Hearthstone - WoW TCG Game Announced

[Yrzuli]

They will not see a dime of my money for shit like this.

Good thing it's free-to-play.

[Aureilya]

To be honest, I think it sounds cool for a free game, especially if it's their first attempt to make some mobile games. I'll try it out for sure. I think people are just starting to put unreasonable expectations on Blizzard and little to nothing will satisfy the majority of the player base.

[Ashenfury]

You're right that I put big expectations on Blizzard. I always have and up until Pandas, HotS, and FUCKING FREE TO PLAY CARD GAMES, I was not disappointed. Am I the only ones that sees them going the exact way that EA went?!

EA used to be respectable. Nobody was throwing parades for copy/paste Maddens but other than that nobody had a real problem with EA. Then they start nickel and diming their customers with day 1 DLC. It then progressed to Origin or nothing if you want to play our games. Finally it has come to them releasing all of their games far too early.

Blizzard is starting to do this. Let's recap:

1. Buy it from us or nowhere: They're starting to move their entire catalog to your account. While you can still get some titles on a shelf most of them are or are moving to blizzard.com purchases only.

2. Always on: Diablo 3 was a clusterfuck due to this feature.

3. Releasing games too early: Diablo 3 was released without end game tuning or PvP

4. Nickel and diming DLC: What do you think this "free" card game is? It's a nickel and dime scheme.

There are so many more projects worth their time that I don't see this as anything other than testing the waters for a money grab. Much like EA they're going down a path that gamers can't follow. Maybe I'm crazy but most of the WoW player base isn't interested in a digital card game just like they weren't interested in a physical one.

EDIT: Also note that EA released free games that pertained to their most popular franchise (Battlefield Heroes). I'm just seeing the exact same mistakes being made.

Yes some people will like it. Some people liked Vanilla BF3 and DeadSpace 3. Both of those games suffered from EA problems that seem to be happening at Blizzard now.

Note that none of this was a concern for the average Blizz fanboy until they merged. Once Blizzard had to start bowing to the demands of their investors the game changed and will continue to be more money focused in an ailing industry that needs to be entertainment focused.

[Ashenfury]

They will not see a dime of my money for shit like this.

Good thing it's free-to-play.

You're telling me that you anticipate that there will never be paid features in this game?! They just released it out of the goodness of their hearts?!

[Greebo]

Don't knock Pandas. A better expansion than Cataclysm, IMNSHO. I get that you don't think that an eTCG is worth your time, and that's fair enough but you know it will be worth a bunch of people's time - just look at how successful Pet Battles are. As was said, this is PaxEast which makes this practically a fricking Easter Egg.

The true test of Blizzard is going to be Titan.

PS - Diablo was a let down after 1&2. People didn't seem anywhere as near into it as Skyrim.

[Greebo]

Ashenfury is a Doubting Commie Mustafa.

[Krinathalasa]

They will not see a dime of my money for shit like this.

Good thing it's free-to-play.

You're telling me that you anticipate that there will never be paid features in this game?! They just released it out of the goodness of their hearts?!

It is free to play. The catch is that if you want the elite/legendary cards sooner then later you pay money. Simple as that. Many games out there like that right now.

And you are really surprised Blizzard is catering to the TCG generation?

[Aureilya]

The sad thing about Titan is that it is destined to fail. Because people have built it up so big in their minds that no game or game company will be able to live up to that dream, at least not yet. They want the next wow. They want something that no one has seen yet. Something revolutionary and new, and we just aren't there yet. When wow first came out, it was the first of it's kind with this amount of success. Times have changed and mmo's are a dime a dozen. We won't see a wow killer until someone comes up with something totally new. Since we don't have that yet, Titan will never be what people want, because what the people want doesn't even exist yet.

[Yrzuli]

No, they've said you *can* buy cards, or you can earn them. Like every other micro-transaction game out. But it's Blizz's first real foray into MT.

Why so bitter, Ash? Think of it this way, they got this minor announcement out of the way, so there will be no time wasted on it at BlizzCon.

