4 month old player here, started in the middle of the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion. A lot of people complaining about the power level of decks and etc, but for me that's not the real problem.
The real problem is catching up with the game.
I bought the Welcome Bundle, the Mammoth Bundle and pre-ordered Witchwood. WW got me a decent amount of cards and 1,3k dust from duplicates. The set will stay in rotation for 2 years. I think that's a solid start for a long term plan.
But I still had four other expansions to catch up with: Classic, Un'Goro, Frozen Throne and Kobolds. And this, due to the rotation, is a format with the least amount of expansions out and considered the best time to start out!
So I made a plan to, after opening my pre-order, to use $200 to get the 40 packs deal for each of these expansions. I don't mind spending money for stuff I really like. I spent more on League of Legends, football, etc.
Then opened the WW pre-order. 1 legendary from log-in, another from the first 10 packs... and only 2 after ~75 more packs. That was quite frustrating, and wasn't the first or second time I low-rolled a legendary after the 32+ mark on the pity timer.
This made me cancel my previous plan of dropping $200 in the game. The four other sets have 100 legendaries between them and double that amount of Epics. $200 for a chance of lowrolling 4 legendaries out of 100 is a ridiculously poor deal.
I would be far more inclined to do it if the pity timer of legendaries was 20 or if I received a random one for free if buying at least the 40 pack deal. 2 legendaries for $50 isn't great, but definitely would be far less frustrating and a 100% way for the 1 in 20 average. And honestly, if you're spending money, specially in those amounts, you shouldn't be left to the fate of pure RNG. The high pity timer probably makes a lot of other people who otherwise would regularly spend some money on the game to shy away from the Shop.
Anyway, let's not rant about that, right? Let's go back to what I did in these 4 months.
I spent the first month pretty much learning the game. Read a lot on forums, Reddit, articles. Watched in full the World Championship, Copa America, HCT Oslo, Toronto, Sidney and Bangok these past months. Watched some streamers, more noticeably Amaz, ADWCTA and Merps and Shadybunny.
When the Hall of Fame was announced, I worked hard to get those 3200 dust for the golden Molten Giants (I had 2 Oracles and 2 Ice Blocks from packs). I managed to get 3400 a week before the expansion and crafted them.
I got 4100 dust from the HOF, disenchanted the giants for a profit of 800 (kept Block and Oracle), going to 4900 dust. 1,3k dust from WW duplicates got me to 6300. I had 4k gold for the expansion, intended on using on Arena - did 17 runs, but they keep patching and kinda of ruining it - got 17 extra WW packs and actually made a profit of 200 gold - was at 4,2k gold after the 17 runs.
But I felt I really needed to do some catching up with the other expansions and wasn't having fun with Arena anymore, so I just spread that gold between the other sets, focusing more on Un'Goro, which was the one I had the least cards. I track my pity timers carefully and again got legendaries after the 30+ mark, 35 on Un'Goro nad 31 on Kobolds. Halfway there for a leg with KoFT, Classic and WW.
Then after opening all those, I also disenchanted every golden card (except a Carnivorous Cube because of the possibility of a nerf, a Spellstone that is key on the deck and two Blink Foxes that I found too cool to disenchant for mere 100 dust).
That got me to a whooping 10,1k dust. So I started researching for decks I would enjoy and would be reasonable to craft. I crafted the Lich King as my first crafted legendary for both flavor and usefulness in pretty much every deck I can create.
I had Al'akir from the Welcome Bundle and Greymane from WW pre-order, and with ~300 dust I crafted Even Shaman (didn't craft Hagatha and Sea Giants). Later I crafted 2x Corpsetakers for 800 more that also work in other decks.
For more 2,5k dust I crafted Tarim, 2x Call to Arms and a few other rares and suddenly had Even Paladin made (currently a Tier 1 top deck). Though I didn't craft Tirion and most lists don't even run him anyway.
So in four months, for 5,2k dust, I have a top tier 1 deck and a good t2 deck (Even Shaman is probably sleeper good, I beat a good number of Even and Odd Paladins with it) that can at the very least be very good for 1 whole year and a staple (Greymane) who will stay for 2 years.
