Blizzard just announced pricing details for Hearthstone‘s first singleplayer mode, Curse of Naxxramas, which it plans to release this month for PC and iOS. There are five wings in the collectible card game’s first dungeon — yes, it’s a card game dungeon! — and you can buy them either separately or in bundles.
They will open for purchase gradually in the weeks after Curse of Naxxramas launches. Via Blizzard:
Naxxramas will open its gates one wing at a time, with a new wing opening each week. The wings of Naxxramas will open in the following order: Arachnid Quarter, Plague Quarter, Military Quarter, Construct Quarter, and Frostwyrm Lair.
Players who begin their adventures in Naxxramas during the launch event will gain free access to the first wing: the Arachnid Quarter. The launch event will last roughly a month or so, meaning you’ll have plenty of time to get your foot in the door — we’ll have more details to share about that later on. The web-choked corridors of the Arachnid Quarter are home to the bosses Anub’Rekhan, Grand Widow Faerlina, and Maexxna. Defeating these bosses will add new cards to your collection and give you a taste of the dangers that await you deeper inside Naxxramas.
The pricing scheme is a little convoluted, but here’s the gist of it:
In other words, if you want to use in-game gold, you’re gonna have to spend 3,500 on all five wings (or 2,800 if you get the first one free). Considering that you could use that gold on card packs or Arena entry fees, it seems more practical to just spend real money on the expansion pack.
And indeed, it seems like the most effective way to get everything will be to download the first wing free, then spend $US20 for the four-game package. Since you’ll be getting cards when you play through Naxxramas regardless, it’s a win-win scenario.
Smart, Blizzard. SMART.
Comments
15 responses to “Here’s How Pricing Works In Hearthstone’s New Expansion”
Someone on reddit did the math as to why it’s better value to pay the $20 for the content:
Naxxramas costs 2800 gold or $20. (Assuming you get the first wing free and buy the bundle.) That’s 140g per $1 spent.
Buying packs costs 4000 gold or $50. (For the best value 40 pack bundle.) That’s 80g per $1 spent.
Long story short, if you’re inclined to spend real money, Nax is a WAY better value than buying packs. Personally, I’m thinking about using my saved gold for packs and paying for Nax. Seems like a win-win: I end up with more cards, and I pay a reasonable amount to support a game I like. (Which is probably exactly what Blizzard intended by pricing it this way…)
edit: this is assuming you want to play Naxx AND buy card packs as well.
By all accounts, it seems like a downright reasonable amount of content for the money as well. If I were to spend $20 on a physical card game, I could probably get a starter set.
Seems a little steep, just like the pricing on Heroes. I understand Blizzard make premium products but they definitely seem to be gouging on this stuff.
Go look up Adventure Time: Card Wars if you want a primer on what “gouging” is when it comes to a virtual Card Game.
Have you ever played MTG? $20 is like… one booster draft. That’s one night of games (if that) and no guarantee you’ll get any fun or cards out of it. The MTG Duels of the Planeswalkers IAPs are almost as bad.
What is the advantage of having all wings open at the beginning?
There isn’t one. They are released week by week.
It’s just a discount bundle deal
There isn’t one and that isn’t an option. Read again.
May want to update the article for the Australian pricing:
All five wings: $31.99 AUD
Already own first wing (purchase remaining four): $24.99 AUD
Already own first two wings (purchase remaining three): $18.99 AUD
Already own first three wings (purchase remaining two): $12.99 AUD
Individual wings: $8.99 AUD or 700 gold each
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=746067495436021&set=a.522822504427189.1073741828.498467596862680&type=1&theater
The Australia tax is the most frustrating on 100% digital products with no competition to physical B&M stores… The old excuse of we can’t undercut B&M competitors is out the window on this, it’s aussie tax for the sake of aussie tax…
It’s pretty fkd, even after conversion to USD and adding a conversion fee (percentage based but lets say 50c on a $20 transaction) and you still come up with $21.77 so at most it should be $22, not $25, it’s not a huge amount of money but indicative of how Big Gamer gouges the Aussie market.
Did you include tax?
Good point, no I didn’t. What’s sales tax in the US 10%? So with my crappy math if you add that 10% onto the original figure before I rounded it, that would be $23.84 which is close enough I guess.
/unjustified and irrational bandwagon jumping rant
Pass on spending $$’s – 4500 gold in the kitty at the moment, I was thinking I’d need to save 5k, but now I can buy the expansion with packs to spare, yay.
Couldn’t we just pay in US$ if you have something like 28degrees card? That’s what I was planning to do.