Blizzard is Censoring Professionally Written Critiques of the new Expan.

Divion

Wrote a small rant on the experience i've had with hearthstone. Nothing toxic, or viotile, just that the game is obviously P2W, and unfun - Within 5 minutes a 404 of the Thread, indicating Blizzard censored it, below is a copy of said article. - Yes i expect some fan boy to suppose God-Emperor Blizzard in all things, but this company, and product is complete trash, and the most obvious cash of Money over Customers ever.



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Worst P2Win In all of Gaming. Period.

Some history : 

I have been playing for over a year, since Dec 2015 - I disliked the game almost immediately and saw the P2Win aspect quite clearly. However, a friend of mine called me out on never giving a game a fair chance. So for a year - i wanted to prove him wrong, and played religiously, Completing dailies, brawls, and even whipping out emulators to produce the promo card packs. I got ever possibly 'free' pack an individual you ever hope to get in this game.

This month was the first time i spent money on the game, 5 dollars for the 'starter pack'  - Even with all this effort, i doubtfully kept a 10% win ratio in ranked, and a 40% win ratio in casual play (standard, non-wild). It was, and has never been a fun game. The only thing that kept me going is hoping one day i might organically build a deck that could compete.

Then "seasonal-years" launched. Ruining any chance i would ever have of building a deck organically without spending money. It was frustrating, and even less fun, but i persisted, i had to prove i was the type to cast a game poorly then duck out.

So play i continue. I use tactics to out smart the better equipped players, did it matter? Usually no, this game puts too much emphasis in cards over tactics. Too much emphasis on draw probability vs strategy. 

So content in realizing even if i DID buy cards, they would be rendered pointless on the next expansion, as this way Blizzard ensure you must KEEP buying big packs, and rebuilding decks. - So small a comfort. 

So i sit here wondering why the P2win mechanics? It's quite obvious, majority of the mechanics are based around RNG concepts, the only way to influence that RNG roll is to buy cards that double down on the probability of a favorable roll. 

Then i ask myself, how come this game claims to be a 'trading' card game, but doesn't allow any trading of cards? When the order of magnitude difference between disenchanting, and enchanting cards make the grind nearly unbearable, when the 10 gold per win means nothing if you don't win. That would imply a 30 game win per 1 card pack, at even a generous 50% win ratio that is 60 or more games to get a single card pack. Obviously Blizzard doesn't care about the experience of the player, only the experience of the payer.

Then this expansion rolls around, i just got my FIRST win as i am typing this, mostly due to the player conceding (no idea why they were winning) - How many matches Vital? HOW MANY TO GET THAT FIRST WIN?!

34 matches, 1 win. - Are you just bad Vital? Maybe, but i can assure you everyone i've played in the last 30 hours has been swinging fully scoped out decks for the expansion, wrecking me with deck synergy, and quest cards. I have no chance.

- I even saved up 13 packs for the launch, and i got nothing.

This is easily the worst game i've ever played in my life, and the worse case of Pay to win.

This game is the direct reason, why I ([b]A 20 YEAR Blizzard Customer[/b]) Who has spent likely over 5,000$ USD in other Blizzard Titles (Subs, Boxed Collector Editions, Merch, ect) -- Will never again spend a single dime on a Blizzard product.

This game has set the tone, and standard of what a post-Metzen Blizzard looks like, and it's a company i wish to have nothing to do with.

Shame on you. 

Shame on you.

Kunai_Vax

I play Hearthstone quite a lot. A few expacs ago it was reasonable to be able to get mid ranks with a basic deck (no money needed) and with enough time you could grind enough gold to make a tier 2 deck. (assuming you focus on just 1 class)
These days though, unless you throw in at least £30-50 you have zero chance of being competitive. And even with that amount you'll be lucky if you manage to craft a tier 2 deck. Dont even think about crafting a tier 1 deck without sinking £150-£200 into packs, and thats just for maybe 1 class/deck type. Anyone who's serious about working their way to legend needs to be able to switch class's and deck types depending on the current meta, which means having most of the legendaries crafted for most classes and the neautral ones too. 
I've been playing for almost 2 years so i dont have any problems, but i feel bad for anyone just joining the game. It must be frustrating when pirate warriors and jade druids are stomping all over you. 

Wizardry

Yeah Blizzard has really cornered a greedy market here.
TCG..lol yeah,this is the new trend in this market,so it is getting worse before better.NO trading is obvious,they do not release many cards each expansion,so by eliminating trading they make way more money.They pretend offering gold makes up for no trading lol,not even remotely close.

As well i was asked  do i feel they have nerfed the chance of rares per packs bought.I have only had 1 rare in my entire life from FREE packs,so i feel they have also nerfed free packs as well.I have no idea but i bet i have opened 200 free packs and that 1 legend.

When they added the new avatar pictures for sale,that really made me laugh at their greed.

This is what we get though,the market is too full of small players,so Blizzard has full control over it and will not afford more than they have to.
Blame your fellow gamer's,supporting Blizzard keeps them at the top and will continue to NOT give back to the gamer's because they don't need to.
Wow housing?Why bother,Wow has the most subs already,see the problem?
Hearthstone why add enough theme cards per class when you can just sell 60-90 in total 3x a year,people will buy it.

I would not be the least surprised that Blizzard spends more on lawyers/courts and marketing than their games.
Aside from Wow their portfolio is full of low budget games,so no they do not spend much on their games but somehow have massive overhead.I got to watch Brode and his sidekick a few weeks ago on Twitch and was laughable to see them BS their way through everything.

