We've got a couple of old hero skins making their way back into the Hearthstone shop today. Available only for real money, both King Rastakhan and Elise can be purchase and come with their pre-order card back!
The skins can be purchased for $14.99 USD (14.99 EUR) each, and we're assuming they're going to be available for at least the next week, though Blizzard has not made a confirmation on the final date yet.
King Rastakhan Now Available
Originally available as the Rastakhan's Rumble pre-order, this skin and card back can be yours for $14.99 USD (14.99 EUR).
Elise Starseeker Now Available
Originally available as the Saviors of Uldum pre-order, this skin and card back can be yours for $14.99 USD (14.99 EUR).
Will you be picking up either of these bundles? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Good to know that I can finally stop pre-ordering Mega Bundles since absolutely nothing in this game is exclusive anymore. Thanks for saving me $80 every 4 months Bli$$ard, love you!
God I hate this. Why make skins exclusive to pre-orders and then sell a random pair down the line??
I don't believe the word "exclusive" was ever used in the pre-order bundle promo. If you read that into it, you have no one to blame but yourself. If you feel shitty about your purchase, take it as a lesson to actually read the wording of offers and not to make assumptions.
It has been about 3 years since their original release. Nothing wrong with it. If they had the random hero option, I'd guarantee people who pre-ordered these heroes would have the option on. It is no different from cardbacks then and heroes now. People being able to buy old cosmetics isn't going to detract from what you got from yours.
My issue with it is that when something is labeled as a pre-order bonus, you expect it to be exclusive. And they have been. None of the other heroes have gone on sale so it feels like Blizz has taken away the exclusivity of the two that have, which is taking away what I got from them. Exclusive skins.
I can't imagine getting enjoyment from knowing other people don't have a skin in a digital card game, never mind actually valuing that monetarily.
Speaking as someone who has bought almost all of the pre-orders, and thinks seeing opponents have a larger variety of heroes to show up as can only add to the game.
I think you are misunderstanding me; I am not upset that other players can use the skin but rather that the skin that was sold as exclusive is no longer exclusive. If someone wanted the skin, I am glad they can get it but it feels shitty to be "lied" to by Blizz.
A good example of this would any sort of collectible that was advertised as exclusive; if you bought then it was sold down the line you would be upset.
There is a vast gap between exclusive physical collectibles, whose value for being re-sold is largely tied up in that exclusivity, and hero portraits in HS which cannot be resold. Exclusive or not, HS skins have no inherent value beyond whatever use you manage to get out of them yourself. So if they lose their exclusivity, absolutely nothing tangible changes on your end.
Maybe if you had to work really hard to obtain them, then there is some merit to their exclusivity because they would be indications of your ability. HS has a few card backs like that, but it's just not true with these hero portraits; all they say is you had the money to spend on them when they first appeared.
So if they have no resale value, and they don't carry any prestige due to the difficulty of earning them, then what exactly is there to be upset about with them reappearing? If you don't have a good answer for that, then I can only advise you learn to be happy with this sort of thing. It will make absolutely no difference, except you are happier, which is a good thing.
The problem with that argument is that there is no inherit value in a lot of the things we enjoy; collectible cards, expensive shoes, and autographs are things with no inherit value that have value. This is why one piece of cardboard with ink resembling a pokemon is worth more than another piece of cardboard with ink resembling a pokemon. Discussing value is typically a petty thing to begn with, especially when you consider everyone who bothered enough to reply to my comment values these portraits enough to bother to reply to my comment. Besides I have already stated why I value the exclusivity of this portait; because it is a pre-order bonus. By principle it should be exclusive. I am not upset that others can obtain it (as I have also already said), I am upset that Blizz is selling them.
Also, who is to say someone didn't work hard to obtain the portrait? I belive the federal minimum wage for these portraits was only 7.50 when they were released. Things cost more or less for people of different circumstances (though that is a different argument altogether).
Welp, you started it to be fair. How's that saying go...? Was it 'reap what you sow'? Or perhaps 'you made your bed, now lay in it'? In either case you started this little "petty" debate.
