I expect someday there will be a max-level increase, so you'll need more coins eventually. This could mean we'll continue to see coin drops even if you're maxed out, with the argument that you'll want them in the future.
On the other side, it would feel shitty in the short-term that you gain coins for characters you're done with. Even if you'll need more in the future, denying us those excess coins would keep everyone on an even playing-field going into expansions and the like; you wouldn't be able to dump your excess coins into better abilities right away because you wouldn't have any.
Kind of leaning toward the first one, because it's easier to manage; as-in, you wouldn't need to program a check or a stopper. Something else to consider is this: if you stop earning coins for maxed-out characters, it will become easier and easier to level the ones that you have left. Blizzard might not want that.
"There will be 51 Mercenaries at launch". The data-mining found 52 total Mercs, so it appears one has been removed. Internal data shows it could be Valeera, which sucks because her Merc looks amazing :/ Might be because she's the narrator/helper starting out? Or maybe because she's OP lol. Would be weird to be missing one of the main Hearthstone class-representatives, though...
While true that portraits exist inside of packs, at the very least you can play with Mercs you obtain portraits for if you didn't own them already. So, like, if you didn't own Diablo but you pulled Dark Wanderer Diablo, you could play with Dark Wanderer Diablo as if you owned the base "card". I think that's pretty cool.
They also did that to slow down one's eventual "I own all the Rares, so what happens now?" situation from occurring. There are no dupes in Mercs, so you've got to fill the packs with something I guess.
There's also my personal favorite (Kel'Thuzad), and the King of Hearthstone: Dr. Boom! Something else to consider is the number of people from the reveal trailer who are not among the datamined Mercs: ETC, Medivh, Lorewalker Cho, Maiev, High Inquisitor Whitemane, etc.
Got to save something for the expansions, I guess? Or we don't have all the Merc information, which is definitely possible.
For a nice change of pace, there's a second Human-synergy character to go alongside Anduin, in contrast to the seemingly dozen Orc characters that exist. That being said, I don't know if Varian is that good. There are a couple Humans that really want Attack buffs, but a good number of Humans are Casters who don't care for it (outside of providing return-damage when attacked). Making everyone faster with Heroic Leap is great, but Retaliation is kind of crap: it starts out slow, and provides nothing additional. You're hoping that multiple enemies attack so Varian can get more than one swing in; otherwise you might as well have just used Splitting Strike.
All-in-all, pair him with Tirion and Anduin and go to town on your enemies, but know that you probably could have done better with someone else.
There are a lot of Orc-based synergy characters among the starting Mercenaries roster. Kind of annoying, if I'm being frank. They all basically want the same thing (Attack buffs); it leaves them feeling one-note and somewhat homogenous. Anyway, Thrall is a damage-focused Protector, with an interesting little gimmick in his Warchief's Command: he can direct an ally to attack, even if they've already attacked that turn. Choose a Fighter with a ton of Attack, and they can just rip through an enemy in no time at all. It at least gives Thrall something unique to call his own.
All-in-all, Thrall is kind of boring outside of his one unique gimmick, but Warchief's Command could be pretty powerful in the right circumstances.
Ragnaros is a damage-focused Protector, when he really should just be a Caster. His only "utility" is protection from Freezing effects if he equips Sulfuras. I guess he makes up for this lack of protectiveness with sheer damage, as there is a lot here. Equip Blazing Rune for +1 Fire Damage to help out in a Fire team, with the likes of Antonidas and/or Diablo. And that's about it, really.
Mannoroth's abilities are pretty specific, but they are powerful in their effect. You want a Demon team to provide AoE "healing", damage output to coincide with an enemy target's inability to heal due to Fel Lash, and attackers who can take advantage of Howl of Terror. Sounds like a job for Diablo! That's it, really: his abilities are pretty basic in their functionality.
All-in-all, Mannoroth is a niche character, but he slots into his niche pretty well such that he might just have a home in those teams for a long time to come.
