I believe that hearthstone has just reached the climax of their success, with 20,000,000 Players. Now that number is incredibly huge. INCREDIBLY HUGE. And blizzard really wants to keep this going. HS was a huge success, which needed not a lot of developing or financial support or attention.
The Problem: The issue i see is that, with 4 expansions out so far, it is becoming very difficult for newcomers who discovered the game through its popularity to settle in well (the problem, being their main resource=gold), especially because most of them will be casual players, at max hour or 2 a day. They dont have the gold go farther thank rank 10 at best, with the basic cards they get in the beginning, as they hit a wall of face hunter, Patron, handlock, zoo, oil rogue etc... And to have those cards, they will need to buy numerous packs, to achieve the vast amount of dust and cards they need. Remember, they do start from 0. And if they try to farm or grind out the gold, it gets extremely boring, very quickly, rather than being a creative card game, where YOU choose the different combinations of cards and synergies to try and climb the ladder, they see it as a grind, and so did i for many months. I know, blizzard wants people to use real money, to buy the packs, and expansions, but for new players, who are still exploring the game, are not entirely sure they want to spend money in the game yet (tbh, the prices on the packs is outrageous) and they either will not be willing to, or cant afford to do so. They will keep feeling unsure, about the game, as the grind for gold, wont feel good, and then they will just simply stop playing, as it is unenjoyable. (idk whether thats even a word, but you get the idea). The game is simply, the learning curve is not that steep, but the grinding for gold, is a pain in the ass for newcomers. Time for a few numbers.
Curse of Naxxramas: This was the first expansion, when naxx was released, everyone was hyped and stuff. Five winged adventure. Alot of really good cards that everyone wants.Mad Scientist, Sludge Belcher etc... You cant craft these cards. You need to purchase the corresponding 700 GOLD wing, or spend 7 bucks. 5 wings, each 700 thats, 3500 Gold. 35 US Dollars. Thats alot.
GVG: This expansion, instead of bringing an adventure, brought a new type of pack, expert pack, GVG packs. Now how many packs do you need to get the most of the cards you will need for the cards you want. We can safely assume, that with the 50-40 card packs, you should get a few cards you would want, and alot of dust , which you could use to craft the ones you didnt get. But, still, have a look at one of the top tier decks, Handlock, Control Warrior. Ouch. 12K dust costs. Ok, lets ignore those decks for now. You spend 5000 Gold. Thats still alot of gold.
Blackrock mountain:Quick ShotFlamewaker etc etc. You want them? 5 wings, 700 each. 3500 More gold plz. This is where it sort of started becoming really stupid for newer players to get the cards they needed.
The Grand Tournament: The latest expansion, introduced 132 cards, although only a few of them are the 'good' ones. At this point, the meta has become so saturated, with decks like oil, face etc, the expansion, will 'refresh' the meta with the new cards, as almost all the players will begin to experiment with the cards and their decks, again we will just assume that 50 packs will be reasonable for a new player, even though you will probably need more, for your experimental needs, and legendarys. The legendarys are always an issue, Extremely rare, and very expensive to craft. And you need multiple of them in a deck. 50 packs = 5000 Gold. ;(((
TOTAL CHECKOUT = 17,000 GOLD.
How long will it take to get that much? well good question. Average Daily quest rewards about 50 Gold (AVERAGE). 3 WINS gives you 10 gold. Lets say you get 6 wins in a day (that about an hour of play, including losses) = 20 Gold
EVERYDAY 70 GOLD 242 DAYS
EVEN IF YOU GET 100 GOLD, THATS 12 WINS A DAY 170 DAYS OVER 5 MONTHS OF CONSISTENT GAMEPLAY OF 2 HOURS EVERYDAY
Sure don't need ALL of the cards to have fun, but remember, this type of card game, can get boring really quickly. a week of playing a deck WILL get you bored. Hearthstone is a game that constantly needs changing to keep it fun, thats why tavern brawl was introduced, but we are talking about constructed play. And remember, not everyone likes playing cheap face decks ;/
Sure their are like couple of packs for new players or like hundred gold or a free arena, but a new player will not really get 6 wins in arena, and have enough gold to go again. not enough of a push.