Ah yes. "If you don't agree with my opinion, don't bother replying. If you did reply, your inherent reply indicates that you agree with me on some level. So I'm right no matter what choice you make!" - Huntard as his best Vizzini impression
No, your *expectation* was that being a pre-order bonus made it exclusive. The reality is: who cares if a 3 year old expansion's portrait is finally available? You ARE upset at the fact others can obtain it (otherwise we wouldn't be having this argument). You just think that by stating "I'm upset at Blizzard, not you guys!" you can cast your position in a different light that makes you look more favorable.
We aren't talking about wages in this thread. I'm pretty sure there are other places on the internet to either brag about your wage or state "woe is me" about your wage (depending on your situation) than a Hearthstone forum. But since you brought it up: It doesn't matter. Everyone here who maybe bought the portrait. Spent time buying that portrait, outside of the game. How you earned that money is your business and NO ONE here cares how you earned your money to buy the portrait. Thus you can't use the leverage that "I worked hard to make 8.50 an hour to buy that portrait!"
Honestly this entire argument is ridiculous and the fact that you have to keep replying "to be right" is hilarious at best, and sad at worst.
Value is entirely subjective. A 1st edition, mint condition, classic set Charizard card would be worth no more than a couple of pounds to me if I had no plans to sell it, because I have very limited use for it. I'd happily spend more for some random Regi card, because I actually care about those a bit. This scenario is comparable to HS portraits: I am willing to spend money on some of them, but only those I expect to use.
However, there is a supply and demand complication for physical cards, which is where their value comes from in practice. It's the dumb, irrational part of capitalism, but hey, if people are happy to spend thousands on pieces of cardboard then who am I to stop them? That whole story is completely removed from HS portraits. They do not reside in the same world of economics, which is why comparing the two is unhelpful.
What you have failed to convince me of is why them being pre-order bonuses means it is a bad thing for them to reappear. They were exclusive for 2-3 years, and there doesn't seem to be an argument that the loss/reduction of exclusivity has any real downsides. At most, I can see a loss of faith in Blizzard's word, but that should surely have already been eroded by card backs reappearing, not to mention Mecha-Jaraxxus doing the same recently. Really though, people and companies should change their minds if it leads to a net positive, and minor as this portrait matter is, I do see it as a net positive.
As for the working hard in the real world to pay for the bundles, I accept that is a valid interpretation. I'm not sure it is helping your argument much though. I imagine the people who had to save up for the big pre-order bundle to obtain the portraits would be happy to hear future ones will eventually be made available at a much more affordable price.
I still think you missed the point I orginally made; I feel shitty having bought the 80 dollar bundle for the skin when I could have only spent 15 bucks. I never stated that I was upset that others could buy the skin, the other guy said I was upset by it. I think it is great people who wanted them have the option. I simply stated the only value they had to me were their exclusiveness, which was indeed lost. I cannot be bothered to come up with a reason against how a loss of exclusivity other than a very feels based one, which is that it makes me feel like a chump (maybe you are right and I should try to look positively at it???).
I actually did not know Mecha-J was sold recently, and to be honest it does kinda sting. I felt pretty cool knowing I was one of the few people to have them. You are right about how this situation only leads to a loss of faith in Blizz which was the intent of my original and somewhat untelling post.
Through the lens of someone who saved up exclusively for the skin, the knowledge of them being available for a cheaper price would make them happy. You are correct in saying it doesn't actually help my argument, in retrospect.
At the end of the day, it is dissatifying to spend 80 dollars on something you could have gotten for 15.
I never actually thought or meant to suggest you were upset about other players getting their hands on the portraits, but obviously I failed to present my arguments in a way to make that clear. That is definitely on me.
I do think that the heart of this is the philosophy of keeping or breaking promises and expectations, and how important that is to different people. If something is stated as an actual promise, then I expect whoever made it to keep their word until the end of time or they request permission to break it. (Extreme circumstances like being held at gunpoint would also be fine.)
If the expectation is built off of precedent rather than formal confirmation, however, then I have no problems with changes if they are for good reasons. I believe this is where Blizz stands with the portraits, although if you have any quotes saying otherwise, probably surrounding Mecha-J since he was the first pre-order portrait, then I'm willing to reassess it.