Xiaoki

If thats your "review" then its laughable that you would say its not toxic or volatile.

Also, Blizzard deletes a lot of "hot take" threads and they will tell you that you dont need to clutter up the forums with your own and just post in a mega thread and they will have no problem letting you air your grievances.

This is how a lot of forums handles this stuff not just Blizzard. But, taking that into consideration would mean you couldnt make your "I hate Blizzard" thread.

MightyUnclean

It's OK, at over $5,000, they already got their money out of you and then some.

You played HS for over a year against your better judgement?  Sounds like you're a pretty slow learner.  Who's really to blame here?

laserit

These games are not like the games of old that you just payed for outright and then enjoyed, these games are designed to have you continually spend money on them. To be competitive the spending will *never* end.

For those that enjoy that, power to ya.

Albatroes

I'll save you time OP and tell you in advance to not write anything on SE's forum then. Keep in mind that if you read the forum rules of any official game's forum, anything written negative about the game/staff/company (which is up to them if it is or not) is subjected to removal and the poster banned. I know no one actually reads rules though.

tawess

this part alone could be flagged as flamebait 

"This is easily the worst game i've ever played in my life, and the worse case of Pay to win."

As for a CCG being p2w... No shit sherlock. Compared to MTG or Pokemon this game is about as far from P2W as you can get. Now i agree that this does not defend the practise in large, just saying that TCG/CCG have always been the original loot boxes. They have always had a P2W element. (nobody will ever just give you a full deck of top tier cards) 

So... Building Mount Everest from a anthill much...

Reizla

NEVER write 'reviews' of games on the 'official forums'. Always use either reddit, twitter or your own blog.

DarLorkar

Anyone that says they "played a game for a year" to prove some type of point...i just can not believe them at all.

Anyone that plays most any FTP type game today expecting to be competitive and not spend cash...wishful thinking. They are few and far between.

Sorry you found out the hard way, (i guess) that Bliz is in this business to make the most money they can.

Which means getting the most people they possibly can to get hooked and ride the upgrade train with their wallets. That is pretty much the plan for every supposedly FTP game ever made people.

Ginaz

You played "religiously" for a year and only spent $5 and you want to rant about p2w?  I'd say you more than got your money's worth.  You must be new to CCGs/TCGs because almost all of them require you to spend money to be competitive.  If you find one that doesn't, let us know.

Phry

I thought it was kind of hillarious, where they spent $5000 yet still had a huge problem winning any games, at least thats if i am reading it correctly?
You have to be pretty bad at a game that is supposedly so pay to win, after having spent so much and still not win

Bloodaxes

I managed fine being a free 2 play player (Well I did spend money to open one adventure cause I spent all my savings in arena), till I stopped due to terrible game balance. Obviously, a new player will struggle to unlock everything instantly.

People really need to recognise the difference between pay to win and pay to advance faster.

Dakeru

"Professionally written critiques".....

WalkinGlenn

Lol apparently not only are you really bad, but you also don't understand how card games works. More cared = better deck options can = more wins but you must buy more cards. It's the nature of card games plain and simple.

BizkitNL

I envy the fact that you live in your own little universe.

ianicus

I dont know why people make these threads anymore, its a bloodbath every time. Every CCG is p2w EVERY SINGLE ONE, be it virtual or card in had. has been this way for decades....grow up!

joeslowmoe

LOL, what a worthless review.  Thanks for stating everything that is glaringly obvious about the game within 3 minutes of playing.  Good job, you're stupid and continue to partake in voluntary activities that you dislike!!!

Your review sucks.

Thane

you publish it on their forums, they have the houserules.

and spending money on other blizz games, actually has NOTHING to do with hearthstone ^^

Octagon7711

That's the first thing I thought of.  Their house their rules.  If the situation was reversed, you probably would have done the same.

Papasmerv

Bloodaxes said:

I managed fine being a free 2 play player (Well I did spend money to open one adventure cause I spent all my savings in arena), till I stopped due to terrible game balance. Obviously, a new player will struggle to unlock everything instantly.

People really need to recognise the difference between pay to win and pay to advance faster.

In a competitive game, "Pay to advance faster" typically equivocates to "pay to win", unless the game has a ceiling on power/growth and never raises it.  Faster is an advantage.

Solar_Prophet

"I played this game for over a year despite hating it, and now I'm pissed because I can't advance in this terrible game (which I hate) without spending money. I've spent thousands on Blizzard products over the years, and that's why I shouldn't have to spend money on this one. Plus it's not like you have to spend money on booster packs to get better cards in every single physical or digital CCG ever made, Blizzard just made theirs that way because they're greedy."

This is not professionally written in the slightest. This is a whiny rant by an incredibly entitled person. 

ConstantineMerus

Professionally Written Critiques 

Wrote a small rant on the experience i've had with hearthstone.

Dakeru

The opinion of this professional critic aside..
I do feel there is currently a severe problem with the balance.

The new freeze mage just stalls you until he has all the needed cards in in his hand.
Sorcerer's Apprentice, Molten Reflection and Archmage Antonidas.

He will then stack 3-4 Sorcerer's Apprentices and use the Time Warp from the quest.
This will give him a bonus turn where he plays Antonidas and a random spell.
Antonidas will now fork over Fireballs that cost 0 or 1 Mana.

The problem with this is that there is no counter play.
Your opponent get's 2 turns and the 2nd turn is always lethal.

LacedOpium

It took you a whole year to find out that you have to spend cash to be competitive in a F2P game?

All I can say is ...wow!