"This is better than the gacha stuff" - Asmongold gives his hot take on Hearthstone charging $49.99 for the Diamond Helya Bundle

During a livestream on August 2, 2023, Twitch streamer Zack "Asmongold" shared his thoughts on the recent card bundle released by Blizzard Entertainment for Hearthstone. For those who are unfamiliar, the Diamond Helya Bundle in the card game costs $49.99 and contains three cards. Among these, players are guaranteed to receive the Diamond Helya Death Knight Legendary card. The other two cards, however, are randomized.

Here's what the in-game description reads:

• One Diamond Helya Death Knight Legendary card from TITANS.
• One random Signature Legendary card from TITANS.
• One random Signature Legendary card from Festival of Legends.

Calling Hearthstone a "pay-to-win fake card game," Asmongold gave his hot take on Blizzard Entertainment's contentious microtransaction. He said:

"You want to hear a really unpopular f**king opinion? I think this is better than the gacha stuff. I do! I think that it's better that they have the price right there, on the front, and if you want the good card - you buy the good card. Because it removes the mystique of getting these lucky items and, 'Oh, wow! I worked for this!' No, you f**king didn't! Like, I would prefer if everything was just on the cash shop."

---

"F**k Blizzard" - Asmongold retracts his statements after realizing that the controversial $49.99 Hearthstone bundle contains only one guaranteed card and two randomized cards

Asmongold was four hours into his broadcast on August 2, 2023, when he discovered Hearthstone's $49.99 bundle on his subreddit. After reading a few comments posted under the thread, the Twitch star remarked:

"Here's the thing... is that, if you play Hearthstone, you are playing a pay-to-win fake card game. Right? That's what you're doing. Is there anybody under any delusion that that's not exactly what you're doing? Right? Like yes, we all know that. It is what it is."

He then discussed microtransactions in popular gacha games such as Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact, stating:

"In Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact, and Tower of Fantasy, and Fate Grand Order - if they just decided to start selling things for $200 and instead of letting people roll for them, the player base would probably be happy because it'd be cheap. So, yeah, you're not really going to get a lot of f**king sympathy from me whenever people buy into this s**t!"

At this point, Asmongold gave his hot take, claiming that Hearthstone's microtransactions are "better" than the gacha system. A few moments later, fans stated that Blizzard Entertainment was only providing one guaranteed card while the other two were randomized.

Timestamp: 04:04:25

Upon reading this, the co-founder of One True King (OTK) changed his mind and said:

"'Two random cards.' F**k Blizzard! Honestly, like, I really don't know what they're thinking. Oh, god! What is wrong with this f**king company, man ?! Holy s**t! You know what this reminds me of? Magic: The Gathering - 30th Anniversary Collector Packs that you could open up a Black Lotus and other cards. 'Oh, we're never going to bring these again.' 'Yeah, surprise, b**ch! We changed our minds!' So, that's exactly what this is."

---

Fans react to Asmongold's clip

The YouTube comments section featured over 819 comments. Here's a snippet of the most pertinent ones:

YouTube community discussing the streamer's clip (Image via Asmongold Clips/YouTube)

Several fans were amused by Asmongold's reaction when he realized Hearthstone was offering only one guaranteed card and two randomized cards. Meanwhile, another community member commented that Blizzard Entertainment is "probably worse" than Electronic Arts.