[Yrzuli]

Oh hey - thanks for merging posts. I only lost a monster of a reply.

/sarcasm

[Ashenfury]

If you *can* buy cards then it stands to reason that this is not a truly free to play game. In Dungeons and Dragons online you *can* buy kits that allow you to level at an acceptable rate or you *can* buy expansions that allow you access to extra areas and dungeons or you can sit around with your thumb up your ass after a certain point because you don't want to spend money.

I strongly dislike microtransactions and always will. If that's the direction the industry is headed then so be it. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Microtransaction is a nickel and time plan. They want you to pay a little here and little right m'ea. That way you never feel ripped off and you don't consider your next purchase a big investment.

Microtransaction based games are always much more simple than blockbuster AAA titles from respected developers. That's by design, right? You don't have a lot of money so release a microtransaction game and use the profits to further develop your idea. Well when you aren't making blockbuster profits that means you aren't spending blockbuster budgets. There isn't a microtransaction game in existence that is worth a flying fuck that didn't at one point have a blockbuster budget (again I'm staring at you D&D).

A real free to play model is like Planetside 2. You can login to Planetside 2 and consistently whoop the shit out of someone who spent 300$. That's what I call free to play. Let's move away from this part though as I'm focusing on a detail instead of the big picture.

In my mind the big picture is that ever since the merger with Activission the quality of software coming out of Blizzard Entertainment has been in decline. I wasn't a big fan of Cataclysm (Their RBGs, fuck yes, everything else, meh) and I sure as fuck am not a fan of Pandas. That's personal preference though. What do the hard numbers have to say?

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:ATVI

Now let's take a peek at the profits:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/activision ... 12-6403613

Wow, Blizzard seems to be doing very well. Good for them!!! Wait, what does that mean for us though? Well it means that this trend of releasing unfinished games of questionable quality will continue as long as it pleases the investors and continues to earn big money.

If microtransactions and sheisty software is their forte then I for one am proud to be counted among the bitter.

[Yrzuli]

In the first place, I would step away from calling this a game. This is modern Battle Chess, and little more. It's definitely not even in the same ballpark as Magic Online (IMO). And still, I wouldn't even consider putting them into the same realm as an MMO or FPS.

I had a huge thing written up about Blizz's foray into the whole TCG scene and how it basically flopped, and this is their second hard push at the TCG. The WoW TCG is never going to be Magic, or Pokemon. Anaie and I were suckered into the cards for one reason: loot. We never learned to play the game and really had no desire, but we both had that Magic itch of opening a fresh pack of cards, and were hoping for cool mounts. (Anaie won in that spot with his Red Bearon Mount; I got the Tuskar's Lightning Kite). You don't see WoW TCG played in the wild. At least once I week I will see Magic, or Pokemon, or YuGiOh being played in the library. Never seen it played at the gaming/comic store either. I think that this caused a little tiny heartbreak with whomever's idea it was.

I don't think they're expecting this to be anything other than an idle time-waster for their consumers. "We have 15 minutes until the raid starts, wanna play a hand?"

[Greebo]

I only lost a monster of a reply.

Sorry about the timing, I obviously have no way of knowing that. A lot of people have issues with lost posts. Every time I point them in this direction:
Lazarus Form Recovery for Firefox and Chrome

[Duskheron]

I have a friend working on Titan. He won't tell me shit, the bastard.

Ash, you realize there are different kinds of players out there, right? Just because they aren't catering to you doesn't mean it doesn't interest someone else. It's obviously a ploy to sucker free card game fanatics into becoming interested in the WoW franchise. More people sending them money, even if it's a nickle&dime scheme, is a good thing, at least from my point of view. I have zero interest in the Starcraft stuff, but I certainly don't begrudge people who do enjoy it. Diversity is a good thing.

[Yrzuli]

I have a friend working on Titan. He won't tell me shit, the bastard.

Yeah, we know better than to try asking our friend any info. We're happy just getting F&F access.