I still have pretty much 5k dust on reserve in which I calculated can very easily net me Spiteful Druid and a decent Spiteful Priest deck. I have Archivist and 2x UI from packs. That's another Top TIer 1 deck and currently another Tier 2 who was previously Tier 1 before the rotation. Keleseth can also be used in Zoolock and some Rogue decks. I would then only need Gul'dan for a full Zoolock list.
And I didn't do aggressive disenchanting. I have crappy epics and legs like The Beast, Clutchmother Zavas. Dragon Soul and etc. I also didn't (and won't) disenchant everything from certain classes. I like playing them all and feel the game would be too borin just playing 2-3 decks over and over and over.
I had a friend who disenchanted everything to just focus on Mage a few expansions back and guess what? Last time he played the game was months ago because he only has that deck to play, even if it's a really good deck.
Four months in, two top tier decks with the possibility of make three more. Still 4 months for the next expansion, which despite my poor experience with WW, I'll pre-order again. The pre-order is good because it gives me a lot of new cards that'll be used for a long time but also because any gold saved can be used to catch up with the other expansions you're lacking cards.
I think I'm in a pretty good spot.
I think the most important thing is patience. To not craft random stuff for various decks, even if it looks cheap at the moment. To not do crazy stuff to craft the current flavor of the month deck. Perhaps four months is a lot of time to only start catching up, even with some money spent, and could be solved by better welcome bundles, better Ranked rewards and more promotion/discount events for packs.
The game isn't suppose to be balanced for new players. If you can be competitive right from the moment you sign up then what is the point of spending money? This is a free to play collectible card game, so being able to compete at the highest ranks on day one would go against being free to play and be counter to how collectible card games usually work. The question should be, "Can a new player build a competitive deck within a reasonable amount of play time".
The game isn't suppose to be balanced for new players. If you can be competitive right from the moment you sign up then what is the point of spending money? This is a free to play collectible card game, so being able to compete at the highest ranks on day one would go against being free to play and be counter to how collectible card games usually work. The question should be, "Can a new player build a competitive deck within a reasonable amount of play time".
I would say that if the new player did everything right, within 2 expansions they could have a competitive deck depending on when they started. It helps if they are budget and not f2p, budget to me is buying the starter pack, pre release and nothing else. Within one year, after a rotation they would have multiple competitive decks. If they are strictly f2p it will take longer. My one year anniversary was in the beginning of March. When Ungoro released I had a couple of fun but not really competitive decks. After TFT I had a good solid deck. I went f2p for Kobolds but had 2 strong decks. Now after the rotation I have like 4 strong decks and one thats ok but fun.
Multiple sites/sources have aggro paladin (a deck mainly built of classic and basic 1-3 drop neutral cards) as the highest win % deck. Draw, play, attack face - rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
Cubelock can cheat out huge bodies, gain insane amounts of life, wipe the board multiple times or just force opponent to trade into its cheated out taunt minions, while re-flooding the board of the same minions while gaining 5 armor and dealing 3 damage for 3 lifesteal. It's pretty insane in the history of Trading Card Games for one deck to be so versatile in every component of the game and still have a high win %.
Everything else? Pretty much has to beat these two decks more then 50% of the time to even rank up and have any fun or progress. For sure you can progress with a Spiteful deck, or a taunt spam. But we haven't even talked about how to much time or $ it takes to build a collection of cards to even compete with.
If I was new to hearthstone, I would quickly realize how pay to play it is, how broken the meta is, and how the developers of the TCG don't really care about the new comer experience because the fan base and money cow machine that it is, is well enough for Blizzard to not give a F#.
Then I would go play something else.
I mirror this opinion 100%. It's hard to believe the meta got worse from right before Witchwood, but "WHOOP, there it is!"
Ranked mode is not, and should not be, balanced for new players. (What does that even mean?)
If you play in Casual mode, where new players should be playing, you will win half of your games as soon as you settle into your proper position in the MMR.
