I know, it seems like a provocative question but let's go in order, was Blizzard born as a charity company? No... obviously... So what's the point of Hearthstone? Make her earn as much money as possible. Hearthstone allows you to achieve maximum profit with maximum speed compared to old physical games like MTG, why? 1- Because it can manipulate everything through fake random events to quickly eliminate all problems, such as card imbalance (have you ever tried to simulate a game by creating fake physical cards and REALLY doing random events? Hearthstone becomes crap, everything is unbalanced) . 2. Because it can break down the morale of those who use bots or those who never pay a dollar through "random" unfavorable moments, or in the case of the arena (which is the maximum expression of Blizzard's "cash-making" through a sort of slot rigged machine) by creating closed pools into which to throw those players who in his questionable opinion use automatic systems like hearthranger or in any case are not very nice to blizzard, and don't tell me that I'm making up this last statement because it was published in the news by blizzard itself. Do you still love Blizzard? Do you feel scammed? I feel cheated and for this reason I try to make it clear in forums all over the world what Blizzard is capable of doing and unfortunately what governments don't see since being a simple "video game" no investigations are carried out on the truthfulness of the declarations (a random event It MUST be random and you can't manipulate it). Let me know what you think!
This was discussed a lot back in the day. Battlenet or rather Blizzard app - including everything that the Blizzard app provides - is owned by a Tencent, aka Chinese owned, and if you play games across all genres, you might see that anything chinese owned turns to shiet. LoL is one of the examples, Fortnite, you name it...
The random factor was never a random to begin with, thats how you produce addicts and gamblers, which is the whole point, to get you hooked into playing more. As soon as you make peace with this and switch up gears, you wont find it annoying anymore.
Also use your real profile, no point in making a new one for this kind of ish, theres a thread to blow off some steam, nobody is judging there :D
It's an overpriced product. But still cheaper than physical TCGs, and since I enjoy the game, I stick to it. The "free" aspect is an illusion, and grind is so time-consuming that I believe it's more expensive than actually buying a preorder + extras.
One doesn't feel scammed when they legit could walk away at any time. Of course this game is "free" but isnt free. Nobody works for free. Unless you want Monster Energy logos on the board for each game. They could do better. I've collected MTG, Yugioh, and Pokemon. Those card packs don't have duplicate protection like HS does. Based on simple value pretending HS was a physical card game at least the prices of making and disenchanting cards doesn't change based on a market system.
But there is also a good reason. True random sometimes appears patterned. and so random is often intentionally coded to avoid patterns that would otherwise occur in true random.
But there is also a good reason. True random sometimes appears patterned. and so random is often intentionally coded to avoid patterns that would otherwise occur in true random.
It's random in HS though and you get "patterns". That then triggers all the tinfoil hats because they don't understand large sample sizes and randomness.
People like the OP see something they don't like, suspect manipulation and then come up with a narrative that, yes, you could obviously manipulate everything. There is no reason or gain in doing that to this single player, but you could. It's not done to everyone but only to those in some bucket system (that has completely different reasons) and all under the guise of "maximum profit".
How the manipulation actually leads to higher profits is never explained but "greedy Blizz made me lose" is an easier coping mechanism than "I misplayed and don't understand that even 80% winrate means losing 1 in 5".
It's an overpriced product. But still cheaper than physical TCGs, and since I enjoy the game, I stick to it. The "free" aspect is an illusion, and grind is so time-consuming that I believe it's more expensive than actually buying a preorder + extras.
As a long-time f2p player, I disagree. Yes, it got harder since Mercenary and BG idle farming got their rewards nerfed, but you can still make a very substantial amount of gold, dust, and cards by playing arena and constructed/BG. I can build top-tier decks in both formats and I haven't been very smart with my dust recently after coming back when Whizbang got released. Plus you can also get free packs from events like the one going on this week on Twitch. If you look at it like that, it's not more "expensive" since you are basically only playing (which you would do anyway). If you spend money on the game, yes it is actually overpriced. Literally everything in this game is overpriced. I could create all these cosmetics for you as an NFT for like 5-8 $ per cosmetic. And that's a lot more difficult technically than what the HS devs do.
