EDIT: All Mercs have been datamined and posted elsewhere, so there's no reason to keep this list updated. Thanks for coming!
I haven't been able to find a concise, organized list, so I made one.
Caster (19)
Rare (8)
Blink Fox
Bru'kan
Lady Anacondra
Millhouse Manastorm
Morgl the Oracle
Tamsin Roame
Varden Dawngrasp
Xyrella
Epic (5)
Antonidas
Brightwing
Natalie Seline
Prophet Velen
Shadow Hunter Vol'jin
Legendary (6)
Alexstrasza
Anduin Wrynn
Gul'dan
Jaina Proudmoore
Malfurion Stormrage
Ragnaros
Fighter(17)
Rare (7)
Blademaster Samuro
Kurtrus Ashfallen
Old Murk-Eye
Rathorian
Rokara
Scabbs Cutterbutter
Tavish Stormpike
Epic (5)
Baron Geddon
King Krush
Saurfang
Tyrande
Warmaster Voone
Legendary (5)
Diablo
Illidan Stormrage
Rexxar
Sylvanas Windrunner
Valeera Sanguinar
Protector (16)
Rare (3)
Cariel Roame
Corneilus Roame
Guff Runetotem
Epic (7)
Cairne Bloodhoof
Gruul
King Mukla
Mannoroth
Mutanus
Tirion Fordring
Varian Wrynn
Legendary (6)
Garrosh Hellscream
Grommash Hellscream
Lich King, The
Lord Jaraxxus
Thrall
Uther
It surprises me that these numbers are not more symmetrical. I'm guessing they had some kind of lore-based criteria when assigning rarities -- for example, all the original Hearthstone heroes are legendary, while all the Book of Mercenaries heroes are rare. But it seems like some of the epic protectors could have been rare instead, to even things out.
Of course, everything in the videos is subject to change, so it's possible rarities and even roles could shift a bit before October 12.
Anyway, if you see any errors or omissions, please let me know, and I'll be happy to adjust the list.
A very small amount of analysis on packs and pre-orders:
There are 17 legendary mercenaries listed above. If you purchase all three pre-order bundles, you get three fixed legendaries plus 130 packs, which comes to an average of 3 (fixed) + 1 (in the first ten packs) + 6 (one per twenty packs for the next 120 packs) = 10 legendaries. Including the free legendary everyone gets, that's nearly two-thirds (65%) of the legendaries in the game so far, but nowhere near all of them.
To obtain the rest, you need to open an average of 6 x 20 = 120 additional packs, nearly doubling your initial expenditure if you are a super-whale who absolutely must have every mercenary on day one. I'm sure some people will do this, but most will not. (Note, however, that these could be bought with just 12K gold, which many whales are likely to have on hand.)
If you are trying to buy them all with gold only (no cash), you will have to buy more packs to make up for the 3 fixed legendaries, so it will cost you an average of 31K gold.
These figures assume you save all of your coins for upgrades and do not spend them crafting mercenaries -- mainly because we have no idea how many coins that would cost.
EDIT: Looks like I failed to consider the free legendary everyone gets at the start. Figures above have been adjusted. (Thanks to UdderCowstastrophe)
If you are trying to buy them all with gold only (no cash), you will have to buy more packs to make up for the 3 fixed legendaries, so it will cost you an average of 33K gold.
Heh, that means I can get a full collection on my American F2P server on day 1 should I wish to play PVP (doing this for PVE seems like a way to destroy your own fun)
To add to this, I think someone from Blizzard mentioned that you can get coins from legendary mercenaries in packs and unlock the mercenary if you have enough of these tokens. So, this might help a little bit because you have quite a lot of packs to open, but it's probably like 2-3 legendaries with all bundles.
I am just wondering if it is necessary to have all cards on day for any reason, though. I will certainly not even attempt to get there at some point.
A very small amount of analysis on packs and pre-orders:
There are 17 legendary mercenaries listed above. If you purchase all three pre-order bundles, you get three fixed legendaries plus 130 packs, which comes to an average of 3 (fixed) + 1 (in the first ten packs) + 6 (one per twenty packs for the next 120 packs) = 10 legendaries. That's more than half (59%) of the legendaries in the game so far, but nowhere near all of them.
