The prices in the Mercenary mode of Hearthstone are outrageous. Blizzard is testing how brazen they can be with customers – at least that’s what card demon Cortyn from MeinMMO thinks.
I gave the Mercenary mode in Hearthstone a chance after some back and forth. In the first hours, I actually had a lot of fun. However, that was overshadowed because some hotfixes caused game mechanics to stop working and trolls had free rein.
Furthermore, I wanted to look at the prices for the Mercenary mode – so I took a look in the shop of the mode to assess whether an investment is worth it and if the prices are appropriate.
But what I saw in the shop made me angry and sad. Either we are currently Blizzard’s guinea pigs or they are no longer hesitating with the most shameless sales tactics.
The offers displayed in Hearthstone have been personalized for a while. This means that I see different offers in the shop than my friends and acquaintances. This also applies to the Mercenary mode.
A look at my shop leaves me astounded. Hearthstone is trying to sell me a single mercenary – namely Ragnaros – for a whopping 15 euros. Yes, you read that right. A single card for 15 euros.
Although that’s not even completely accurate. After all, a freshly purchased mercenary is not really “complete”. Without further coins for this mercenary, all his abilities are at level 1 and thus completely useless for both PvE and PvP. Bringing all abilities up to an acceptable level would require another nearly 1,000 coins.
When you calculate that crafting Ragnaros with coins would cost exactly 500 coins, it’s easy to figure out in your head that you would need to buy Ragnaros 3 times (if that were possible) for him to be operational. From Blizzard’s perspective, a well-equipped, legendary mercenary is therefore worth nearly 45 euros.
One. Single. Damn. Card.
45 euros.
And now here’s what bothers me so much about it: Blizzard is currently testing with these offers how far they can go with customers. They are not lightly pushing the boundaries, but rather asking themselves: How much can we charge for the smallest possible unit in the game?
The second offer makes it even worse
The Ragnaros offer alone is already outrageous. But right below, I get another offer.
2 random legendary mercenaries and 30 card packs for a total of 30 euros.
Just 30 packs for 30 euros are – according to current Hearthstone prices – already a good deal. The two additional legendary servants are a nice bonus.
Not to forget that one of the two could also be Ragnaros, whom you can buy separately for 15 euros.
No one who is really in their right mind and plans to spend money on Hearthstone would buy Ragnaros for 15 euros.
And I am convinced: Blizzard knows that too. The 15-euro Ragnaros is not there so that I buy it. It is there solely to make the offer below look much more tempting and better. So I think to myself:
„Wow, for double the money I get 2 legendary servants and another 30 packs, which surely contain enough coins to upgrade over a dozen servants and maybe get more epic and legendary servants? Then I should go for that.“
It almost worked for me. For a moment, I was really convinced that 2 legendary mercenaries and 30 card packs were a great deal.
But then I remembered again that Blizzard is currently showing massive incompetence in Hearthstone. Just a few days ago, they enabled trolling in the PvP of the Mercenary mode via hotfix and thus killed the mode – at least until there’s a hotfix for the hotfix.
No matter how I turn it, these two “offers” are a farce. The 15-euro Ragnaros is an outrage, and the enticing 30-pack bundle in contrast does not make it better, but rather worse.
We are all guinea pigs for whether this type of advertising works. You will fail with me.
At least this time.
How do you see it all?
