There are so many Gacha style games that are WAY more of a rip off than that. They get you sucked into the game, then the only way to progress is to become a whale. It is awful
This is a great thing to bring up, because Hearthstone churns out expansion packs on a two-year basis. The "standard" game mode, which is presently the most well-supported and popular, only allows cards that were created in the last two years. If you want to keep up, you need new cards, and you need a lot of them, and they are expensive, and they are getting more expensive [1].
Blizzard has a great reputation, as you said. Hearthstone's monetization model puts their reputation at risk.
1. https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/12/16763594/hearthstone-expe...
Hearthstone is an especially great value if you're comparing it to traditional TCGs. The cost to play something like Magic The Gathering is absurd, but you can play Hearthstone for free if you want to.
There are huge tournaments every month, a huge twitch scene, etc
Its a legit game and most people know what they are getting into.
DBZ Dokkan battle on the other hand....
Tournaments or a huge Twitch scene don't make it legit or not. They tell us something about a game's size or impact.
Small (indie) games can be loads of fun. I had more fun with a simple game like Airmash [1] than I ever had in WoW because that game is fair, and you need skill. You can't grind towards an advantage. If you did, you can lose it very quickly. Evens playing field.
Blizzard games, with the exception of Starcraft II, are made for carebears with too much time who want to feel good beating players who put less time in the game not by becoming better (as games used to work) but by getting better gear/equipment/cards/characters. A dog eat dog world, essentially. I've learned and adapted to find that evil.
From the game director, in response to a criticism from earlier this year, says as much:
> I don't think we've done a good job historically supporting Wild enough. But I do think we've been doing better lately, and it's very important to us that Wild be a real format that is properly supported.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/6ynecq/an_open...
It also seriously pisses me off because I spend a good fortune on cards when Hearthstone came out and I didn't expect them to go the MtG route. Boy, was I wrong. Many of them are worthless now.
But this is Blizzard, and they released balance updates to Starcraft for years. Just takes focus.
That's 3 elements you mention. Lets see:
> It is still a "collectible" card game
Yeah, it is, but only the last X expansions are valid for play. So old cards become invalid for standard play. (Forgive me if I used the wrong term for 'standard'; I'm an old Magic: The Gathering player who has seen Wizards of the Coast adopt this model in the 90s; Blizzard just copied it.)
Hence,
> with a lot of expected longevity
is rather relative.
> from a very reputable company
Activision Blizzard, Inc. or Blizzard.
As for reputable, well. Blizzard is very good with RNG in their games. A lot of their games are evolving around RNG, and loot, trying to keep the player playing for their dopamine shot. Lets see: Warcraft 3 was already about RNG (it contained loot), then we got Hearthstone (yup), we got Diablo 3 (yup), we got Overwatch (yup), we got Starcraft II (nope, standard RTS, doesn't contain crit AFAIK), Heroes of the Storm (not sure, not into MOBA at all, seems not?).
Blizzard are the masters of RNG. Not every of their game is P2W (Pay 2 Win), I admit that, but if there is one of these where RNG or loot matters and be downright bought, it is Hearthstone (you can buy gold in WoW legally, but not loot). If you want to play a game competitively, forget Hearthstone. The only fair game mode is the single player one, and the arena one (which requires in-game currency).
They're also masters of grinds, that's deeply entwined in every Blizzard game except Starcraft II. Fat grinds with shortcuts is one profit model. Not all Blizzard games have this model, but one of their games stands out: the P2W Hearthstone game.
> There are so many Gacha style games that are WAY more of a rip off than that.
I don't know that game. I'm sure there are evil schemes out there, but I know about this particular company and this game and this game type quite well.
If you want to play Hearthstone competitive you're going to have to shell out like 200-400 EUR per expansion. Some successful players and streamers can afford, but it stays a gentlemen's elite club that way. Just like Magic was a game for rich student kids. Been there, done it.
And let us not forget, we are ignoring that we're getting children, teenagers, and young adults hooked on gambling.