To obtain the rest, you need to open an average of 7 x 20 = 140 additional packs, more than doubling your initial expenditure if you are a super-whale who absolutely must have every mercenary on day one. I'm sure some people will do this, but most will not.
If you are trying to buy them all with gold only (no cash), you will have to buy more packs to make up for the 3 fixed legendaries, so it will cost you an average of 33K gold.
Just a small correction; everyone will get 8 mercenaries for free (6 rares, 1 epic and 1 legendary). So that's one legendary less to collect.
Also here's some extra info from Blizzard about pack contents:
Opening a Mercenaries Pack in Hearthstone adds 5 items from the following 3 types to your Mercenaries collection:
Mercenary Card. A Mercenary Card allows you to play a Mercenary in the Mercenaries Mode with its default portrait.
Mercenary Portrait. A Mercenary Portrait is a different look for a Mercenary which you can select when playing that Mercenary.
Mercenary Coins. Mercenary Coins allow you to craft a Mercenary if you do not own them and upgrade their abilities and equipment. Mercenary Coins are unique per Mercenary –for example, Jaina Coins can only be used with the Jaina Mercenary.
Mercenary Cards, Portraits, and Coins can be of three different rarities: Rare, Epic, and Legendary.
There are rules in place to make sure your Mercenaries Pack opening experience is exciting.
Rarity of Mercenaries and Mercenary Card Drop Rates
One item per pack will always be a Mercenary Card and adhere to the rarity guidelines below, and this will always be a Mercenary that you don’t own until you own all Mercenary Cards of that rarity. Once you own all the Mercenary cards of a rarity, you will obtain Mercenary Portraits of that rarity, instead.
The other 4 items can be a Mercenary Card, Coins, or Portraits, from which you may obtain Mercenary Portraits of Mercenaries that you own before owning all Mercenary Cards of the rarity.
Rare Mercenary Cards: Each Mercenaries Pack contains at least one Rare or better Mercenary Card.
Epic Mercenary Cards: On average, one Epic Mercenary Card can be obtained every five Mercenaries Packs.
Legendary Mercenary Cards: One Legendary Mercenary Card is guaranteed within the first 10 packs. Subsequent Legendary Mercenary Cards can be obtained in 20 Mercenaries Packs on average.
Mercenary Coins Drop Rates
A pack can contain one or more drops of Mercenary Coins of any Mercenary, and each drop will be in between 35 and 45 coins.
Rare Coins: Rare Coins can drop 12 times in 10 Mercenaries Packs on average
Epic Coins: Epic Coins can drop 10 times in 10 Mercenaries Packs on average
Legendary Coins: Legendary Coins can drop 8 times in 10 Mercenaries Packs on average
Mercenary Portraits Drop Rates
All Mercenaries have 3 Golden Mercenary Portraits. All Legendary Mercenaries also have a Diamond Mercenary Portrait.
Whenever you obtain a Mercenary Portrait from a pack, the Portrait you receive will be based on the following baseline percentages:
For Legendary Mercenaries: 30% chance to get each of the 3 Golden Portraits and 10% chance to get the Diamond Portrait
For Rare and Epic Mercenaries: 33.3% chance to get each of the 3 Golden Portraits
When you obtain a Mercenary Portrait, the drop rate for the remaining Mercenary Portraits is dynamically recalculated, with new proportions based on your individual collection of Portraits for that Mercenary.
You will not obtain the same Mercenary Portrait until you own all the Mercenary Portraits for that Mercenary. Once you own all the Portraits for a Mercenary, you can obtain a second copy of a Mercenary Portrait, which will automatically be converted into Coins of that Mercenary: 50 coins for Rare, 75 coins for Epic, and 100 coins for Legendary Mercenaries.
Occasionally, you may obtain a Mercenary Portrait prior to obtaining its Mercenary Card. When that happens, you will be able to play that Mercenary with the Mercenary Portrait, and you could get the Mercenary Card from packs.
