Blizzard Entertainment

[Durinax]

Does anyone else think that Blizzards move towards a pay to win structure (Hearth Stone, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo 3 AH) is a move in the wrong direction for the PC gaming giant? 

[WWWwombat]

Looks like they're just keeping up with trends in the genre(s) to me.  I haven't liked much of what Blizzard has done since the merger, but they are actually pretty late on the "freemium" bandwagon compared to many of their competitors.

[Verbal32]

And they have it so that you don't have to PTW.  Hearthstone is easier if you sink cash into it, but there are many people who attain Legend rank in HS without putting a dime into it.

[Durinax]

Playing heroes of the storm yesterday it seems to be the same gold mechanic to buy heroes, the only thing that concerns me is how hard it is to get gold (2k minimum for a hero, 10k is the highest I have seen). Although this may just be an issue due to it still being beta stages.

[Verbal32]

I'm not familiar with Heroes, just WoW and HS.  But I do plan on trying it out at some point.

[WWWwombat]

Also, it would have been a bad decision not to monetize the Diablo 3 AH to some degree imo given what happened with Diablo 2 and WoW.  People are always willing to buy and sell items (or gold).  If Blizzard doesn't get in on that, then it's just going to happen in a secondary market.  Other people will make the profit from it and more of your players will get scammed.