This post is about cosmetic stuff that you may don't care. If you don't want to waste your time reading about my thoughts on cosmetical things in the game, I suggest you to leave the post instead of leaving a reply saying something like "Who cares."
INTRODUCTION:
Hello. My name is FlyingTeapot#2599, and I'm a player who has been playing since the start of the game. I experienced every expansion of Hearthstone, and for me, this game is something else, it has become part of my life. I'm a journalism student, and when I get back from the university, I simply like to sit down and play Hearthstone while I maybe listen to an album or write an article. It's just my way to go game. That's why I created this post because this game is a part of me and I wanted to suggest some solutions for an "issue" that I'm experiencing.
THE ISSUE
Since I started playing one of my primary goals and maybe a good reason to keep me going were the golden portraits. I can already remember the first time that I saw a Golden Warrior: The flames, the golden hero power... In general, I think that the work that Blizzard made with those additions is simply excellent. But recently I'm starting to worry a little bit because I'm about to achieve all nine golden classes. I have 7/9 golden portraits, only lacking Druid and Warlock with 200 wins each one. This might sound so stupid; like who cares for a shitty animation on your hero? And I know that is something dull, but for me, it's so cool and important.
So that's what I wanted to talk about: How can Blizzard give long term players like me new incentives apart from a Golden Portrait. So let's get started
ANTECEDENTS
I've been playing Blizzard games since Diablo 2, and I can remember everything that those game had for hardcore players. So let's list every game and see how they solved this problem:
- Warcraft 3: Portraits
- Starcraft II: Portraits, Rank System, and Achievements
- Heroes Of The Storm: Portraits, Rank System and Customizable Items
- Overwatch: Portraits, Rank System, Golden Weapons, Achievements, Customizable Items, Level, and Frameworks.
Okay, so now that we have listed what every game does let's compare them to Hearthstone. To start with Hearthstone does not have Portraits or Rank System. I won't talk about this because I know Blizzard and that they are not going to introduce anything related to that when we don't even have Achievements. I won't also talk about a conventional Rank System because of the same reason that I listed before: They're not going to do it and is a waste of time.
Talking about Customizable Items, we could talk about golden cards, card backs, and alternative heroes as Customizable stuff so I won't enter in that conversation (except for a suggestion in Cardbacks).
We also have Golden Weapons, Level and Frameworks. Golden Weapons could be viewed as Golden Heroes: They both get obtained through Ranked System and are similar. On the other hand, we have level and Frameworks. The level in Hearthstone is just a way to give you the basic set; it doesn't have any other pretensions, so I won't get into that (because again, I don't want to talk about any change in the structure of the game).
Finally, we have frameworks. In Overwatch, it functions in the following way: Every 100 levels=One star. Every five star=New Framework (Bronze-Silver-Gold-Platinum). In Hearthstone we only have one framework; the golden one. Here's where I want to focus my attention, on the framework system.
SOLUTION 1: CARDBACKS
Getting 500 wins is something really impressive, it's a way to show your skill and dedication with the hero. When you get to the amount required a big and flashy 500 shows, and you can see how your hero turn itself golden; it's an extraordinary moment even if you have seven of them already.
For me, it's clear that Blizzard wanted to make that moment special, and that's why I don't understand why don't they give you something as simple as a card back. As far as I'm concerned, it's not something tough to design for something so unique that only a couple of players are going to obtain.
Another thing that I think it would encourage people to get golden heroes would be a particular card back for those unicorn players who manage to reach the nine golden heroes. I mean, the number of players that are going to manage to hit this spectacular record is going to be so few that having the proof that you made it would feel AMAZING. A real reward that proves your dedication to the game.
To me, this would be beneficial for Blizzard, because card backs are something that a lot of people care about. You only have to see how casual players enter to Ranked Play just to obtain the monthly card back, so it is proven that I would be beneficial for them.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST AND FOR CARDBACKS
We have to remember the particular vision that Blizzard has of its own game. They want to keep it as straightforward and accessible as possible. It took them years to add new deck slots so... So let's see the arguments against and for special card backs:
AGAINST:
- Extra work: They would have to create the cards, and that would take them time and money.
FOR:
- Encouraging people to reach the goal: Having an extra incentive to play is always good. So if you add something extra to the reward you are going to incentivise your players to play more and win more money.