So, assuming you have an average pack opening, 20 packs should get you something like: - 24 rare coin drops x 40= 960 rare coins - 20 epic coin drops x 40 = 800 epic coins - 16 legendary coin drops x 40 = 640 legendary coins - 20 mercenaries of which 1 legendary, 4 epics and 15 rares. - 20 other drops (portraits?)
If we can further assume you get an even spread of coins among all mercenaries you'd end up with: - 960 / 18 = 53,33 coins per rare mercenary - 800 / 17 = 47,06 coins per epic mercenary - 640 / 17 = 37,65 coins per legendary mercenary
We don't know much about crafting/upgrading costs, but the showcase showed some values: - Band of Enlightenment I to II costs 150 coins (Equipment for Cornelius Roame) - Death Coil I to II costs 50 coins (Ability for The Lich King) - Mourneblade II to III costs 100 coins (Equipment for Sylvanas Windrunner)
Thanks for the info! I want to add that even if you can craft mercenaries with mercs coins, IMO its a waste of coins since eventually you can find them in packs and you will still need those coins to upgrade them. Unless you really need that merc, or you can reliably farm coins for it (it seems like targeted farming will be a thing in bounties, but we dont have much info about this).
Thanks for the info! I want to add that even if you can craft mercenaries with mercs coins, IMO its a waste of coins since eventually you can find them in packs and you will still need those coins to upgrade them. Unless you really need that merc, or you can reliably farm coins for it (it seems like targeted farming will be a thing in bounties, but we dont have much info about this).
This is true only if you go for those who go for ~300+ packs and expect a full collection. Otherwise, duplicate protection exists. If you crafted a legendary then you'll just get another legendary.
Thanks for the info! I want to add that even if you can craft mercenaries with mercs coins, IMO its a waste of coins since eventually you can find them in packs and you will still need those coins to upgrade them. Unless you really need that merc, or you can reliably farm coins for it (it seems like targeted farming will be a thing in bounties, but we dont have much info about this).
This is true only if you go for those who go for ~300+ packs and expect a full collection. Otherwise, duplicate protection exists. If you crafted a legendary then you'll just get another legendary.
I dont expect a full collection on day one, but eventually I will open a lot of packs. And when I open a legendary I can use all of its coins to upgrade it because I didnt waste them on crafting it.
Thanks for the info! I want to add that even if you can craft mercenaries with mercs coins, IMO its a waste of coins since eventually you can find them in packs and you will still need those coins to upgrade them. Unless you really need that merc, or you can reliably farm coins for it (it seems like targeted farming will be a thing in bounties, but we dont have much info about this).
This is true only if you go for those who go for ~300+ packs and expect a full collection. Otherwise, duplicate protection exists. If you crafted a legendary then you'll just get another legendary.
I dont expect a full collection on day one, but eventually I will open a lot of packs. And when I open a legendary I can use all of its coins to upgrade it because I didnt waste them on crafting it.
But if you craft it before opening in the pack, you'll have 2 legendaries instead of 1 because dup protection will replace it with another
Thanks for the info! I want to add that even if you can craft mercenaries with mercs coins, IMO its a waste of coins since eventually you can find them in packs and you will still need those coins to upgrade them. Unless you really need that merc, or you can reliably farm coins for it (it seems like targeted farming will be a thing in bounties, but we dont have much info about this).
This is true only if you go for those who go for ~300+ packs and expect a full collection. Otherwise, duplicate protection exists. If you crafted a legendary then you'll just get another legendary.
I dont expect a full collection on day one, but eventually I will open a lot of packs. And when I open a legendary I can use all of its coins to upgrade it because I didnt waste them on crafting it.
But if you craft it before opening in the pack, you'll have 2 legendaries instead of 1 because dup protection will replace it with another
It may be a mistake to approach this situation the same way every time. It may be better to consider how many mercenaries you already have, how many more you need (which affects your odds of opening the one you want), how soon you want to be able to use a specific mercenary, how much longer it will be before you have them all (if ever), and how much more gold you are willing to spend on packs.