If you enjoy the game, it's what you would do anyway. If you don't enjoy the game, then yes, you are "spending" your time instead of money. But that's what a game is supposed to do to you anyway.
That's so weird. I reach legend every season with minimal effort, i used to average almost 7 wins in arena some years ago, I've even reached high legend a couple of times, all without spending anything.
Have they missed me with the bad RNG stuff, or am i just so good that i win even through fixed randomness?
As much as it would feed my ego to believe this tinfoil shenanigans, i have had no reason to believe that the game is rigged.
I know, it seems like a provocative question but let's go in order, was Blizzard born as a charity company? No... obviously... So what's the point of Hearthstone? Make her earn as much money as possible. Hearthstone allows you to achieve maximum profit with maximum speed compared to old physical games like MTG, why? 1- Because it can manipulate everything through fake random events to quickly eliminate all problems, such as card imbalance (have you ever tried to simulate a game by creating fake physical cards and REALLY doing random events? Hearthstone becomes crap, everything is unbalanced) . 2. Because it can break down the morale of those who use bots or those who never pay a dollar through "random" unfavorable moments, or in the case of the arena (which is the maximum expression of Blizzard's "cash-making" through a sort of slot rigged machine) by creating closed pools into which to throw those players who in his questionable opinion use automatic systems like hearthranger or in any case are not very nice to blizzard, and don't tell me that I'm making up this last statement because it was published in the news by blizzard itself. Do you still love Blizzard? Do you feel scammed? I feel cheated and for this reason I try to make it clear in forums all over the world what Blizzard is capable of doing and unfortunately what governments don't see since being a simple "video game" no investigations are carried out on the truthfulness of the declarations (a random event It MUST be random and you can't manipulate it). Let me know what you think!
1. "Card imbalance" is likely not the primary impairment for other card games to maximize profits, and adding random elements to the game neither solves imbalances (or else the subreddit and this forum would be a lot more chill), nor is it likely the secret juice to make the cash roll. It's not like other games don't use any random elements.
2. It's probably debatable if any steps taken against bot use are for maximizing profit, and not simply because everyone hates cheaters. The idea that F2P players are punished through unfavorable random events is plain ludicrous. Spend a few days with a lot of other players, and you'll see more than enough examples of bad luck and good luck from everyone, regardless of how little or how much the've spent on the game.
Sidenote: I kinda doubt that Arena is the biggest cash cow for the game, even though there are no official numbers. I'd think it would be way more advertised (and maintenanced) if it was the biggest income generator.
Also, I'd like to mention that some governments and authorities do look into things that video game companies have pulled off over the last decade. Which (presumably) led to the introduction of rune stones, by the way. There are institutions which actually work on these issues. Maybe apply for a job there and find out that it is slightly more difficult than just pressing buttons and pulling levers to change legislation.
As for the whole "random must be random" thing - feel free to assume that something is not perfectly random, feel free to write an essay on what perfect randomness would entail to and at which point exceptions in expectable variance "prove" that a system is not perfectly random, but there's a little difference between "outcome x has a slightly higher chance of occuring" and saying "I got scammed".
Anyway, I'm still emotionally very indifferent to the company behind the game. Can't say I like it for a number of reasons, but I also see no profound reason to stop playing the game as long as I still enjoy playing it from time to time. If your text was meant to convince me that I get "scammed", I'm afraid to say that you don't make good points. But good luck with your efforts to inform people "all over the world". Fortunately, most websites are already accessible all over the world, so you won't have to make so many expensive trips.
It's an overpriced product. But still cheaper than physical TCGs, and since I enjoy the game, I stick to it. The "free" aspect is an illusion, and grind is so time-consuming that I believe it's more expensive than actually buying a preorder + extras.