-Player experience:We like to feel exclusive; that's why games like CSGO and League Of Legends make such an incredible amount of money out of skins. That kind of card backs would be nothing but a better reward for an already cool exclusive thing.
SOLUTION 2: FRAMEWORKS
Following the example of Overwatch Frameworks, why don't they add it to the game? Card backs are beautiful, they work as an incentive for new players, but what happens when you already reach that ceiling? Adding progressive framework would be a solution.
Anyways, instead of a Bronze-Silver-Gold-Platinum framework that could be around the hero (like the gold one already is), they could add something much cooler and WOW related. This is what I'm thinking about:
For anyone familiar with the WOW universe this image is going to be extremely familiar: The Elite Dragon. Even if you're not familiar with the World Of Warcraft franchise, you could also recognize that this dragon is the one appearing on the Legendary cards. Originally, in WOW there were two types of elites, the Silver ones and the Gold ones depending on their strength. You already know where I'm going with this right?
Just imagine how insanely cool would be to have an elite symbol over your hero, proving your absolute dedication to the game. For me it would work like this:
- Gold Portrait: 500 wins
- Silver Elite: 1000 wins
- Gold Elite: 2000 wins (Or maybe something like 500 wins just in Legendary to promote the gameplay there, another primary concern that I have with the ladder system)
To reach each Elite class, you should earn 18,000 wins just in ranked, an objective for a living almost. It would be something so exclusive and so insanely cool. Just imagine for a moment that you are a new player that just arrived the game and you suddenly face a guy with a Golden Elite portrait, how would you feel? I remember when my friends started to play the game how they felt when they won a gold portrait player, for them it was something extremely rewarding; so imagine an ELITE player. It would feel like a boss battle.
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST FRAMEWORKS
AGAINST:
- It would devaluate the golden portrait: If you have something superior to the golden portrait you're making it less unique
FOR:
- Adds something to do for a player like me: When you already reach 500 wins with a class you're not longer incentivised to play with it anymore. So adding this would introduce a new layer of complexity.
- It improves the new player experience in a certain way: For me, part of video games is the feeling of excitement and adventure. Getting to a game and to feel amazed. As I mentioned before, just imagine the reaction of a new player that sees how there's a guy with such a mad skill. The difference that it would be for everyone to face a guy with a Golden Elite framework. It would make certain encounters unique.
CONCLUSSION
I dont wanna take more of your time. I have some more ideas but this post is long enough, so I hope you found this interesting and share your oppinions with me. If you want to hear my thoughs on other things just ask too and if the post is popular enough i would create a second part with them.
Actually for me wins are no problem since I almost got every character by 500 wins right now. The issue for me is rather the thing with golden cards since I disenchant every golden card to craft those legendaries and stuff (even tough I spend 50-100 $ every expansion and still don't have everything). I'd rather appreciate it to get more golden epics (I am not saying legendaries but epics because those give me even more trouble right now). Like maybe you could get a random golden epic card for each 10 or 20 wins you manage to get on behalf of the free golden epic card when you hit rank 5. This would be way more helpful
Actually for me wins are no problem since I almost got every character by 500 wins right now. The issue for me is rather the thing with golden cards since I disenchant every golden card to craft those legendaries and stuff (even tough I spend 50-100 $ every expansion and still don't have everything). I'd rather appreciate it to get more golden epics (I am not saying legendaries but epics because those give me even more trouble right now). Like maybe you could get a random golden epic card for each 10 or 20 wins you manage to get on behalf of the free golden epic card when you hit rank 5. This would be way more helpful
I know what you mean, actually, I don't even bother trying to get golden cards, it is like trying to get a million euros earning a euro every day. Anyways, as I stated I don't even bother arguing about something that would reduce money amount of money or something similar, they wont do it. That's why I only thought about these ideas that wouldn't take so much effort.
Card backs are not that exciting since you can only use one at a time, and you get so many. I have not been even slightly excited about a card back since I earned the heroic naxxramas one years ago.
I like the framework idea, I also think there should be more cosmetic rewards beyond the golden portrait. Giving new emotes to veteran players is a suggestion I also like. Or maybe some trophy objects on your side of the board to show off.
But seriously... Where are the achievements, blizzard??
Emotes were one of the things that I didn't include because I don't wanna be rude, but I won't write something as long as this if no one is going to read it hahaha. Apart from emotes, I thought about special entrance phrases like a Maiev one: "I've been waiting 10000 years for this" or something similar. Would be so cool.
