By now Hearthstone has been around for a little over 5 years. Given the current release schedule, we see three full expansions, totalling around 390 new cards per year. During these times we have seen many efforts in order to attrackt new players. One major feedback I have gotten from friends and family, who tried to start playing HS was always that they felt like it was impossible for them to play without spending money. Whether this is true or not, might be a different point of debate but the general feeling seems to have lasted.
I would like to suggest a way to enhance to F2P part of HS, which might enable new players to participate in more parts of the game.
The main point is simple. Only sell expansions from the current year plus the latest two wild years. Everything beforehand becomes F2P. From a financial perspective I assume that they would only really loose money from classic pack sales since the really old expansions and adventures will probably not sell that well anymore. Keep in mind that this is the major assumption, which could be wrong due to the absence of real sales data but I don't think that it is too far fetched.
The advantages for new players on the other hand are significant. They get to create and play with wayyy more decks and archetypes than it is currently possible and can even play older single player content. Consequently the next assumption would be that those players are more likely to be interested in new expansions and might even be willing to invest money. The likelyhood for this to happen increases as well, since they can now use a lot of classic cards to build a basic deck, which could be even playable in standard given a few additions from current expansions.
The main downside from my point of view is probably the reaction of players, who did spend a lot of money over the years to keep a full collection, which is a group I belong to as well. It is easy to imagine that some of those people will feel bad about a major strategy change like this. Personally, I would argue that HS needs new players in order to get the attention from Blizzard it deserves in the future. Further, I played HS for the last years with every card available so the value I got out of it is undeniable for me.
I could go on about potential advantages I see in such a change but I would rather like to hear how the community would feel about a change like this because I have only my own point of view based on certain assumptions, which might be incorrect or flawed.
EDIT: A lot of people have commented that Blizzard would make less money this way. I don't think this is necessarily true though. As written above my major assumption is that nearly everyone who was going to buy wild packs or old adventures already did so. That means the remaining amount of revenue they can generate from it is limited when compared to the unlimited abillity to create and sell new expansions. Therefore, expanding their customer base by giving away stuff they sell in very small quantities might proof to be a good strategy to increase future revenues and profits.
I am going to mention one technical limitation though: I don't know whether their accounting department would have to show a move like this on their balance sheet and income statement. If they have intangible assets in their balance sheet, which are based on HS, it is possible that part of those would become impaired and therefore written of as a consequence, what would in turn show on their income statement. Unfortunatly my IFRS and GAP knowledge is a little rusty and I am not familiar with accounting practises in f2p environments so if someone does i'd be really interested to hear about it. It is possible as well that they have to account for packs or cards given out for free as marketing expenses. If they have to do this at face value this could to proof to be extremely expensive for them.
P.S. I can`t believe 67% of the people voted "No."
What`s wrong with you people, why don`t you want to help others out? If you already have those cards you don`t lose anything if others get them. And even Blizzard won`t lose all that much. I mean, old players already have most/all Classic cards, and there aren`t that many new players around anyways.
At the very least they could make Classic cards/packs "cheaper" to obtain (both in-game and by $$$).
Part of the engagement in this game is getting more carda little by little and seeing how they affect your decks. I think nuch of the gane would be lost if they did this. It is true I still lack "Brawl" x2 "Shield Slam" x2 sea giant x2 "Doomsayer" ×1 and these are key cards for any deck.
I have been playig since the begining and I feel the way I will feel after I finally "open/craft" this cards will be amazing and it would be totally be lost if we just got all the old content
Why do people vote no? (I am just curious, is it because you already bought it and finished it, and don't want any new players?
Because if all of the olds contents become free, I'll ask for a full refund. Hundred of euros. And I won't be the only one. This is nonsense.
Me too but that is not the point. Right now you got a couple of years of value out of your money so it does not really affect your past experience. I don't think anyone would have waited 3-5 years just to get the stuff for free so I don't really understand your hard position.
Let's see. Blizzard is doing a similiar thing with WoW were you can get most "old" expansions within the starter pack for a couple of bucks. Maybe it is not the time yet but I would not be suprised to see something alike in the future of HS.
