Yesterday, Blizzard finally announced plans to add a new hero to Hearthstone: the dwarf king Magni Bronzebeard. Except, well, Magni isn’t actually a new hero. He’s a new portrait.
Yep, for the hefty price of $10, players of Blizzard’s stellar digital card game can replace the current warrior portrait (Garrosh Hellscream) with Magni, in all of his dwarven glory. He’s got unique emotes and animations befitting his character, and if you dish out the cash for him, you’ll also get a new set of card backs. In other words, you’re paying $10 for a new set of aesthetics.
Your initial reaction might be something like “holy crap that’s expensive!” You would not be alone. Many Hearthstone fans have taken to forums over the past day to complain not about the hero’s existence, but about what seems like an insulting price for a set of animations. Others have pointed out how frustrating it’s been to see Blizzard implement items like this while ignoring some of the most-requested Hearthstone features, like more deck slots.
In popular team-based free-to-play games, like League of Legends, buying the best and most expensive skins has become something of a meta-game, where owning high-priced cosmetics is a sign that you’re a serious, hardcore, good player. But in Hearthstone, where every game is one-on-one and there’s no need to convince anyone that you’ve got skill, an overpriced skin like this seems way easier to ignore.
Meanwhile, as YouTuber Freddy Krueger points out, here’s how you can get Magni for free:
You can reach the author of this post at jason@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.