You only need 5 Ranked wins per month at rank 24-25 to get your cardback, and that should not be much of a problem, either.
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"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
Hearthstone is relatively cheap for a card game and gives away a lot of cards and packs just for playing. No one goes to Friday Night Magic with a pile of draft commons and bad rares and expects to win matches of Standard, same thing if your deck is full of Chillwind Yetis and River Crocs. I got into HS when it went to mobile, and saw the awesome things you could do with good cards and got hooked. If a new player loses to Cubelock (or any good meta deck), they might either say "this game is p2w nonsense, I'll go play something else" or "what a sick deck, I should get those cards (or get the cards that beat that deck)."
Many people understand that they'll lose a lot when they start a new game (I just got into Tekken 7 and get pummeled into the ground but it's part of the learning process, and it's fun to improve). Many people understand that they get more out of their hobbies if they spend money on them (not possible for everyone, still possible for many).
I guess there needs to be a clarification here for the OP's question.
By "balanced" do you mean as an F2P or a P2W new player? Do you mean the ease in which you climb Ladder? Wild, standard, arena? Learning curve or ease of play entry? Access to card pool? Individual card powers?
There are so many areas to look at when the term "balanced" is used, many players view balance differently. Personally, I would look at the existing TCG/CCG out there and compare them.
The one I am most familiar with is MTG, from a new player standpoint the F2P vs P2W is not even worth mentioning P2W will always have an advantage. Climbing in ranks new players, unless they have a unique understanding of the game inherently, will always suffer on the climb due to the learning curve. Format, Standard or wild, standard does require less time to get immersed into via collection and current deck archetypes wild takes longer and requires more planning. The arena is not a good start considering again learning curve, the amount of gold spent until you can win consistently and start gaining dust/gold is not sound. Learning curve - the game is very straightforward, hidden mechanics are not common so you can see immediately how cards will interact. The game is Highly RNG based so that also takes away some of the learning curves as well, but also becomes a headache when trying to learn because what should be straightforward is now muddled. As for being able to jump in and start playing (also card pool access), no problem any new player can build a simple deck on start and get dominated for a long period of time, unless you want to pay to win, and if lucky you will get a decent brawl to help get a pack and some gold. The promo packs of the most current set(s) will be available which also helps but still relies on High RNG to pull key cards for competitive decks. And then understanding the individual card power, or value, as a new player. Unless you take the time to do a few hours of research before loading up your first non-tutorial match, there is no way to know what are the power cards, most new players will see 'legendary cards are the power cards I must get them' and then sink 1600dust into a legendary only to find out later what its actual game worth is.
All in all the game is mediocre at best for new players, and the only change to that is whether you are F2P (the game is immensely more difficult) or P2W (game has better immersion), but either way, the game requires research and understanding. That is up to the individual to do, not the opponent(s).
This game is based off Blizzard earning money if a new player doesn't want to pay to win blizzard doesn't care. If a player wants the game handed to them, Blizzard doesn't care. If a new player wants to succeed at this game, they themselves must do the research and decide if its something they want to invest their time and effort into.
Complaining about it on threads like this only shows blizzard what is making money and what is not. The biggest example is the Welcome Bundle. This isn't to cater to the players, it caters to blizzards bottom line. If someone puts their own resources into something they feel connected to it and it has a more meaningful value, this hooks players and promotes the idea that spending is the way to go.
TL;DR The game is competitive and new players success is directly related to their effort put into the game, blizzard wants it hard for new players to coax them into spending money. This is a business for them, and entertainment for us, entertainment we know isn't free.
Well, Disguised Toast hit Rank 15 in about 3 hours with a brand new account, so I'd say its ok.
Can everyone do that though? Definently not. I've been playing since KOFT and only hit Rank 10 last season.
I remember making Midrange Hunter and Thief Priest as a new player, didn't do great with them but those were the decks that got me in the game. I hit R19 with Thief Priest (an incredible accomplishment btw) and it was really fun.
