Yeah, I cannot stand how silly people are with the term. It has lost all of its original beauty with the constant misuse. A cash grab is a poorly made product that exists for the sole purpose of generating revenue. Shitty movie sequels is a great example of a cash grab.
Call of Duty pushing out a new game every year with not much difference was a cash grab, though I no longer believe this to be the case with how games have evolved and how CoD itself has improved quite a bit from game to game in recent times.
Hearthstone pushing out an entirely new mode is not a cash grab. The closest thing we have to cash grab in Hearthstone is some of the hero skins that have come out that have just been new art. Though, that was fixed upon the players rightfully crucifying Blizzard for the nonsense.
I guess posting articles on Out of Cards is a cash grab LUL
It makes so much sense to keep it all inside of Hearthstone, much like Teamfight Tactics inside of League of Legends.
At the core, Battlegrounds and Mercenaries are still card games and they share quite a bit with their parent mode. Having them standalone would be a huge mistake because it creates more effort to switch between them which could harm player retention. If I just got done a bunch of constructed and I thought "ah maybe I'll go play a BG quick" but that would require more than a button, I might not do it and just log for the night.
However, with that said, I am concerned about Hearthstone on mobile. Having a new, asset-heavy mode is adding to the install and download size. I know its not something that would be easily accomplished, but having the ability to opt-out of content for Mercenaries, being prompted to download it upon first entering the mode, seems like not a horrible idea. They could even ask when you first launch the game.
I don't think this is the major overhaul that has been hinted at in previous Q&As. If this is, that is a huge let down. This seems like the smartest thing to do though to push these two modes hard since they will be the main face of the game outside of constructed play.
There is also mobile considerations to make when they are overhauling stuff, so take into into account for why they can't just add tons of buttons everywhere.
It was long overdue tbh. Players have been begging for more cosmetic options within the game and Blizzard finally got their shit together. Yeah, it seemed a bit extreme at the release rate but its not like we have to buy every single one of them - I'm certain not everyone likes every single thing that comes out. Most of it being cosmetics, no problemo!
The extra bundles we've seen, those aren't even needed by most players and if you do feel like buying it because it would be useful, you're getting card packs at a discount. I'd hardly call that a negative for anyone. We even have better pre-order bundles now.
Game quality? Hard disagree. Game balance? They've never reacted quicker to problems with balance than now. I'm no Blizzard shill, I'll give them hell when they deserve it, but this ain't it, chief. Had you have brought this up a couple of years ago, I'd have hard agreed that the game was in a pretty bad place. They went through a couple of really struggle bus years, if anything, we're in the golden age of the game. I don't know if it was the old blood not wanting to make major shakeups to their baby, but ever since Ben Lee joined the team as Game Director, the vision of Hearthstone has been improved and executed well. There also has never been a time when the developers have been so actively communicating with everyone which has been an incredibly welcome change.
Bro, its alright if you don't want to play Mercenaries! But if you don't yet understand what is in the bundles, there are resources to figure that out =)
No need to be upset about monetization in the game. That's been a very consistent thing over the years and should be expected within a card game.
Blizzard has been doing a ton of 6-month sub get a mount promotions over the past couple of years so this continues on with that while trying to get more players to check out Hearthstone. There isn't much reason for a WoW player to check out Hearthstone, but tons of free stuff is a damn good reason to go over and get sucked into it. Having a rewards track unlocked is so good to keep people engaged since they'll get constant cool stuff. Carrying that over into the next expansion, which if it is indeed a Horde vs Alliance theme, will sit well with a ton of WoW players.
This also gets Hearthstone players essentially a free 6-month sub which is a good way to get the numbers up in WoW.
They definitely have not said that yet - I would have run it as a headline!