The solution: I do have an idea as to how we can make the beginning more fun and friendly to newcomers. Make Curse of Naxxaramas Free. New players will enjoy the PVE, get the cards they need, have fun, and will be encouraged to keep playing, and will also be encouraged to buy BRM aswell.
You might not find my solution well,or you might not even think the problem is a problem at all. But that was my opinion. it was buggin me for quite a while, and i had let it off my chest. please dont get pissed at me, hunt me down and kill me ;(. this is my opinion. please share to me what you think.
We get 51,3 gold/quest if we take every quest without recycling (since we do that, the average gold/quest is slightly higher [around 60]) + we get 1pack/week for playing the brawl -> This are another 14,3gold/day If you win around 50% of the games (which should be usual) you need around 6 games/day to reach the 100 gold mark. (So 170 days is more appropriate than the 242 days)
Than we have the hidden achievements (I will count packs and Arena-tickets in gold): 1350 gold for just playing the game -> so you need 2 weeks less. (+additional packs for logging in with certain devices or for buying other blizz-games but I won't count those in)
A new player needs roughly 156 days to get the amount of gold which you stated is needed. It is still a lot but also fine. We are talking about a versatile collection with which you can play all 9 classes. If you focus on a few classes (or even archetypes) you are way faster too. Even a wallet warrior (controll warrior) can be earned in about a month if you really focus hard on these cards.
The best solution are more achievements to collect. If you make Nax for free it just pisses most people off who bought it. Anyway new players don't need to be able to play every archetype. If they want to, they have to use real money and help Blizzard improving the game, otherwise they have to play for it like everyone else.
Funny OP should say that, and making it look like a very legitimate claim. It is a CCG. It costs money. Lots of money. You think Hearthstone is bad? Go play some Magic: the Gathering.
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"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
I don't particular like this argument since it literally involves grinding the game, which reduces the fun for a lot of people. But yes, getting good at Arena for obtaining gold is the way to go.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
It's a CCG, new players are always at a disadvantage, until they start focusing on crafting decks they want. Once they've made a deck that's actually playable, and maybe even cheap (Mech mage, Zoo, etc probably), they can actually start enjoying the game, ranking up, getting better rewards.
Although one possible solution I can think of, even though I don't think anythings to wrong really, is to maybe have some new player deals, say 40/50 packs, with an extra 25% of the price, or some such thing.
No, buying actual decks would be a horrific idea, many of us had to open lots of packs, then dust alot to create decks we wanted to play originally. Just getting rid of that effort, and being able to buy a deck would be a giant slap in the face.
HearthStone is the LEAST expensive card game out there. I've been playing MTG for 5 years, a competitive deck costs around 200-350 euros, which is absurd compared to HearthStone.
I don't particular like this argument since it literally involves grinding the game, which reduces the fun for a lot of people. But yes, getting good at Arena for obtaining gold is the way to go.
But that sort of is the point to the first C of CCG. It's like pokemon. You work to collect and build up your collection. It's a grind by design.
This is enhanced by the fact that the OP isn't talking about THE TOP decks but handpicking the most expensive of the top tier decks. 5k gold for GvG AND 5 wings of Naxx AND 5 wings of BRM and TGT AND Classic? When not a single top tier deck even USES most of BRM, the top wing of TGT, or most of the Classic/GvG legendaries? Patron doesn't use ANY beyond Emperor, which is 2 weeks of grinding for the first wing. He also ignored what's arguably one of the strongest classes, hunter, who's three active decks are just as cheap and is much easier to navigate.
No. He's talking Flamewaker, which is used in only ONE mage deck that's far from a requirement.