I like your ideas a lot. I'm at a similar stage (7 out of 9 golden portraits) and 50 wins away from getting all of them. I really like the 'Golden Elite' portrait goal. 2000 wins is just not something many casual players will hit, so I don't think Blizzard will put in much effort to supply a demand of such a small crowd. However, they did recently change the numbers of shown wins to no longer max out at 500, so this might be an indication that something like this is actually in the pipeline. One can hope..
I think rewarding class cards would be a good idea. For example, every 50 wins you discover a common, every 100 wins you discover a rare, every 150 wins you discover an epic and every 200 wins you discover a class legendary. Obviously, wins needed to get a new card could be adjusted and measures would be needed to prevent scumming, but I think it would be nice to actually reward cards in a card game, rather than cosmetics. It would also help the free 2 play aspect of the game. Hell, you don't even have to award new cards, sinply allowing wins to upgrade cards you have to the golden version would be cool.
I think rewarding class cards would be a good idea. For example, every 50 wins you discover a common, every 100 wins you discover a rare, every 150 wins you discover an epic and every 200 wins you discover a class legendary. Obviously, wins needed to get a new card could be adjusted and measures would be needed to prevent scumming, but I think it would be nice to actually reward cards in a card game, rather than cosmetics. It would also help the free 2 play aspect of the game. Hell, you don't even have to award new cards, sinply allowing wins to upgrade cards you have to the golden version would be cool.
Maybe as an added value would be okay, but it doesn't make sense considering that that's what level is for
I'm all in favour off adding some goals to the game.
As it stands I see multiple objectives in the game to reach:
1. Get to Legend. The most basic objective. I already did it so there's no much incentive to continue reaching it (specially because I disagree with Blizzard's stance on competitive play and as such have no intention to compete anymore.),
2. Complete all Heroic Bosses in All Adventures. I already did that. I even did it ALL using only Mage, and there is no special reward for completing the adventures as a single Hero... A shame...
3. Complete All golden heroes. I already completed them one year ago. There's not really much point playing after that in Ranked as you only face cancer and can't play fun decks... But now with the visible totals, I do like adding more wins to the totals... Still not that great of an objective...
4. Complete the card collection. This one is impossible unless you have enough money to spend on the game. I already spend more than enough every time an expansion comes out, so this one is impossible.
After all of this the game no longer feels as rewarding. Sure I can still pull of crazy interactions in games and its fun, but not much after that.
There is something I'd like to see. Some sort of reward for wins with a specific deck that is well defined. I would love to get a card back or something for 1000 wins as Freeze Mage or Miracle Rogue or other decks. It would be a cool way to show the expertise as a specific deck. Right now Golden Heroes don't really mean much and are very common. They can also be achieved extremely quick with cancerous decks which IMO devalues the achievement. This way you could tell how the players actually achieved most wins.
(Back in the day, facing a golden Mage was a Freeze Mage, a Rogue was Miracle, a Warlock was Handlock. Now it means nothing.)
Apart from achievements, thing that I lost all hope to get, it is what I meant to say. A lot of golden shamans are from Sea Giant bots. Golden Warrior is one of the most obtained Golden Heroe (when back in the day it was one of the rarest by far if not the most) only because it is so easy to grind some wins a day. Without going too far, getting 100 wins with Druid meant nothing this season; haven't played more Druid because I didn't want to get Golden Heroes grinding, but is kinda sad how devaluated it is right now
Blizzard made a statement on this already, and it went along the lines of having players keep modest goals for themselves while keeping those goals accessible to everyone from all walks of life (schedules).
When you start adding elitist goals like 2000 wins, layers of elite statuses like silver, platinum, *DIAMOND* , and special stuff n' things, you begin to really take away from what this game is all about. Its all about jumping in, having simple fun and closing that fucking client asafp. You may not see this point, but it is something to consider/reflect on, because the stated amount of casuals compared to people to really play a lot of games and grind out these goals is extremely lopsided in extreme favor of those casuals who do not strive or care for lofty goals, titles, cardbacks and or prizes.
Blizzard made a statement on this already, and it went along the lines of having players keep modest goals for themselves while keeping those goals accessible to everyone from all walks of life (schedules).
