I always see a post on one of the forum sites for HS that ask "What do I need to spend/How many packs do I need to get the next Expansion?". Well I'm hoping to give some articles, some personal opinions, and field all of yours to help solidify to newer players or F2P players what they need to do to stay in the game. I want to highlight actual expansion costs, paying attention to early meta snapshots and reports by streamers during reveal, and what ways to spend gold and money on packs.
1. Pre-expansion hype
Tons of people get involved in HS again right before an expansion. Cards are getting revealed and people are excited again. That is why this is an important time to see what kinds of cards are releasing and what people are saying about them. Most streamers cover in podcast or in their own channel what they think about cards as they are revealed. Some even rate the cards and begin to throw them into "theory-craft" decklists where they start to build new decks for the next meta in places just like this site. As a player you will get a leg up on what cards are getting a lot of attention, and which ones have a lot of promise. I like reviewing the following channels for this:
many of you know the channel already. Frodan from the Twitch team allied with Brian Kibler, Firebat, and a few other key members of the HS community to bring weekly videos and discussions on hearthstone as a whole. This is a great resource pre-expansion because you will have 3-4 people reviewing cards simultaneously week by week of pre-expansion.
300 episodes in this group of HS enthusiasts are a great resource. The channel has been alive since I can remember and you will get a non-professional perspective from the 3 individuals that appear every episode.
2. Gathering Resources (Free)
So you know what you're looking for, or at least you have a better idea of what the expansion to come is going to yield. Now it is time to decide how much money you're giving Blizzard. But before that, lets talk about saving the best resources the game gives you: Gold/Dust. Thanks to updates, you're guaranteed a 50 gold or better quest per day. A lot of players who play regularly also push at least an additional 20-30 gold through wins. (You get 10 gold every 3 wins in any format outside of challenging friends.) At roughly 70-80 gold a day you can save upwards of 7500 gold per expansion if you just sit on it and play every day. For less hardcore its about 5k, and for casual I'd say you can pretty easily get up to 3k. This of course is if you spend nothing! However, this is the best way to stay free to play if you love the game and don't want to drop that "$400 dollar game a year" type of cash. Along this time, if you have a relatively strong Classic collection, the tavern brawl every week will net you 40 dust. (20 for the rare and 20 for the 4 commons at worst rng). This does add up, so don't sleep on getting your one win a week. In General this strategy avoids Arena. If you are great at the game, Arena is an excellent "stock option" way to increase gold. Someone who nets frequent 8+ wins will earn double or more of the gold they invested into the run. I am not great at Arena so I won't try to add to that discussion.
3. Gathering Resources (Dolla Dolla Bills)
Yes for most you have to spend at least a little bit of money on the game. Blizzard took a stance to separate pre-expansion buys into two bundles. A more casual 20 dollars for about 17 packs that don't include a visual bonus (New Hero and card back), and a full on pre-expansion purchase for 50 dollars for 50 packs plus the bonuses. Which bundle you buy depends on your free resources. If you have plenty of gold and dust, you can probably just buy the cheaper pre-purchase bundle. If you need the extra oomph you may want to consider the bigger bundle. However, plenty of sites and platforms offer better ways to gather gold for a price if you only care about the total number of packs.
This site amongst many others consider Amazon Coins to convert to gold at a closer rate of $1USD per pack instead of the standard $1.25 per pack. Visit this site and be sure to do additional research before buying alternate external currencies.
4. Actual costs of an expansion
What most players care about is what it actually costs to be able to stay in the game. Once again it depends on how deep you were in previous expansions, especially the ones right before the next expansion. Also, with this year being a rotation, it depends on how big your rotating collection is, and to what extent you play wild. For the average player, I'm going to base my analysis on a standard player with a relatively decent collection. This player probably plays 3-5 meta decks at a time, and potentially even has 1 or 2 wild decks at budget.
Hearthstone Mathematics does all the quick maths. According to their analysis, and in my opinion, the average player needs about 100 packs each expansion to be able to effortfully play the game and be able to have a bit of variety. Around 400 packs is still the aim each expansion if money isn't the issue and you want every cards. One thing for sure, if you invest heavy in one expansion then you can afford to go a bit lighter in the next. Opening 200 packs in one versus 100 in the next will likely still balance your collection, because you collected a heavy amount of dust in the first example.
TL:DR
Watch streamers and podcasts when reveals happen. You will get a feel for the cards that are good. Gather up your gold and save that dust. You can reliably get about 5k gold an expansion if you save. Be careful in Arena. Likely all you need extra is the $20USD pre-purchase bundle, not the $50USD bundle. Next time you may need the full bundle though. This is not a $400 dollar a year game; if you want the full collection it is. Reliably, you can probably spend $50USD expansion 1, $20USD expansion 2, and then $50USD expansion to make this a roughly $120USD game a year. Don't be discouraged, free to play is still an option- you just have to grind more.
