Does the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl add enough value to Blizzard’s Hearthstone pre-purchase bundles?

One of the stated goals for the Hearthstone Pre-Release Tavern Brawl — which went live on Tuesday — was to “add value to our pre-purchase bundles.” But does it, and if it does, does it provide enough additional value for you to reconsider if you will purchase future bundles?

Let’s explore that question.

The first way this Pre-Release Tavern Brawl appears to add value is by letting you open your The Great Dark Beyond packs and play with the cards a few days before release. That’s undeniably cool, and I know first-hand how hard it is watching those pre-release packs just sitting in my inventory waiting to be opened. But I’m not sure how much values breaking those packs open truly adds. I was going to be able to open them eventually. As Christmas will show us soon, the anticipation is often better than the event itself — in potential, I can dream of opening all the Legendary cards I want.

The Brawl also provides you with additional The Great Dark Beyond packs… at least if you can win it. If we say the average player will get three wins, the reward is two The Great Dark Beyond packs, one Perils in Paradise pack, and one random The Great Dark Beyond Common card. Those rewards come at a cost of two Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones per run, and you can buy a pack for 100 Gold or 150 Runestones — it’s not a value unless you win a lot.

But certainly purchasing the bundles will give you an advantage in the Brawl, allowing you to wrack up even more packs. That clearly adds some value. Is it enough?

My issue with the value of the pre-release bundles comes from my past experiences with them. I had the Mega Bundle for Whizbang’s Workshop, but after opening all the packs, I couldn’t make a single meta deck. I couldn’t even make any of the Deck Recipe decks for the expansion. I was missing multiple cards, and most often the cards I was missing were the Epic and Legendary needed to make the deck function. Also, as a Warrior/Priest main, I’d often open a Death Knight or Demon Hunter Legendary. I don’t enjoy playing those classes, so those cards didn’t help me.

The value question for me comes down to opportunity cost. The Great Dark Beyond Mega-Bundle is $79.99 (US).  The regular bundle is $49.99 (US). For that money, I get a chance at getting the cards I want. Based upon my experience with Whizbang’s Workshop, I feel confident saying I wouldn’t get the full expansion. I’d still be missing cards.

I could take that same $49.99 (US) and use it to purchase something like MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. I’d get the whole game. To me, while the Brawl does accomplish the goal of adding value by giving you a clear advantage over people who didn’t purchase the bundles, it doesn’t add enough value for me to consider it a must buy.

There are some things I think would enhance the value of the bundles enough to make me seriously consider them. First, the developers could increase the amount of Epic and Legendary cards awarded from those packs so you have much higher chance of getting the key, powerful cards you need to make those meta decks. I’d also love to see some sort of “favorite class” toggle that would give you a great chance of getting the Epics and Legendaries for that class.

What do you think about the Pre-Purchase Brawl? Did it add enough value to swap your decision to purchase it? Knowing Blizzard could this again, will it influence you to purchase bundles for future expansions?