Could Hearthstone Players on iOS Soon be Buying Dust Instead of Card Packs?
Note: Blizzard has not yet made an official statement on the change.
Back in June, Hearthstone players in China were no longer able to buy card packs but instead were purchasing a small amount of Arcane Dust with their money. As a bonus for their purchase, card packs were thrown into the mix as a "gift" for their dust purchase.
Why did Blizzard make this change? This is because of a change to laws in China regarding loot boxes in video games where it was required for video games to publish the odds of their drop rates.
The shop interface for Hearthstone in China.
So then, why on Azeroth are iOS players potentially buying dust soon? That's thanks to a policy change in Apple's App Store.
The Apple App Store Update on Loot Boxes
In the Apple App Store guidelines, a document which details the rules app devs must follow to get through the app approval process, there is now a section which states apps need to make note of the odds of receiving each type of item to customers.
- Apps offering “loot boxes” or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase.
With this addition, it looks like Hearthstone will need to go the same way as it did in China to prevent disclosure of the drop rates which would be accomplished through giving players another object and tack on card packs as a gift. The alternative would be to cut the crap and officially state card drop rates which have been well known for years at this point. On the plus side if they do try to get around it by using arcane dust and not disclosing the odds, it's a little bit more dust in everyone's pockets which will help craft the powerhouses we need for our decks.
Rarity Distribution in Card Packs Today
Card rarity distribution hasn't changed since Hearthstone launched, though players will see slightly more Legendaries now thanks to a guaranteed Legendary in your first 10 packs for each set. The following rarity distribution is from our TGT community card pack opening and is still inline with other documented, more recent pack openings.
Rarity | Normal | Golden | Total | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Legendary | 696 | 0.94% | 56 | 0.08% | 752 | 1.01% |
Epic | 3029 | 4.09% | 143 | 0.19% | 3172 | 4.28% |
Rare | 16017 | 21.61% | 934 | 1.26% | 16951 | 22.87% |
Common | 52153 | 70.36% | 1097 | 1.48% | 53250 | 71.84% |
Total | 71895 | 96.99% | 2230 | 3.01% | 74125 | 100.00% |
We've also got some totally new information from Blizzard China from in May which was posted with loot box regulations in mind.
- You'll get at least 1 rare, or better, in each pack.
- An epic will be received, on average, in 1 of every 5 packs.
- Legendaries, on average, will be received in 1 of every 20 packs.
- As players open more packs, the actual probability of opening cards with higher quality increases.
It's possible we could see the above being enough for the Apple App Store and it wouldn't require Blizzard to provide the actual drop rates which means they won't need to move forward with giving users dust for their money instead.
Quote from BlizzardAccording to the relevant national laws and regulations, "slag legend" is now the probability of taking cards to publish, as follows:
Note: "slag legend" card package a total of five cards, including four different quality.
Rare cards
Each slag card package, at least to get a rare or higher quality card.
Epic card
An average of 5 slag card card package, you can get an epic quality card.
Legend card
An average of 20 slag card card package, you can get a legendary quality card.
In addition, it should be noted that: with the number of cards to increase the number of packages, players actually get high-quality card card probability will also increase.
Loot Boxes: How Do You Feel?
It's been a very popular topic in gaming communities over the past few weeks thanks to EA and their garbage with Star Wars: Battlefront II having absurd lengths of time being required for character unlocks unless you buy loot boxes and I'd like to know how everyone else feels about loot boxes both specifically with Hearthstone and then with other titles.
And before you comment, remember that developers in large companies usually aren't the people deciding how much stuff sells for and the drop rates for these; There's a whole different team of people to thank for this. Don't be a dick to game developers and call them out personally. Attacking developers, especially when they aren't even to blame for the fiasco, pushes them away from interacting with the community and then everyone gets upset no one comes out to talk with us anymore.
I'd love to see dust purchasable, but if we're going down this route, I would also like some way to make large chunks of cards (like being able to craft a normal set).
card packs are different than loot boxes since.. while it is a kind of loot box it wouldn't make sense to distribute cards otherwise..
but I don't get whats so bad about disclosing card drop rates.. are there certain cards that drop less often(?)
Technically it's possible to sell specific cards like hearthstone did with adventures ;). Blizzard don't need to but chooses to have random drops.
The real question here is: what's the deal of them revealing the drop rates of the cards when everyone kinda knows it already...?
What people have to keep in mind is that Hearthstone, and every other game with a loot box system, is balanced around the randomness. If you think that you will be getting the stuff you want faster just because randomness is removed, you're living in a fantasy world. If it takes an average of 100 packs to build the decks you want with randomness, then the rewards would be adjusted so it would also take 100 packs in a system without RNG.
What loot box systems do, if there is some dust-like currency involved, is that it actually favors people who buy few boxes. If you open a pack and get 5 cards you don't have, then you always have the choice between keeping those cards or dusting them. If you open a pack and get 5 cards you already have, then you have no choice but to dust them. In other words games with loot boxes become less pay-to-win because the more you buy, the less value you get out of each purchase. It's a different reward curve from a system where you buy dust directly, where each purchase is worth exactly the same amount, regardless of how much content you already own.
What I like about loot box systems is that it forces new experiences on me. Deciding exactly which legendary I want to craft can be fun, but it's also really fun to get a random trash legendary and try to make it work in a deck somehow. It's a challenge I would never get to experience if I would only be crafting the very best cards.
