I haven't spent money on HS in ages and I'm still winning, folks. Yes, five years of cards here, but you don't *have* to drop $50 an expansion just to play.
You do have to learn to brew your own decks, though.
Dropped WoW early this year after realizing I logged into BFA only to hate everything I was doing. Was hard to fight the routine for a few months but its doable. Became too much of a design philosophy to get play time metrics through grinds and chores without goals. That and the story is trash.
To make a long story short - at least in my opinion, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is the problem. He's always been the problem. He exploits his customers and his employees with equal relish.
Maybe the bike accident he just had will change his perspective on life. But probably not.
Now amidst all this kvetching I absolutely agree that Blizzard is greedy...but far more so because of how they treat their devs than their customers. Hearthstone is a multibillion-dollar title, yet Kotick still treats your average Blactivision grunt like expendable garbage.
@Philippe Carpentier: But I. Don't. Care. You know why? Because it's a videogame. And I *do* have five years' worth of account development and if I try long enough I can usually pull out one of my several tier-deck variants that will win.
@Philippe Carpentier : I fall behind all the time, I just don't care. I'm usually a Plat-level Hearthstone player by current standards. And yet I dropped five games in a row to start this month because I couldn't figure out which deck to play.
TGC's, whether virtual or physical is the worst kind of collectible addiction, because it's entire dependent on RNG to squeeze as much money out of you as possible. When collecting merch etc you at least know what you're getting, even if the market/industry is greedy and consumer unfriendly.
Never click the box that has a store remember your card number.
Having to input your card every time can be just enough of a hindrance to stop you from making frivolous impulse purchases.
@Andrew Hall : it's not because other have worse that it's okay for you. HS is greedy and will continue to be until people stop paying or playing. Even if you have a decent collection now, if you only play it casually you'll be forced to pay or get behind.
The game isn't even F2P accessible anymore. The cards are so OP and broken that you can't be competetive unless to play the credit card in your deck. Not to mention how the Duels mode was made to make people spend real money on old packs.
There are cheaper and better made card games. Especially not with stuff like Legends of Runeterra, which has better gameplay, and hands out cards like candy, there really isn't a reason to play Hearthstone anymore.
Hearthstone's time as the one in the limelight is over.
For those who don't understand the issue. Alex is the kid/fan who can't wait to grind for her cards. So she spends her real money on Smurfberries.
https://www.cnet.com/news/controversy-as-smurfs-beats-angry-birds-as-highest-grossing-iphone-game/
Legends of Runeterra is a pretty good F2P card game so far, with a friendly system for building a collection; I have waaaay more wildcards than I ever need. You mostly play balanced decks without relying on random effects; they resisted the temptation to go full random like Hearthstone.
Plenty of fish in the sea? Not really, for good F2P card games. (Emphasis on GOOD. So does Hearthstone itself even qualify?) Especially if you want to play free.
Cardmaster Conflict used to be one, before it died years and years ago.
You want to REALLY hate Hearthstone? Log out of your five-year-old account that you've been playing since beta and go make an account as a new player. You'll never take your current stash for granted again!
I've been playing since beta, and have managed my collection well, so I have cards. You've played since beta too Jo, so why so mad?
I'm sure there are new players who would love your collection, or my Open The Waygate and Aluneth that I got out of free packs and used to take for granted.
