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Blizzard: "Here's a new toy for free. You don't have to play with it, but if you want to, we can enhance your experience if you pay us."
Community: "How dare they do this to us!? Hearthstone is ruined! Sham of a company! I only want a full and complete game for free!!"
Did I get that right? Just play it if you want to, and if you like it, spend money on it. If not, don't play/buy anything.
When BGs came out, I tried it a bit, didn't really find it that fun, so stopped playing it. Then when they released the cosmetics recently, I didn't take to the forums to complain about how Blizzard is so greedy for trying to make money off of it. Just let people who like it, enjoy it.
Also, I've played plenty of gacha games and never spent a penny on them. No matter how many times they give you that splash screen with all the cRaZy dEaLs!!! They usually give you plenty of free summons or whatever during your playthrough to enjoy the game. And if you really hit a brick wall and have to pay to continue playing... well, that game gets uninstalled and forgotten.
The thing here is that mercenaries has not replaced regular Hearthstone, it is simply an add-on mode. It's not a problem at all.
Stop making sense. Didn't you know that any time a company creates a new product and tries to sell it, they're really a) trying to screw the little guy; b) charging too much; and c) only doing this because the company is on the brink of collapse? I mean, who knows more about running a business: the actual managers of the firm or a bunch of random dudes posting on a game site?
I hold my judgements abt the mode till I actually play it.
Yep I also had this strong Raid Shadow Legends feeling with mercenaries, for some reason. Just the visuals and mechanics I guess. And yes, RSL is the greediest of all games I know, but I'm sure there is even worse out there.
But I very much doubt Blizzard would go as far as RSL on greed. You have to have played RSL to understand, but this game is crazy and I feel you op for wasting money on it. These companies prey on compulsive people like us. But this level of greediness is only acceptable for mobile games in the gamer hive mind.
So you are using the argument that defense atty's use to defend drug dealers posted up outside of grammar schools. Starting to sound like that other lawyer who has conspicuously disappeared recently.
Unfortunately it’s more like “Hey look, here is a box with a cool new toy or we might have just taken a dump in it! BUT wait, there’s more! If you pay us now, you get a fancy little flag, a party hat and some glitter! Nope, not available after looking into the box.”
BGs is exactly the point: you could play it for months and then they released the cosmetics. You didn’t like BGs, so losing out on the cosmetics doesn’t bother you. It’s perfectly fine in my book. But this is like having the expansion card reveal on launch day. “Thanks for buying the bundles! No refunds!”
I would have no problem with it, if the promos were longer and less ‘exclusive this’, ‘limited time that’, FOMO, FOMO, FOMO.
They know that there are enough compulsive collectors, but they are pushing it too much for my taste.
yeah, those guys really know how to run a business, like supporting chinese tyranny and protecting scumbags who abuse women. We should trust them unquestioningly right?
You guys both act and speak so innocently like Blizzard isn't a shady or corrupt company AT ALL, it's kinda funny. Poor Blizzard is only trying to sell worthy products ! Also you're a random dude like anyone else here, so based on that information we shouldn't take what you say seriously is that correct ?
Of course blizzard knows about business, that's the whole point, the more you know about business, the more awful you get, generally.
Good for you, I wish it was that easy for everyone. It's not. Gacha games literally exist and are designed to make you spend money on deals, to exploit human psychology and frustration. They're not meant to be video games and they're not meant to be good.
The fact that you have to level up your team is the ultimate proof that this mode will be all about who can grind/pay the most (like a lot of Gatcha) in PvP... If I want to play one, there are a lot of better products already available. Moreover, this mode is clearly designed with the "how much money can we make out of our wonderful fans ?" rather than "How can we tweak HS experience to bring something new and fresh ?" mindset.
I wouldn't mind if this mode was a separate game from Hearthstone, I don't want a mode unrelated to any of Hearthstone established content, excepted that it needs the same currency to unlock content.
And... Let's be honest. Team 5 has proven lately that they don't really know how to properly balance their own game so adding a mode with "units" that can grow stats through different ways (level of unit, level of power, x2 damage on a specific type of unit)... It will just be a total mess.
If you're not scammed by this, good for you. Someone else is.
This kind of heavy lootbox/gacha game is designed to be addictive gambling. Not everyone is going to bite, but many of those who do will get seriously ripped off. Mercenaries seems a good deal worse in that regard than regular HS, and far far more than BGs.
It feels like I'm in a minority here when I say that I don't feel compelled to buy a product as soon as its revealed. Or buy every new thing on impulse to complete my collection or something? Pre-purchasing a product before it's officially launched is always a bad idea. I've almost never bought a game before it's release. There's always problems at launch. They fix them and then later often reduce the price, too.
This conversation is only going to go sour if we start saying that Blizzard is greedy or predatory for offering this. They absolutely have a right to do business how they please. But we as consumers have a right to not purchase them. That's how it's always been.
I'm not saying that Blizzard is free of sin or has never done anything wrong, (because obviously they have), but who is actually responsible for an individual person's choices?
Where did I say we should trust them unquestioningly? Here's a hint: nowhere. My point is that it appears this new mode is entirely separate from HS. You can, if you choose, pay to advance more quickly or you can (it appears) play it for free. You do not need to play Mercenaries to advance in HS, nor do you need to play HS to advance in Mercenaries. Therefore, the creation of this mode does not increase the cost of playing HS. So there's nothing for a standard HS player to complain about.