My friend that started last month got Shudderwok as his free Legendary and opened the other combo pieces and got to R20 his 3rd week of playing.
Because it was a new account it gave him a HUGE advantage though. Those early ranks had him playing very inexperienced players while he himself is a very experienced player. Knowledge of the game played a huge factor into his ability to get as far as he did with a minimal card pool.
It's balanced while they face other new players. As soon as they get thrown in with everyone else they're going to be incapable of keeping up, especially right now with all the top decks being absurdly expensive. These decks are all over the ladder as well, even below rank 20 (though somewhat less frequent).
No, it pains me to see other TCG's hit nerf bats after 2 weeks of the newest expansion cause some cards proven to have a bit too good synergy. Yet old goodie Blizzy waits a year or two to do the same....
So again no, new players go player better games unless you are hard core Blizzard fan
Its not balanced if you dont buy the cards. You either play arena where everyone has equal footing OR you buy packs and play ranked. So if you are F2P new player, play arena only.
No, it is not. I've been away from the game a few months, came back, and started at rank 25. There were some newbie players out there, but most of them were experienced players with lots of good cards, legendaries, and many even had netdecked meta decks. I can manage to win there, but I woner, how the hell can a new player win games?.
I created a new account, did the first few quests (unlock all heroes, get an hero to level 10, play 1+3 "Play" games, KFT adventure prologue, free arena) and got the free witchwood packs+leg. Add a few daily quests to get 10 classic packs + 10 WW packs (for the 1st guaranteed leg) and you have easily 2k+ dust by dusting everything.
So I dusted most (but not all !) of my cards to craft a budget hunter deck (they are known to be F2P-friendly, and I carried a similar midrange hunter to rank 3 back in Un'goro, so I know this deck a bit).
I then went to ladder (28-29 april, so end of month) and here are my results :
16-2 (88%) from rank 25 to rank 20.
8-3 (72%) from rank 20 to rank 18-4stars.
From there, I started oscillating between rank 18-4stars (never went below that) and rank 16-1star, ending at rank 17-4stars, with a total of 16-15 (51.6%).
Thanks to win streaks, it should be possible to get to rank 15.
Overall 60 games : 40-20 (66.7%).
In the end, I was surprised to see how hard it gets around rank 17. Mainly meta decks, including several with multiple legendaries and epics.
I'd say that, despite the ladder change, it is harder than before (say, Un'goro meta) for F2P players to compete, as early as rank 17 in end-of-month. Sure, some good meta decks are not too expensive, such as Odd Paladin, but you still need more dust than usual "budget" decks.
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No,you'll get rekt by Top Meta decks,unless you want to spend $$.
4 month old player here, started in the middle of the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion. A lot of people complaining about the power level of decks and etc, but for me that's not the real problem.
The real problem is catching up with the game.
I bought the Welcome Bundle, the Mammoth Bundle and pre-ordered Witchwood. WW got me a decent amount of cards and 1,3k dust from duplicates. The set will stay in rotation for 2 years. I think that's a solid start for a long term plan.
But I still had four other expansions to catch up with: Classic, Un'Goro, Frozen Throne and Kobolds. And this, due to the rotation, is a format with the least amount of expansions out and considered the best time to start out!
So I made a plan to, after opening my pre-order, to use $200 to get the 40 packs deal for each of these expansions. I don't mind spending money for stuff I really like. I spent more on League of Legends, football, etc.
Then opened the WW pre-order. 1 legendary from log-in, another from the first 10 packs... and only 2 after ~75 more packs. That was quite frustrating, and wasn't the first or second time I low-rolled a legendary after the 32+ mark on the pity timer.
This made me cancel my previous plan of dropping $200 in the game. The four other sets have 100 legendaries between them and double that amount of Epics. $200 for a chance of lowrolling 4 legendaries out of 100 is a ridiculously poor deal.
I would be far more inclined to do it if the pity timer of legendaries was 20 or if I received a random one for free if buying at least the 40 pack deal. 2 legendaries for $50 isn't great, but definitely would be far less frustrating and a 100% way for the 1 in 20 average. And honestly, if you're spending money, specially in those amounts, you shouldn't be left to the fate of pure RNG. The high pity timer probably makes a lot of other people who otherwise would regularly spend some money on the game to shy away from the Shop.