I don't believe one size fits all here, because different players are going to value different things and have different amounts of resources.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"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
Seems like the folks over at outof.cards datamined a lot of info regarding Mercenaries, like the fact we'll get 2 packs when the mode launches and the amount of XP required to level up mercenaries. But most importanly all of the mercenaries, with details about their stats/abilities/equipment/portraits.
It's way too much information to post here, so for those that are interested, check these links:
According to the official website, Furion is a guardian character and Uther is a caster?
That just seems... backwards to me. Furion's a mage character and while Uther could MAYBE be considered a caster, he's much more of a Guardian.
Looking at their actual abilities, I... sort of get it? Uther definitely seems more Caster-based. Furion... also still seems really caster-based, though.
Looking at the coins to upgrade skills I can allready see that when we open 100 packs were not getting very far on the Merc's we want to play, unless your really lucky.
Heres why:
So when you open 100 packs you get on average arround: 4200 to 5400 rare coins, 3500 to 4500 epic coins and 2800 to 3600 legendary coins. Note that you get coins for Merc's you dont have! So those coins are divided over all Mercs you can collect.
So on average this means you get arround: 233 to 300 per rare Merc, 206 to 265 per epic Merc and 165 to 212 per legendary Merc. Leveling their skills to level 2 only cost 50 coins each but after that it's 100 coins. The breakpoints in powerlevel seem to be at arround rank 3. But the equipment is really expensive to upgrade since that starts at 150 coins! Note that skills go to rank 5 and equipment to rank 4. So maxing 1 Merc's skills and 1 equipment slot cost 1700 coins. If you do all equipment it will be 2760 coins. But reaching just breakpoint skill level is only 450 coins. Still that is out of range with 100 packs unless your really lucky.
All in all your mainly getting a large variety of low level skill Merc's to chose from instead of a maxed out team that grinds the F2P players into the dust. The F2P player will be forced to stick with mainly 1 Merc team but it will be arround the same strength as those who pre-order. And if the F2P players focus on grinding coins for this Merc team he will be able to keep up in power with the pre-order players. But once best 'Merc combinations' are known the F2P players will be at a obvious disatvantage. Though only slightly, because the average breakpoints for Mercs are just 450 coins and with the 'task system' that each Merc can do; reaching those 450 + free equipment should not be that hard.
Conclusion: pre-order packs = PAY FOR FUN! If you want to PAY 2 WIN you need to buy over a 1000 packs! I dont think the amount of whales who do this will ruin PVP. But top spots in the rankings will be reserverd for whales/streamers.
Additional note: Even if you pre-order because you have a favorite Merc team in mind, for example the fire team: Diablo, Ragnaros, Antonidas. Because Ragnaros is legendary it cost 500 coins to craft him should you not have him. So you probably have to grind Black Rock mountain which is the hardest zone at Launch. It might be hard enough that you may not even reach Black Rock Mountain in the first week. So being unlucky at pack opening can be really frustrating, if you really wanted to play that team.
Did they say anything about "dusting" duplicate mercenary cards or portraits into coins or gold?
Uhh, I believe there was some info about not receiving duplicate portraits until you have all (for that character), being able to play characters that you don’t have when you have a portrait for them and not sure if there was something about dusting duplicates.
Did they say anything about "dusting" duplicate mercenary cards or portraits into coins or gold?
There is no such thing as duplicates in Mercenaries. It's actually impossible. There is no disenchanting, no dust.
If you open a pack that would contain a duplicate Merc, it is converted to a portrait. If you have all the portraits for that Merc, it is instead converted into Mercenary Coins.
Still no word on what happens if you gain coins for a Merc that is already fully upgraded.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"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
Did they say anything about "dusting" duplicate mercenary cards or portraits into coins or gold?
Still no word on what happens if you gain coins for a Merc that is already fully upgraded.