To use a simple analogy: I love standard, classic Oreos. Over the years, Nabisco has created all sorts of odd Oreo flavors (red velvet, mint, etc.) that I don't buy. Do I care? No. If other people like these flavors, they should buy them. But it doesn't affect me in the least. In fact, if it makes the company more profitable, that's a good thing. Yet for reasons which escape a normal human being, there's a sizable number of people on this forum who think that any time a company (Blizzard or another) creates a new product to sell, there's something evil/ wrong/ sleazy about that. There isn't. If companies never created new products, the world would be in much worse shape.
Nor should the fact that a small number of people with a gaming compulsion might "get hooked" on Mercenaries change the calculations. There are many, many alcoholics in this world (including a good friend of mine). Do you denounce your local brewery when it creates a new beer because "if this new beer is good, it's going to encourage people to drink it. Some of those people will get hooked."? Of course not (unless you're completely insane). The same reasoning applies here: if these people do have a problem, it is their responsibility to seek help. It is not Blizzard's responsibility to cater to this very, very small segment of the population at the expense of the vast majority of its customers.
As for your little cheap shots at the end, believe me when I say that there is probably no one on this forum more revolted than me by the CCP and its incredible brutality. I hate the fact that companies are doing business with those scumbags and I hope that, one day, all these companies (including Blizzard) wake up and realize what a terrible idea it is to be in bed with those monsters. Same goes for their treatment of women at the company. My point was that the "analysis" of some random dudes on the internet saying "it's a terrible idea, no one is going to play it, it costs too much" etc. doesn't amount to much. I'm pretty sure Blizzard would not have invested all the time and money it did to create this game if it wasn't very confident that it could make money on it. The company should no more take advice from those dudes than it should from me.
So you think think they are smart to try to extract more and more cash from a declining player base?
I never said anything about whether or not Blizzard is a "shady" company or not. Nor does that determination matter in this case. The company has created a new product, one which you can choose to play or not play. If you do choose to play it, you can pay for goodies or not. If you are not capable of controlling yourself in this matter, it is your responsibility to seek professional help.
It may end up being like BG: some people love it, some (like me) think it's moronic. I have no problem with people enjoying that mode. Unfortunately, there's a small but growing collection of nutjobs in this world who believe that if THEY think something is a problem, then EVERYONE must think the same and that people who disagrees with them are evil. That's fundamentally undemocratic and dangerous.
Your question makes no sense. It isn't "extracting" anything. It's offering a product on the open market. If you like the product and think that the price is right, you buy it. If not, you don't. This product is no different from the red velvet Oreo I discussed above. Some love it, I think it's gross. To each his own.
They are not one-time things. The developers have already clarified that the pre-order cosmetic stuff will probably return to the shop later, much the way they've been offering old portraits and card backs in Hearthstone proper. I'm guessing after about a year?
And of course cosmetics won't affect gameplay. (That's what "cosmetic" means.) They were very clear about this in the introduction video.
"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
I find all this "evil gacha" talk hilarious, considering that Hearthstone itself is one of the oldest gacha games on the internet.
The monetization model for Mercenaries is nearly identical to the one we've all been living with for the past seven years.
"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
Mercenaries where are the actual Barrens Mercenaries those lovely nine hero’s that Blizzard said in the beginning that this was about.
Also am I the only one that thinks the visuals are just horrible especially compared to RSL.
And yes I will try it when it comes out. However no upfront money from me for a lot of reasons.
I think it’s a spectrum that goes from ‘I’m a fanboy, no information needed, take my money!’ over ‘There is enough information to make an educated guess and I like the preorder stuff’ to ‘I don’t care about the preorder stuff. Let’s wait for the reviews’ to ‘Hey, it’s in the bargain bin. Let’s give it a shot.’
It really depends on how invested you are, how much you value the preorder gimmicks and if you don’t mind the issues at launch.
I see them as part of the experience, a bit like “been there, done that”: error 37 in D3, leveling races in WoW, …
I don’t like buying blindly, but with the normal expansions I think I have a good enough understanding of an upcoming expansion to preorder (we already know that the game works - mostly), but with the new mode we know way too little.
I think I read that there is some interaction with the gold, so completing quests would improve your village or something.
It’s not the creation of a new beer, that’s the issue (at least for me). It’s that they go “preorder our new thing today and get this six pack!”.
That’s what I feel they are offering to the HS alcoholics, who then can’t refuse as that would mean losing out on ‘free’ beer.
I think (and could be wrong) that those quests are internal to Mercenaries. So, doing certain things in that mode (say, "defeat 10 bosses") will earn you Mercenary coins, etc. which you can use to upgrade your village. Now, I'm sure you can use gold you've earned in HS to do so as well, but you're not required to. I do expect, however, for there to be quests in HS that relate to Mercenaries (just like there are some that relate to BG). I can see a 1750 xp quest, for example, that says "upgrade one Mercenary." But since those quests are re-rollable, I don't see a problem with that.
As for your latter discussion, I'd reply by saying it's more like a brewery saying, "Pre-order a 6-pack of our beer today." If you really like the brewery, you might take the chance and do so. I'm more of the mind to say, "Let me try it first." But, again, people need to decide for themselves what they want to spend their money on. And "HS alcoholics" (great phrase!) are going to spend money regardless of whether Mercenaries exists or not. Those people, if they cannot afford to buy all that stuff, need to take personal responsibility and seek help.