I also don't think they'll be getting rid of that. I would like to see them meet everyone halfway though once they get their "out of game systems" done. I can only imagine they're going to be doing a rewards track for Battlegrounds, and adding that in as an instant perk for purchasing the BG seasonal pass or obtainable at like level 50 for free players, would be a neat way to go about it. That way towards the mid or end of the season, even casual folks would get full hero choices. It would become pay to remove the grind each season then.
Even if it is, which I don't think it's going to be since Blizzard actually wants to get more people onto the Hearthstone platform, we can all pretty easily avoid it and keep playing Constructed or Battlegrounds.
That's fair! I always come from the point of view that <game company> has learned from some past mistakes and they've gotten better at balancing new cards so people will want to play with them. It will 1000% be a disappointment if people are playing only old stuff for worlds.
I guess we'll find out in a few days if Riot did a good job with the new cards.
They do say that it is possible we might see one before that, but it wouldn't be planned.
I don't know why that's an issue though. We're getting 126 new cards added into the pool with a new region. Its going to take time to see how the meta evolves and then if problems do arise, it'll take some more time to properly evaluate potential changes. Less than a month to wait for balance seems fine to me.
I've made a correction to our recap. Previously it stated that the theoretical "purchase a wild expansion outright" content would be disenchantable. This was a typo. This content, if it ever existing in the form that Dean spoke about, it would not be disenchantable.
Ah, yeah, I never pushed the buttons to make them appear on the page but we have had the images for them rendered this whole time. I've pushed buttons but it may take a bit for the cache to break on the page.
I hope the wiki is sourcing where they're coming from :P
I have no idea why I called that a Zoolock deck. I even remember thinking Handlock to myself when reading the list. Gonna blame being tired at the time. Fixed!
Yeah, I cannot stand how silly people are with the term. It has lost all of its original beauty with the constant misuse. A cash grab is a poorly made product that exists for the sole purpose of generating revenue. Shitty movie sequels is a great example of a cash grab.
Call of Duty pushing out a new game every year with not much difference was a cash grab, though I no longer believe this to be the case with how games have evolved and how CoD itself has improved quite a bit from game to game in recent times.
Hearthstone pushing out an entirely new mode is not a cash grab. The closest thing we have to cash grab in Hearthstone is some of the hero skins that have come out that have just been new art. Though, that was fixed upon the players rightfully crucifying Blizzard for the nonsense.
I guess posting articles on Out of Cards is a cash grab LUL
We've been pushing that quite a bit with the AMAs because Dean loves to mention it too!
It makes so much sense to keep it all inside of Hearthstone, much like Teamfight Tactics inside of League of Legends.
At the core, Battlegrounds and Mercenaries are still card games and they share quite a bit with their parent mode. Having them standalone would be a huge mistake because it creates more effort to switch between them which could harm player retention. If I just got done a bunch of constructed and I thought "ah maybe I'll go play a BG quick" but that would require more than a button, I might not do it and just log for the night.
However, with that said, I am concerned about Hearthstone on mobile. Having a new, asset-heavy mode is adding to the install and download size. I know its not something that would be easily accomplished, but having the ability to opt-out of content for Mercenaries, being prompted to download it upon first entering the mode, seems like not a horrible idea. They could even ask when you first launch the game.
I don't think this is the major overhaul that has been hinted at in previous Q&As. If this is, that is a huge let down. This seems like the smartest thing to do though to push these two modes hard since they will be the main face of the game outside of constructed play.
There is also mobile considerations to make when they are overhauling stuff, so take into into account for why they can't just add tons of buttons everywhere.
Sylvanas and the Lich King are the other pre-order bundles.
Though, all these mercenaries can also be earned in-game, so don't feel the need to pre-order to get them!
How do you feel ripped off by Blizzard? I'd love to know!
It was long overdue tbh. Players have been begging for more cosmetic options within the game and Blizzard finally got their shit together. Yeah, it seemed a bit extreme at the release rate but its not like we have to buy every single one of them - I'm certain not everyone likes every single thing that comes out. Most of it being cosmetics, no problemo!
