Also Hearthstone is not “reasonable”. They just hide what they’re doing a little better than most games like it. It’s specifically designed to keep you hooked on playing for years. Coming back day after day for your paltry ration of daily quest rewards. Sooner or later, you’re going to eventually drip-feed a cumulatively large amount of money into it.

Blizzard realizes this. They don’t mind if you go “free to play” for a year, or two years. Because they realize that eventually you’ll think, “Well I might as well support this free game that’s given me so much entertainment throughout the years!” and go ahead & splurge on a fucking pre-order, or the occasional small bundle of packs so that you can finally get enough dust for that Legendary card you’ve been impatiently waiting to use.

And for what? Digital, make-believe playing cards. It’s a complete joke. There’s absolutely no reason there shouldn’t be a one time flat price for access to all the cards. The pricing model only makes sense in the context of a physical card game like Magic The Gathering.