First of all let me say i ve played all the adventures, found them all enjoyable and i consider Dalaran Heist to be a great solo content as well.
To our point now my problem is that i find it really expensive…Let me explain.
In most cases packs cost 1 dollar (pre-order and bundles unless of course you re rich enough to buy them directly from blizzard shop in which 1 pack= 3 euros LOL). So for simplicity reasons ill suggest that 100gold= 1$
Also the golden pack gives about 4-5* value so lets say it costs around 5$ or 500g
The solo content itself (without packs/prizes etc) cannot cost more than 3-5$. I mean seriusly you can easily buy full length single player games with 20$
So lets say a player buys the whole adventure with gold. Hes gonna give 2800 gold. From them, 1200g will be for 12 packs another 500g for golden classic pack and the actual cost of the solo content will be 1300g or in turns of money about 13$.
(Yes you also get zayle but i will put zayles value exactly at 0 a)cause its undastable b) cause its 100% no competitive c) If you have the cards you dont need it)
So our friend here loses a lot of value and pays a lot.
Now lets say a friend of ours buys the adventure with real money.
He gives 20$ and buys 12 packs (12$) + 1 golden classic pack (5$) and pays another 3$ for the solo content itself. A fair deal indeed !!!
Problem is though that our friend never wanted the packs. He just wanted to play the adventure! Therefore problem here is that Blizzard is forcing those who want to play the adventure to also buy their packs. Imagine yourself going to supermarket for a drink that costs 1$ but in order to buy it you must also buy another 19$ stuff. Doesnt seem right, correct?
TLDR: The solo content is really nice and sweet problem though is that right now you either have to pay an unfair amount of gold or pay a fair amount of money but not just for the solo content but also for packs you never asked for.
I d have no problem for the solo content to have 0 prizes if it costed like 5$ or 700g and i d be gladly paying for them just for the sake of playing the content itself. But right now it simply feels unfair and although many people support it i just wanna ask a question: Is this how you d like the future adventures to be?
Sorry for long post
PS: Don t try compare it with adventures like Blackrock, LoE, Naxrammas and Karazhan. There you were gaining 4 or 5 times the value of what you were paying.
If we assume that a regular pack is $1, that means that the absolute minimum contents (that is, 40 dust in cards) is also $1. Seeing as the same minimum for a gold pack gives you 300 dust, I’d argue that the golden pack is worth at least that much more (so, $7.50). There’s more value to consider here, given that golden packs operate on a different pity timer than regular packs (so you’re more likely to pull things like Legendary cards), but we’ll leave that aside for now.
If we consider that and use the same logic you did, then players are still paying 1200 gold for 12 normal packs, 750 gold for a golden pack, and then 850 gold for the solo content (which is more extensive than other content we’ve had in the past). Add to that the fact that this adventure is perfectly free (that is, you don’t have to actually use money to buy it, and instead just pay using free gold handouts from Blizz), and it’s definitely a fair deal.
Your assessment of Zayle is also unfair. He’s an exclusive card that can only be obtained from this bundle, and offers players a chance at testing different meta decks without spending any dust for them whatsoever. The decks themselves aren’t even that bad, and could be said to be competitively viable despite not being top tier. Saying that he has zero value is a bit misleading.
Having the solo content available for no cost and with no prizes is something that can be debated over, but I’d imagine that the people who only want solo content and no packs are also in the vast minority. Most people can farm gold or work a minimum wage job that lets them purchase the adventure, and progressively saving towards the wings of the solo content has a certain appeal in and of itself. It doesn’t take much to farm 700 gold, and the wings are being released in stages anyways, giving people ample time to save said gold.
You also forgot the golden classic pack as well as the golden Zayle.
If you have the cards.
Zayle is great for new/newer players.
The first wing is free, and you receive 3 packs just for beating the 5th boss.
The solo run is great for players in general to practice and remember board control, efficient trading, and resource management.
Bob helps players learn the value of specific cards. Do I need this, or do I need that?
You’re only paying 20 bucks/2800 gold for packs from the latest set, a card that gives you decks/cards you might not have, as well as teaching you about the mechanics of the game.
I’d say that is well worth the investment and this is coming from one of the most skeptical people out there about RoS, in general.
The problem with the money/gold ratio to packs is nobody accounts for the fact you get to play with cards you didn’t have.
I don’t have Yogg so to actually play with that card was so awesome. I don’t have Frost Lich Jaina.
So I played with her and I realized how much planning is involved. You have account for all your spells and minion health to take advantage of your pings.
I’ve been wanting Tony forever. I drew him in the final boss and he helped me win the run! It was a blast to play with these cards and see what they do…I can’t wait to unlock the rest of the classes.
Eh, am I unhappy that I don’t get single player adventures anymore? Absolutely, it always felt like the best way to keep up with my one class through the years, and the value + fun was always great. However, single player content is my favorite part of the game, and this one actually feels good. There is progression, and MANY bosses and rulesets. I get to play with fun legendaries also. I will never craft Velen, but I like playing with him, ya know?
This is not really an argument one way or the other. You could easily spend more time playing Dalaran Heist than you would some $20 games (or even some $60 games).
I don’t think $20 is an unreasonable price given the extras. We’re going to have use for all of those resources (except Zayle for some), and I don’t think that all purchasable things need to be stripped down to the absolutely most barebones form for the sake of frugality. $80 was definitely a high bundle to tack exclusive portraits onto, but $20 (or 2800 gold) for something of near-infinitely greater use seems perfectly within reasonable parameters to me.
15 packs is worth about $10, if you buy them on sale. So slightly less than $10 for the solo adventure content when you all in the golden pack and Zayle.
For $10 you can also get Slay the Spire, a deckbuilding roguelike.
Seems fair TBH