I think that is a problem only whales will have to deal with. 2760 coins to max everything on a Merc, I dont see that happening unless you buy a 1000+ packs. And if you want to grind that amount your probably hardly there when the next expansion comes out. What I m more concerned about is coin investment 'mistakes'. Like investing in a equipment but later on either because a different Merc got nerfed or you just thought it would be good but it ended up not. Having to start over on a new piece equipment could be pretty frustrating.
Did they say anything about "dusting" duplicate mercenary cards or portraits into coins or gold?
There is no such thing as duplicates in Mercenaries. It's actually impossible. There is no disenchanting, no dust.
If you open a pack that would contain a duplicate Merc, it is converted to a portrait. If you have all the portraits for that Merc, it is instead converted into Mercenary Coins.
Still no word on what happens if you gain coins for a Merc that is already fully upgraded.
I think they'll keep accumulating without any way to spend them until they release new equipment(s) for the said Merc. And I expect that they will do it quite often. (if the mode won't die)
I am quite sure that there will be no dusting of excessive coins because if they allow dusting of excessive coins there will be a question - "why can't I dust other stuff I don't want?" and this means a very different economy.
Did they say anything about "dusting" duplicate mercenary cards or portraits into coins or gold?
Still no word on what happens if you gain coins for a Merc that is already fully upgraded.
I think that is a problem only whales will have to deal with. 2760 coins to max everything on a Merc, I dont see that happening unless you buy a 1000+ packs. And if you want to grind that amount your probably hardly there when the next expansion comes out. What I m more concerned about is coin investment 'mistakes'. Like investing in a equipment but later on either because a different Merc got nerfed or you just thought it would be good but it ended up not. Having to start over on a new piece equipment could be pretty frustrating.
So if it only affects whales, it doesn't matter? On the contrary, things that affect whales are the things that matter most, because whales are the ones that keep the game running.
As for the "mistakes" problem, I don't think it's a big deal. It does not take a long time to earn the coins needed to upgrade one piece of equipment. It's just a few hundred, which you can earn in a few targeted bounty runs. If you don't enjoy the game enough to do bounties, why are you even playing?
Overall, the attitude that any part of a game is frustrating work just means you don't really like the game and should probably stop playing it. If you do like a game, it's better to be less results-oriented in your thinking and just enjoy playing,
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"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
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EDIT: All Mercs have been datamined and posted elsewhere, so there's no reason to keep this list updated. Thanks for coming!
I haven't been able to find a concise, organized list, so I made one.Caster (19)
Fighter(17)
Protector (16)
It surprises me that these numbers are not more symmetrical. I'm guessing they had some kind of lore-based criteria when assigning rarities -- for example, all the original Hearthstone heroes are legendary, while all the Book of Mercenaries heroes are rare. But it seems like some of the epic protectors could have been rare instead, to even things out.
Of course, everything in the videos is subject to change, so it's possible rarities and even roles could shift a bit before October 12.
Anyway, if you see any errors or omissions, please let me know, and I'll be happy to adjust the list.
"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
A very small amount of analysis on packs and pre-orders:
There are 17 legendary mercenaries listed above. If you purchase all three pre-order bundles, you get three fixed legendaries plus 130 packs, which comes to an average of 3 (fixed) + 1 (in the first ten packs) + 6 (one per twenty packs for the next 120 packs) = 10 legendaries. Including the free legendary everyone gets, that's nearly two-thirds (65%) of the legendaries in the game so far, but nowhere near all of them.
To obtain the rest, you need to open an average of 6 x 20 = 120 additional packs, nearly doubling your initial expenditure if you are a super-whale who absolutely must have every mercenary on day one. I'm sure some people will do this, but most will not. (Note, however, that these could be bought with just 12K gold, which many whales are likely to have on hand.)
If you are trying to buy them all with gold only (no cash), you will have to buy more packs to make up for the 3 fixed legendaries, so it will cost you an average of 31K gold.
These figures assume you save all of your coins for upgrades and do not spend them crafting mercenaries -- mainly because we have no idea how many coins that would cost.
EDIT: Looks like I failed to consider the free legendary everyone gets at the start. Figures above have been adjusted. (Thanks to UdderCowstastrophe)
"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
Heh, that means I can get a full collection on my American F2P server on day 1 should I wish to play PVP (doing this for PVE seems like a way to destroy your own fun)
Thank you for the overview.