So we're talking about a new player that wants access to every single top tier deck all at once, in a Collection based game, without wishing to spend any time or money to even collect them all. Even though having all of those decks isn't even required to succeed, or even master, the game.
I'm understanding of worrying over how new players can catch up to the game. But stuff like this is NOT even close to being honest, and not being honest isn't helping the conversation. Seriously "I Must have the most expensive decks in the game or else there's a problem."
Zooed big respact for giving a smart solution and not just complainig for no result but i disagree i think that naxx is to small of a free card poll to mater for new playars I think that a bater idea is to incrase the number of soulbound cards and make some legandris free like crain or alex and also epic and rears and then give full dust for the regules ons or the golden ones so its a win win {sorry for my english}
You spend hard earned cash? no. this is not the concept of the game. this is most definitely not what blizzard wants. sure it has to be harder the free 2 play way, but a 200 day grind should not be it.
I don't particular like this argument since it literally involves grinding the game, which reduces the fun for a lot of people. But yes, getting good at Arena for obtaining gold is the way to go.
But that sort of is the point to the first C of CCG. It's like pokemon. You work to collect and build up your collection. It's a grind by design.
This is enhanced by the fact that the OP isn't talking about THE TOP decks but handpicking the most expensive of the top tier decks. 5k gold for GvG AND 5 wings of Naxx AND 5 wings of BRM and TGT AND Classic? When not a single top tier deck even USES most of BRM, the top wing of TGT, or most of the Classic/GvG legendaries? Patron doesn't use ANY beyond Emperor, which is 2 weeks of grinding for the first wing. He also ignored what's arguably one of the strongest classes, hunter, who's three active decks are just as cheap and is much easier to navigate.
No. He's talking Flamewaker, which is used in only ONE mage deck that's far from a requirement.
So we're talking about a new player that wants access to every single top tier deck all at once, in a Collection based game, without wishing to spend any time or money to even collect them all. Even though having all of those decks isn't even required to succeed, or even master, the game.
I'm understanding of worrying over how new players can catch up to the game. But stuff like this is NOT even close to being honest, and not being honest isn't helping the conversation. Seriously "I Must have the most expensive decks in the game or else there's a problem."
im not talking about i must have the expensive decks. What i mean is the amount of time, it takes for a new player to actually get into competitive play and decks through months and months of grinding.
Hmm. I think yes, the game starts becomong more expensive. I myself hadn't finished buying adventures (have full Naxx and one BRM wing), and I'm playing almost every day for more than half a year already. Going F2P is still doable, and even with my advantage over a plain newcomer of ~10000 gold total (counting packs as 100 gold each) I can still craft semi-competitive decks (no legendaries BTW) to get that rank 15 and earn a free golden rare (oh please, gimme a Knife Juggler!) per month. If I'd start right now, I'd be too jealous of those people flashing legends everywhere, and will probably be averted from the game, seeing the amount of money and time (either-or here) required to reach the level to at least build a decent Undertaker deck to scare off newbs at ranks 21 and below. Voted for "it costs but not too much". You expect a F2P game like this to not contain grinding? Ha, haha. You expect a F2P game to give you only fun? No again. You'll get a lot of frustration and a bit of fun. But, this is yet not too much effort to reward ratio to avert newcomers.
But that sort of is the point to the first C of CCG. It's like pokemon. You work to collect and build up your collection. It's a grind by design.
This is enhanced by the fact that the OP isn't talking about THE TOP decks but handpicking the most expensive of the top tier decks. 5k gold for GvG AND 5 wings of Naxx AND 5 wings of BRM and TGT AND Classic? When not a single top tier deck even USES most of BRM, the top wing of TGT, or most of the Classic/GvG legendaries? Patron doesn't use ANY beyond Emperor, which is 2 weeks of grinding for the first wing. He also ignored what's arguably one of the strongest classes, hunter, who's three active decks are just as cheap and is much easier to navigate.