As a long-time f2p player, I disagree. Yes, it got harder since Mercenary and BG idle farming got their rewards nerfed, but you can still make a very substantial amount of gold, dust, and cards by playing arena and constructed/BG. I can build top-tier decks in both formats and I haven't been very smart with my dust recently after coming back when Whizbang got released. Plus you can also get free packs from events like the one going on this week on Twitch. If you look at it like that, it's not more "expensive" since you are basically only playing (which you would do anyway). If you spend money on the game, yes it is actually overpriced. Literally everything in this game is overpriced. I could create all these cosmetics for you as an NFT for like 5-8 $ per cosmetic. And that's a lot more difficult technically than what the HS devs do.
If you enjoy the game, it's what you would do anyway. If you don't enjoy the game, then yes, you are "spending" your time instead of money. But that's what a game is supposed to do to you anyway.
Yes but the grind isn't fun. New cards are usually strong enough to overtake the meta, and with quests forcing you to pay most classes, you have to grind bad decks until you get the cards for good ones. Arena is not everyone's jam, although it's the best way to get packs (for free if you're really good). But let's compare it to time. If you live in the UK for example you can preorder and buy the track for the equivalent of a minimum wage shift. Skipping maybe 50 plus arena grinds. From there, you still need about 200 packs to complete the set if you wish so, but at least you can do it with good decks.
It's an overpriced product. But still cheaper than physical TCGs, and since I enjoy the game, I stick to it. The "free" aspect is an illusion, and grind is so time-consuming that I believe it's more expensive than actually buying a preorder + extras.
As a long-time f2p player, I disagree. Yes, it got harder since Mercenary and BG idle farming got their rewards nerfed, but you can still make a very substantial amount of gold, dust, and cards by playing arena and constructed/BG. I can build top-tier decks in both formats and I haven't been very smart with my dust recently after coming back when Whizbang got released. Plus you can also get free packs from events like the one going on this week on Twitch. If you look at it like that, it's not more "expensive" since you are basically only playing (which you would do anyway). If you spend money on the game, yes it is actually overpriced. Literally everything in this game is overpriced. I could create all these cosmetics for you as an NFT for like 5-8 $ per cosmetic. And that's a lot more difficult technically than what the HS devs do.
If you enjoy the game, it's what you would do anyway. If you don't enjoy the game, then yes, you are "spending" your time instead of money. But that's what a game is supposed to do to you anyway.
Yes but the grind isn't fun. New cards are usually strong enough to overtake the meta, and with quests forcing you to pay most classes, you have to grind bad decks until you get the cards for good ones. Arena is not everyone's jam, although it's the best way to get packs (for free if you're really good). But let's compare it to time. If you live in the UK for example you can preorder and buy the track for the equivalent of a minimum wage shift. Skipping maybe 50 plus arena grinds. From there, you still need about 200 packs to complete the set if you wish so, but at least you can do it with good decks.
Not sure if this is true for new players, but I got 6 pre-made decks when I came back and they either were fun (rogue) or pretty good (plague DK). And one of them was for free after 1 week. We didn't have that luxury when I started, so I get the "grind bad decks" argument, I don't think it's nearly as bad as it used to be 10 years ago. You are limited to 1 or 2 decks when you start, but you also shouldn't expect top 100 legend rank in your first month^^. The game is better if you play for fun, not for grinding out packs on ladder (which isn't worth it anyway).
Regarding the quests argument, you don't have to win these games. Just build a generic deck with one of your 3 classes from the quest and play wild/standard (whichever format you don't grind). Best to do this as aggro deck to finish quickly. It takes roughly 30 minutes to build and play these games and you are done. Alternatively, while we have Twist, you can play a matching Twist hero, or pick one of the 3 classes in arena. You don't have to play a constructed tier 1 deck in a class just because you have a quest.