To add to this, I think someone from Blizzard mentioned that you can get coins from legendary mercenaries in packs and unlock the mercenary if you have enough of these tokens. So, this might help a little bit because you have quite a lot of packs to open, but it's probably like 2-3 legendaries with all bundles.
I am just wondering if it is necessary to have all cards on day for any reason, though. I will certainly not even attempt to get there at some point.
Just a small correction; everyone will get 8 mercenaries for free (6 rares, 1 epic and 1 legendary). So that's one legendary less to collect.
Also here's some extra info from Blizzard about pack contents:
So, assuming you have an average pack opening, 20 packs should get you something like:
- 24 rare coin drops x 40= 960 rare coins
- 20 epic coin drops x 40 = 800 epic coins
- 16 legendary coin drops x 40 = 640 legendary coins
- 20 mercenaries of which 1 legendary, 4 epics and 15 rares.
- 20 other drops (portraits?)
If we can further assume you get an even spread of coins among all mercenaries you'd end up with:
- 960 / 18 = 53,33 coins per rare mercenary
- 800 / 17 = 47,06 coins per epic mercenary
- 640 / 17 = 37,65 coins per legendary mercenary
We don't know much about crafting/upgrading costs, but the showcase showed some values:
- Band of Enlightenment I to II costs 150 coins (Equipment for Cornelius Roame)
- Death Coil I to II costs 50 coins (Ability for The Lich King)
- Mourneblade II to III costs 100 coins (Equipment for Sylvanas Windrunner)
Thanks for the info! I want to add that even if you can craft mercenaries with mercs coins, IMO its a waste of coins since eventually you can find them in packs and you will still need those coins to upgrade them. Unless you really need that merc, or you can reliably farm coins for it (it seems like targeted farming will be a thing in bounties, but we dont have much info about this).
This is true only if you go for those who go for ~300+ packs and expect a full collection. Otherwise, duplicate protection exists. If you crafted a legendary then you'll just get another legendary.
I dont expect a full collection on day one, but eventually I will open a lot of packs. And when I open a legendary I can use all of its coins to upgrade it because I didnt waste them on crafting it.
But if you craft it before opening in the pack, you'll have 2 legendaries instead of 1 because dup protection will replace it with another
It may be a mistake to approach this situation the same way every time. It may be better to consider how many mercenaries you already have, how many more you need (which affects your odds of opening the one you want), how soon you want to be able to use a specific mercenary, how much longer it will be before you have them all (if ever), and how much more gold you are willing to spend on packs.
I don't believe one size fits all here, because different players are going to value different things and have different amounts of resources.
"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
Seems like the folks over at outof.cards datamined a lot of info regarding Mercenaries, like the fact we'll get 2 packs when the mode launches and the amount of XP required to level up mercenaries. But most importanly all of the mercenaries, with details about their stats/abilities/equipment/portraits.
It's way too much information to post here, so for those that are interested, check these links:
https://outof.cards/hearthstone/3623-who-are-the-caster-hearthstone-mercenaries-all-18-collectible-mercenaries
https://outof.cards/hearthstone/3622-who-are-the-fighter-hearthstone-mercenaries-all-18-collectible-mercenaries
https://outof.cards/hearthstone/3621-who-are-the-protector-hearthstone-mercenaries-all-16-collectible-launch-mercenaries
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I'm looking forward to giving mercenaries a try.
According to the official website, Furion is a guardian character and Uther is a caster?
That just seems... backwards to me. Furion's a mage character and while Uther could MAYBE be considered a caster, he's much more of a Guardian.
Looking at their actual abilities, I... sort of get it? Uther definitely seems more Caster-based. Furion... also still seems really caster-based, though.
Did they say anything about "dusting" duplicate mercenary cards or portraits into coins or gold?
Looking at the coins to upgrade skills I can allready see that when we open 100 packs were not getting very far on the Merc's we want to play, unless your really lucky.
