As much as free to play games can make a killing by selling items that actually influence gameplay, it's not a wise plan for a long term investment, since it often leads the community to feeling like to win, you have to pay. Hence the phrase.
That's not what Blizzard is doing with its Hearthstone game however. While players can indeed buy card packs with real money, they will soon be able to buy a purely aesthetic upgrade which gives them a new Hero to play with.
There will be three new heroes added to the game in the coming months, the first of which is Magni Bronzebeard, who will offer an alternative Warrior class character to the traditional Garroth Hellscream. He won't change the way the class plays and won't affect the ability in any meaningful way, but Bronzebeard does add some new animations for the Hero's class ability, a new portrait and animated class badge.
He also has a bunch of new phrases to torment your opponent with mid-game and he even has a new card back which is unique to this particular hero.
Priced at $10 each, Bronzebeard is the first available hero, though two more will be added in the near future.
