Tired of seeing the same nine hero portraits in Hearthstone? Blizzard has you covered. The developer has announced that new character portraits will be available for players to buy. More importantly, these new portraits will only be available for real money; which is a first for the free-to-play game.
Only one new character has been revealed: Magni Bronzebeard. Magni is a warrior and, while the portrait and name is different, sadly does not provide a different hero ability. What he does have is a different picture, animation when using his hero power, and a new card back. There are also new taunts for the character, but it appears that Blizzard is making this upgrade a purely cosmetic one.
What is interesting is the US$9.99 price tag attached to the new character. Which is quite substantial considering a pack of cards only costs U$2.99, and can also be bought for in-game gold. While it is no surprise that new heroes are appearing in Hearthstone, the monetisation method is unexpected in that this is the first time that players will not have the option to not spend real money on it.
The announcement has not said when Magni Bronzebeard will be available for sale, but it is sure to provide a little more atmosphere to the world’s most popular online card game.
[Source: Hearthstone]