Why do people vote no? (I am just curious, is it because you already bought it and finished it, and don't want any new players?
Because if all of the olds contents become free, I'll ask for a full refund. Hundred of euros. And I won't be the only one. This is nonsense.
Why? You wouldn't be losing anything.
We would lose our investment. We bought a product which later had its value strippen away and was handed out for free. Imagine buying 100 packs today and tmrw finding out that all of the cards were given out for free. Nice way of losing money, isn't it?
Me too but that is not the point. Right now you got a couple of years of value out of your money so it does not really affect your past experience. I don't think anyone would have waited 3-5 years just to get the stuff for free so I don't really understand your hard position.
I started playing very recently, and I wanted to enjoy the full experience of the game, so I bought like a lot of old packs, the adventures, etc...
Why do people vote no? (I am just curious, is it because you already bought it and finished it, and don't want any new players?
Because if all of the olds contents become free, I'll ask for a full refund. Hundred of euros. And I won't be the only one. This is nonsense.
Why? You wouldn't be losing anything.
No, but I would have PAID for something that is now FREE. I'm mainly a Wild player, so yes, I'm paying to have the best cards/decks.
And you would still have those. Indeed, unless you've managed to build the entire wild catalogue, you would have even more cards... for free. Which seems like a good thing imo.
No, but I would have PAID for something that is now FREE. I'm mainly a Wild player, so yes, I'm paying to have the best cards/decks.
And you would still have those. Indeed, unless you've managed to build the entire wild catalogue, you would have even more cards... for free. Which seems like a good thing imo.
Maybe, but I won't be the only one having those "even more cards". I don't have a "full" collection, but most of the cards that are useful to build the strongest decks in here. So what's the point ?
Why do people vote no? (I am just curious, is it because you already bought it and finished it, and don't want any new players?
Because if all of the olds contents become free, I'll ask for a full refund. Hundred of euros. And I won't be the only one. This is nonsense.
Why? You wouldn't be losing anything.
We would lose our investment. We bought a product which later had its value strippen away and was handed out for free. Imagine buying 100 packs today and tmrw finding out that all of the cards were given out for free. Nice way of losing money, isn't it?
It all depends on the time frame. Of course they could not just announce today that as of tomorrow stuff is free. A big change like this would have to be announced way in advance, maybe in combination with some sort of refund for players who bought stuff within a couple of month prior to the announcement.
By now Hearthstone has been around for a little over 5 years. Given the current release schedule, we see three full expansions, totalling around 390 new cards per year. During these times we have seen many efforts in order to attrackt new players. One major feedback I have gotten from friends and family, who tried to start playing HS was always that they felt like it was impossible for them to play without spending money. Whether this is true or not, might be a different point of debate but the general feeling seems to have lasted.
I would like to suggest a way to enhance to F2P part of HS, which might enable new players to participate in more parts of the game.
The main point is simple. Only sell expansions from the current year plus the latest two wild years. Everything beforehand becomes F2P. From a financial perspective I assume that they would only really loose money from classic pack sales since the really old expansions and adventures will probably not sell that well anymore. Keep in mind that this is the major assumption, which could be wrong due to the absence of real sales data but I don't think that it is too far fetched.
The advantages for new players on the other hand are significant. They get to create and play with wayyy more decks and archetypes than it is currently possible and can even play older single player content. Consequently the next assumption would be that those players are more likely to be interested in new expansions and might even be willing to invest money. The likelyhood for this to happen increases as well, since they can now use a lot of classic cards to build a basic deck, which could be even playable in standard given a few additions from current expansions.
The main downside from my point of view is probably the reaction of players, who did spend a lot of money over the years to keep a full collection, which is a group I belong to as well. It is easy to imagine that some of those people will feel bad about a major strategy change like this. Personally, I would argue that HS needs new players in order to get the attention from Blizzard it deserves in the future. Further, I played HS for the last years with every card available so the value I got out of it is undeniable for me.