I also understood your calculation and it's right. You are trading time for money. That's how freemium games work. But my point was that I want to play the game anyway, so I spend my time anyway. This means that I don't trade anything for the money I save. If you feel like you are spending (or should I say "wasting"?) time just for rewards instead of enjoying the game, you are probably ready for a break from the game.
But there is also a good reason. True random sometimes appears patterned. and so random is often intentionally coded to avoid patterns that would otherwise occur in true random.
It's random in HS though and you get "patterns". That then triggers all the tinfoil hats because they don't understand large sample sizes and randomness.
People like the OP see something they don't like, suspect manipulation and then come up with a narrative that, yes, you could obviously manipulate everything. There is no reason or gain in doing that to this single player, but you could. It's not done to everyone but only to those in some bucket system (that has completely different reasons) and all under the guise of "maximum profit".
How the manipulation actually leads to higher profits is never explained but "greedy Blizz made me lose" is an easier coping mechanism than "I misplayed and don't understand that even 80% winrate means losing 1 in 5".
But there is also a good reason. True random sometimes appears patterned. and so random is often intentionally coded to avoid patterns that would otherwise occur in true random.
It's random in HS though and you get "patterns". That then triggers all the tinfoil hats because they don't understand large sample sizes and randomness.
People like the OP see something they don't like, suspect manipulation and then come up with a narrative that, yes, you could obviously manipulate everything. There is no reason or gain in doing that to this single player, but you could. It's not done to everyone but only to those in some bucket system (that has completely different reasons) and all under the guise of "maximum profit".
How the manipulation actually leads to higher profits is never explained but "greedy Blizz made me lose" is an easier coping mechanism than "I misplayed and don't understand that even 80% winrate means losing 1 in 5".
But there is also a good reason. True random sometimes appears patterned. and so random is often intentionally coded to avoid patterns that would otherwise occur in true random.
It's random in HS though and you get "patterns". That then triggers all the tinfoil hats because they don't understand large sample sizes and randomness.
People like the OP see something they don't like, suspect manipulation and then come up with a narrative that, yes, you could obviously manipulate everything. There is no reason or gain in doing that to this single player, but you could. It's not done to everyone but only to those in some bucket system (that has completely different reasons) and all under the guise of "maximum profit".
How the manipulation actually leads to higher profits is never explained but "greedy Blizz made me lose" is an easier coping mechanism than "I misplayed and don't understand that even 80% winrate means losing 1 in 5".
You're defending a company that has patented that (which pretty much proves they DO rig matchups), think about that for a second.
The TLDR of the patent is they are matching people who bought skins with bad players on purpose, to encourage people to buy more skins.
The words "pretty much" are doing SO much heavy lifting here huh.
How so? It blatantly says in that patent that they do rig matchups, in the way i described above.
matching, by the host computer, the first player and the second player to play in a gameplay session to encourage purchase of the in-game item by the first player, wherein the matching is based on: (i) the relevance of the in-game item to the first player, and (ii) the possession of the in-game item by the second player.
That proves that they at least considered implementing something similar in a different game, in a different genre, that was monetized differently (cosmetics rather than packs), 10 years ago, sure.
That pretty much proves that they DO rig matchups in the way you describe, as long as the words 'pretty much' can do some extremely heavy lifting.
That proves that they at least considered implementing something similar in a different game, in a different genre, that was monetized differently (cosmetics rather than packs), 10 years ago, sure.
That pretty much proves that they DO rig matchups in the way you describe, as long as the words 'pretty much' can do some extremely heavy lifting.
And how exactly is it a different game? This patent was filed exactly at the date Blizzard started implementing cosmetics (hero skins, fancy looking cards (diamond ones and the signature cards) etc.) in Hearthstone. Are you saying HS doesn't have cosmetics? Do you even play HS? All i see is a lot of mental gymnastics to try and 'defend' the multi-billion dollar company screwing over players with practises like this.