Heres why:
So when you open 100 packs you get on average arround: 4200 to 5400 rare coins, 3500 to 4500 epic coins and 2800 to 3600 legendary coins. Note that you get coins for Merc's you dont have! So those coins are divided over all Mercs you can collect.
So on average this means you get arround: 233 to 300 per rare Merc, 206 to 265 per epic Merc and 165 to 212 per legendary Merc. Leveling their skills to level 2 only cost 50 coins each but after that it's 100 coins. The breakpoints in powerlevel seem to be at arround rank 3. But the equipment is really expensive to upgrade since that starts at 150 coins! Note that skills go to rank 5 and equipment to rank 4. So maxing 1 Merc's skills and 1 equipment slot cost 1700 coins. If you do all equipment it will be 2760 coins. But reaching just breakpoint skill level is only 450 coins. Still that is out of range with 100 packs unless your really lucky.
All in all your mainly getting a large variety of low level skill Merc's to chose from instead of a maxed out team that grinds the F2P players into the dust. The F2P player will be forced to stick with mainly 1 Merc team but it will be arround the same strength as those who pre-order. And if the F2P players focus on grinding coins for this Merc team he will be able to keep up in power with the pre-order players. But once best 'Merc combinations' are known the F2P players will be at a obvious disatvantage. Though only slightly, because the average breakpoints for Mercs are just 450 coins and with the 'task system' that each Merc can do; reaching those 450 + free equipment should not be that hard.
Conclusion: pre-order packs = PAY FOR FUN! If you want to PAY 2 WIN you need to buy over a 1000 packs! I dont think the amount of whales who do this will ruin PVP. But top spots in the rankings will be reserverd for whales/streamers.
Additional note: Even if you pre-order because you have a favorite Merc team in mind, for example the fire team: Diablo, Ragnaros, Antonidas. Because Ragnaros is legendary it cost 500 coins to craft him should you not have him. So you probably have to grind Black Rock mountain which is the hardest zone at Launch. It might be hard enough that you may not even reach Black Rock Mountain in the first week. So being unlucky at pack opening can be really frustrating, if you really wanted to play that team.
Uhh, I believe there was some info about not receiving duplicate portraits until you have all (for that character), being able to play characters that you don’t have when you have a portrait for them and not sure if there was something about dusting duplicates.
There is no such thing as duplicates in Mercenaries. It's actually impossible. There is no disenchanting, no dust.
If you open a pack that would contain a duplicate Merc, it is converted to a portrait. If you have all the portraits for that Merc, it is instead converted into Mercenary Coins.
Still no word on what happens if you gain coins for a Merc that is already fully upgraded.
"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 think that is a problem only whales will have to deal with. 2760 coins to max everything on a Merc, I dont see that happening unless you buy a 1000+ packs. And if you want to grind that amount your probably hardly there when the next expansion comes out. What I m more concerned about is coin investment 'mistakes'. Like investing in a equipment but later on either because a different Merc got nerfed or you just thought it would be good but it ended up not. Having to start over on a new piece equipment could be pretty frustrating.
They must be transferable or something. (Or maybe convert into gold at a certain rate?)
You should be able to max out the mercs you want to use on your main team without spending too much....
I think they'll keep accumulating without any way to spend them until they release new equipment(s) for the said Merc. And I expect that they will do it quite often. (if the mode won't die)
I am quite sure that there will be no dusting of excessive coins because if they allow dusting of excessive coins there will be a question - "why can't I dust other stuff I don't want?" and this means a very different economy.
So if it only affects whales, it doesn't matter? On the contrary, things that affect whales are the things that matter most, because whales are the ones that keep the game running.
As for the "mistakes" problem, I don't think it's a big deal. It does not take a long time to earn the coins needed to upgrade one piece of equipment. It's just a few hundred, which you can earn in a few targeted bounty runs. If you don't enjoy the game enough to do bounties, why are you even playing?
Overall, the attitude that any part of a game is frustrating work just means you don't really like the game and should probably stop playing it. If you do like a game, it's better to be less results-oriented in your thinking and just enjoy playing,
"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