Hearthpwn

Quote from MeatThrob >>

Also has a lot to do with how much cash you throw down to get all the cards you need. There’s some very good F2P players out there that just lack the right cards... 

so, it’s not just a skill thing. 

 I mean, I'm not gonna disagree with you, but this isn't entirely true either. 

As a F2P player, I have pretty much always been able to play at least a few real decks. 

I started during Gadgetzan. My first 'meta deck' was quest rogue. I admittedly got lucky by packing the quest, but it took about half an expansion for me to play a real deck. At this time, I was still definitely a bad player. I had to struggle for rank 15, and don't think I ever hit rank 10. For me, a meta deck predated skill. 

I played trash during KoFT, but my F2P friend who started about a month after me was playing Raza priest. 

When K&C dropped, I was able to craft the standard cubelock list. From then onward, I was able to play pretty much any meta deck I wanted. 

I took a year and a half break starting during Boomsday, coming back a month before AoO dropped. And in my first season back, I was able to hit rank 5 playing mech shaman, mech shaman being the easiest thing I could scrap together not having cards from the past year. 

From my experience, a 'very good F2P player' WILL have the right cards as long as they have been playing for a few expansions. And if they haven't been playing for more than an expansion or two, they likely are just a bad player anyway. 

In circumstances that the same 'very good F2P player' has no cards (like if they took a 2 year hiatus), they likely would only take an expansion to scrounge together the dust for a meta deck. Or, they can switch to wild (as I have done and highly recommend to anyone, but longtime F2P players especially). 

There is the argument of 'but things have changed, the game is more expensive now.' This does have some truth. However, Spell Druid is extremely cheap (Kael'thas Sunstrideras only legendary, few epics), and IMO is tier 1. Although this may no longer be the preferred version of the deck (I believe that the dragon version gaining in popularity), it is still a very strong deck. DH, which is kinda the 'deck to beat' for most of the ladder, is also relatively cheap because many of the cards are given for free. Additionally, the new player decks are reasonably strong (at least far stronger than what most new players could put together), making it easier for future F2P players. 

You are correct, both skill and card collection are necessary. But because both skill and card collection are directly correlated to time spent playing, by the time you are skilled enough to hit legend you likely also have the collection to do so. 

Well, the short answer is yes, legend has become easier to achieve. 

However, this is greatly exaggerated. Essentially what has happened is that a lot of the people who were rank 5 regulars in the old system have managed to get to legend. This is because the grind has become much less. Essentially, all of the people who are 'good enough' to hit legend are now able to. In the past, the consensus was if you could hit rank 5 every season with ease, if you grinded enough you would make it to legend. Most people just weren't willing to make that grind. 

However, now many less games are required. The star bonus quickly accelerates you to Diamond (Typically 10 or 5), and you only have to have to be 15 games positive from D5, as opposed to the 25 from rank 5. 

Essentially, it takes less games to hit D5 then it did to hit rank 5, and it takes less games to hit legend from D5 than it did from rank 5. As such, legend is unmistakably easier to achieve. 

HOWEVER: I see lots of players saying 'everyone can hit legend now, its so easy, hurr hurr.' These people are simply incorrect. Bad players are still 'skill capped' at whatever level of play they are. The reason people get stuck in gold, platinum, or diamond is because they aren't skilled enough to climb further. These players will not climb and will not hit legend until they improve. 

The difference is that the good players are no longer 'grind capped' (I just made that term up) by the sheer number of games it used to take to hit legend. For 'legend worthy' players who have a positive winrate against other players from D5 to legend, legend is now much easier to achieve. For bad players, it is still impossible. 

This is in absolutely no way a bad thing. The game has become less grindy, and everyone should be happy about this.