There is a lot of data out there collected by the deck trackers people are running. You can literally look into it and will not find anything suspicious. That pretty much proves the point that Hearthstone is not rigged.
I get it, the game can sometimes be very frustrating. Sometimes I also loose 5 times in a row. But please don't succumb your emotions and try to be rational.
And if you still don't "believe" me, feel free to show me the data that proves your point!
That proves that they at least considered implementing something similar in a different game, in a different genre, that was monetized differently (cosmetics rather than packs), 10 years ago, sure.
That pretty much proves that they DO rig matchups in the way you describe, as long as the words 'pretty much' can do some extremely heavy lifting.
And how exactly is it a different game? This patent was filed exactly at the date Blizzard started implementing cosmetics (hero skins, fancy looking cards (diamond ones and the signature cards) etc.) in Hearthstone. Are you saying HS doesn't have cosmetics? Do you even play HS? All i see is a lot of mental gymnastics to try and 'defend' the multi-billion dollar company screwing over players with practises like this.
The monetization strategy for Hearthstone (which sells packs) is likely quite different from CoD in the mid teens.
Companies don't use all the tech they patent. Let alone for ten years in all their games in all genres.
Did they implement this in CoD? What did their market research say? Was the uptick in cosmetic sales worth the downtick in sales to players who aren't enjoying the game because they're getting unfair matchups? Or was it so successful they've rolled it out in all their games?
95% of Hearthstone skins are unavailable in the shop 99% of the time, there's no point incentivizing players to purchase stuff that's not for sale.
If they match based on cosmetics do they also need to make the matchup uneven? Does that matter as much in HS? Did it even matter in CoD?
Anecdotally:
Have you ever noticed that players with premium skins are better at the game? Do you personally win more when you use one? Have the high legend players figured this trick out? Have you ever bought or considered buying a skin after losing to a player using that skin?
No need to address any of these issues. You could even be right. Your level of confidence is just way higher than it should be based on the evidence you have.
Have any of the data aggregate sites that have been reviewing millions of games for almost a decade noticed that your portrait affects your matchups and win rate?
I dont think it's a scam game and I do think that F2P is viable (that's what I do). I also don't think the random effects are anything other than random - that would be a lot more work than actually just making it random.
That said, some of the more recent strategies (probably starting around the release of DH) seem to be about releasing new OP stuff that everyone can tell is vastly OP, then nerfing it sometime later after everyone has bought it. Even if you get a dust refund it still makes profit because some people will have bought packs with real money to get dust and dust is and in-game only currency (much like getting free plays on gambling websistes).
I am really cynical of the "Tourist" mechanic though. It seems like they've deliberately pay-walled class cards behind the tourist mechanic and there's absolutely no way they're going to be able to balance it. Having watched some of the pre-release streams I think it's going to be a mess.
p.s. I do think the game likes to troll you though. The number of times I've need a card to win (or not die) and cant draw it, only for it to be in the mulligan of the next game where it's useless!
For every player that thinks the game is rigged, there are likely tens of thousands or more who like the game and dont care. For every person who spends lots of real money on cosmetics there are likely tens of thousands or more who spend under $100 of real world money a year and dont care because they like the game. I just opened 142 packs I didnt spend a dime for, how? I like the game and play it a lot. The most I spend is for the rewards track, and a lot of the time google rewards pays for that. What some people dont think about is that to have a good game the creators take care of and add to takes money. I would rather spend under $100 a year for that than a game that is ignored and grows stagnate and I lose interest in.
