I've been playing Hs with my boy for about 3 years now, few hours per week. It was a great experience, sharing something I really like with my son, I rarely got the chance to share something I like with people in my circle, as none of them are into my hobbies :) so I really cherished it. I started letting him play alone as well about a year ago and he really enjoyed it. He told me sometimes he would really like to play with a certain card, so I would do my best to grind for it, purchase deals to get that card or craft it. The various HS expansion themes has started many conversation topics between us, like the recent space expansion and it really sparked his interest in space. Overall, lots of good memories.
Since this dino is showing up on the main screen all the time recently, we no longer talk about interesting things. It is mostly about this dino and how he really wants to have it on our board. He is really happy when an opponent has it, but then sometimes cries that we don't have it. The psychological manipulation of having the smiling friendly dino on the home screen is working. I do feel a lot of pressure to buy it, as I really want to continue sharing HS with my son, but today I decided enough is enough. I will stop playing HS with my son and I recommend everyone with small children to not share this game with them anymore.
This dino is a lot worse than the shop, since the shop is hidden behind a button, a kid doesn't always think about what could be inside, all the goodies that could be purchased. I almost never got asked about the shop by my kid. We did buy one or two things here and there, he was always excited, but never asked me to go in the shop himself. It is very different with the dino. Somehow, it is triggering him to ask for it all the time.
I will have to find something else to play with my son, thankfully there are plenty of games out there, some I quite enjoy and think could be suitable to play with him.
I just want to say to Blizzard, I 've been playing the game since beta, I am really disappointed in this psychological torture you are imposing on kids. I know you have to make money, but you could have done it gracefully, this dino is not about making money, it's about trying to make as much money as possible from manipulating human emotions, and I think there is a word for that, GREED!.
I do still treasure the 3 years I played the game with my son, and the many years before I played solo,
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