I have never took any streamers advice or there decks. I spent a lot money for packs plus pre purchase packs I am casual as u get this month I finally got rank 15 I normally just get to 20 play meme decks not really caring bout the ladder. My gold is about 5 to 8 k in gold I never do arena. Cause I don’t see being any better than ranked.
“average player, I'm going to base my analysis on a standard player with a relatively decent collection. This player probably plays 3-5 meta decks at a time, and potentially even has 1 or 2 wild decks at budget.”
How many hours per day/week do you play?
I struggle to have 1 hour per day, with a single meta deck on standard mode.
I wonder how much time do you need to keep playing 3 or more decks on standard plus some play on wild....
“average player, I'm going to base my analysis on a standard player with a relatively decent collection. This player probably plays 3-5 meta decks at a time, and potentially even has 1 or 2 wild decks at budget.”
How many hours per day/week do you play?
I struggle to have 1 hour per day, with a single meta deck on standard mode.
I wonder how much time do you need to keep playing 3 or more decks on standard plus some play on wild....
I play one wild deck and about 3-5 consistently on standard. My girlfriend started playing casually in September and she even plays 3 decks in Standard; none in wild. I think the middle or so of last year/the start of fall was the best time to say goodbye to your casual account and just start a new account. She got 3 classic packs every 5 ranks from 50-25, on top of that took advantage of the free solo content, was there for RR dropping so she got a free legendary there. There are so many resources that if you couldn't play anything else in HS at least before these new year announcements you could play like 3 odd decks and crush ladder. So yes I would say the average player has at least 3 semi-useful decks otherwise you are not actually playing the game. Especially if you use sites like this you are definitely not super casual. Also, keep in mind that a bit of an initial investment goes a long way. I don't think spending $25 dollars on this game at the start (5 for the welcome bundle and then another 20 on the minimal pre-purchase bundle) is that much. If you play video games and follow forums you probably are used to spending box price on games. Idk why HS is any different to most people. It is a game, you like it or you don't, and if you do you probably put about 1+ hours into it a day depending on your current lifestyle situation.
Good afternoon players!
I always see a post on one of the forum sites for HS that ask "What do I need to spend/How many packs do I need to get the next Expansion?". Well I'm hoping to give some articles, some personal opinions, and field all of yours to help solidify to newer players or F2P players what they need to do to stay in the game. I want to highlight actual expansion costs, paying attention to early meta snapshots and reports by streamers during reveal, and what ways to spend gold and money on packs.
1. Pre-expansion hype
Tons of people get involved in HS again right before an expansion. Cards are getting revealed and people are excited again. That is why this is an important time to see what kinds of cards are releasing and what people are saying about them. Most streamers cover in podcast or in their own channel what they think about cards as they are revealed. Some even rate the cards and begin to throw them into "theory-craft" decklists where they start to build new decks for the next meta in places just like this site. As a player you will get a leg up on what cards are getting a lot of attention, and which ones have a lot of promise. I like reviewing the following channels for this:
Omnislash: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWZTdLbltJBTlXvpzTjbszA
many of you know the channel already. Frodan from the Twitch team allied with Brian Kibler, Firebat, and a few other key members of the HS community to bring weekly videos and discussions on hearthstone as a whole. This is a great resource pre-expansion because you will have 3-4 people reviewing cards simultaneously week by week of pre-expansion.
The Angry Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcB_lciCYrBACyI40u2Hgqw
300 episodes in this group of HS enthusiasts are a great resource. The channel has been alive since I can remember and you will get a non-professional perspective from the 3 individuals that appear every episode.
2. Gathering Resources (Free)
So you know what you're looking for, or at least you have a better idea of what the expansion to come is going to yield. Now it is time to decide how much money you're giving Blizzard. But before that, lets talk about saving the best resources the game gives you: Gold/Dust. Thanks to updates, you're guaranteed a 50 gold or better quest per day. A lot of players who play regularly also push at least an additional 20-30 gold through wins. (You get 10 gold every 3 wins in any format outside of challenging friends.) At roughly 70-80 gold a day you can save upwards of 7500 gold per expansion if you just sit on it and play every day. For less hardcore its about 5k, and for casual I'd say you can pretty easily get up to 3k. This of course is if you spend nothing! However, this is the best way to stay free to play if you love the game and don't want to drop that "$400 dollar game a year" type of cash. Along this time, if you have a relatively strong Classic collection, the tavern brawl every week will net you 40 dust. (20 for the rare and 20 for the 4 commons at worst rng). This does add up, so don't sleep on getting your one win a week. In General this strategy avoids Arena. If you are great at the game, Arena is an excellent "stock option" way to increase gold. Someone who nets frequent 8+ wins will earn double or more of the gold they invested into the run. I am not great at Arena so I won't try to add to that discussion.
