I don't agree.
Better way is to reward the player through its mechanics, as this should be for all games out there.
Real money always compromises the in-game economy, because people can pay the hell out for it in order to achieve best items. This is like cheating.
Consider this and think about it!
Would it not be more rewarding to play through the game in order to obtain the best cards? Would it not be more challanging and more fun compared to just buy it using your real money? What about those who doesn't have much money, but would like to enjoy playing it with others? This wouldn't be fair for those, would be?
A game shall not make any differences for players, this is also why there are rules for most games. Adding real-money exchange for micro-transactions breaks this concept in its whole.
btw.
Actually Hearthstone is pay-to-win, unless you play Arena only.
Your arguments are really valid! What you are mentioning are very good reasons to not go play-for-free
And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that free-to-play is better, it probably isn't. I'm just saying that i, myself, think that it might not be as catastrophic as some do
But can i add some food to your thoughts?
Firstly. Did you really read my post thoroughly? I'm not trying to be rude, i really do. The argument about people not having money to spend and therefor meeting unfair challenges is huge. But as i said, i haven't spent any money on Hearthstone, and i have just now started getting into arena. I am exactly the kind of person you are worrying about with that argument, and i don't think it's that bad
i don't like getting everything served on a silver plate. Well, not always at least. So not spending any money can be a nice challenge i think. For me at least.
To be fair though, i will probably buy the adventures some time in the future, the cards are good, they're fun and i want to support the developer. But right now it's a fun challenge, just because i can't spend money on it. But this is just me. What you are saying is true. that might really worsen the game experience for potentially a lot of people. That is still a very good reason to not go free-to-play.
My second thought:
You say that buying in-game items is kinda like cheating, and that is a really good point! That is one of the reasons why i haven't bought anything from Hs yet. It's true, it kinda does feel like cheating. During my time with Hs i have of course met my fair share opponents with perfect net-decks with all the required legendaries and struggled alot. That kinda sucks, but consider this.
Have you played a real life card game like MTG or Pokemon TCG? Because that shit is Pay-to-win beyond what Hs and (probably) Gwent will ever come close to. Since the cards are real, you have to pay. But that's just how the
nature of those games are. You can view it from the angle, that not having to spend a lot of money and actually being able to pay for free is kinda generous compared to real life card games.
That's just a few of my thoughts. You are fairly probably right. It might be unfair. I'm just trying to threw in some different views into debate that i don't think get looked upon too often
Here is an argument though, i'm interested in your thoughts on it. How would you design a good full-price card game? Not having all cards from the get-go and the slow grind to getting all the good cards is half the fun for me. How would you like the process of getting new cards in the game be done? Would you want all the cards being there from the start or would you just want to have a way of getting booster packs in-game without money. Because the latter can be hard to balance.
I hope i don't sound hostile. I like your comment and i like the debate. Thanks for the response, and have a good day! I look forward to the rest of your thoughts
Best wishes
/Sammpemannen