Hearthpwn

Quote from 3nnu1 >>

Quote from Strongpoint >>

Quote from 3nnu1 >>

Quote from FortyDust >>

Quote from Poghy >>

Quote from FortyDust >>

Quote from ShadowAldrius >>

 I think they're foolish not to consolidate the money spent on game modes honestly.

Who's going to spend money on multiple different game modes? They're just cannibalizing their own business that way.

 Who said they expect you to? They are offering another option, that's all. If you get sick of Hearthstone (and who isn't, amirite?), here's this other game mode you can play while you take a break from all the Questlocks. If you look at it that way, it's actually nice that you don't have to leave your gold behind when you quit playing constructed.

I believe it will be normal for people to pick a favorite mode, and maybe have a second one that they poke their head into every once in a while. I'm pretty sure that's how it works with Battlegrounds right now. There are tons of people who play one or the other, not both.

If the Standard meta hasn't improved by the time the third expansion of the year comes out, there's no way I'm spending cash on that. But now Blizzard has a chance to get my money anyway. That's not cannibalization; it's insurance.

Quote from Devartet >>

I think one of the main issues with Mercenary (beside the subjective one about appearance) is that is resource system to buy packs is shared with the main game. 

The fact that the gold you earned can be used for both modes causes discontent as it subconsciously push player to split their attention and consequently in game earnings between modes, while acting like they are basically different games. 

 If the currencies were different for each mode, you'd still be splitting your attention and earning less of each. That's how time works.

If you don't want to spend your precious Hearthstone gold on Mercenaries, you don't have to. You can still play the game for free, but you'll have to do without things like Heroic mode. Just like in real life, you have to decide what's important enough to spend your pretend money on.

 The main problem with mercenaries is that you need to spend gold to upgrade your town, thats the only way to get BASIC functions of the game mode. Even if I want to play it for free and not spend the hard-earned gold on mercenaries packs, I still need to pay for it with gold.

Usually Im optimistic about changes and new game modes, but I have some doubts about this one. We still dont know how many gold is needed to upgrade your town fully, but I guess it will be several hundred, maybe even several thousand. The town upgrades should either cost some mercenaries-only currency OR you should get them by doing some quests/achievements in my opinion.

 You earn Rewards Track XP for playing Mercenaries. That translates to gold. It only makes sense that you would asked to spend some of that gold in Mercenaries. It's not like it will be a constant drain on your resources. You buy the buildings once, and that's it. You don't even have to upgrade them unless you enjoy Mercenaries enough to want to do that.

From Blizzard's perspective, gold is the only way f2p players are able to "pay" for the development of Mercenaries. I think it's completely fair and reasonable that they ask you to contribute to a new game mode if you want to play it.

Not knowing how much buildings are going to cost, I think it's very premature to complain about this now. Once you know the prices, THEN you can complain if you think they are too high.

 same thing the blizzard defenders said before the release of the rewards track, we all know how that went. 

And how exactly it went? I earn more gold than before the track. Oh, yes, they "upgraded it" by removing seasonal XP-granting events

 you have a ridiculously selective memory. The current rewards track is the 3rd version after much of the community provided sustained criticism until Blizzard responded. So if you like it now you should be thanking me and those like me. If everyone was like you, then you would be stuck with the shitty first version. 

 Actually I defended the first version as well. The old system is just crap even if it gives more gold than the first version. 

Because it only benefits one style of playing. Aggro. Win as fast as you can. 10 gold every 3 wins, farm newbies with meta decks in casual.

The first version is already better because it benefits all types of players.

Arena gets boosted since you get xp while playing, so you get extra rewards while the arena reward system itself remains unchanged.

Similarly, BG used to give totally 0 rewards, but now it gives xp, so you do earn gold from it, even though quite little.

Lastly, for ranked players, control players are better rewarded since it is no longer about how fast you win games.

Edit: And for newbies who have difficulties in winning, which is made harder by players farming them for easy wins. It feels bad when you played 10 games, lose 10 games and get nothing out of it. Now you still get xp for losing. 

It was trash only for aggro players. I am a constant arena player and I am happy to get additional freebies for playing the same thing. 

Quote from FortyDust >>

Quote from Strongpoint >>

You do understand that some players will actively avoid buying Mercenary packs? Buying mercenary packs is like paying $10 to GM to level up your D&D character without any gameplay. It is just not rewarding. I intend to buy exactly zero merc pack and may even not open free ones from the reward track and other sources.

 This is where I'm actually torn.

I wouldn't want to buy my way out of the pleasure of advancement, as you describe, but on the other hand, the one thing Poghy has been right about in this debate (including the other thread) is that it will probably be impossible for a free player to max out every merc before the next set of Mercenaries content is released.

If I take that reality into consideration, it seems a lot more sensible to buy a bundle or three. I'm guessing diamond skins are hella expensive to craft, and legendary coins will not be growing on trees. So spending legendary coins on skins rather than upgrades seems like it will be painful.

Because epic and legendary coins are harder to get, I don't think buying packs or bundles will take you very far for those units. The only part of the game I'd "miss out on" is upgrading all the rares, which, let's face it, may not see a lot of use anyway. Having my rares upgraded quickly could actually make me more likely to use them as I hunt for the more elusive epic and legendary mercenary coins.

(For the record, I predict you will open the free ones at the very least.)

 Well, It is easier for me because I couldn't care less about cosmetics. Default skins won't bother me at all. And yes, I'll probably open free ones anyways but without spending gold or buying preorders it will be a drop in a bucket anyway.