World of Warcraft and the Literal Hell
Some love WoW Classic, others love retail, meaning the modern expansions. This is rarely a discussion around the quality of the game – they are simply different player groups and different games, so that this shouldn’t matter here. Both variants exist, and both are doing exceptionally well.
However, it is clear that WoW lost its way during the times of Shadowlands. The story had become confusing, and old narratives were devalued. Moreover, someone at Blizzard truly thought that the area “the Maw,” which dripped with despair, was a good idea. It was supposed to be the “hell” of Warcraft, and it felt exactly like that. Only, that is a poor idea in a game.
More and more content became mandatory. If one did not complete a certain amount of tasks each week, they fell behind.
The clear opinion of the community back then: World of Warcraft has become work. The once so cool tower Torghast, a rogue-like mode, became known among fans as “Choreghast” – a tedious task you had to complete.
For the first time, many actually thought: This time, WoW is really dying. This time it’s serious.
Consequently, I was relieved with the expansion Dragonflight. It was an addon where not much happened. There were few innovations, but rather a complete overhaul of old systems. Talent trees returned, the reward and upgrade system was revamped, and a new mentality was implemented: Regardless of what you play, there should be upgrades everywhere. Everything should feel like progress, but as little as possible should be “mandatory”.
This thought was further completed with one expansion later with “The War Within.” The implementation of “Depths” as alternative endgame content for solo fans has elevated WoW to a new level and has finally provided meaningful activities for the very large, silent crowd of solo players.
Even the look at Midnight is promising. The overhaul of Silvermoon and Quel’thalas is breathtaking. This expansion could become one of the best in a long, long time.
This is also due to the strong housing feature, which makes WoW accessible to another group. For me, the housing feature is an absolute hit and content that I will play for years to come. The system has already surpassed the housing of WildStar upon launch and can only get better.
It doesn’t even dampen the experience for me that a shop for housing items with real money will come later. That’s money I’m happy to spend – because the core experience feels complete and comprehensive.
Hearthstone and the Love of Money
But since we are on the topic of money: Hearthstone.
I have loved Blizzard’s card game for a long time because I also loved the physical Warcraft Trading Card Game back in the day. Having it as a digital version was a dream come true for me.
For many years, things went well. Expansions made the game better and more complex, even if they cost money or a considerable amount of playtime in a “Free2Play” title.
But that was okay for me because it was fun.
At least until Blizzard veered off course. Because there was the Blitzchung affair, where a tournament winner was banned and his prize money withheld for making a political statement. That was pretty lame, to the point where Blizzard even had to apologize at the following BlizzCon.
Additionally, they removed all succubi from Hearthstone at some point and replaced them with other images, which I still view as a highly personal attack against me. Okay, at least a little bit.
But Hearthstone has also become greedier. New game modes like Battlegrounds became so popular that greed took over, and players could buy advantages with real money.
As if that was not enough, Blizzard later even introduced a really nasty gacha system where you could obtain pets and other items – with the mechanics making each “pull” increasingly expensive, resulting in being left with three-digit sums to obtain a single item – because the most coveted item is with a very high probability the last one you receive, after investing over 150 euros.
This was so “psychologically dark” for me that I long turned my back on Hearthstone. I could and would not play it anymore. Hearthstone was already quite costly, but this gacha system really took the cake.
Now Blizzard has presented the next year of Hearthstone and is giving everyone a temporary gift. For the duration of one expansion, players can use all cards from the last year for free – that’s a collection of almost 1,000 cards. Whether veteran or newcomer, there is a lot here that you might not own yet. Good decks can be created without spending any money.
However, Hearthstone still has to prove to me the most that they’ve turned things around. There remains time to wait – because rather strong monetization is still at the core of the game in a way that I cannot approve of.
The last page addresses the conclusion.
