I think it should be everoyone gets it, or nobody gets it.
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New players would probably get deterred from the game because the amount of PTW and grinding, so it’s probably just to get them addicted to it and buy their crap.
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Then it wouldn’t be a catch-up mechanic.
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Everyone does.
Stop playing for 4 months and you too can get it!
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one of the decks is a deck so pricey, some of the f2p players can’t even get it, that being the highlander mage given away for FREE
Eh, no.
You only get the 3 HL Legos. No Siamat, Kalecgos, Zilliax, SN1P, Malygos, etc.
Even only getting Zephrys, DQ Alex and Reno, the free Mage deck looked like one of the best options for a new or returning player to choose, since Zephrys and Alex are two of the most flexible and widely used of the legendaries offered in any of the available decks.
I wouldn’t see why it wouldn’t be. You get a free deck for doing nothing. Those who want the cards probably already have it.
Sure.
But I was only dispelling the notion that you got the lego packed version the Hunter weapon is complaining about.
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Except for the gold from daily quests, the packs from Tavern Brawl, the free stuff from various events. Yeah, nothing.
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oh I see… but still, zephrys and DQA are massive value
Oh, and seasonal quests as well, which can often be worth up to 4x the value of normal dailies.
Catchup mechanics in games are to be encouraged, not scorned. If everyone got the same thing, it wouldn’t be a catchup mechanic anymore, the gap would still be nearly identical.
Hearthstone is a friggin’ expensive game to get started with. Basic decks and most of the classic vanilla minions are no longer relevant at all; we even have minions with vanilla stats that have an extra effect on top of that. New players can scarcely win with just a basic deck unless they already know about budget decks, and then they’d have to spend all their initial cards and dust on those budget decks.
A free starting deck is not nearly as good as months of events and dailies, but it’s a godsend for a new player, and one they need.
There is such a thing as a catchup mechanic done wrong - that is, when the catchup mechanic is so strong that you earn more by not playing than by playing. But a free deck? That’s just a boost - you’re not going to earn more in 4 months not playing than you are playing.
Please research before you post.
Aww rip, didn’t get the deck on my 2nd server, I don’t think i logged in in the last 6 months. But I did log into it yesterday and pushed to rank 18, I wonder did that mess it up for me.
A good way to handle this would be:
Players who fall outside the criteria for a free deck can still get one of these starter decks but pay with gold. Make it cost 700 gold or something.
Usually players who have been playing in the last 4 month or started for a couple of weeks/months have more in-game resources to be able to spend 700 gold - and everyone gets the chance to benefit.
From a personal perspective - I have 3 accounts - that’s 9 regions worth of accounts. Outside my main, they are F2P and don’t have many cards, but most are ineligible because I logged in with them in Jan and Feb, even though I don’t play much on them. Only one, which was created after the introduction of 50-26, and another, which is still on the start screen for the Tutorial are eligible. But paying gold wouldn’t be a problem over time - 2 of these account/regions have ~2.5k gold
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Blizzard is always nice to old players, and play tough on new players.
For example, the matchmaking always let old players stomp on new players.
It keeps retention rate high.
This is actually very rare.
It means no new players recently.
We can hope that the new Ranked system coming soon will change that.
Based on their latest clarification, this won’t work. Anyone who logs in after 18 November 2019 won’t get it, even if they have not logged in for four months since. It seems that 17 march 2020 was used as a cut off date.
I’ve posted elsewhere to clarify but no reply yet from anyone.
Where was this clarification made?
That doesn’t make any sense, since there’s a clarification stating that the returning player free deck is limited to 1.
Here you go:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/hearthstone/t/a-few-notes-on-the-returning-player-experience/27240
Only people who didn’t log in for that specified period qualify. Even if you stopped logging in for four months starting today, you won’t qualify. The dates are very specific.