No. He's talking Flamewaker, which is used in only ONE mage deck that's far from a requirement.
So we're talking about a new player that wants access to every single top tier deck all at once, in a Collection based game, without wishing to spend any time or money to even collect them all. Even though having all of those decks isn't even required to succeed, or even master, the game.
I'm understanding of worrying over how new players can catch up to the game. But stuff like this is NOT even close to being honest, and not being honest isn't helping the conversation. Seriously "I Must have the most expensive decks in the game or else there's a problem."
Oh you grossly misunderstood what I am trying to say. My apologies for trying to said something with twitter-length reply. CCGs, or "Collectible Card Game" in full, I am referring to, is the physical ones. I am not even just talking about Magic or Yu-gi-oh. I am talking about every other CCGs. Gundam wars, Battle Spirits, and some such. Every time I try to get into these games, I need to spend a lot of cash as initial investment, and the continual investment curve doesn't even smooth off, it just spikes up all the way like nobody's business. So I am really used to spending cash to just get into a game. I usually don't get even a single top deck in these attempts. But whatever. Screwing around with goofy decks with my friends more than justify the cost.
In a previous post I've explained (again, in twitter-length reply) that these games simply cost money. The point of spending money is not about "succeeding in this game", but about "having more options". While a 800 dust facehunter or a 1600 dust eboladin will get you to legend at the speed of light, one can spend thousands and thousands of dollars, handcraft a golden wallet warrior, and smash his/her way to legend in style. If one ain't gonna pay, one gets less options. It's really that simple. Hearthstone, I hate to say, is already better in that as they actually allow you to go F2P. Really free to play. Given couple of weeks, with good planning, good skills, one can face-hunt his/her way to legend. (Writer's note: I am not crapping on Facehunter. I will tell you so if I am crapping on Facehunter.)
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"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
I'd just change the disenchanting ratio to full value just for the first 10k dust. These would give newcomers a chance to craft a pair of useful legendaries/epics to go on. I wouldn't discount in adventures as long as you get the full card list.
I'll be honest... I was facing this problem in the first month I played Hearthstone. (I started playing at the release of Naxx) It became boring because I hadn't that many deck options. Progress feels VERY slow in the beginning. I bought myself 60 packs to resolve this issue. But will this help new players now there are 4 expansions?
The number of expansions is completely a non-issue, seeing that within every expansion/adventure, there are only like single-digit number of cards that are actually staples, and only one of them (*cough* Dr. Boom *cough*) is legendary. Also power creep is a thing. You should thank power creep for that. It de-legitimize some of the old cards so that new players don't even need to obtain them.
So yes, bigger cardpool != harder catchup.
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"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
If disenchant was full value, it would be way more fair for everybody. But hey, it's pay 2 collect or monthly fee - Blizzard...
Long Story Short...it's getting PRETTY DAMN EXPENSIVE...
This idea is not good. Disenchant at discount value is a mechanism to stop people from switching decks too easily. Imagine one day you woke up and every single deck is a mechmage because mechmage is the best deck today, and then the next day every single deck is a Patron Warrior because that is the best deck for the day.
I don't disagree with your "Pretty Damn Expensive" argument. I would just like to point out that disenchant at full value will kill the game.
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"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
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I believe that hearthstone has just reached the climax of their success, with 20,000,000 Players. Now that number is incredibly huge. INCREDIBLY HUGE. And blizzard really wants to keep this going. HS was a huge success, which needed not a lot of developing or financial support or attention.
