Hearthpwn

Spoiler: free skins get used, purchased skins rarely do

I think 90% of games with sally whitemane skin belong to Zetalot.

Tyrande having 1.5x total games as Anduin is hilarious. They should just make Tyrande the base character for priest at this point.

I mean... she already is one of the base characters because everyone gets Tyrande for free just by checking the shop.

skins for brokies 

I didn't even know some of these existed to be honest. 

L̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ F̶a̶v̶o̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ Most Expensive Skins

Not really. There weren't any from $80 bundles among least favorites

While $80 is an absolute joke for price, this doesn't mean any if these artworks is worth more than $5 at best 

Priest and Shaman appear to be the first two classes where the original Hero got overshadowed by the new kid on the block. Whereas the margin between Thunder King and Thrall is still somewhat manageable for a comeback, the difference between Tyrande and Anduin is truly insurmountable. If these statistics hold any predictive value, and they mostly should, Illidan and Malfurion will be the next two OGs to bend the knee! 

Very few of these skins are actually bad per se, but it's unfortunate to see shop skins be doomed to obscurity because they're only available for a week or two at most, and never seen again. 

I wonder if the FOMO which is so rampant in gaming nowadays actually drives sales and they have evidence to back that up, or if it's some large-scale Cargo Cult the entire industry is a part of. I've played games where the overwhelming majority of cosmetics don't disappear next shop rotation, and I've spent a lot more on those than I ever did in Hearthstone or other games which aim to maximize FOMO, because being told "You can't have that, it was limited time and you missed it!" is a major turn off.

I’m not very knowledgeable about the concept of FOMO, but I don’t understand the correlation. How does not buying a skin you don’t like relate to the “fear of missing out”?

If I see a skin I don’t like in the shop, I won’t buy it, whether it’s a limited-time skin or not.

If I want skins that aren’t currently in the shop and plan to buy them once they become available, I won’t buy any other skin unless it’s better than my favorites. And if my budget doesn’t allow me to buy an additional skin, I’ll simply remove one skin from my favorites list.

I'm.... not making that connection? My argument is that by timegating everything in your shop, you're leaving a lot of money on the table.

Otherwise you're describing my mindset to game cosmetics to a T. I pick the skins I want and wait for them to return. And if they don't return? Too bad, you lost a sale.

if you are not making that connection then why did you mention FOMO in your initial comment?

Because FOMO is the leading drive for limited time cosmetics? 

Reading comprehension is hard for some people.

Very few of these skins are actually bad per se, but it's unfortunate to see shop skins be doomed to obscurity because they're only available for a week or two at most, and never seen again. 

I quite like that to be honest.  It means people who put money into the game get something that is rather unique (well not exactly but one skin above has only 10 games played which is as close to unique as you can get in a game with millions of players).  If they just got recycled over and over these limited time skins would be more common and so less sought after.

(Note, I am saying this as someone who has never bought a skin with real money)

they release too many skins, i remember when Arthas skin is very rare

The common thread in the least popular is "Purchasable when available in the shop." Which includes a number of barriers: Availability, bundled with other stuff or not, cost, and frankly aesthetics last. Like, Demon Whitemane I like and would pay money for, but I don't recall ever seeing it in the shop (I looked it up and it was available from June 17, 2024 until July 2, 2024, and I was extremely busy with real life / family stuff that stretch).

It's weird to type this, but I think Blizzard doesn't like making money by not offering that for a longer stretch.