When you start adding elitist goals like 2000 wins, layers of elite statuses like silver, platinum, *DIAMOND* , and special stuff n' things, you begin to really take away from what this game is all about. Its all about jumping in, having simple fun and closing that fucking client asafp. You may not see this point, but it is something to consider/reflect on, because the stated amount of casuals compared to people to really play a lot of games and grind out these goals is extremely lopsided in extreme favor of those casuals who do not strive or care for lofty goals, titles, cardbacks and or prizes.
Well, Overwatch also has that kind of casual philosophy, but they can also reward you if you invest the necessary amount of time. I can see that point of simple fun, but if it were the case, why do they bother in tournaments as much as they do? Ans how could the elite portrait, for example, affect a new player?
All this would actually be solved if Blizzard was just a little bit willing to give a bunch of cards (cards and not packs) for free. Like every 10 wins you get 1 random (golden) card or whatever. This would also make it less frustrating if you have a losing streak as you still go and try to get those golden cards no matter what rank you are. I don't really think that giving cosmetics is what would solve the issue anyway. People right now are playing to hit legend on the first place. A secondary group is playing to get golden heroes. The third one just 4 fun because why not. But I think that giving 1 golden card away every 10 wins is just too much for a small indie company and we have to be happy with fight promoter and other (useless) golden cards we can directly disenchant...at least let us disenchant those pesty basic golden cards I don't need them at all xD
HS is so little rewarding. Like when you reach legend once you get cardback which is great but if you decide to reach it again you get nothing. I can get golden epic if I reach rank 5 too. And difference between rank 5 and legend is HUGE. You have to commit your whole month on HS if you wanna reach legend so they should definitely reward us more for that.
A thought I had for new cosmetic content is the playing board itself. The themed boards are very cool (Naxx, Ungoro, etc.) but what if they replaced that with a board the players can customize. Each player's side of the board would be customized based on that player's preferences (including perhaps the playing space itself). Players could get cool "pieces" they could use on their side via achievements and/or some of the stuff could be purchased with real money.
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DISCLAIMER:
This post is about cosmetic stuff that you may don't care. If you don't want to waste your time reading about my thoughts on cosmetical things in the game, I suggest you to leave the post instead of leaving a reply saying something like "Who cares."
INTRODUCTION:
Hello. My name is FlyingTeapot#2599, and I'm a player who has been playing since the start of the game. I experienced every expansion of Hearthstone, and for me, this game is something else, it has become part of my life. I'm a journalism student, and when I get back from the university, I simply like to sit down and play Hearthstone while I maybe listen to an album or write an article. It's just my way to go game. That's why I created this post because this game is a part of me and I wanted to suggest some solutions for an "issue" that I'm experiencing.
THE ISSUE
Since I started playing one of my primary goals and maybe a good reason to keep me going were the golden portraits. I can already remember the first time that I saw a Golden Warrior: The flames, the golden hero power... In general, I think that the work that Blizzard made with those additions is simply excellent. But recently I'm starting to worry a little bit because I'm about to achieve all nine golden classes. I have 7/9 golden portraits, only lacking Druid and Warlock with 200 wins each one. This might sound so stupid; like who cares for a shitty animation on your hero? And I know that is something dull, but for me, it's so cool and important.
So that's what I wanted to talk about: How can Blizzard give long term players like me new incentives apart from a Golden Portrait. So let's get started
ANTECEDENTS
I've been playing Blizzard games since Diablo 2, and I can remember everything that those game had for hardcore players. So let's list every game and see how they solved this problem:
- Warcraft 3: Portraits
- Starcraft II: Portraits, Rank System, and Achievements
- Heroes Of The Storm: Portraits, Rank System and Customizable Items
- Overwatch: Portraits, Rank System, Golden Weapons, Achievements, Customizable Items, Level, and Frameworks.
Okay, so now that we have listed what every game does let's compare them to Hearthstone. To start with Hearthstone does not have Portraits or Rank System. I won't talk about this because I know Blizzard and that they are not going to introduce anything related to that when we don't even have Achievements. I won't also talk about a conventional Rank System because of the same reason that I listed before: They're not going to do it and is a waste of time.
Talking about Customizable Items, we could talk about golden cards, card backs, and alternative heroes as Customizable stuff so I won't enter in that conversation (except for a suggestion in Cardbacks).