Anyway, let's not rant about that, right? Let's go back to what I did in these 4 months.
I spent the first month pretty much learning the game. Read a lot on forums, Reddit, articles. Watched in full the World Championship, Copa America, HCT Oslo, Toronto, Sidney and Bangok these past months. Watched some streamers, more noticeably Amaz, ADWCTA and Merps and Shadybunny.
When the Hall of Fame was announced, I worked hard to get those 3200 dust for the golden Molten Giants (I had 2 Oracles and 2 Ice Blocks from packs). I managed to get 3400 a week before the expansion and crafted them.
I got 4100 dust from the HOF, disenchanted the giants for a profit of 800 (kept Block and Oracle), going to 4900 dust. 1,3k dust from WW duplicates got me to 6300. I had 4k gold for the expansion, intended on using on Arena - did 17 runs, but they keep patching and kinda of ruining it - got 17 extra WW packs and actually made a profit of 200 gold - was at 4,2k gold after the 17 runs.
But I felt I really needed to do some catching up with the other expansions and wasn't having fun with Arena anymore, so I just spread that gold between the other sets, focusing more on Un'Goro, which was the one I had the least cards. I track my pity timers carefully and again got legendaries after the 30+ mark, 35 on Un'Goro nad 31 on Kobolds. Halfway there for a leg with KoFT, Classic and WW.
Then after opening all those, I also disenchanted every golden card (except a Carnivorous Cube because of the possibility of a nerf, a Spellstone that is key on the deck and two Blink Foxes that I found too cool to disenchant for mere 100 dust).
That got me to a whooping 10,1k dust. So I started researching for decks I would enjoy and would be reasonable to craft. I crafted the Lich King as my first crafted legendary for both flavor and usefulness in pretty much every deck I can create.
I had Al'akir from the Welcome Bundle and Greymane from WW pre-order, and with ~300 dust I crafted Even Shaman (didn't craft Hagatha and Sea Giants). Later I crafted 2x Corpsetakers for 800 more that also work in other decks.
For more 2,5k dust I crafted Tarim, 2x Call to Arms and a few other rares and suddenly had Even Paladin made (currently a Tier 1 top deck). Though I didn't craft Tirion and most lists don't even run him anyway.
So in four months, for 5,2k dust, I have a top tier 1 deck and a good t2 deck (Even Shaman is probably sleeper good, I beat a good number of Even and Odd Paladins with it) that can at the very least be very good for 1 whole year and a staple (Greymane) who will stay for 2 years.
I still have pretty much 5k dust on reserve in which I calculated can very easily net me Spiteful Druid and a decent Spiteful Priest deck. I have Archivist and 2x UI from packs. That's another Top TIer 1 deck and currently another Tier 2 who was previously Tier 1 before the rotation. Keleseth can also be used in Zoolock and some Rogue decks. I would then only need Gul'dan for a full Zoolock list.
And I didn't do aggressive disenchanting. I have crappy epics and legs like The Beast, Clutchmother Zavas. Dragon Soul and etc. I also didn't (and won't) disenchant everything from certain classes. I like playing them all and feel the game would be too borin just playing 2-3 decks over and over and over.
I had a friend who disenchanted everything to just focus on Mage a few expansions back and guess what? Last time he played the game was months ago because he only has that deck to play, even if it's a really good deck.
Four months in, two top tier decks with the possibility of make three more. Still 4 months for the next expansion, which despite my poor experience with WW, I'll pre-order again. The pre-order is good because it gives me a lot of new cards that'll be used for a long time but also because any gold saved can be used to catch up with the other expansions you're lacking cards.
I think I'm in a pretty good spot.
I think the most important thing is patience. To not craft random stuff for various decks, even if it looks cheap at the moment. To not do crazy stuff to craft the current flavor of the month deck. Perhaps four months is a lot of time to only start catching up, even with some money spent, and could be solved by better welcome bundles, better Ranked rewards and more promotion/discount events for packs.