I know, it seems like a provocative question but let's go in order, was Blizzard born as a charity company? No... obviously... So what's the point of Hearthstone? Make her earn as much money as possible. Hearthstone allows you to achieve maximum profit with maximum speed compared to old physical games like MTG, why? 1- Because it can manipulate everything through fake random events to quickly eliminate all problems, such as card imbalance (have you ever tried to simulate a game by creating fake physical cards and REALLY doing random events? Hearthstone becomes crap, everything is unbalanced) . 2. Because it can break down the morale of those who use bots or those who never pay a dollar through "random" unfavorable moments, or in the case of the arena (which is the maximum expression of Blizzard's "cash-making" through a sort of slot rigged machine) by creating closed pools into which to throw those players who in his questionable opinion use automatic systems like hearthranger or in any case are not very nice to blizzard, and don't tell me that I'm making up this last statement because it was published in the news by blizzard itself. Do you still love Blizzard? Do you feel scammed? I feel cheated and for this reason I try to make it clear in forums all over the world what Blizzard is capable of doing and unfortunately what governments don't see since being a simple "video game" no investigations are carried out on the truthfulness of the declarations (a random event It MUST be random and you can't manipulate it). Let me know what you think!
This was discussed a lot back in the day. Battlenet or rather Blizzard app - including everything that the Blizzard app provides - is owned by a Tencent, aka Chinese owned, and if you play games across all genres, you might see that anything chinese owned turns to shiet. LoL is one of the examples, Fortnite, you name it...
The random factor was never a random to begin with, thats how you produce addicts and gamblers, which is the whole point, to get you hooked into playing more. As soon as you make peace with this and switch up gears, you wont find it annoying anymore.
Also use your real profile, no point in making a new one for this kind of ish, theres a thread to blow off some steam, nobody is judging there :D
It's an overpriced product. But still cheaper than physical TCGs, and since I enjoy the game, I stick to it. The "free" aspect is an illusion, and grind is so time-consuming that I believe it's more expensive than actually buying a preorder + extras.
One doesn't feel scammed when they legit could walk away at any time. Of course this game is "free" but isnt free. Nobody works for free. Unless you want Monster Energy logos on the board for each game. They could do better. I've collected MTG, Yugioh, and Pokemon. Those card packs don't have duplicate protection like HS does. Based on simple value pretending HS was a physical card game at least the prices of making and disenchanting cards doesn't change based on a market system.
Random is never random
But there is also a good reason. True random sometimes appears patterned. and so random is often intentionally coded to avoid patterns that would otherwise occur in true random.
It's random in HS though and you get "patterns". That then triggers all the tinfoil hats because they don't understand large sample sizes and randomness.
People like the OP see something they don't like, suspect manipulation and then come up with a narrative that, yes, you could obviously manipulate everything. There is no reason or gain in doing that to this single player, but you could. It's not done to everyone but only to those in some bucket system (that has completely different reasons) and all under the guise of "maximum profit".
How the manipulation actually leads to higher profits is never explained but "greedy Blizz made me lose" is an easier coping mechanism than "I misplayed and don't understand that even 80% winrate means losing 1 in 5".
As a long-time f2p player, I disagree. Yes, it got harder since Mercenary and BG idle farming got their rewards nerfed, but you can still make a very substantial amount of gold, dust, and cards by playing arena and constructed/BG. I can build top-tier decks in both formats and I haven't been very smart with my dust recently after coming back when Whizbang got released. Plus you can also get free packs from events like the one going on this week on Twitch. If you look at it like that, it's not more "expensive" since you are basically only playing (which you would do anyway). If you spend money on the game, yes it is actually overpriced. Literally everything in this game is overpriced. I could create all these cosmetics for you as an NFT for like 5-8 $ per cosmetic. And that's a lot more difficult technically than what the HS devs do.
If you enjoy the game, it's what you would do anyway. If you don't enjoy the game, then yes, you are "spending" your time instead of money. But that's what a game is supposed to do to you anyway.
That's so weird. I reach legend every season with minimal effort, i used to average almost 7 wins in arena some years ago, I've even reached high legend a couple of times, all without spending anything.
Have they missed me with the bad RNG stuff, or am i just so good that i win even through fixed randomness?