The Problem: The issue i see is that, with 4 expansions out so far, it is becoming very difficult for newcomers who discovered the game through its popularity to settle in well (the problem, being their main resource=gold), especially because most of them will be casual players, at max hour or 2 a day. They dont have the gold go farther thank rank 10 at best, with the basic cards they get in the beginning, as they hit a wall of face hunter, Patron, handlock, zoo, oil rogue etc... And to have those cards, they will need to buy numerous packs, to achieve the vast amount of dust and cards they need. Remember, they do start from 0. And if they try to farm or grind out the gold, it gets extremely boring, very quickly, rather than being a creative card game, where YOU choose the different combinations of cards and synergies to try and climb the ladder, they see it as a grind, and so did i for many months. I know, blizzard wants people to use real money, to buy the packs, and expansions, but for new players, who are still exploring the game, are not entirely sure they want to spend money in the game yet (tbh, the prices on the packs is outrageous) and they either will not be willing to, or cant afford to do so. They will keep feeling unsure, about the game, as the grind for gold, wont feel good, and then they will just simply stop playing, as it is unenjoyable. (idk whether thats even a word, but you get the idea). The game is simply, the learning curve is not that steep, but the grinding for gold, is a pain in the ass for newcomers. Time for a few numbers.
Curse of Naxxramas: This was the first expansion, when naxx was released, everyone was hyped and stuff. Five winged adventure.
Alot of really good cards that everyone wants. Mad Scientist, Sludge Belcher etc... You cant craft these cards. You need to purchase the corresponding 700 GOLD wing, or spend 7 bucks. 5 wings, each 700 thats, 3500 Gold. 35 US Dollars. Thats alot.
GVG: This expansion, instead of bringing an adventure, brought a new type of pack, expert pack, GVG packs. Now how many packs do you need to get the most of the cards you will need for the cards you want. We can safely assume, that with the 50-40 card packs, you should get a few cards you would want, and alot of dust , which you could use to craft the ones you didnt get. But, still, have a look at one of the top tier decks, Handlock, Control Warrior. Ouch. 12K dust costs. Ok, lets ignore those decks for now. You spend 5000 Gold. Thats still alot of gold.
Blackrock mountain: Quick Shot Flamewaker etc etc. You want them? 5 wings, 700 each. 3500 More gold plz.
This is where it sort of started becoming really stupid for newer players to get the cards they needed.
The Grand Tournament: The latest expansion, introduced 132 cards, although only a few of them are the 'good' ones. At this point, the meta has become so saturated, with decks like oil, face etc, the expansion, will 'refresh' the meta with the new cards, as almost all the players will begin to experiment with the cards and their decks, again we will just assume that 50 packs will be reasonable for a new player, even though you will probably need more, for your experimental needs, and legendarys. The legendarys are always an issue, Extremely rare, and very expensive to craft. And you need multiple of them in a deck. 50 packs = 5000 Gold. ;(((
TOTAL CHECKOUT = 17,000 GOLD.
How long will it take to get that much? well good question.
Average Daily quest rewards about 50 Gold (AVERAGE).
3 WINS gives you 10 gold. Lets say you get 6 wins in a day (that about an hour of play, including losses) = 20 Gold
EVERYDAY 70 GOLD
242 DAYS
EVEN IF YOU GET 100 GOLD, THATS 12 WINS A DAY
170 DAYS OVER 5 MONTHS OF CONSISTENT GAMEPLAY OF 2 HOURS EVERYDAY
Sure don't need ALL of the cards to have fun, but remember, this type of card game, can get boring really quickly. a week of playing a deck WILL get you bored. Hearthstone is a game that constantly needs changing to keep it fun, thats why tavern brawl was introduced, but we are talking about constructed play. And remember, not everyone likes playing cheap face decks ;/
Sure their are like couple of packs for new players or like hundred gold or a free arena, but a new player will not really get 6 wins in arena, and have enough gold to go again. not enough of a push.
The solution: I do have an idea as to how we can make the beginning more fun and friendly to newcomers. Make Curse of Naxxaramas Free. New players will enjoy the PVE, get the cards they need, have fun, and will be encouraged to keep playing, and will also be encouraged to buy BRM aswell.