I could go on about potential advantages I see in such a change but I would rather like to hear how the community would feel about a change like this because I have only my own point of view based on certain assumptions, which might be incorrect or flawed.
EDIT: A lot of people have commented that Blizzard would make less money this way. I don't think this is necessarily true though. As written above my major assumption is that nearly everyone who was going to buy wild packs or old adventures already did so. That means the remaining amount of revenue they can generate from it is limited when compared to the unlimited abillity to create and sell new expansions. Therefore, expanding their customer base by giving away stuff they sell in very small quantities might proof to be a good strategy to increase future revenues and profits.
I am going to mention one technical limitation though: I don't know whether their accounting department would have to show a move like this on their balance sheet and income statement. If they have intangible assets in their balance sheet, which are based on HS, it is possible that part of those would become impaired and therefore written of as a consequence, what would in turn show on their income statement. Unfortunatly my IFRS and GAP knowledge is a little rusty and I am not familiar with accounting practises in f2p environments so if someone does i'd be really interested to hear about it. It is possible as well that they have to account for packs or cards given out for free as marketing expenses. If they have to do this at face value this could to proof to be extremely expensive for them.
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#JeSuisFieryWarAxe!
NOPE
Let's give out more jobs so we won't have to make f2p stuff anymore!
Why do people vote no? (I am just curious, is it because you already bought it and finished it, and don't want any new players?
This is an awesome idea.
Never gonna happen.
P.S. I can`t believe 67% of the people voted "No."
What`s wrong with you people, why don`t you want to help others out? If you already have those cards you don`t lose anything if others get them. And even Blizzard won`t lose all that much. I mean, old players already have most/all Classic cards, and there aren`t that many new players around anyways.
At the very least they could make Classic cards/packs "cheaper" to obtain (both in-game and by $$$).
Because if all of the olds contents become free, I'll ask for a full refund. Hundred of euros. And I won't be the only one. This is nonsense.
Why? You wouldn't be losing anything.
Part of the engagement in this game is getting more carda little by little and seeing how they affect your decks. I think nuch of the gane would be lost if they did this. It is true I still lack "Brawl" x2 "Shield Slam" x2 sea giant x2 "Doomsayer" ×1 and these are key cards for any deck.
I have been playig since the begining and I feel the way I will feel after I finally "open/craft" this cards will be amazing and it would be totally be lost if we just got all the old content
Me too but that is not the point. Right now you got a couple of years of value out of your money so it does not really affect your past experience. I don't think anyone would have waited 3-5 years just to get the stuff for free so I don't really understand your hard position.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
#JeSuisFieryWarAxe!
No, but I would have PAID for something that is now FREE. I'm mainly a Wild player, so yes, I'm paying to have the best cards/decks.
Let's see. Blizzard is doing a similiar thing with WoW were you can get most "old" expansions within the starter pack for a couple of bucks. Maybe it is not the time yet but I would not be suprised to see something alike in the future of HS.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
#JeSuisFieryWarAxe!
We would lose our investment. We bought a product which later had its value strippen away and was handed out for free. Imagine buying 100 packs today and tmrw finding out that all of the cards were given out for free. Nice way of losing money, isn't it?
I started playing very recently, and I wanted to enjoy the full experience of the game, so I bought like a lot of old packs, the adventures, etc...
I actually voted for classic. But i would like to get the dust for my collection then ^^. I don´t think this will ever happen :-).
And you would still have those. Indeed, unless you've managed to build the entire wild catalogue, you would have even more cards... for free. Which seems like a good thing imo.
Well, those cannot be free, and even then, they have super broken cards there. Thats too much for new players.
I like elementals and totems.
No way, gotta pay or play tokens in standard if u want to be f2p.
Maybe, but I won't be the only one having those "even more cards". I don't have a "full" collection, but most of the cards that are useful to build the strongest decks in here. So what's the point ?
It all depends on the time frame. Of course they could not just announce today that as of tomorrow stuff is free. A big change like this would have to be announced way in advance, maybe in combination with some sort of refund for players who bought stuff within a couple of month prior to the announcement.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
#JeSuisFieryWarAxe!