As much as it would feed my ego to believe this tinfoil shenanigans, i have had no reason to believe that the game is rigged.
1. "Card imbalance" is likely not the primary impairment for other card games to maximize profits, and adding random elements to the game neither solves imbalances (or else the subreddit and this forum would be a lot more chill), nor is it likely the secret juice to make the cash roll. It's not like other games don't use any random elements.
2. It's probably debatable if any steps taken against bot use are for maximizing profit, and not simply because everyone hates cheaters. The idea that F2P players are punished through unfavorable random events is plain ludicrous. Spend a few days with a lot of other players, and you'll see more than enough examples of bad luck and good luck from everyone, regardless of how little or how much the've spent on the game.
Sidenote: I kinda doubt that Arena is the biggest cash cow for the game, even though there are no official numbers. I'd think it would be way more advertised (and maintenanced) if it was the biggest income generator.
Also, I'd like to mention that some governments and authorities do look into things that video game companies have pulled off over the last decade. Which (presumably) led to the introduction of rune stones, by the way. There are institutions which actually work on these issues. Maybe apply for a job there and find out that it is slightly more difficult than just pressing buttons and pulling levers to change legislation.
As for the whole "random must be random" thing - feel free to assume that something is not perfectly random, feel free to write an essay on what perfect randomness would entail to and at which point exceptions in expectable variance "prove" that a system is not perfectly random, but there's a little difference between "outcome x has a slightly higher chance of occuring" and saying "I got scammed".
Anyway, I'm still emotionally very indifferent to the company behind the game. Can't say I like it for a number of reasons, but I also see no profound reason to stop playing the game as long as I still enjoy playing it from time to time. If your text was meant to convince me that I get "scammed", I'm afraid to say that you don't make good points. But good luck with your efforts to inform people "all over the world". Fortunately, most websites are already accessible all over the world, so you won't have to make so many expensive trips.
Yes but the grind isn't fun. New cards are usually strong enough to overtake the meta, and with quests forcing you to pay most classes, you have to grind bad decks until you get the cards for good ones. Arena is not everyone's jam, although it's the best way to get packs (for free if you're really good). But let's compare it to time. If you live in the UK for example you can preorder and buy the track for the equivalent of a minimum wage shift. Skipping maybe 50 plus arena grinds. From there, you still need about 200 packs to complete the set if you wish so, but at least you can do it with good decks.
Not sure if this is true for new players, but I got 6 pre-made decks when I came back and they either were fun (rogue) or pretty good (plague DK). And one of them was for free after 1 week. We didn't have that luxury when I started, so I get the "grind bad decks" argument, I don't think it's nearly as bad as it used to be 10 years ago. You are limited to 1 or 2 decks when you start, but you also shouldn't expect top 100 legend rank in your first month^^. The game is better if you play for fun, not for grinding out packs on ladder (which isn't worth it anyway).
Regarding the quests argument, you don't have to win these games. Just build a generic deck with one of your 3 classes from the quest and play wild/standard (whichever format you don't grind). Best to do this as aggro deck to finish quickly. It takes roughly 30 minutes to build and play these games and you are done. Alternatively, while we have Twist, you can play a matching Twist hero, or pick one of the 3 classes in arena. You don't have to play a constructed tier 1 deck in a class just because you have a quest.
I also understood your calculation and it's right. You are trading time for money. That's how freemium games work. But my point was that I want to play the game anyway, so I spend my time anyway. This means that I don't trade anything for the money I save. If you feel like you are spending (or should I say "wasting"?) time just for rewards instead of enjoying the game, you are probably ready for a break from the game.
Meanwhile Blizzard has patented this:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160005270A1/en
You're defending a company that has patented that (which pretty much proves they DO rig matchups), think about that for a second.
The TLDR of the patent is they are matching people who bought skins with bad players on purpose, to encourage people to buy more skins.
The words "pretty much" are doing SO much heavy lifting here huh.