The game isn't suppose to be balanced for new players. If you can be competitive right from the moment you sign up then what is the point of spending money? This is a free to play collectible card game, so being able to compete at the highest ranks on day one would go against being free to play and be counter to how collectible card games usually work. The question should be, "Can a new player build a competitive deck within a reasonable amount of play time".
My one year anniversary was in the beginning of March. When Ungoro released I had a couple of fun but not really competitive decks. After TFT I had a good solid deck. I went f2p for Kobolds but had 2 strong decks. Now after the rotation I have like 4 strong decks and one thats ok but fun.
If you are in your first year of playing please read this post.
Dust does not burn a hole in the jar. Be careful what you craft, especially before and right after a rotation.
Multiple sites/sources have aggro paladin (a deck mainly built of classic and basic 1-3 drop neutral cards) as the highest win % deck. Draw, play, attack face - rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
Cubelock can cheat out huge bodies, gain insane amounts of life, wipe the board multiple times or just force opponent to trade into its cheated out taunt minions, while re-flooding the board of the same minions while gaining 5 armor and dealing 3 damage for 3 lifesteal. It's pretty insane in the history of Trading Card Games for one deck to be so versatile in every component of the game and still have a high win %.
Everything else? Pretty much has to beat these two decks more then 50% of the time to even rank up and have any fun or progress. For sure you can progress with a Spiteful deck, or a taunt spam. But we haven't even talked about how to much time or $ it takes to build a collection of cards to even compete with.
If I was new to hearthstone, I would quickly realize how pay to play it is, how broken the meta is, and how the developers of the TCG don't really care about the new comer experience because the fan base and money cow machine that it is, is well enough for Blizzard to not give a F#.
Then I would go play something else.
I mirror this opinion 100%. It's hard to believe the meta got worse from right before Witchwood, but "WHOOP, there it is!"
Ranked mode is not, and should not be, balanced for new players. (What does that even mean?)
If you play in Casual mode, where new players should be playing, you will win half of your games as soon as you settle into your proper position in the MMR.
You only need 5 Ranked wins per month at rank 24-25 to get your cardback, and that should not be much of a problem, either.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
Hearthstone is relatively cheap for a card game and gives away a lot of cards and packs just for playing. No one goes to Friday Night Magic with a pile of draft commons and bad rares and expects to win matches of Standard, same thing if your deck is full of Chillwind Yetis and River Crocs. I got into HS when it went to mobile, and saw the awesome things you could do with good cards and got hooked. If a new player loses to Cubelock (or any good meta deck), they might either say "this game is p2w nonsense, I'll go play something else" or "what a sick deck, I should get those cards (or get the cards that beat that deck)."
Many people understand that they'll lose a lot when they start a new game (I just got into Tekken 7 and get pummeled into the ground but it's part of the learning process, and it's fun to improve). Many people understand that they get more out of their hobbies if they spend money on them (not possible for everyone, still possible for many).
I guess there needs to be a clarification here for the OP's question.
By "balanced" do you mean as an F2P or a P2W new player? Do you mean the ease in which you climb Ladder? Wild, standard, arena? Learning curve or ease of play entry? Access to card pool? Individual card powers?
There are so many areas to look at when the term "balanced" is used, many players view balance differently. Personally, I would look at the existing TCG/CCG out there and compare them.
