Corridor Sleeper: "Early access" means pay to win

Community Discussion
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For the first time in its 10 years, Hearthstone now has a collectible card that cannot be obtained (in any quality) except by spending cash.

Corridor Sleeper is available for “early access” for those spending the hefty pricetag of $50 or $80 on a pre-order bundle.

Right now, we don’t know if the card will be any good, much less if it will be meta defining. But that isn’t the point.

Until now, every collectible card has had a craftable (or “obtainable through other means”) version, so if you didn’t get it from a pack, you could still own, and play that card.

If a card is legal for play in Hearthstone, it should be obtainable without spending money. If this becomes a regular occurrence, its only a matter of time before an “early access” card is meta-defining, and will put players not willing to spend $50 at a disadvantage. And, of course, this could happen 3 times each year.

I’m also concerned that Blizzard will be unwilling to nerf an “early access” card that is unbalanced, because people who have paid $50 will not be satisfied with 2x400 dust (in this case). This means they would not have confidence to buy the next “early access” card, which would have the potential to damage sales in the future. This would, of course leave the game unbalanced in the meantime.

There’s nothing unusual about premium quality cards being sold as part of a bundle, while the normal rarity cards can be crafted. But Corridor Sleeper is not a premium quality card, and more to the point, the normal quality card cannot be crafted at this time. I’m aware that it will become craftable once the new expansion launches, but that is too late.

If a card is legal now, it should be craftable now. There is no excuse for this not to be the case.

Because I object to this new monetization tactic, I will NOT buy the tavern pass this expansion (which I usually do) and will be F2P until they ditch this greedy monetization scheme. I also ask other players to consider doing the same.

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To me, “pay to win” is a lot like Theotar in a way. I understand that some people think it shouldn’t be allowed to exist in any capacity whatsoever, but I don’t really see the problem in moderation. And I feel like such puritanism distracts from more genuine problems.

That said, if you think it’s so bad, and you want to stop playing, don’t let me stop you.

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Theotar, like every other collectible card in the game (until now) is craftable, or “obtainable by other means” without paying money.

Sure, a highlander deck with 20 legendaries is P2W, and 1 of those cards is very likely to be Theotar. And the ability to play pretty much any deck you want has always been “P2W”.

But until now, no collectible card has been locked behind a paywall. The card should be craftable.

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Okay, then uninstall the game.

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Is that your advice to anyone who has any problem with the game?

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Either it’s a problem you actually care about, or it’s a problem that’s lower on your priority list. But you certainly aren’t going to get Blizzard’s attention posting here. You’d have to do more than words here, or it’s just hot air.

I think that’s essentially a yes.

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yep, that’s true :frowning:

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I mean it was a bit on the harsh side but I’m not trying to just dismiss your concern, I’m just trying to give genuine advice.

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It’s a bit like on wow with the last expansion with early access for the most expensive version, following the controversy blizzard responded by promising that this would not give any advantage, except that blizzard is mythomaniacs, a person who wants a “first server” achievement, he will be forced to pay the highest price.

This is the true face of Blizzard, a Greedy and Mythomaniac company (which promises false things).

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Can’t wait till they release to the shop a Paid Star Multiplier $49.99 if you want that in standard and separate $49.99 for wild and other modes.

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If Corridor Sleeper even provides 0.00001% increase in a win percentage of a deck, it’s by definition pay-to-win, nobody should try and disprove that or try to claim that’s it’s only pay-to-play.

It’s both.

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Shhh!!! don’t give them ideas.

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Compared to what?

I don’t think that it’s in the best 30 cards of any deck, but I think it might be in the best 40 cards for Death Knight. So I believe that compared to a fully refined deck it’s minus, but compared to a few lists out there that have a suboptimal card or five, it could be plus. So there’s probably someone somewhere who’s adding Corridor Sleeper to their deck right now and making it a smidge better than it was, but not as good as it could be.

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I meant it in a more symbolic way.

As in if even 1 in 10000 games was won because one had played Corridor Sleeper and it boosted him to achieve victory, technically he won through paying.

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Scrotie is an old Blizzard boot licker. He’s not understanding the point that even if this current p2w card is bad, it’s the potential of a p2w card in the future that is good basically gives whales an advantage. The company just keeps proving more and more that people will just leave over their greedy tactics. Company is a shell of its former self.

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It’s exactly true, at the beginning it starts with small things and later you will have cards available only by paying (and it will be impossible to have them with gold), we know blizzard and we know how it works, just look at the token on wow (an item that you only find on f2p mmo’s except that with blizzard you always have a subscription).

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Well, that’s about what I expect. Some single digit number per ten thousand games.

Okay. And how many of those do you think there are? My guess is 2% of the playerbase. These guys are not what’s stopping you from climbing ranks.

Just to be clear, my stance on this whole thing is that it’s a little bit naughty on Blizzard’s part. Kinda like, I don’t know, calling me a bootlicker. Not true, not nice, but I’m not about to freak out and rage just because y’all did it a single time. This is not a crisis, it’s a misstep, and there’s a difference.

Also way, way too many people on it for me to be of any help. Already too many cooks. I’m just chillin

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Wont this card be available once the actual set is released? Like normal? As in you can obtain it the usual methods we are used to, either by packs, achievements, reward tracks, login, collecting x amount of the set, or crafting by dust? I get that its being part of pre-release sets, but after release tho, isnt it gonna be fair game for all who want it?

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Yep. People still upset though.

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We’re not raging old man. We’re tossing in our opinions that clarify making cards p2w is a dumb idea. This company doesn’t have the greatest track record. If they’ve done it before they’ll do it again.

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