You might not find my solution well,or you might not even think the problem is a problem at all. But that was my opinion. it was buggin me for quite a while, and i had let it off my chest. please dont get pissed at me, hunt me down and kill me ;(. this is my opinion. please share to me what you think.
SORRY IT WAS A LONG POST HERE IS YOUR POTATO:
Lion King: Alternate Ending ;3
We get 51,3 gold/quest if we take every quest without recycling (since we do that, the average gold/quest is slightly higher [around 60])
+ we get 1pack/week for playing the brawl -> This are another 14,3gold/day
If you win around 50% of the games (which should be usual) you need around 6 games/day to reach the 100 gold mark.
(So 170 days is more appropriate than the 242 days)
Than we have the hidden achievements (I will count packs and Arena-tickets in gold): 1350 gold for just playing the game -> so you need 2 weeks less. (+additional packs for logging in with certain devices or for buying other blizz-games but I won't count those in)
A new player needs roughly 156 days to get the amount of gold which you stated is needed. It is still a lot but also fine. We are talking about a versatile collection with which you can play all 9 classes. If you focus on a few classes (or even archetypes) you are way faster too. Even a wallet warrior (controll warrior) can be earned in about a month if you really focus hard on these cards.
The best solution are more achievements to collect. If you make Nax for free it just pisses most people off who bought it. Anyway new players don't need to be able to play every archetype. If they want to, they have to use real money and help Blizzard improving the game, otherwise they have to play for it like everyone else.
Who can take your trash out?
Stomp it down for you?
Shake the plastic bag
and do the twisty thingy, too?
Funny OP should say that, and making it look like a very legitimate claim. It is a CCG. It costs money. Lots of money. You think Hearthstone is bad? Go play some Magic: the Gathering.
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
Or... git gud at Arena and go infinite?
I don't particular like this argument since it literally involves grinding the game, which reduces the fun for a lot of people. But yes, getting good at Arena for obtaining gold is the way to go.
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
It's a CCG, new players are always at a disadvantage, until they start focusing on crafting decks they want. Once they've made a deck that's actually playable, and maybe even cheap (Mech mage, Zoo, etc probably), they can actually start enjoying the game, ranking up, getting better rewards.
Although one possible solution I can think of, even though I don't think anythings to wrong really, is to maybe have some new player deals, say 40/50 packs, with an extra 25% of the price, or some such thing.
No, buying actual decks would be a horrific idea, many of us had to open lots of packs, then dust alot to create decks we wanted to play originally. Just getting rid of that effort, and being able to buy a deck would be a giant slap in the face.
HearthStone is the LEAST expensive card game out there. I've been playing MTG for 5 years, a competitive deck costs around 200-350 euros, which is absurd compared to HearthStone.
Not bad, 242 days for a decent collection without spending a dime. :)
It cost quite some time and/or Money. That depends on your Preference.
But that sort of is the point to the first C of CCG. It's like pokemon. You work to collect and build up your collection. It's a grind by design.
This is enhanced by the fact that the OP isn't talking about THE TOP decks but handpicking the most expensive of the top tier decks. 5k gold for GvG AND 5 wings of Naxx AND 5 wings of BRM and TGT AND Classic? When not a single top tier deck even USES most of BRM, the top wing of TGT, or most of the Classic/GvG legendaries? Patron doesn't use ANY beyond Emperor, which is 2 weeks of grinding for the first wing. He also ignored what's arguably one of the strongest classes, hunter, who's three active decks are just as cheap and is much easier to navigate.
No. He's talking Flamewaker, which is used in only ONE mage deck that's far from a requirement.
So we're talking about a new player that wants access to every single top tier deck all at once, in a Collection based game, without wishing to spend any time or money to even collect them all. Even though having all of those decks isn't even required to succeed, or even master, the game.
I'm understanding of worrying over how new players can catch up to the game. But stuff like this is NOT even close to being honest, and not being honest isn't helping the conversation. Seriously "I Must have the most expensive decks in the game or else there's a problem."