The one I am most familiar with is MTG, from a new player standpoint the F2P vs P2W is not even worth mentioning P2W will always have an advantage. Climbing in ranks new players, unless they have a unique understanding of the game inherently, will always suffer on the climb due to the learning curve. Format, Standard or wild, standard does require less time to get immersed into via collection and current deck archetypes wild takes longer and requires more planning. The arena is not a good start considering again learning curve, the amount of gold spent until you can win consistently and start gaining dust/gold is not sound. Learning curve - the game is very straightforward, hidden mechanics are not common so you can see immediately how cards will interact. The game is Highly RNG based so that also takes away some of the learning curves as well, but also becomes a headache when trying to learn because what should be straightforward is now muddled. As for being able to jump in and start playing (also card pool access), no problem any new player can build a simple deck on start and get dominated for a long period of time, unless you want to pay to win, and if lucky you will get a decent brawl to help get a pack and some gold. The promo packs of the most current set(s) will be available which also helps but still relies on High RNG to pull key cards for competitive decks. And then understanding the individual card power, or value, as a new player. Unless you take the time to do a few hours of research before loading up your first non-tutorial match, there is no way to know what are the power cards, most new players will see 'legendary cards are the power cards I must get them' and then sink 1600dust into a legendary only to find out later what its actual game worth is.
All in all the game is mediocre at best for new players, and the only change to that is whether you are F2P (the game is immensely more difficult) or P2W (game has better immersion), but either way, the game requires research and understanding. That is up to the individual to do, not the opponent(s).
This game is based off Blizzard earning money if a new player doesn't want to pay to win blizzard doesn't care. If a player wants the game handed to them, Blizzard doesn't care. If a new player wants to succeed at this game, they themselves must do the research and decide if its something they want to invest their time and effort into.
Complaining about it on threads like this only shows blizzard what is making money and what is not. The biggest example is the Welcome Bundle. This isn't to cater to the players, it caters to blizzards bottom line. If someone puts their own resources into something they feel connected to it and it has a more meaningful value, this hooks players and promotes the idea that spending is the way to go.
TL;DR The game is competitive and new players success is directly related to their effort put into the game, blizzard wants it hard for new players to coax them into spending money. This is a business for them, and entertainment for us, entertainment we know isn't free.
Cute, ineffective, but cute.
It's balanced while they face other new players. As soon as they get thrown in with everyone else they're going to be incapable of keeping up, especially right now with all the top decks being absurdly expensive. These decks are all over the ladder as well, even below rank 20 (though somewhat less frequent).
No, it pains me to see other TCG's hit nerf bats after 2 weeks of the newest expansion cause some cards proven to have a bit too good synergy.
Yet old goodie Blizzy waits a year or two to do the same....
So again no, new players go player better games unless you are hard core Blizzard fan
With the new account I played TWO golden players in a row...
Its not balanced if you dont buy the cards. You either play arena where everyone has equal footing OR you buy packs and play ranked. So if you are F2P new player, play arena only.
No, it is not. I've been away from the game a few months, came back, and started at rank 25. There were some newbie players out there, but most of them were experienced players with lots of good cards, legendaries, and many even had netdecked meta decks. I can manage to win there, but I woner, how the hell can a new player win games?.
So I did an experiment this week-end.
I created a new account, did the first few quests (unlock all heroes, get an hero to level 10, play 1+3 "Play" games, KFT adventure prologue, free arena) and got the free witchwood packs+leg. Add a few daily quests to get 10 classic packs + 10 WW packs (for the 1st guaranteed leg) and you have easily 2k+ dust by dusting everything.
So I dusted most (but not all !) of my cards to craft a budget hunter deck (they are known to be F2P-friendly, and I carried a similar midrange hunter to rank 3 back in Un'goro, so I know this deck a bit).
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1105372-budget-hunter
I then went to ladder (28-29 april, so end of month) and here are my results :
16-2 (88%) from rank 25 to rank 20.
8-3 (72%) from rank 20 to rank 18-4stars.
From there, I started oscillating between rank 18-4stars (never went below that) and rank 16-1star, ending at rank 17-4stars, with a total of 16-15 (51.6%).
Thanks to win streaks, it should be possible to get to rank 15.
Overall 60 games : 40-20 (66.7%).
In the end, I was surprised to see how hard it gets around rank 17. Mainly meta decks, including several with multiple legendaries and epics.
I'd say that, despite the ladder change, it is harder than before (say, Un'goro meta) for F2P players to compete, as early as rank 17 in end-of-month. Sure, some good meta decks are not too expensive, such as Odd Paladin, but you still need more dust than usual "budget" decks.