maybe just often enough?

Bubble Wand doesn't say whether its buff applies before or after the attack. I could see it going either way.

Eating things is a flavorful (a-ha-ha) mechanism, but I'm not convinced it's good.

Ol' Murk-Eye can summon plenty of food for Mutanus, but that seems awfully fiddly.

These do not seem like Fighter abilities to me, but I think I might enjoy using her with King Krush.

I love mercs that summon, and I love attacks that repeat. King Krush is already one of my favorite Fighters!

Also, at level 30 with Flaming Claws IV = 19 Attack out of the gate? Yes, please.

She has meaning if you enjoy interacting with her in WoW Shadowlands, but that's about it and not what I'd say the majority of HS players ID as. 

Random hero portrait would be really cool, I agree.

I agree about enjoying fresh additions to the lore instead of being too dependent of milking characters and events from the past. I'm currently not playing WoW because I'm not interested in what I consider too grindy and unrewarding of gameplay for my time atm, but I'm still enjoying the story from a distance and will likely return at some point in the future. 

I'm fully with you on how cool the Uther is for an actual lore reference, and the others make cool "what if" versions, much like most Hearthstone Skins at this point.

As they said, Regrets Always Comes Last. Make sure you know precisely what you are buying. So far, I just see the bundles as a clickbait and nothing else. Especially if you found out later that the game is not fun to play.

We still need a lot of information, including gameplay, leveling, ranking, upgrading, best chars/class, PVP/PVE, etc.

What makes you think of rogues with Little Red Riding Hood out of curiosity? You're right about Omega Agent, but I can explain Stormhammer as a strange flavor crossover. For hunter they seemed to be including griffins as part of the theme, which makes sense as they are beasts. The most famous griffin riders in the lore are the Wildhammer Dwarves, who wield shamanistic lightning powers and hammers just like Stormhammer. It looks like it should be a shaman weapon, but it got included as part of a package theme. Also, the first time these griffin riders made their debut was in an areal battle with red dragons enslaved by the Horde, so the dragon connection also makes a bit more sense from that perspective. 

Really, though, card flavor should be clear from the getgo and not require someone like me to explain obscure stuff to have it make sense.

Ok, this is amazing and right my ally, lol. I love classic fairy tails and some of these character versions are just genius. I have to admit, Prince Charming Anduin almost made me question my sexuality, but Red Riding Hood Jaina set me back on track ;)

What we can count on is the outcry from people who pre-ordered if post-release deals are as good as the pre-order bundles.

Consider expansion releases for traditional Hearthstone. They usually offer a small bundle with packs from the previous set (or year) a few weeks after launch.

There's no reason to assume a post-release Mercs deal would not be comparable to that -- probably something like 20 packs for 20 bucks with maybe a bonus epic portrait.

While I appreciate your 'finesse', I still don't think the...'regular prices' would be a thing any time soon. I bet they're going to at least 'catch-up' with some more...'outstandingly priced' bundles after the release, after people test the 'darn' game. You can count on it.

I still need to know how it affects coin drops from bounties, PvP and packs if I have a 100% fully upgraded merc.

Do coins for that merc no longer drop? If they continue to drop, is there a way to trade them in for some other resource? Do they just sit rotting in my inventory for all eternity?

I feel it's impossible to make an informed decision on the pre-order until I get these answers.

We should nerf Anduin's portrait.

I think that's the most healthy way to approach this Mercenaries mode... and we will see, if how much worth it is to play, from time to time :)

The point of the article is to compare the bundle price to the regular prices -- nothing more.

I think in this piece OOC wisely avoids making value judgments about the correctness of pre-ordering.

Sorry @Fluxflashor, but I feel the need to point out my thought that you SHOULDN'T recommend purchasing these bundles until the game mode officially sits at our fingertips. It is discriminatory, to say the least, without 'clicking something first', in the second decade of the 21st century (for that matter). While Outofcards points out that...is a good deal, to purchase (right now), I think given the novelty of the game itself (and the shadiness of its first occurence), all of us are bound to catch up AFTER the release, that's why I don't think it's such a good deal UPFRONT. Feel free to comment.

I've come with the feeling that they've rushed bundles on this one (i.e. Hearthstone Mercenaries) without a thorough description of its gameplay, charm and sense, for that matter (take note of the initial Hearthstone Battlegrounds approach, for comparison). If I were them, I would've launched the mode first, for a few months, get the notoriety it presumably deserves, and then go boom with everything else. But then again, it's a bold approach that generates 'uber' hype for the 'whales', so that there's an initial 'buy-in' from the mentioned ones, regardless of how good it is (or not) bound to be, on the long run.

Thanks Flux for this breakdown. Been wanting to know this info and if the pre-orders are worth it. I'll probably get the Diablo bundle being a D3 fan, but also due to my unhealthy excitement when opening HS packs 

It's one of the progression mechanics. Other are the bounties and pvp arena. Just like with constructed you won't stop playing once you got a whole collection (which will take even longer with mercenaries if you want to max out every merc (note that the only way to gain merc xp is through playing)).

I don't know, it looks too much like the autumn leaf cardback. Maybe they could've done something with another theme. 

Once thing worth pointing out is because the mode is essentially all progression buying packs to speed it up makes your time with the mode "shorter" and gives you less to do.  Especially considering that unlike a lot of other similar games, there doesn't seem to be a daily cap on what you can do 

Are redesign cards available for full dust refund??