I agree. I have both of these skins and no longer even use either of them. Why not let someone else get enjoyment out of them, it doesn’t harm me.
C'mon guys! All those lawyers are not going to work for free!
Bli$$ard need your money, they deserve it: the compensations for so many years of harassment, humiliation and fraudulent practices are substantial.
Remember that the ingame shop is overflowing with the many things in which you can donate all the money that still you have left.
True. Just looking at the shop now disgusts me.
If they had offered these before the Stormwind meta, I would have bought Rastakhan for sure. (I already have Elise.)
If it hadn't taken them three patches over the course of seven weeks to finally address The Demon Seed, I might have bought Rastakhan.
But as things stand, I'm really not in the mood to spend money on Hearthstone cosmetics. Honestly, there are so many skins in the game at this point, none of them seem special or interesting anymore.
I understand that the price is higher than most of the single skins because it was a preorder bonus for a 80€ package. So i guess some people who missed out on that and collect everything will buy that. And maybe it's also fair to those people who thought the skin will be exclusive.
I think Madame Lazul was 12€ (without the card back) and Mecha-Jaraxxus was also 15€. So i think that will be the prices for the future. It's a lot compared to the newer skin bundles which I actually buy sometimes. I'm only missing Elise and Deathwing from preorders but that price is too steep for me sadly.
Maybe the price is a bit on the steeper side. (15 USD is a bit much considering it's ONLY a skin and cardback)
That being said, I think people are missing the point: Skins are flavor/aesthetics that appeal to YOU. You are not obligated to own, buy, or collect all of them.
You wouldn't walk into a department store and think: "Oh wow, look at all these jackets. I need to own ALL of them!" But you would look around, see which jacket looked best on you and appealed to your sense of style and you would purchase that ONE jacket. Maybe you find two jackets you like and buy them. You wouldn't try to buy EVERY jacket the store owned right? That's ridiculous. You also wouldn't complain about the price of the jackets. If you found a jacket you really liked but wasn't in your budget, you'd either A) wait for a sale or B) go elsewhere to look for other jackets. You wouldn't complain to the store about the price of the jackets. (Though I guess real world Karen's would do that wouldn't they? You're not trying to be a digital Karen are you? )
In short: Please stop complaining about skins and/or prices. Maybe they are a little on the steep side. But you know what will cause Blizzard to lower skin prices? People NOT buying them at 15 USD. And if you have the expendable income to pay that much for a skin and REALLY want it. By all means buy it. That's what free market economies are for.
It's just becoming utterly ridiculous the amount of complaining people are doing on this site over cosmetic/optional components of the game. /rantoff
Seems like the prices for skins + card backs are still the same as before. After all i'm pretty sure they priced the last (old) pre-order skin for 15,- Euro/Dollar as well. I'm not really surprised about the pricing, considering these are "premium" skins that used to be available only on the 80,- Euro/Dollar pre-orders, their alternate heroes (not another reskin of [insert standard hero like jaina here]) and they include the card back. Oh and these skins do include special animations, like the intro animation and a different animation when you hero power. Pretty sure the newer ones from bundles don't include these? (Never bought one of those bundles, so i can't say for sure.)
But that being said, most skins these days are getting a lot less valueable considering how many skins they keep selling. Also most skins are like 4+ skins bundles for 20,- Euro/dollar, so that also doesn't really help with the pricing of King Rastakhan and Elise Starseeker. Personally i feel like 10,- Euro/Dollar would have been better prices for those skins, especially considering these 2 skins are a bit "lower quality" compared to all the pre-order skins that came after them i.m.o.. (Just look at the DoD pre-order Deathwing skin.) But even as "lower quality Premium Skins" their still better than the ones they sell on the x skins for 20,- euro/Dollar bundles these days.
Oh and considering we get the rastahkans rumble and uldum pre-order skins, i wouldn't be surprised if we get the DoD Deathwing pre-order warrior hero skin in the shop in not too long. I'm not sure if Madame Lazul from the Rise of Shadows pre-order has returned in the shop yet, if not then i wouldn't be surprised to see her return alongside Deathwing.