Lots of folks in this thread wondering: "Why? Are they testing something?"
Honestly we just think it's fun to do surprising things. We like the feel of our Winter's Veil event, our "Hearthstone New Years" event, and the (now-redundant) Friendly Feud, and we've been ramping up our events team to do even more. We have some stuff planned that I think will be pretty hot. Keeping Hearthstone spicy is important... and giving out a free card seemed like something easy we could do as a fun one-off. We have some bigger (and smaller) events planned... we're just getting warmed up!
What kind of test is that? The numbers of log ins go up. Maybe some of the players who log in start playing again? That's true of every cool event we could create. It's like, do we need to test if people like free stuff? My guess is no. I'm fairly certain they do.
Yes, we did it leading up to Un'Goro launch and it was pretty fun.
In general, putting aside the question of "how much is the right amount of free stuff", the question is "what's the right way to deliver the free stuff". For example, we added ranked rewards, better quests, tavern brawl packs, etc. I'm not against finding other ways to reward stuff, but is daily log-in the best way? I tend to find it tedious to have to remember to log in every day. It makes me sad when I miss a day.
Our daily quest system for example, could have a single slot for your quests, instead of 3. 'Log in every day and complete your quest'. It's the same total amount of stuff given out (1 quest a day), but you'd have to make sure to log in daily to get that value, as opposed to getting some slack and letting you miss a couple days without losing any of that value.
I do think it's cool to have a fun present to open every day, though. There are pros and cons to a system like that.
That's not even true, but the Hearthstone Anniversary was a bit weird. The day we went Open Beta was sort of the launch, but we did have an official launch for PC after that, then we launched again on iPad and again on phone. So we have 4 anniversaries.
I think the more relevant anniversary to most people is the yearly rotation, and we celebrated that this year with daily log in rewards, fun temp emotes and a redone Stranglethorn board, as well as a golden Volcanosaur, capped off with the new Maiev hero.
Ben Brode
Lots of folks in this thread wondering: "Why? Are they testing something?"
Honestly we just think it's fun to do surprising things. We like the feel of our Winter's Veil event, our "Hearthstone New Years" event, and the (now-redundant) Friendly Feud, and we've been ramping up our events team to do even more. We have some stuff planned that I think will be pretty hot. Keeping Hearthstone spicy is important... and giving out a free card seemed like something easy we could do as a fun one-off. We have some bigger (and smaller) events planned... we're just getting warmed up!
Enjoy the free card! (or the dust!)
Ben Brode
What kind of test is that? The numbers of log ins go up. Maybe some of the players who log in start playing again? That's true of every cool event we could create. It's like, do we need to test if people like free stuff? My guess is no. I'm fairly certain they do.
Ben Brode
I'm really jazzed about 'Free Dust Day' where we give everyone a single Dust on the first day of April.
Ben Brode
I was inspired by "Free Comic Book Day".
Ben Brode
Yes, we did it leading up to Un'Goro launch and it was pretty fun.
In general, putting aside the question of "how much is the right amount of free stuff", the question is "what's the right way to deliver the free stuff". For example, we added ranked rewards, better quests, tavern brawl packs, etc. I'm not against finding other ways to reward stuff, but is daily log-in the best way? I tend to find it tedious to have to remember to log in every day. It makes me sad when I miss a day.
Our daily quest system for example, could have a single slot for your quests, instead of 3. 'Log in every day and complete your quest'. It's the same total amount of stuff given out (1 quest a day), but you'd have to make sure to log in daily to get that value, as opposed to getting some slack and letting you miss a couple days without losing any of that value.
I do think it's cool to have a fun present to open every day, though. There are pros and cons to a system like that.
Ben Brode
That would put me in hot water with the boss!
Ben Brode
That's not even true, but the Hearthstone Anniversary was a bit weird. The day we went Open Beta was sort of the launch, but we did have an official launch for PC after that, then we launched again on iPad and again on phone. So we have 4 anniversaries.
I think the more relevant anniversary to most people is the yearly rotation, and we celebrated that this year with daily log in rewards, fun temp emotes and a redone Stranglethorn board, as well as a golden Volcanosaur, capped off with the new Maiev hero.
Ben Brode