Today I want to talk about something that has been in the back of my mind since the announcement of The Grand Tournament. How long is it until Hearthstone becomes inaccessible to new players? I talked a bit about the issue when discussing power creep and Blizzard's possible solutions, but I didn't go into the other side of the discussion. No matter how strong cards are in terms of power creep, the sheer number of cards can be a daunting barrier to entry. On one hand, making newer cards more powerful invalidates the money or time players spent earning the older cards that may become obsolete. But on top of that the number of cards in total can make it feel impossible for new players or players looking to step into more competitive play to acquire the cards necessary to do so. The question on how does Team 5 handle this issue has come up on The Angry Chicken, The Instance, Well Met, Reddit, Blizzard's official forums, and countless other places. The more I think about possible solutions the more I come back to a single idea I really like, but I'll get to that.
People have often suggested a rotating format similar to how Magic the Gathering handles new sets. The most popular and most played format includes only the last 2 years of sets, and the older cards are playable only in casual modes and secondary formats. I hate this idea for a number of reasons. First, Hearthstone's is a game with no secondary market. In Magic you have the option to sell off cards before they rotate out of playability in order to recoup the money spent getting them to play with in the first place. In Hearthstone our only option is to disenchant cards in exchange for a percentage of the dust required to craft a new card of the same rarity. This emphasizes the feeling that the cards you spent time or money to add to your collection have become worthless in comparison to what you don't have. In addition to that, rotating formats have a tendency to push some players away as decks that they have grown to love and play well are taken away from them. Imagine spending 2 years playing Midrange Druid or Handlock. You refine your play for months, learn your mulligans, learn how to tweak the deck for different match ups, and that is YOUR deck. Then suddenly you find out that next month Force of Nature or Molten Giant will no longer be allowed in Ranked Play. Pro players or players repeatedly making pushes to Legend have no trouble changing decks in order to optimally climb the ladder, but a majority of players don't have the skill required to do so or the willingness to commit the amount of money needed to do so.
Rotation comes up not only because it gives new players fewer sets of cards to focus on when buying in. And on top of that it helps some of the new cards see play that are competing with older cards that are strictly more powerful. I think this is the wrong way to look at it. We don't want TGT to release and have 75+ cards instantly slotted into new and existing decks. If that happens then that means power creep has become a real issue. I prefer to think of it in terms of cards like Mysterious Challenger. Say what you will about Secret Pally, but Mysterious Challenger alone made cards that previously saw little to no play and brought them to the forefront. Redemption and Repentance we're virtually never player while cards like Avenge and Blessing of Kings had only recently found a home in an Aggro Pally that was kind of a flavor of the month deck. Cards that make players take a second look at cards they had previously passed over are truly influential and those are the cards we should be looking for rather than cards that simply slot into a deck over an existing card. Feign Death looks mediocre now but every time a new minion with Deathrattle is printed it may be worth taking a look at. All it takes is that one Pirate card to create a viable Rogue deck to take advantage of it. A couple of cards that give you an advantage for having Overload all of a sudden makes everyone look at Shaman decks with new eyes. The goal of new sets shouldn't only be to introduce new cards and themes, but to also effect existing cards in new and interesting ways.
In my opinion the issue isn't giving new players fewer sets to buy in to. The issue is how difficult it can be to get one viable deck you are happy with. Whenever new players email into a podcast asking how to get started, the answer is almost always play area to earn gold and dust. The arena grind can be so tedious and frustrating and I have talked to multiple players who have been turned off of the game for that reason. I think Hearthstone needs an affordable and quick way to get players into playing on the ladder without feeling like they can't compete. I think there is a way to accomplish this while also giving players access to a good base of competitive cards to start a collection without dumping $100+ into packs. I think Hearthstone needs to offer pre-constructed decks, and I have a couple of them made up as an example.
I believe both of these decks accomplish multiple goals for new and existing players. They offer a viable starting off point for players looking to begin climbing the ladder. Both have the exact same breakdown of rarities; 7 basic cards to fill out the core of the deck, 14 commons, 5 rares, 3 epics, and 1 legendary. And they both have the same breakdown of expansions; 15 classic cards, 4 GvG cards, and 4 TGT cards. This gives players more cards from the largest set that still contains the core of most decks, while also adding a few useful cards from other sets. I purposely left out cards from the Adventures because I think those cards are easily singled out and purchasable if players decide they they want Loatheb or Emperor Thaurissan as opposed to buying enough packs to craft a particular legendary. Both decks come with a core of class cards like Savannah Highmane and Ancient of Lore and a neutral Legendary that can go into other decks they may hope to build later. I think if Blizzard were to roll out a couple of reconstructed decks at $15-$20 as an east access route to semi-competitive play, people would jump at the option. The incentive to buy more still exists as well. If a player has a few big wins with Force of Nature they will look to get enough dust to craft the second one. Or they may decide that Mad Scientist would be great in their Hunter deck after looking through the Crafting mode and decide to purchase that wing of Naxxramas.
Blizzard is clearly making a ridiculous amount of money off of Hearthstone so they may not need to do this, but I think it would be a tremendous show of good faith on their part to let current and potential players know that accessibility is important to them. Hearthstone doesn't have the advantage of Heroes of the Storm and it's free to play hero rotation. Also, people don't mind paying for a game that they know they will get enjoyment out of but I worry that if people can't find the fun quickly enough to be enticed to spend money because they are repeatedly getting crushed by paid players then they may be pushed away prematurely. It is important that players be given a means to be successful to a degree while they learn the game and invest themselves in it and build their own collections. As a result Blizzard wins because they have more players enjoying the experience from early on, and we the players win because the community continues to grow and more players are innovating.
Let me know what you think about the idea. Do the decks need to change? Is there another avenue Blizzard could take? I'd love to hear feedback on this.
Thanks as always for reading. Until next time,
Chris
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete