This Wednesday, I dedicate again to a Blizzard title. Today, I express some concerns about the upcoming HearthStone addon, following the motto: “Only a Sith knows nothing but extremes!”
Goblins vs. Gnomes – A Lot of Junk, Some Gems
With “Goblins vs. Gnomes“, a card expansion for HearthStone was already developed and released to the public. Although the expansion was generally well received, the cards fell short of expectations – only a few of them truly impacted the meta. The strongest representative is probably “Dr. Boom“, who is played in almost every deck. Other cards, like the “Unstable Portal” or the “Tinker’s Sharpening Stone” are also popular. New deck variations like the “Mech Mage” briefly flared up but quickly disappeared from the meta and are probably already on the red list. Overall, out of nearly 100 cards, only about 10 have had a significant impact – many others were never played again and only appear in strange fun decks.
The Grand Tournament – Only Strong Cards?
Blizzard clearly doesn’t want to make this “mistake” a second time. After “Some cards are usable”, now comes “Every card is absolutely insane!” Although not all cards have been revealed yet, every single one of them has made us stare in awe at the values and texts. On one hand, it is absolutely understandable that they want to design exciting cards – after all, they must give players incentives to buy the new packs and make money. This time, however, it seems they are not just shooting the bird, but the whole flock. I suspect that with the next 10-15 reveals of new cards, it will be possible to build strong decks based solely on “The Grand Tournament” and the basic cards.
A Thin Line Between “Good” and “Overwhelming”
Of course, it would be possible that Blizzard draws a bit from the MOBA-release mentality and designs cards to be strong at the start, only to nerf them later. However, that would not fit with the design concept they have repeatedly emphasized: Cards are only changed when it is absolutely necessary. It seems clear already that without many of the new cards, players will soon have absolutely no chance in ranked mode – and that is extremely unfortunate. I am sure that each of us loves powerful cards with cool effects, but if absolutely every card is overwhelming, one quickly falls behind.
HearthStone is successful precisely because even free-to-play players can stay engaged without spending €50 on packs. Whether this will still be possible with “The Grand Tournament” is something I strongly doubt. In any case, one should start saving gold now – or set aside one euro every day. Otherwise, the fun could quickly turn into frustration, and HearthStone could follow the dreadful path of many free-to-play games: No money, no fun.
And no one wants that, right?