We'll have to wait and see the functional difference between Root and Freeze, because it seems to me that they might be identical outside of flavor reasons (Malfurion doesn't Freeze people, after all). Either-way, it provides him some much-needed disruption to go with his damage and Choose One healing. I'm honestly surprised how damage-focused Malfurion is, and I'm also surprised he doesn't summon any Treants or whatever.
All-in-all, Malfurion is a well-rounded character who will most likely find himself in Nature-based teams. He doesn't do much else.
Truestrike Gauntlets appear to be must-haves for J-rax, turning his otherwise random damage output into a focus-fire nuke on the lowest-Health enemy. Kill them with Legion Burst for maximum DPT (damage-per-turn), softening up the next person so you can do it all again. You'll have to stop every now and then to summon a Fel Infernal for the Fist, but that's okay: your opponent will want to target the Infernals to lower your damage output, and that keeps your main team protected. And that's why Jaraxxus is a Protector lol. I expect to see a lot of Jaraxxus players in PvP, because he looks like a lot of fun.
All-in-all, YOU FACE JARAXXUS, EREDAR LORD OF THE BURNING LEGION!!
The Lich King has a nice variety to his toolset, with slows, targetable damage, healing, a Taunt, and Freezing effects. Frostbite's slow is permanent, as well, which could be amazing if it hits the right ability and especially so if it procs on them multiple times over the course of a fight. Frostmourne can spread the slow like an AoE, as well, which just further demoralizes the enemy team. I think pairing him with Diablo will be amazing, slowing down the entire enemy team to where Fire Stomp can just wreak havoc on their Health. They both Attack, so why not finish the team with a Xyrella, for another heal and the powerful debuff that-is Blinding Luminance?
All-in-all, I believe The Lich King is a powerful Protector who could be very disruptive. Speed debuffs could be a premium effect; permanent ones even more so.
Kurtrus seems like a Fighter-turned-Protector, much like Grom. He needs enemy Demons to be at his most effective, though, with a pretty powerful ramp up in Demon Slayer. Aimless Assault is random, which sucks, but the Immunity could be amazing; it shouldn't be too hard to hit the left- or right-most enemy, either, as you've got a 66% chance in normal 3v3 situations. And lastly Eye Beam is targetable Lifesteal damage without retaliation, which is pretty nice. His equipment could make him an even more powerful defeater of Demons, with Demon Guard for guaranteed Critical Damage. In PvE situations where you know there will be Demons, Kurtrus looks to be a no-brainer.
All-in-all, Krurtrus may only be at his best against Demons, but damn if he ain't really good at it.
The Banana gameplay is...interesting, to say the least. Essentially buffing your characters, albeit randomly in the case of Banana Frenzy; at least you have some additional control over what the bananas buff (via the equipment). They're pretty low-impact to start with, though. He doesn't need too many Beasts to be effective, thankfully, but he does need at least one to use Primal Power on. This gives him more flexibility then, say, the Murloc Mercs.
All-in-all, Mukla could be amusing, but the randomness of his Banana Frenzy could be a detriment.
Gruul will live or die based on how many Dragons exist in PvE, because there are only three in PvP at the game's start: Alexstrasza, Brightwing, and Voone's Evasive Wyrm. That's it, really; he's way too niche to be useful outside of this situation. Level him up if you badly need to get through a Dragon boss, but then return him to the bench.
Grom is an Attack-based Protector, and I'm not sure how successful those will be. Wouldn't you just rather run a Fighter at that point? His ramp-up is slow, requiring him to kill enemies or proc every-other-turn with Battlefury. He can gain some survivability with Gorehowl, but that keeps him from ramping up further with Bloodthirst Amulet. At least he has some disruption with Staggering Slam.
All-in-all, for a free starter Merc Grom ain't bad; I just think you can do better, even if he is a Legendary.
Dueling Gauntlets brings this character up a notch, in my opinion. Sure he's another Orc-synergy character, and I don't care for them, but who can't get behind a BATTLE TO THE DEATH?! If you can bump up his Attack somehow - maybe with Tirion's Blessing of Kings? - you could absolutely shred an enemy's Health, even a boss. That might be too niche, but "boss slayer" is a nice niche to have.
All-in-all, when you play Garrosh, you should be using the Dueling Gauntlets. Just sayin'.
I don't like Cornelius. Like his (living) daughter, he is a "grinder" Merc designed to outlive opponents and eventually win over time. Unlike her, he's far more complicated, and "complicated" doesn't necessarily equate to "better" or even "good". He's supposed to be a healer who also takes aggro onto himself, but his numbers don't look very potent and he doesn't heal himself enough to last for too long. Focus him down and he'll be dead in no time, but maybe that's the point - if you're focusing him you're not focusing more important characters. That doesn't make for a particularly fun strategy, though.
All-in-all, Cornelius doesn't look like the character for me, and this is coming from someone who likes to play tanks. He just isn't that good.
Cariel is a "grinder"-type Merc, meant to outlast one's opponent until they surrender via sheer exhaustion. That sounds all well and good, but could be a moot point with all the damage and disruption flying around. She's a fairly simple character, though, the kind that one can easily pick up and play; that's a good thing. I guess we'll see if she can survive in a high-stakes environment, slowing the game down to where she can thrive.
All-in-all, Cariel is probably meant to be replaced in time with other, better Mercs, but starting out she'll get the job done.
In my opinion, Speed is one of the most powerful aspects of Mercenaries. Go first and you could kill or debuff your opponent before they get to act, countering their gameplan whilst furthering your own. With that in mind, I think Cairne will be quite strong, boosting the speed of his allies or slowing the enemy. Disrupt them enough and Cairne's Ancestral Uppercut will heal for a lot, allowing him to continue Taunting and being a general nuisance.
All-in-all, Cairne is one of my favorite Mercs, and I think he could definitely find a home somewhere.
Alex has some flexibility with Dragon Breath, and that's appreciated, but otherwise she's a damage-focused Protector. Dragonqueen's Gambit is a counter-move against characters who can ramp up their Attack, turning their high stats against them. With Dragonflight Talisman, that could be a ton of healing for Alexstrasza.
All-in-all, Alex is a straightforward character. I still like her despite this, but that could be my Dragon bias.
I could see it go either way, honestly:
Kind of leaning toward the first one, because it's easier to manage; as-in, you wouldn't need to program a check or a stopper. Something else to consider is this: if you stop earning coins for maxed-out characters, it will become easier and easier to level the ones that you have left. Blizzard might not want that.
"There will be 51 Mercenaries at launch". The data-mining found 52 total Mercs, so it appears one has been removed. Internal data shows it could be Valeera, which sucks because her Merc looks amazing :/ Might be because she's the narrator/helper starting out? Or maybe because she's OP lol. Would be weird to be missing one of the main Hearthstone class-representatives, though...
While true that portraits exist inside of packs, at the very least you can play with Mercs you obtain portraits for if you didn't own them already. So, like, if you didn't own Diablo but you pulled Dark Wanderer Diablo, you could play with Dark Wanderer Diablo as if you owned the base "card". I think that's pretty cool.
They also did that to slow down one's eventual "I own all the Rares, so what happens now?" situation from occurring. There are no dupes in Mercs, so you've got to fill the packs with something I guess.
There's also my personal favorite (Kel'Thuzad), and the King of Hearthstone: Dr. Boom! Something else to consider is the number of people from the reveal trailer who are not among the datamined Mercs: ETC, Medivh, Lorewalker Cho, Maiev, High Inquisitor Whitemane, etc.
Got to save something for the expansions, I guess? Or we don't have all the Merc information, which is definitely possible.
For a nice change of pace, there's a second Human-synergy character to go alongside Anduin, in contrast to the seemingly dozen Orc characters that exist. That being said, I don't know if Varian is that good. There are a couple Humans that really want Attack buffs, but a good number of Humans are Casters who don't care for it (outside of providing return-damage when attacked). Making everyone faster with Heroic Leap is great, but Retaliation is kind of crap: it starts out slow, and provides nothing additional. You're hoping that multiple enemies attack so Varian can get more than one swing in; otherwise you might as well have just used Splitting Strike.
All-in-all, pair him with Tirion and Anduin and go to town on your enemies, but know that you probably could have done better with someone else.
There are a lot of Orc-based synergy characters among the starting Mercenaries roster. Kind of annoying, if I'm being frank. They all basically want the same thing (Attack buffs); it leaves them feeling one-note and somewhat homogenous. Anyway, Thrall is a damage-focused Protector, with an interesting little gimmick in his Warchief's Command: he can direct an ally to attack, even if they've already attacked that turn. Choose a Fighter with a ton of Attack, and they can just rip through an enemy in no time at all. It at least gives Thrall something unique to call his own.
All-in-all, Thrall is kind of boring outside of his one unique gimmick, but Warchief's Command could be pretty powerful in the right circumstances.
Ragnaros is a damage-focused Protector, when he really should just be a Caster. His only "utility" is protection from Freezing effects if he equips Sulfuras. I guess he makes up for this lack of protectiveness with sheer damage, as there is a lot here. Equip Blazing Rune for +1 Fire Damage to help out in a Fire team, with the likes of Antonidas and/or Diablo. And that's about it, really.
All-in-all, BY FIRE BE PURGED!!
Mannoroth's abilities are pretty specific, but they are powerful in their effect. You want a Demon team to provide AoE "healing", damage output to coincide with an enemy target's inability to heal due to Fel Lash, and attackers who can take advantage of Howl of Terror. Sounds like a job for Diablo! That's it, really: his abilities are pretty basic in their functionality.
All-in-all, Mannoroth is a niche character, but he slots into his niche pretty well such that he might just have a home in those teams for a long time to come.
We'll have to wait and see the functional difference between Root and Freeze, because it seems to me that they might be identical outside of flavor reasons (Malfurion doesn't Freeze people, after all). Either-way, it provides him some much-needed disruption to go with his damage and Choose One healing. I'm honestly surprised how damage-focused Malfurion is, and I'm also surprised he doesn't summon any Treants or whatever.
All-in-all, Malfurion is a well-rounded character who will most likely find himself in Nature-based teams. He doesn't do much else.
Truestrike Gauntlets appear to be must-haves for J-rax, turning his otherwise random damage output into a focus-fire nuke on the lowest-Health enemy. Kill them with Legion Burst for maximum DPT (damage-per-turn), softening up the next person so you can do it all again. You'll have to stop every now and then to summon a Fel Infernal for the Fist, but that's okay: your opponent will want to target the Infernals to lower your damage output, and that keeps your main team protected. And that's why Jaraxxus is a Protector lol. I expect to see a lot of Jaraxxus players in PvP, because he looks like a lot of fun.
All-in-all, YOU FACE JARAXXUS, EREDAR LORD OF THE BURNING LEGION!!
The Lich King has a nice variety to his toolset, with slows, targetable damage, healing, a Taunt, and Freezing effects. Frostbite's slow is permanent, as well, which could be amazing if it hits the right ability and especially so if it procs on them multiple times over the course of a fight. Frostmourne can spread the slow like an AoE, as well, which just further demoralizes the enemy team. I think pairing him with Diablo will be amazing, slowing down the entire enemy team to where Fire Stomp can just wreak havoc on their Health. They both Attack, so why not finish the team with a Xyrella, for another heal and the powerful debuff that-is Blinding Luminance?
All-in-all, I believe The Lich King is a powerful Protector who could be very disruptive. Speed debuffs could be a premium effect; permanent ones even more so.
Kurtrus seems like a Fighter-turned-Protector, much like Grom. He needs enemy Demons to be at his most effective, though, with a pretty powerful ramp up in Demon Slayer. Aimless Assault is random, which sucks, but the Immunity could be amazing; it shouldn't be too hard to hit the left- or right-most enemy, either, as you've got a 66% chance in normal 3v3 situations. And lastly Eye Beam is targetable Lifesteal damage without retaliation, which is pretty nice. His equipment could make him an even more powerful defeater of Demons, with Demon Guard for guaranteed Critical Damage. In PvE situations where you know there will be Demons, Kurtrus looks to be a no-brainer.