How so? It blatantly says in that patent that they do rig matchups, in the way i described above.
matching, by the host computer, the first player and the second player to play in a gameplay session to encourage purchase of the in-game item by the first player, wherein the matching is based on: (i) the relevance of the in-game item to the first player, and (ii) the possession of the in-game item by the second player.
That proves that they at least considered implementing something similar in a different game, in a different genre, that was monetized differently (cosmetics rather than packs), 10 years ago, sure.
That pretty much proves that they DO rig matchups in the way you describe, as long as the words 'pretty much' can do some extremely heavy lifting.
And how exactly is it a different game? This patent was filed exactly at the date Blizzard started implementing cosmetics (hero skins, fancy looking cards (diamond ones and the signature cards) etc.) in Hearthstone.
Are you saying HS doesn't have cosmetics? Do you even play HS? All i see is a lot of mental gymnastics to try and 'defend' the multi-billion dollar company screwing over players with practises like this.
There is a lot of data out there collected by the deck trackers people are running. You can literally look into it and will not find anything suspicious. That pretty much proves the point that Hearthstone is not rigged.
I get it, the game can sometimes be very frustrating. Sometimes I also loose 5 times in a row. But please don't succumb your emotions and try to be rational.
And if you still don't "believe" me, feel free to show me the data that proves your point!
The monetization strategy for Hearthstone (which sells packs) is likely quite different from CoD in the mid teens.
Companies don't use all the tech they patent. Let alone for ten years in all their games in all genres.
Did they implement this in CoD? What did their market research say? Was the uptick in cosmetic sales worth the downtick in sales to players who aren't enjoying the game because they're getting unfair matchups? Or was it so successful they've rolled it out in all their games?
95% of Hearthstone skins are unavailable in the shop 99% of the time, there's no point incentivizing players to purchase stuff that's not for sale.
If they match based on cosmetics do they also need to make the matchup uneven? Does that matter as much in HS? Did it even matter in CoD?
Anecdotally:
Have you ever noticed that players with premium skins are better at the game?
Do you personally win more when you use one?
Have the high legend players figured this trick out?
Have you ever bought or considered buying a skin after losing to a player using that skin?
No need to address any of these issues. You could even be right. Your level of confidence is just way higher than it should be based on the evidence you have.
Have any of the data aggregate sites that have been reviewing millions of games for almost a decade noticed that your portrait affects your matchups and win rate?
I dont think it's a scam game and I do think that F2P is viable (that's what I do). I also don't think the random effects are anything other than random - that would be a lot more work than actually just making it random.
That said, some of the more recent strategies (probably starting around the release of DH) seem to be about releasing new OP stuff that everyone can tell is vastly OP, then nerfing it sometime later after everyone has bought it. Even if you get a dust refund it still makes profit because some people will have bought packs with real money to get dust and dust is and in-game only currency (much like getting free plays on gambling websistes).
I am really cynical of the "Tourist" mechanic though. It seems like they've deliberately pay-walled class cards behind the tourist mechanic and there's absolutely no way they're going to be able to balance it. Having watched some of the pre-release streams I think it's going to be a mess.
p.s. I do think the game likes to troll you though. The number of times I've need a card to win (or not die) and cant draw it, only for it to be in the mulligan of the next game where it's useless!
For every player that thinks the game is rigged, there are likely tens of thousands or more who like the game and dont care.
For every person who spends lots of real money on cosmetics there are likely tens of thousands or more who spend under $100 of real world money a year and dont care because they like the game.
I just opened 142 packs I didnt spend a dime for, how? I like the game and play it a lot. The most I spend is for the rewards track, and a lot of the time google rewards pays for that.
What some people dont think about is that to have a good game the creators take care of and add to takes money. I would rather spend under $100 a year for that than a game that is ignored and grows stagnate and I lose interest in.
Dust does not burn a hole in the jar. Be careful what you craft, especially before and right after a rotation.