Of course I wouldn't be against just paying a set amount per expansion and just get all of the content immediately, you know like expansions work in every non-card game. The whole card game scheme has always been a disgusting cash grab, and that has nothing to do with RNG. I can't think of any card game where you could get every piece of content in an expansion for the price of what an expansion would cost for a normal game.
i think cardpacks are still good, after play opening packs is the best thing in the game
Let's get back to reality here because I know you melenial children are lacking in common sense and very disconnected from reality. Loot box, RNG purchases of any sort, and yes even card packs on a game are unethical at the least and downright greed ridden.
For decades people have bought all sorts of card games, collectibles, board games, and yes even PC and console games without such an absurd amount of greed incorporated into the pricing.
You may say " well if you buy a pack of Pokemon cards what's the difference? It's all random also!" That is true but the difference is you obtain a solid real product you can hold in your hand. It is a collectable that gains value over time, and you can play Pokemon cards with someone 20 years from now if you wish. The point is, it's real. And you thus own it physically and it can not be denied to you and you can do with it as you please. These digital cards are a sham. When blizzard decides to pull the plug on hearthstone (and one day they will) you will lose 100% of your investment. And that is important and you should take it to heart.
You children are blowing your financial future on RNG based digital gambling systems that have no value after your money is spent. You some lose your money for an insignificant amount of frustration online. And after you have sunk thousands of dollars ( on average $400+ an expansion) you are left empty handed while some fat cat with Activision stocks has turned your money into massive profits.
All loot box and RNG based online gambling systems are cancer and they are preying on the ignorance of a generation raised to be exploited by this machine. If we do not stand up to it now, All games will become pay to Win and will set you back a mortgage payment just to be competitive once a year. It's time to bring back honest pricing to an industry destroyed by greed.
Blizzard needs to go back to expansion based pricing. $50 for a new card set. Get every card. Offer in app purchases for custom card backs, more class characters, and make the freaking Dev team actually give us something for our money.
Dude, you realize that some people can't afford to spend 50 bucks an expansion. Plenty of HS players play free to play or close to that. The thing you are missing is that these are not Pokemon cards because Pokemon will not give you a pack and a half a day just for playing. That would bankrupt the dam company. This card game is digital however, so you can play it and gain real resources, worth money, by just playing. This allows hearthstone to be assessable to anyone. When I started playing i couldn't afford to buy any packs. But I played for two years and had the time of my life. Now I am in a better place and I buy the preorders. Those combined with my 70 or so grinded packs every expansion give me all I need to be very competitive. I have put $150 total into this game and have 4 years worth of premium blizzard quality content and a lot of fun every day. This game is wonderful, and loot boxes allow anyone to play (try free to play, its a blast). Packs may not be perfect, and a change would most likely not hurt (as long as you can still earn content), but your 50 Dollar scenario would suck the soul, reward, and half the players out of this game. Without the ability to earn content, this game is only for the middle class and upper, and frankly we have enough of those games in the world. Thanks for reading.
Where did you pull that number out of? I imagine that vanishingly few people are spending more than $100 per expansion.
Yeah but we all die and everything we are is washed away like it never happened in the end. So do I save my $50 so that it gets destroyed by inflation and I retire with enough money to buy 1 more hamburger in 40 years, or do I spend it and have fun while it lasts? In 20 years it might be illegal to enjoy card games or post opinions on internet forums at the going rate.
Blizzard CEO's can have my money, good luck stopping entropy and the ceaseless march of time with a Bugatti.
You lost me at, "I know you melenial children are lacking in common sense". 1000:1 I am older and wiser than you... child ! LOL
First learn to sprell and then you can put in a big-'ole pishh posh opinion about video games.
"I know you [millennial] children are lacking in common sense and very disconnected from reality"
"Loot box, RNG purchases of any sort, and yes even card packs on a game are unethical at the least and downright greed ridden."
Given that windup, I was expecting you to go the opposite direction. Weird.
Declaring everything a business does as "greed" is typically/stereotypically the "millennial" thing.
i'm happy with the loot box fiasco because companies like EA and all triple gaming titles are all under the spot light it's a disgusting practice that should be stopped or regulated
I'm not a blizzard fan boy... they have been very stingy since beta that's when i first started... it's just after ungoro where they royaly stuffed up and segmented the community with have new mechanics(quests) vs the dont haves... they are making changes and it's a good step in the right direction. actual f2p models like hearthstone are awesome (they need a way to make money and get support for awesome content) because the start up costs are zero...
being f2p myself and decent in arena. i've farmed 55,000+ gold and 54,000+ dust the game doesn't block you out at all. my collection is fully maxed and it can be done... i love card games and it's the only one i played and stick 2 i've tried others but no long lasting.
extensive studies have already been done with the game we know the odds of the pity timer etc doesnt matter either way
So opening 20 packs at once increase your rares/epics/legendaries then opening 1 pack each day for 20 days ?
Id love to buy dust instead of cards when you got a very complete collection. It makes it easier to craft missing cards
Sounds like a lawyer somewhere earned his paycheck.
I think loot boxes are a huge scam in general .
It's the same principle as a slot machine . Makes people spent tons of money !
It would be a lot better if you could just buy the cards you want at a fixed price .
I know it's all random but when someone opens 3 legendary in a pack and I reach pity timer that's not fair right there !
Question, are physical card packs with the same odds scams as well?
I feel like card games are on a different level. The genre as a whole has always required buying randomized card packs and Hearthstone actually may have one of the better implementations of it due to no duplicate "ultra rare" cards and the pity timer.