Hearthstone promo: Blizzard clueless AND desparate?

[Pull My Finger]

@Klingers: clueless and desperate? Yes, I think it describes you pretty well.

[Zabatakis]

I don't know if I can call such a successful company (financially at least) either clueless or desperate. Granted, I do not agree with their game philosophy direction in the slightest but I cannot deny they make money. Money is their goal, and marketing is how they intend to get it. I wish it was through superior and engaging game design but frankly that is subjective anyway.

I never would have thought WoW would last this long. I figured they would need to make a WoW 2 or starcraft mmo to keep up with the times. They are getting crazy value out of that IP. Clueless? heh.

[Stormspark]

WOW subs have been under 5 million for awhile. I wouldn't be surprised if it's approaching the 4 million mark now. It should be expected though when there's no content.

[Aydinx2]

It's a genius move.
Not only does it cross-promote their other games (for both WoW players and HS players), but it's easy to pull in new WoW players since you can get the achievement on a trial account.

Blizz isn't desperate. 5 million subs is still 5 times as much as any other MMO at its peak. They just want people to try out their other games.

Additionally, you don't need to pay any money. Play HS and getting to lvl 20 in WoW is completely free.

- - - Updated - - -

-Blizzard releases new heroes for 10$-
Community: OMFG Blizzard wants even more of our money! Freakin' 10$ for skins!? HOW DARE YOU BLIZZARD?
-Blizzard releases new hero for free, leveling to 20 in WoW costs you nothing other than like an hour and half of played time-
Community: OMFG Blizzard is so desperate for subscribers!

Never change, WoW community, never change.

Now hear me out. This might sound silly but...

What if those 2 statements are from different people with different opinions?
Like, what if the community is made up of people with different backgrounds and preferences, instead of it being a single hivemind?

[QuiksLE]

Now hear me out. This might sound silly but...

What if those 2 statements are from different people with different opinions?
Like, what if the community is made up of people with different backgrounds and preferences, instead of it being a single hivemind?

No, it's one person, we elected him to be our spokesperson. Didn't you get the memo?

[Kolvarg]

Did Hearthstone feel desperate for players when they added the Hearthsteed in WoW as a promotion for playing Hearthstone?
Same for HotS <- WoW with the wolf mount.
Same for HotS, WoW, Hearthstone & Diablo <- Starcraft with special edition including additional stuff on all those games.
Same for Legion special edition giving stuff on all other Blizz games.
Same for a few others I imagine.

You call it desperate, I call it marketing - And they're pretty good at that =P

Even if it was exclusive to WoW, nothing unusual about trying whatever you can to bring new players to a 10+ year old game with a big upfront and possibly long-term investment. Especially one such as WoW that has a lot of stigma and prejudice going around. Especially with it being a promotion across 2 games set in the same universe/franchise, and with the promotion going both ways =P (Hearthsteed in for WoW; Liadrin for Hearthstone)

But hey if you people get a kick out of the thought of a company being desperate / a game dying, good for you all I suppose =P Who am I to judge.

[Maudib]

I think it's WELL under 4 million... perhaps getting close to getting under 3 million. And most who are still in game are because the Garrisons are still hemorrhaging gold. That is why Blizz hasn't already nerfed it... because they would lose a LOT more people.

[Noxina]

OMG are Blizzard trying to get people try out their game? What an outrage! Lets get out torches and burn down their HQ for trying to do something as vile!


On a more serious note, how and why does it bother you? I don't play Heartstone because I think the game sucks balls, but if I played Heartstone and saw this I would gladly do those 20 levels, they go rather fast anyways. And if I didn't play WoW from before, it gives me an opportunity to try out something new.

Whiners gotta whine though.

[Supercool]

Yes, it is a bit annoying to run a new character through content I was bored of 11 alts ago, especially as I've spent most of WoD leveling alts from 1-100 already, just to get a prize that's aimed at enticing new players.

This isn't like the flying achievements where people were complaining about having to do content for the first and only time.

[Geckoo]

No, this is neither desperate or clueless move, it's actually pretty logical if you consider that they already have wow rewards for playing other games, it makes sense that wow also provides rewards for those other games. In the end, they don't want 'wow players' or 'hots players', they want Blizzard players, they don't give a shit if you stop playing wow as long as you keep playing blizzard games, they don't care if you just play Diablo III for a few weeks each season as long as you keep playing hots.

And personally i hate cross-game rewards, i don't want that a mount or a pet in WoW needs me to play a different game to obtain it and of course i don't like if other games require playing wow to get stuff in those games. But i do understand the promotional value it has for them, i simply don't like it.

[Maudib]

Yes, it is a bit annoying to run a new character through content I was bored of 11 alts ago, especially as I've spent most of WoD leveling alts from 1-100 already, just to get a prize that's aimed at enticing new players.

This isn't like the flying achievements where people were complaining about having to do content for the first and only time.

Yeah it's WAY worse... because you are complaining about doing MAYBE 30 mins of "work" to earn a mount. The other people were complaining they had to do weeks of dailies that were EXACTLY the same as every other daily in Tanaan.

[Matt0193]

I do think it's a bit silly that it's not retroactive.

If it was retroactive then people wouldn't need to resub to get it done.

[Eleccybubb]

If it was retroactive then people wouldn't need to resub to get it done.

Game is f2p till 20 so no they wouldn't have to sub regardless. I find this amusing tbh. They offer something that is basically free and has 0 cost instead of sticking it behind the usual £6.99 paywall and people are still complaining. It's amusing.

[Socialhealer]

If it was retroactive then people wouldn't need to resub to get it done.

you can play a 1-20 for free, no need to sub.

[Matt0193]

Game is f2p till 20 so no they wouldn't have to sub regardless.

you can play a 1-20 for free, no need to sub.

Forgot about that, fair enough.

[Deleted]

I don't think we're in the position to draw conclusions - just be happy it's free and for minimal effort.

[dope_danny]

Well hearthstone has an insane number of players, far far bigger than wows current userbase and a lot of them never touched wow. Give them the old 'first taste is free' to install the trial and they will catch some of them for a few months of sub time at least.

[A Dark Knight]

the same thing can be said about you OP

[Supercool]

Yeah it's WAY worse... because you are complaining about doing MAYBE 30 mins of "work" to earn a mount.

I feel like the exaggeration of how long it takes to hit 20 has been creeping further downward as this thread progressed.

"Lol doesn't even take 2 hrs. Maybe an hour and a half. 30 minutes to an hour tops. Possibly 30 minutes max if you're really slow. You basically log on and you're 20 already. Hell my toon dinged 20 before I even created it."

[Deleted]

It's a fu**ing portrait... a god damn cosmetic thing, not a game changer, even FOR FREE and people complain about it...

amazing, just amazing...