Ben Brode: "Keeping Hearthstone Spicy is Important"
Earlier today, Blizzard announced that we'd be having a Free Card Day event this weekend on May 20th. There's been a lot of people wondering what's up with it and Ben Brode decided to tell us a bit more about the reasoning behind it.
- They like doing special events and they've got more planned, both bigger and smaller, down the line.
- Giving out a free card was something easy they could do as a fun one-off.
Quote from Ben BrodeLots 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!)
Yea, this is totally not testing the waters with an epic quality card to see what kind of traffic it brings in on a random day in May.
It's to keep Hearthstone spicy.
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.
Have you all looked into doing daily login rewards like other digital CCGs 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.
What Kinds of Events Would YOU Like to See?
Here's a question for the comments below. What kind of events do you want to see the Hearthstone team do? Personally, I'd love to see them play more with the Warcraft-themed holidays through either Tavern Brawls or flavorful takeovers of normal assets. Some Quests for those events would be A+.
I would like they put wild packs for sale
Well Ben, if missing a reward for a day you didn't log in feels bad... Why then don't you guys make it the same system as daily quests you just described? Log in every day to receive reward, or login have a "3 slots " so you could get away and have some slack - login once in three days to receive up to three rewards?..
Free card is good and we're grateful, sure. But amount of free stuff other digital card games give, while being cheaper Than hs overall, is just enormous. It couldn't hurt to give few packs here and there, since people who pay for hs will still pay regardless of amount free stuff they get, while full f2p guys will still not pay at all.
It makes me sad when I play this game.
Please stop then. You're making the forums annoying for the rest of us who are here because we enjoy it.
How utterly pathetic a creature you must be, to keep posting on these forums.
Maybe winning at least 10 games a week can win you a pack. seems fair right?
or maybe don't give free stuff, Just Up the money gained for winning in general? 3 games for just 10 coins... is really bad.
You guys don't have to give anything for free just up the money and people would still need to work for it. Isn't it like win 30 games just to be able to afford a pack? (not counting quests) Feel like it should be 10 per win not 10 per 3 wins. I know it would make me play more for sure!
now adays i just get on do 1 quest before the slots fill up then get off (basically daily rewards but I have to work for it)
" 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." I basically do this every day in the first place.
A lot of the complaints pre-Ungoro where the amount of free stuff. I think team5 has done a great job to improve on that. Granted, you need to follow the (official) channels to notice (especially the voting on tournaments to get 1 or more free packs), but still I think they are getting more generous.
I'd have to disagree. Un'goro gave out 3 packs on launch, a shitty golden rare card before, and an okay epic card now. There's been two (maybe 3, but I only remember seeing two) tournament voting sessions. The majority of players only get 1-2 packs from this IF they manage to find out about the voting before it happens, which, as you said, they might miss since they're really under the radar for those not actively watching out for them.
So If we're optimistic and say you won 2 packs from each voting session, they've given out 7 packs... Compare that to the THIRTEEN they gave out Immediately when The old gods expansion was released, on top of C'thun. It's not even close. Especially when you take into account the nature of Un'goro being more expensive with very few neutral legendaries, Quests being necessary to play their respective archetypes, and probably more not only viable, but necessary epics for quality decks than any other set. It costs more to play Un'goro fully than Old Gods, and they've given out less - Currently, it's not better "generosity-wise" than Old golds.
More than two are at least Viable. And yeah, you can, but that doesn't matter in this context. Regardless of whether or not your statement is true, my main point still stands that Blizzard have not gotten better or more generous when it comes to awarding card packs to players, which is what the OP was claiming.
They really aren't, since Ungoro introduced more legendaries than ever before (and they're absolutely core to deck types). None of the stuff they've given since Mean Streets even add up to one legendary that people need to build decks.
Giving Cthun for free was the most generous thing they've ever done, and their combined "generosity" since then hasn't even come close.
because HS is, literaly 1 of the most expensive card games today, its graet this free content, we all know it, but, you must consider, 5 cards, cost 1USD, and this is more expensive for other countries, and its worst with the price adjustment the did i some countries, just 1 free pack at week, yes you can buy more with missions and 3 victorys gold, but, missions are usueally rolled and waits for the brawl, if you can play the brawl or it its usefull to do missions, and just 1 pack per day with ths 3 victorys gold, and you need to win 30 matches, if you dont have to much time you wont even play these 30 matches, cry for no reasson is bad sure, and people that just hate the game for hate, are not important, but if you say me that you dont see a reason for they be more generous, its because you dont know other games content, dont need to go too far, the other blizzard games have better free content than this
wrong my friend, a selective demand means a competitive business, and im no talking about cry for everything,
Here's new ideas to keep HS spicey:
_ Turbo Heroic Brawl, possibility to win 500 packs and more: just 10000g entry fee!
_ 10 free packs! ... If you buy other 200 for 99.9$!
_ A free legendary for all (for each 10 legendaries crafted, for just 1550 dust)!
Seriously, this game is getting a bit too expensive lol
Why do you think you should be rewarded for logging in? What's the point?
If you log in every day and complete your quests, you get several packs' worth of gold by the end of the week.
And they are about to make that even easier by letting you complete quests in friendly matches.
Anything bunny related ;3
I was actually expecting a few more Virmen minions during Gadgetzhan, but we only got the one, really unexpected with how the trailer/cinematic featured a virmen prominently.