Hold Up The Hype Train: New Hearthstone Hero Is A Reskin
Yesterday, Blizzard posted a teaser story on the Hearthstone website that hinted at the arrival of a new hero in the game. Maybe it was a case of the Internet taking a vague (though intentionally so) message and running with it, but the predominant theory was that we'd get a new warrior hero with a different hero power than Garrosh.
Fast-forward to today and the true reveal is, to a lot of people, less than satisfying. The new hero is Magni Bronzebeard, who offers new emotes, visual effects on his hero power, and a new card back, but no gameplay that's any different from Garrosh. He's the first in what will probably be a number of alternate hero skins, and will sell for $9.99 each in the Hearthstone store.
I don't think most people have an issue with Blizzard selling alternate, non-gameplay-affecting skins for heroes, especially so soon after releasing a decent chunk of content in Blackrock Mountain. But I think this is a case where they tried to get a little too "cute" with their marketing. If the Magni reveal came out of the blue today, without the lead-in story from yesterday, it would have been fine. Instead, even though it was only one day, Blizzard allowed player expectations to be whipped up into a frenzy over something that wasn't nearly as interesting as what players dreamed up. Goes to show that even the big boys can slip up from time to time.
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About the Author

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
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