WoW Annual Pass = Hearthstone?

[Descolada]

Anyone else thinking that Blizzard is dragging their feet on releasing Hearthstone so they can use it as a bargaining chip for another annual pass? Maybe something like: "Sub for a year by X date, and you will receive 3 months of Hearthstone early access, plus $X worth of cards". Assuming the game ends up free to play, putting out early access plus some free cards costs them nothing, but it could be a good way to hold subs till next expansion.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

You do realize that Heathstone is pretty close to launch right? Blizzard said they are hoping to have it out by 2013 when they first announced it. It's been in beta and went through it's first and last wipe.

[xChurch]

I very highly doubt it. Not to mention what about all the people in the HS beta already? I'm in it, so having early access wouldn't really effect me in the least. All it would really serve to do is piss off the people who haven't been able to get in and don't want to sign up for a year in order to get something tons of people have already experienced

[Arbs]

Hearthstone is free, why would it be used in the Annual Pass ??

[Descolada]

You do realize that Heathstone is pretty close to launch right?

I do realize that, which is why I think they might have this in mind. If it holds a bunch of wow subs, it wouldn't kill them to hold launch till January. Not saying I like the idea, just saying I think it's possible.

[Nanaboostme]

It would make more sense to give beta to the next expansion. Im sure hearthstone will be released by the end of this year and plus what if you already have Hearthstone Beta?

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

I do realize that, which is why I think they might have this in mind. If it holds a bunch of wow subs, it wouldn't kill them to hold launch till January. Not saying I like the idea, just saying I think it's possible.

So you think it's possible for them to announce a Annual Pass that allows 3 months early access to a game that release in 3 months. They would need to announce it today or soon for that to logically make sense.

[Descolada]

All it would really serve to do is piss off the people who haven't been able to get in and don't want to sign up for a year in order to get something tons of people have already experienced

Fair point. If not early access, what about free cards?

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They would need to announce it today or soon for that to logically make sense.

Blizzcon in 3 weeks. You're probably right, just seems like they might need a hook to hold subs until next expansion, and Hearthstone feels like it could have more crossover than Diablo did. My hope is that they are a lot closer to being done with next expansion than they were to MoP when they had the last annual pass.

[xChurch]

Giving free cards has the chance to cause hate as well since the cards would either be too weak to be all that interesting, or too powerful that facing one would be unfair to any who didn't have it. Honestly I don't think an annual pass (If there is one) will have anything to do with HS, and since as far has I know no other Blizzard products are coming it's probably safe to say there won't be another Pass in the near future. Although wasn't the last one just beta access and a mount or some such? Would be interesting to know how many Subs the pass actually held on to. I'm sure quite a few people quit WoW inspite of having it.

[Deleted]

Diablo again seems more likley

[Descolada]

Although wasn't the last one just beta access and a mount or some such? Would be interesting to know how many Subs the pass actually held on to.

Plus free Diablo... but your right, nothing else looming that they could give away free.

[Nanaboostme]

I doubt free cards will sell well marketing-wise for an Annual Pass compared to last year's free Diablo III and MoP beta and mount

[Travio]

Plus free Diablo... but your right, nothing else looming that they could give away free.

I see two options for another annual pass:

WoWX5 free - they don't gain as much off the expansion packs as they do off of keeping people subscribed, so why not?
Diablo 3 Expansion Pack - this would mean the expansion pack would have to have story related content that doesn't require Diablo 3 to play, but still possible; or else Diablo 3 + Expansion Pack?

[Deleted]

If there is a new annual pass the obvious incentives will be access to the next beta and a mount. Just because there was a free game last time doesn't mean there will be one this year.

[xChurch]

It's a shame the AP didn't exsist earlier. With WoW getting older and older it becomes harder and harder for even the most devout fan to want to spend that much money for a game that might not hold people's interest for that year.

[Selah]

Well, remember that the biggest reason the annual pass was done last blizzcon is because Cata would soon be over, there was nothing happening in that expansion until 5.0 was released, their development time for MoP was long yet, and their subs would have dropped too low if they didn't lock in some people to a sub fee.

However, with MoP, there was a small team dedicated to the next expansion the second they finished off 5.0, their raid team was working on 5.2 before 5.0 even launched, and they were working on 5.4 during mid 5.1. Not to mention their questing team has been working on 6.0 since 5.3 launched. So the development time for 6.0 should be a lot lower and they won't need to lock in those subs because most people won't be able to unsub for more than a few months before 6.0 goes live.

[Issalice]

Hearthstone isn't something that has a mass enough of an appeal to coax people into an annual pass. I think they will just offer a mount. D3 was just an easy incentive to tack on, the timing was perfect. Hearthstone is free to play, who cares if they get into early access or not. It isn't worth a year sub promise that's for sure.

[Skorpionss]

I think it'll be either diablo expansion or something with Blizzard All-stars.

[eschatological]

I think they might offer a few bonus packs, but nothing with an incentive to something better than what you can get in game. I also don't think it'd be the major selling point of a new AP.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Hearthstone, as I understand it, is free to play. So no.

More likely they're dragging their feet on Heroes of the Storm (AKA Blizzard All-Stars) so they can tie it to the new AP. "Sub to WoW for a year and get Heroes of the Storm for free."