We also have Golden Weapons, Level and Frameworks. Golden Weapons could be viewed as Golden Heroes: They both get obtained through Ranked System and are similar. On the other hand, we have level and Frameworks. The level in Hearthstone is just a way to give you the basic set; it doesn't have any other pretensions, so I won't get into that (because again, I don't want to talk about any change in the structure of the game).
Finally, we have frameworks. In Overwatch, it functions in the following way: Every 100 levels=One star. Every five star=New Framework (Bronze-Silver-Gold-Platinum). In Hearthstone we only have one framework; the golden one. Here's where I want to focus my attention, on the framework system.
SOLUTION 1: CARDBACKS
Getting 500 wins is something really impressive, it's a way to show your skill and dedication with the hero. When you get to the amount required a big and flashy 500 shows, and you can see how your hero turn itself golden; it's an extraordinary moment even if you have seven of them already.
For me, it's clear that Blizzard wanted to make that moment special, and that's why I don't understand why don't they give you something as simple as a card back. As far as I'm concerned, it's not something tough to design for something so unique that only a couple of players are going to obtain.
Another thing that I think it would encourage people to get golden heroes would be a particular card back for those unicorn players who manage to reach the nine golden heroes. I mean, the number of players that are going to manage to hit this spectacular record is going to be so few that having the proof that you made it would feel AMAZING. A real reward that proves your dedication to the game.
To me, this would be beneficial for Blizzard, because card backs are something that a lot of people care about. You only have to see how casual players enter to Ranked Play just to obtain the monthly card back, so it is proven that I would be beneficial for them.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST AND FOR CARDBACKS
We have to remember the particular vision that Blizzard has of its own game. They want to keep it as straightforward and accessible as possible. It took them years to add new deck slots so... So let's see the arguments against and for special card backs:
AGAINST:
- Extra work: They would have to create the cards, and that would take them time and money.
FOR:
- Encouraging people to reach the goal: Having an extra incentive to play is always good. So if you add something extra to the reward you are going to incentivise your players to play more and win more money.
-Player experience: We like to feel exclusive; that's why games like CSGO and League Of Legends make such an incredible amount of money out of skins. That kind of card backs would be nothing but a better reward for an already cool exclusive thing.
SOLUTION 2: FRAMEWORKS
Following the example of Overwatch Frameworks, why don't they add it to the game? Card backs are beautiful, they work as an incentive for new players, but what happens when you already reach that ceiling? Adding progressive framework would be a solution.
Anyways, instead of a Bronze-Silver-Gold-Platinum framework that could be around the hero (like the gold one already is), they could add something much cooler and WOW related. This is what I'm thinking about:
For anyone familiar with the WOW universe this image is going to be extremely familiar: The Elite Dragon. Even if you're not familiar with the World Of Warcraft franchise, you could also recognize that this dragon is the one appearing on the Legendary cards. Originally, in WOW there were two types of elites, the Silver ones and the Gold ones depending on their strength. You already know where I'm going with this right?
Just imagine how insanely cool would be to have an elite symbol over your hero, proving your absolute dedication to the game. For me it would work like this:
- Gold Portrait: 500 wins
- Silver Elite: 1000 wins
- Gold Elite: 2000 wins (Or maybe something like 500 wins just in Legendary to promote the gameplay there, another primary concern that I have with the ladder system)
To reach each Elite class, you should earn 18,000 wins just in ranked, an objective for a living almost. It would be something so exclusive and so insanely cool. Just imagine for a moment that you are a new player that just arrived the game and you suddenly face a guy with a Golden Elite portrait, how would you feel? I remember when my friends started to play the game how they felt when they won a gold portrait player, for them it was something extremely rewarding; so imagine an ELITE player. It would feel like a boss battle.
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST FRAMEWORKS
AGAINST:
- It would devaluate the golden portrait: If you have something superior to the golden portrait you're making it less unique
FOR:
- Adds something to do for a player like me: When you already reach 500 wins with a class you're not longer incentivised to play with it anymore. So adding this would introduce a new layer of complexity.
- It improves the new player experience in a certain way: For me, part of video games is the feeling of excitement and adventure. Getting to a game and to feel amazed. As I mentioned before, just imagine the reaction of a new player that sees how there's a guy with such a mad skill. The difference that it would be for everyone to face a guy with a Golden Elite framework. It would make certain encounters unique.
CONCLUSSION
I dont wanna take more of your time. I have some more ideas but this post is long enough, so I hope you found this interesting and share your oppinions with me. If you want to hear my thoughs on other things just ask too and if the post is popular enough i would create a second part with them.