3. Gathering Resources (Dolla Dolla Bills)
Yes for most you have to spend at least a little bit of money on the game. Blizzard took a stance to separate pre-expansion buys into two bundles. A more casual 20 dollars for about 17 packs that don't include a visual bonus (New Hero and card back), and a full on pre-expansion purchase for 50 dollars for 50 packs plus the bonuses. Which bundle you buy depends on your free resources. If you have plenty of gold and dust, you can probably just buy the cheaper pre-purchase bundle. If you need the extra oomph you may want to consider the bigger bundle. However, plenty of sites and platforms offer better ways to gather gold for a price if you only care about the total number of packs.
http://hearthstone.blizzpro.com/2018/12/03/rastakhans-rumble-buyers-guide-how-many-packs-should-i-buy/
This site amongst many others consider Amazon Coins to convert to gold at a closer rate of $1USD per pack instead of the standard $1.25 per pack. Visit this site and be sure to do additional research before buying alternate external currencies.
4. Actual costs of an expansion
What most players care about is what it actually costs to be able to stay in the game. Once again it depends on how deep you were in previous expansions, especially the ones right before the next expansion. Also, with this year being a rotation, it depends on how big your rotating collection is, and to what extent you play wild. For the average player, I'm going to base my analysis on a standard player with a relatively decent collection. This player probably plays 3-5 meta decks at a time, and potentially even has 1 or 2 wild decks at budget.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0YXmLM_8Ks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZHma6JkJtI
Hearthstone Mathematics does all the quick maths. According to their analysis, and in my opinion, the average player needs about 100 packs each expansion to be able to effortfully play the game and be able to have a bit of variety. Around 400 packs is still the aim each expansion if money isn't the issue and you want every cards. One thing for sure, if you invest heavy in one expansion then you can afford to go a bit lighter in the next. Opening 200 packs in one versus 100 in the next will likely still balance your collection, because you collected a heavy amount of dust in the first example.
TL:DR
Watch streamers and podcasts when reveals happen. You will get a feel for the cards that are good. Gather up your gold and save that dust. You can reliably get about 5k gold an expansion if you save. Be careful in Arena. Likely all you need extra is the $20USD pre-purchase bundle, not the $50USD bundle. Next time you may need the full bundle though. This is not a $400 dollar a year game; if you want the full collection it is. Reliably, you can probably spend $50USD expansion 1, $20USD expansion 2, and then $50USD expansion to make this a roughly $120USD game a year. Don't be discouraged, free to play is still an option- you just have to grind more.
lol.. too much time on your hands, bro
I have never took any streamers advice or there decks. I spent a lot money for packs plus pre purchase packs I am casual as u get this month I finally got rank 15 I normally just get to 20 play meme decks not really caring bout the ladder. My gold is about 5 to 8 k in gold I never do arena. Cause I don’t see being any better than ranked.
You seem to have plenty too 😊
Made this for those who need it.
Are you sure this is the average player ?
“average player, I'm going to base my analysis on a standard player with a relatively decent collection. This player probably plays 3-5 meta decks at a time, and potentially even has 1 or 2 wild decks at budget.”
How many hours per day/week do you play?
I struggle to have 1 hour per day, with a single meta deck on standard mode.
I wonder how much time do you need to keep playing 3 or more decks on standard plus some play on wild....
I play one wild deck and about 3-5 consistently on standard. My girlfriend started playing casually in September and she even plays 3 decks in Standard; none in wild. I think the middle or so of last year/the start of fall was the best time to say goodbye to your casual account and just start a new account. She got 3 classic packs every 5 ranks from 50-25, on top of that took advantage of the free solo content, was there for RR dropping so she got a free legendary there. There are so many resources that if you couldn't play anything else in HS at least before these new year announcements you could play like 3 odd decks and crush ladder. So yes I would say the average player has at least 3 semi-useful decks otherwise you are not actually playing the game. Especially if you use sites like this you are definitely not super casual. Also, keep in mind that a bit of an initial investment goes a long way. I don't think spending $25 dollars on this game at the start (5 for the welcome bundle and then another 20 on the minimal pre-purchase bundle) is that much. If you play video games and follow forums you probably are used to spending box price on games. Idk why HS is any different to most people. It is a game, you like it or you don't, and if you do you probably put about 1+ hours into it a day depending on your current lifestyle situation.