Hey everyoone,
I am not sure how to share this but I had stopped playing the game until recently and I don’t know if it’s something that is now common but I don’t remember it being this bad.
The addition of Runestones to pay for packs or in-game items
There is now this new currency to pay for items that doesn’t seem to be possible to get ingame (kinda like gold) but there is no discount for using it so what’s the benefit I get for it?
As soon as I opened the shop I saw all of the cosmetics and welcome back pack packages that were honestly shockingly expensive… is this the way how the game is now?
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Blizzard is taking a lesson from the bigger microtransaction parasite developers.
Adding in an in game currency has a number of benefits to increasing spending, their primary goal.
- It can help to remove the direct comparison of cost to reward. Instead of paying $2, $5, $20 which someone might equate to real world purchase values, in-game currencies make the transaction more abstract.
- Odd number of currency purchases can leave the payer with small amount of unspendable currency. No refunds so some people will reason in their mind they can’t waste the little left, so they have to buy more.
- The real dollar purchase is made up front, so no refunds. They might give back the game currency, but it doesn’t cost them dollars.
- Purchases made with real dollars are subject to many more regulations and consumer protections, and vary with jurisdiction. Moving to a currency they control eliminates these.
Probably a lot more I can’t think of. Just do a search for in game currencies.
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Great summary.
For some reason, actblizz (and now microsoft) think that adding the failed currency system from HoTS will somehow succeed in hearthstone.
Because rather than focus on making a quality game, they will try to squeeze more money out of people.
In summary, don’t purchase Runestones. They are anti consumer.
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