Actually for me wins are no problem since I almost got every character by 500 wins right now. The issue for me is rather the thing with golden cards since I disenchant every golden card to craft those legendaries and stuff (even tough I spend 50-100 $ every expansion and still don't have everything). I'd rather appreciate it to get more golden epics (I am not saying legendaries but epics because those give me even more trouble right now). Like maybe you could get a random golden epic card for each 10 or 20 wins you manage to get on behalf of the free golden epic card when you hit rank 5. This would be way more helpful
Just remember the good times!
Card backs are not that exciting since you can only use one at a time, and you get so many. I have not been even slightly excited about a card back since I earned the heroic naxxramas one years ago.
I like the framework idea, I also think there should be more cosmetic rewards beyond the golden portrait. Giving new emotes to veteran players is a suggestion I also like. Or maybe some trophy objects on your side of the board to show off.
But seriously... Where are the achievements, blizzard??
Emotes were one of the things that I didn't include because I don't wanna be rude, but I won't write something as long as this if no one is going to read it hahaha. Apart from emotes, I thought about special entrance phrases like a Maiev one: "I've been waiting 10000 years for this" or something similar. Would be so cool.
I like your ideas a lot. I'm at a similar stage (7 out of 9 golden portraits) and 50 wins away from getting all of them. I really like the 'Golden Elite' portrait goal. 2000 wins is just not something many casual players will hit, so I don't think Blizzard will put in much effort to supply a demand of such a small crowd. However, they did recently change the numbers of shown wins to no longer max out at 500, so this might be an indication that something like this is actually in the pipeline. One can hope..
I think rewarding class cards would be a good idea. For example, every 50 wins you discover a common, every 100 wins you discover a rare, every 150 wins you discover an epic and every 200 wins you discover a class legendary. Obviously, wins needed to get a new card could be adjusted and measures would be needed to prevent scumming, but I think it would be nice to actually reward cards in a card game, rather than cosmetics. It would also help the free 2 play aspect of the game. Hell, you don't even have to award new cards, sinply allowing wins to upgrade cards you have to the golden version would be cool.
This has to be the most beautiful and correctly written post on this forum.
And yes i agree with your ideas but it will never happen because Blizzard.
Blizzard made a statement on this already, and it went along the lines of having players keep modest goals for themselves while keeping those goals accessible to everyone from all walks of life (schedules).
When you start adding elitist goals like 2000 wins, layers of elite statuses like silver, platinum, *DIAMOND* , and special stuff n' things, you begin to really take away from what this game is all about. Its all about jumping in, having simple fun and closing that fucking client asafp. You may not see this point, but it is something to consider/reflect on, because the stated amount of casuals compared to people to really play a lot of games and grind out these goals is extremely lopsided in extreme favor of those casuals who do not strive or care for lofty goals, titles, cardbacks and or prizes.
All this would actually be solved if Blizzard was just a little bit willing to give a bunch of cards (cards and not packs) for free. Like every 10 wins you get 1 random (golden) card or whatever. This would also make it less frustrating if you have a losing streak as you still go and try to get those golden cards no matter what rank you are. I don't really think that giving cosmetics is what would solve the issue anyway. People right now are playing to hit legend on the first place. A secondary group is playing to get golden heroes. The third one just 4 fun because why not. But I think that giving 1 golden card away every 10 wins is just too much for a small indie company and we have to be happy with fight promoter and other (useless) golden cards we can directly disenchant...at least let us disenchant those pesty basic golden cards I don't need them at all xD
Just remember the good times!
Cardback cosmetics, new heroes are ok, for 1000+ victories.
Anything else that complicates hs interface is not necessary and extremely annoying.
HS is so little rewarding. Like when you reach legend once you get cardback which is great but if you decide to reach it again you get nothing. I can get golden epic if I reach rank 5 too. And difference between rank 5 and legend is HUGE. You have to commit your whole month on HS if you wanna reach legend so they should definitely reward us more for that.
A thought I had for new cosmetic content is the playing board itself. The themed boards are very cool (Naxx, Ungoro, etc.) but what if they replaced that with a board the players can customize. Each player's side of the board would be customized based on that player's preferences (including perhaps the playing space itself). Players could get cool "pieces" they could use on their side via achievements and/or some of the stuff could be purchased with real money.