After the release of patch 24.4 I opened dozens of Mercenaries packs to get all the 14 new Mercs. After a while only Ysera was missing, so I kept opening packs to get that last legendary merc. After around 30 extra packs, finally a Legendary Card showed up but, when I clicked on it, it turned out to be … basic Tyrael ???
Shortly after at the campfire Task 21 of the “Whispers of the Old Gods” questline showed up, with its “Random Legendary Merc” reward. However, after completing it, what I got as reward was… basic Vanndar Stormpike ???
I already owned both Tyrael and Vanndar, but I’m still missing Ysera… Is this a bug of the “duplicate protection”? Or is it related to the fact that I got these two Mercs’ portraits as rewards (golden Vanndar from a quest early this year, and Tyrael during a recent event) but still missed their regular/basic forms?
Searching the web I found that task 21’s reward is probably intended to give a un-owned random legendary PORTRAIT (most users got a portrait for a Merc they already owned, and just a few lucky ones got an un-owned Merc… I haven’t heard of anyone getting coins, which could be the case if the reward works as “choose a random Legendary Merc, then get a unowned portrait of it; if you already own all the portraits of the choosen Merc, get 100 coins instead”). If the task reward is not bugged but simply badly worded, it should be corrected accordingly.
Also, Task 11 of “The Last Guardian” questline has a similar reward (I’m waiting to know if it’s bugged or not before completing it…), so I would like to know if I will get Ysera as that task reward or if I better open another couple of dozens of packs to get that last Merc I’m missing…
Having opened Tyrael instead of Ysera is harder to explain without thinking of bugs.
- Was it given as a “portrait”? I don’t think so, since during the opening of the pack it was clearly a “card” (the same pack also contained a “portrait” and 3 legendary “coins”) and none of the “coins” were “maxed” (as it usually happens when the reward choosen as “card” is a Merc already owned with all its portraits…) [I have a screenshot if needed]. Unless something weird happened: Aranna selected as the “card” for that pack (but ending up in a portrait since I already owned her but not all her portraits), Tyrael selected as a random (thus Legendary for good luck) “portrait” (but ending up in a “card frame” because its “base portrait” was selected - it was one of three Tyrael’s portraits I missed - and it must somehow always be showed as rectangular instead of oval), plus three (all legendary) coin bags … A very weird and super-lucky pack?
- Maybe the reason is that Tyrael was given as two “free” portraits during one of the past events? I owned those two Tyrael portraits due to that event but NOT the base card. If that’s the case, does it apply to all portraits given during events/quests, found on packs and/or purchased at the shop, if the player does not own the “base card”? If so, it should be said clearly: if someone is going to buy a bundle containing a portrait in the shop, they should know that they can “waste” one of their next Legendaries from packs, since they have the option to open, instead of a Legendary Merc they’re missing, the base-card of a Merc for which they already own a (usually) better portrait…
To summarize:
- Task 21 of the “Whispers of the Old Gods” questline (and maybe Task 11 of “The Last Guardian” questline) is bugged or badly worded? Blizzard please give us a compensation in the first case, or better reword the task reward in the second case.
- Does the “duplicate protection” count a Merc as “owned” when one owns even jus a portrait of it, or only if its basic version is owned? In the second case Blizzard should explain better how “duplicate protection” works for Mercenaries packs (and also if it holds for task rewards & co…).
- Some clarification is needed on what is considered a “card” and what a “portrait”, and how they are showed when opening packs… The base form of a Merc is considered a “portrait” if one already owns other portraits of that Merc? Is it possible that during a pack opening a rectangular card shows up when the engine selected a “portrait” for that slot? Is it possible than the engine selects as “portrait” the base form of an un-owned Merc, showing it as a rectangular card?
