Analysis of Hearthstone's new battle pass system have turned up some unsettling results, as players are actually earning less gold on average than they did in the game's previous system, making an already expensive free-to-play game even more costly. Hearthstone's take on the battle pass is called the Tavern Pass and, alongside a new overhaul to the game's Quest progression system that rewards daily play, is meant to both give players a more tangible sense of progression through each season and also give them more gold in general.
While Hearthstone: Madness at the Darkmoon Faire looks great from a gameplay standpoint, it's overhaul to UI and progression is looking less so. Hearthstone's economy is already under a lot of criticism because Blizzard has done very little to alleviate costs, especially those burdening new players, who are immediately punished for not already having a collection as the game continues to get more expensive to play with each expansion's release. With Standard sets lasting a long time and the card economy remaining a wholly single-player experience - that is, there is no trading, and cards can only be earned through packs or a crafting system - the barrier for entry to Hearthstone is quite high.
The release of the Hearthstone Tavern Pass was supposed to help lessen that barrier for entry alongside providing a new, fresher look at progression, and while the latter has been a success, the former appears to be untrue. Data run by content creator J_Alexander_HS on Reddit suggests that, over a span of 120 days under the new Tavern Pass model, he would earn 5000 less total gold - with an in-game grind of 9 hours a day to max out the XP required to even do that. 5000 less gold is equivalent to 50 less packs, which is a huge downgrade for players, especially free-to-play users who can only expand their collection with packs they earn through questing and spending gold. Other prominent Hearthstone community members have also taken notice:
A lot of the displeasure the community has with the new Hearthstone Tavern Pass comes from the fact that Blizzard explicitly promised it would not be a downgrade to the gold they already earned. There's also the fact that the Hearthstone battle pass costs $20 USD - on top of the costs already associated with buying bundles of packs for each new set to keep up with the competitive meta. For a game that has aims at being free-to-play for grinders, that's not exactly a friendly inclusion.
It should be said, however, that the new Hearthstone battle pass system is a brand new look for the game, and no amount of pre-launch testing can account for the intricacies that come with different player demographics. In Kripparian's analysis, for instance, he admits that it seems like non-ladder grinders would benefit from the system - which could make up more of Hearthstone's current player base. Given the current public outcry over the Tavern Pass, however, it seems like something Blizzard will need to address for its invested Hearthstone players, who already tend to shell out frequently for of the most expensive "free-to-play" games around.
Source: J_Alexander_HS, Kripparrian/Twitter