The extra bundles we've seen, those aren't even needed by most players and if you do feel like buying it because it would be useful, you're getting card packs at a discount. I'd hardly call that a negative for anyone. We even have better pre-order bundles now.
Game quality? Hard disagree. Game balance? They've never reacted quicker to problems with balance than now. I'm no Blizzard shill, I'll give them hell when they deserve it, but this ain't it, chief. Had you have brought this up a couple of years ago, I'd have hard agreed that the game was in a pretty bad place. They went through a couple of really struggle bus years, if anything, we're in the golden age of the game. I don't know if it was the old blood not wanting to make major shakeups to their baby, but ever since Ben Lee joined the team as Game Director, the vision of Hearthstone has been improved and executed well. There also has never been a time when the developers have been so actively communicating with everyone which has been an incredibly welcome change.
Bro, its alright if you don't want to play Mercenaries! But if you don't yet understand what is in the bundles, there are resources to figure that out =)
No need to be upset about monetization in the game. That's been a very consistent thing over the years and should be expected within a card game.
Nah, this is directed at both audiences.
Blizzard has been doing a ton of 6-month sub get a mount promotions over the past couple of years so this continues on with that while trying to get more players to check out Hearthstone. There isn't much reason for a WoW player to check out Hearthstone, but tons of free stuff is a damn good reason to go over and get sucked into it. Having a rewards track unlocked is so good to keep people engaged since they'll get constant cool stuff. Carrying that over into the next expansion, which if it is indeed a Horde vs Alliance theme, will sit well with a ton of WoW players.
This also gets Hearthstone players essentially a free 6-month sub which is a good way to get the numbers up in WoW.
Shame they never brought that Tavern Brawl back. It was a cool one
They definitely have not said that yet - I would have run it as a headline!
I also don't think they'll be getting rid of that. I would like to see them meet everyone halfway though once they get their "out of game systems" done. I can only imagine they're going to be doing a rewards track for Battlegrounds, and adding that in as an instant perk for purchasing the BG seasonal pass or obtainable at like level 50 for free players, would be a neat way to go about it. That way towards the mid or end of the season, even casual folks would get full hero choices. It would become pay to remove the grind each season then.
FWIW they're actually called gacha games.
Even if it is, which I don't think it's going to be since Blizzard actually wants to get more people onto the Hearthstone platform, we can all pretty easily avoid it and keep playing Constructed or Battlegrounds.
That's fair! I always come from the point of view that <game company> has learned from some past mistakes and they've gotten better at balancing new cards so people will want to play with them. It will 1000% be a disappointment if people are playing only old stuff for worlds.
I guess we'll find out in a few days if Riot did a good job with the new cards.
I haven't had time to finish either battle pass that we've seen so far.
Fingers crossed for Stormwind.
They do say that it is possible we might see one before that, but it wouldn't be planned.
I don't know why that's an issue though. We're getting 126 new cards added into the pool with a new region. Its going to take time to see how the meta evolves and then if problems do arise, it'll take some more time to properly evaluate potential changes. Less than a month to wait for balance seems fine to me.
Unfortunate. It wasn't provided to us in the early access we get to patch notes.
I've added it in now though - thanks!
Don't shoot the player for using tools that were provided to them. Constructive feedback about problems goes a long way =)
I've made a correction to our recap. Previously it stated that the theoretical "purchase a wild expansion outright" content would be disenchantable. This was a typo. This content, if it ever existing in the form that Dean spoke about, it would not be disenchantable.
Sorry about that!
Ah, yeah, I never pushed the buttons to make them appear on the page but we have had the images for them rendered this whole time. I've pushed buttons but it may take a bit for the cache to break on the page.
I hope the wiki is sourcing where they're coming from :P
I have no idea why I called that a Zoolock deck. I even remember thinking Handlock to myself when reading the list. Gonna blame being tired at the time. Fixed!