Is it just me or... are free to play games, Blizzard's hearthstone and heroes of the storm (HotS) specifically, really expensive? I've played hearthstone on and off, and what normally kills my engagement is a lack of free progression. That is to say I run out of things I want to do before I'm in a position to unlock the next tier of content; solo adventures in hearthstone for instance. This of course puts me in a position I assume is deliberate: spend money or grind. I'm no stranger to grinding, I played WoW from open beta through to mists. These games appear to really up the ante though, perhaps it's just the short-cut being dangled in front of me all the time that makes me resent the grind seeing as what that really want you to do is buy new card packs/ adventures. Now it may seem I want these poor devs to toil away in their... whatever the equivalent of a coding sweatshop is. Presumably it has air conditioning and coffee on tap though: I really don't! What strikes me whenever I see a new hero/skin/mount for £7.49; a hearthstone wing £5.99 or a pack of cards for £1 is this is terrible value for money! A quick estimate of how much it would cost to buy every hero in HotS (assuming £5 each (they seem to range between £5 and £7.49)) comes out to £185. Even considering that the base game is free, that is a awful lot of money for an addictive but fairly simple game. Of course there is also the option to spend as much again on new costumes and mounts. A brand new game costs £35 for goodness sake! For that I could get 7 cheap heroes, that's less than the playable characters in the original Street Fighter 2 game! The same if you don't consider Ryu and Ken different, which is a fair decision. To Street Fighters credit that was the early 90s and it didn't offer to sell me a new outfit for seven fifty either. Ultimately I end up putting the game down since I just don't want to spend that kind of money on what should (IMO) be part of the game which is sold for a set amount up front without any of this progression slow down unless you splash the cash. TLDR: Read the first sentence, the rest is me rambling. P.S. Could we have a "Rant" prefix in this forum?
Played a bit of both (currently only watch HS) and I'm enjoying HoTS, no way I'd pay for it though, why would you? There's enough rotation in the heroes and when you find one you like it doesn't take long at all to be able to buy them with in game gold. I get some people don't want to wait, they're the perfect demographic I guess.
That is the main thing with free-to-play games, though some are more blatant/in your face with it than others... HotS/Hearthstone, imo are a couple of good examples, a lot of fun can be had without spending any money and with the possible exception of the two 'campaigns' in Hearthstone, i've not really felt obliged to spend any money... King games [Candy Crush et al], rather unsurprisingly for a company who made it's name in gambling, are all about the gouge though [imo]... EDIT: On the cost of Hearthstone packs - you've clearly never played MtG or the like...
League and hots are both expensive to get into you need so many champs for competitive play. Sure you can grind them but you will eventually run out of patience with that.
While they are expensive, at least they are tangible. It'd be interesting to see what the margins are after production and shipping of the cards though. I think what really irks me is they are good games, but progression is slowed down (daily quests!) to the detriment of the enjoyment, and if you want to unlock the content it will cost you far more than a traditional game. I'm not bemoaning blizzard's games only, just there the only ones I've want to play, but found myself up against the free to play mechanics. I really hope over watch isn't free to play, it looks like it will be good.
Hearthstone, I'd agree. You really do need cards and the two adventure modes contain some very good cards and are hideously expensive if bought wing by wing (and aren't great value for money). You'd have to play for a fairly long time to get the cards you'd like/need to progress. Saying that I do know a few fairly high ranked players who haven't bought anything - they just play rush minion decks and have no fancy cards. HotS I don't think you do. You get a fair amount of gold when you first start playing and many of the good champions are pretty cheap. You can save from there and buy the ones you like after trying them on free rotation. I don't think I ever bought very much in LoL either. Some friends sunk hundreds (maybe close to a thousand) into WoT though. I'm a bit torn about either game though as they don't seem to hold my attention very long. I play a few HS games at reset to get my card back at the end of the month and that's generally it.
If its a F2P game I liked, sinking hours into it, I don't mind dropping the price of a game for some ingame items (HS Booster packs, WoT gold, etc). Unless you're Dota, then I brainfart every few weeks and forget I've already bought the game several dozen times over already....
