I finally bit the bullet and started playing Hearthstone when it was released on iPad, and I’ve been staring at that buy button for weeks now. So let’s figure out if there’s anything worth buying in 40 packs of Hearthstone cards.
Jason Schreier has been playing more than me, so he sat in to go through the results with me. You can watch the video and decide for yourself if it would be worth your money, but here are some numbers:
Note that this is still a fairly small sample size, so these numbers aren’t going to be super accurate, but they can give you an idea of each type of card’s rarity.
Common | 142 | 71.0% |
Rare | 49 | 24.5% |
Epic | 8 | 4.0% |
Legendary | 1 | 0.5% |
Total | 200 | 100% |
The one legendary card we got was Baron Geddon, who is perhaps not the most exciting. We also got over 1600 dust just from disenchanting dupes, golden cards, and a couple of epics I knew I wasn’t going to use, so that’s enough to craft a new legendary when I decide on one I want, or a bunch of rares and epics.
Several people did similar tests with larger sample sizes during the game’s beta, but since the drop rates aren’t public Blizzard could change them at any time, so that data may be outdated. That said, here’s a guy who opened 360 packs ($450), and a reddit thread based on opening 206 packs.
Have you spent any money in Hearthstone or other free-to-play games? Was it worth it, or did you regret it?
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10 responses to “What It’s Like To Spend $50 On Hearthstone Cards”
The Pokemon TCG Online game is free-to-play, and you can trade your way to valuable and rare cards (though probably not with the current interface, it’s gross and unusable right now). You can also redeem booster pack and promo card codes to “buy” cards, to help justify buying real physical Pokemon cards.
I’ve spent several hundred dollars on booster boxes (all imported from America of course – Australia charges double the American prices for Pokemon TCG!) and can tell you that the online game is much more random in its pull rates than the physical booster packs.
Each booster pack in the physical world comes from two places: booster boxes, or promo boxes/tins. Promo boxes/tins are truer to the online game, as you have no booster box to guarantee a pull rate.
Booster boxes (box of 36 packs) guarantee at least one ultra rare card (EX or ACE SPEC), while booster box cases (case of 6 boxes) guarantee at least one secret rare (shiny Pokemon card, full art, or gold-bordered card). And this is at a minimum – people typically get more.
However, if you try to redeem the booster pack codes in the online game (you know – paying for your cards) then your pull rate is completely random because it treats every code like it came from a promo box/tin – with no booster box or case to guarantee some good pulls. That makes it much harder to get exactly what you got from the physical boosters, but at least it’s easier to trade with people online.
And this is all on top of the fact that The Pokemon Company seems to change the pull rates for every set. It’s completely okay though, considering each set has different amounts of rare cards. It just makes it harder to decide on whether or not you should buy a booster box or just get individual rare cards.
Oh and to answer the question: It’s totally worth it, I have some great cards in my collection and a heap of cards to build cheap and quick decks for games at uni! =)
I find that the Pokemon TCG online has one of the best marketing ideas on the planet. The code cards from physical packs makes the game worth it. Not only can I make a deck to use in the real world, but I’m also getting packs to use online without having to grind for them or pay extremely high online prices for a digital product. I wish more TCGs with online components would use this idea. Magic would do well under this system… If it fixed its online game lol
I’d just like to point out you don’t have to spend $50 to open 40 packs of cards. I’ve opened about 80 packs all up so far with gold from daily quests. Currently sitting on just over 2,000 gold since hearing the the upcoming expansion can be purchased with in-game money, although I haven’t been playing as much as I used to.
I have 2 legendaries btw, King Krush that I got from going 0-3 in Arena as a Hunter and Deathwing which I got from buying 40 packs in one go for gold.
The expansion is free dude.
Not last I heard. The first part is free. There are then three parts that are not free, purchasable with gold or real money. Completing those four areas of the expansion unlocks the fifth and final area.
http://www.loadthegame.com/2014/05/13/rumor-pricing-for-hearthstones-first-expansion-leaked/ I hope these prices are fake because at most I would be willing to pay about 15 bux for the naxx dlc total. I don’t have the patience to farm that kinda gold.
The first wing is. The rest are meant to be gold/real money.
Just try comparing Hearthstone to Magic The Gathering Online. I need to use MTGO to practise so I can improve my paper Magic, but the client is a nightmare, the cards are expensive, and things aren’t looking like they’re going to change any time soon. Drop rates of cards may be lesser known in Hearthstone, but at least they’re A. cheaper and B. on a client that functions reliably.
Ive been playing this on PC and iPad for a few months now.
Never really felt the need to spend any cash.
I just complete the dailies and i get a pack or 2 a day.
Although thats probably because im a cheap bastard.
$49.99 must’ve been the PC/Mac Client. – Apple tax on the iPad clocks 40 packs at $64.99 =(