All-in-all, Krurtrus may only be at his best against Demons, but damn if he ain't really good at it.
The Banana gameplay is...interesting, to say the least. Essentially buffing your characters, albeit randomly in the case of Banana Frenzy; at least you have some additional control over what the bananas buff (via the equipment). They're pretty low-impact to start with, though. He doesn't need too many Beasts to be effective, thankfully, but he does need at least one to use Primal Power on. This gives him more flexibility then, say, the Murloc Mercs.
All-in-all, Mukla could be amusing, but the randomness of his Banana Frenzy could be a detriment.
Gruul will live or die based on how many Dragons exist in PvE, because there are only three in PvP at the game's start: Alexstrasza, Brightwing, and Voone's Evasive Wyrm. That's it, really; he's way too niche to be useful outside of this situation. Level him up if you badly need to get through a Dragon boss, but then return him to the bench.
Grom is an Attack-based Protector, and I'm not sure how successful those will be. Wouldn't you just rather run a Fighter at that point? His ramp-up is slow, requiring him to kill enemies or proc every-other-turn with Battlefury. He can gain some survivability with Gorehowl, but that keeps him from ramping up further with Bloodthirst Amulet. At least he has some disruption with Staggering Slam.
All-in-all, for a free starter Merc Grom ain't bad; I just think you can do better, even if he is a Legendary.
Dueling Gauntlets brings this character up a notch, in my opinion. Sure he's another Orc-synergy character, and I don't care for them, but who can't get behind a BATTLE TO THE DEATH?! If you can bump up his Attack somehow - maybe with Tirion's Blessing of Kings? - you could absolutely shred an enemy's Health, even a boss. That might be too niche, but "boss slayer" is a nice niche to have.
All-in-all, when you play Garrosh, you should be using the Dueling Gauntlets. Just sayin'.
I don't like Cornelius. Like his (living) daughter, he is a "grinder" Merc designed to outlive opponents and eventually win over time. Unlike her, he's far more complicated, and "complicated" doesn't necessarily equate to "better" or even "good". He's supposed to be a healer who also takes aggro onto himself, but his numbers don't look very potent and he doesn't heal himself enough to last for too long. Focus him down and he'll be dead in no time, but maybe that's the point - if you're focusing him you're not focusing more important characters. That doesn't make for a particularly fun strategy, though.
All-in-all, Cornelius doesn't look like the character for me, and this is coming from someone who likes to play tanks. He just isn't that good.
Cariel is a "grinder"-type Merc, meant to outlast one's opponent until they surrender via sheer exhaustion. That sounds all well and good, but could be a moot point with all the damage and disruption flying around. She's a fairly simple character, though, the kind that one can easily pick up and play; that's a good thing. I guess we'll see if she can survive in a high-stakes environment, slowing the game down to where she can thrive.
All-in-all, Cariel is probably meant to be replaced in time with other, better Mercs, but starting out she'll get the job done.
In my opinion, Speed is one of the most powerful aspects of Mercenaries. Go first and you could kill or debuff your opponent before they get to act, countering their gameplan whilst furthering your own. With that in mind, I think Cairne will be quite strong, boosting the speed of his allies or slowing the enemy. Disrupt them enough and Cairne's Ancestral Uppercut will heal for a lot, allowing him to continue Taunting and being a general nuisance.
All-in-all, Cairne is one of my favorite Mercs, and I think he could definitely find a home somewhere.
Alex has some flexibility with Dragon Breath, and that's appreciated, but otherwise she's a damage-focused Protector. Dragonqueen's Gambit is a counter-move against characters who can ramp up their Attack, turning their high stats against them. With Dragonflight Talisman, that could be a ton of healing for Alexstrasza.
All-in-all, Alex is a straightforward character. I still like her despite this, but that could be my Dragon bias.