One does not simply walk into Mordor,
unless they want to be the best they can be.
You spend hard earned cash? no. this is not the concept of the game. this is most definitely not what blizzard wants. sure it has to be harder the free 2 play way, but a 200 day grind should not be it.
Lion King: Alternate Ending ;3
im not talking about i must have the expensive decks. What i mean is the amount of time, it takes for a new player to actually get into competitive play and decks through months and months of grinding.
Lion King: Alternate Ending ;3
Hmm. I think yes, the game starts becomong more expensive. I myself hadn't finished buying adventures (have full Naxx and one BRM wing), and I'm playing almost every day for more than half a year already. Going F2P is still doable, and even with my advantage over a plain newcomer of ~10000 gold total (counting packs as 100 gold each) I can still craft semi-competitive decks (no legendaries BTW) to get that rank 15 and earn a free golden rare (oh please, gimme a Knife Juggler!) per month. If I'd start right now, I'd be too jealous of those people flashing legends everywhere, and will probably be averted from the game, seeing the amount of money and time (either-or here) required to reach the level to at least build a decent Undertaker deck to scare off newbs at ranks 21 and below. Voted for "it costs but not too much". You expect a F2P game like this to not contain grinding? Ha, haha. You expect a F2P game to give you only fun? No again. You'll get a lot of frustration and a bit of fun. But, this is yet not too much effort to reward ratio to avert newcomers.
There is a lot of steak here...
Spend time.
Spend money.
Accept the fact that you're not going to be uber until you do one of the above.
Where's the problem?
Oh you grossly misunderstood what I am trying to say. My apologies for trying to said something with twitter-length reply. CCGs, or "Collectible Card Game" in full, I am referring to, is the physical ones. I am not even just talking about Magic or Yu-gi-oh. I am talking about every other CCGs. Gundam wars, Battle Spirits, and some such. Every time I try to get into these games, I need to spend a lot of cash as initial investment, and the continual investment curve doesn't even smooth off, it just spikes up all the way like nobody's business. So I am really used to spending cash to just get into a game. I usually don't get even a single top deck in these attempts. But whatever. Screwing around with goofy decks with my friends more than justify the cost.
In a previous post I've explained (again, in twitter-length reply) that these games simply cost money. The point of spending money is not about "succeeding in this game", but about "having more options". While a 800 dust facehunter or a 1600 dust eboladin will get you to legend at the speed of light, one can spend thousands and thousands of dollars, handcraft a golden wallet warrior, and smash his/her way to legend in style. If one ain't gonna pay, one gets less options. It's really that simple. Hearthstone, I hate to say, is already better in that as they actually allow you to go F2P. Really free to play. Given couple of weeks, with good planning, good skills, one can face-hunt his/her way to legend. (Writer's note: I am not crapping on Facehunter. I will tell you so if I am crapping on Facehunter.)
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
I'd just change the disenchanting ratio to full value just for the first 10k dust. These would give newcomers a chance to craft a pair of useful legendaries/epics to go on. I wouldn't discount in adventures as long as you get the full card list.
I will crush you!
The number of expansions is completely a non-issue, seeing that within every expansion/adventure, there are only like single-digit number of cards that are actually staples, and only one of them (*cough* Dr. Boom *cough*) is legendary. Also power creep is a thing. You should thank power creep for that. It de-legitimize some of the old cards so that new players don't even need to obtain them.
So yes, bigger cardpool != harder catchup.
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
This idea is not good. Disenchant at discount value is a mechanism to stop people from switching decks too easily. Imagine one day you woke up and every single deck is a mechmage because mechmage is the best deck today, and then the next day every single deck is a Patron Warrior because that is the best deck for the day.
I don't disagree with your "Pretty Damn Expensive" argument. I would just like to point out that disenchant at full value will kill the game.
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius