Hearthstone by Blizzard

[Ironwolf]

It is in beta now and quite fun! Worth a look.

[Kyriani]

It's been eating up a great deal of my time these days... but I'm not very good at it LOL. Still fun though!

[beveri8469]

i ve been in it since cb and ive enjoyed it myself. aint no good though. but i do like it.

[Kyriani]

I think I take an unhealthy amount of pleasure from playing against priests with my mage deck... I giggle with glee when I see my opponent is a priest cause of the 14 critters in my deck... only two of them are vulnerable to their removals and those two critters silence something on the board when summoned so even if they die they did their job. Add in 2 more silences that also have a 4 attack rating (which makes them immune to priest removal), a spellbreaker to suck up their buffs and 2 counterspells stop their spells outright, and I can't tell you how many have spammed the "threaten" emote at me as they sat there with useless cards in their hand ^_^  I feel almost giddy just thinking about it! I'm a terrible person I think...

[Harlequin565]

Is it like MtG? What's the payment model? Any chance of a quick synopsis for the uneducated?

-H

[Kyriani]

Is it like MtG? What's the payment model? Any chance of a quick synopsis for the uneducated?

-H

Think of it like MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh but much more simple.... and its totally free to play. You can buy cards with gold earned from playing the game and the pace at which you earn gold isn't really bad. A casual player can buy a pack of cards every other day or so from my observation. You can buy packs with real money too if you're so inclined but spending real money will only speed up your acquisition of cards it wont get you anything that using gold can't.

Each player starts with 30 hit points and when one player hits 0 hp the game ends. Each player also chooses a Hero to represent them in the match. This Hero is one of 9 classes from World of Warcraft and there are class specific cards for each that are themed around abilities the World of Warcraft classes have. Each Hero also has a unique power that can be used in addition to playing cards. There are also neutral cards that any class can use. Decks are made up of 30 cards. No more and no less. Each player starts with 1 mana, the resource you use to play cards, and gains an additional mana each turn to a max of 10 mana per round to spend.

There are creature cards with an attack value and an hp value. Unlike MTG, creatures CANNOT be used to block other creatures specifically.Some creatures, however, have a property called Taunt. If you have a creature with taunt under your control your opponent will not be able to attack you directly and must attack the creature with taunt or forgo attacking that turn. Taunt does not prevent spells from being used directly against your opponent though.

There are spell cards with a variety of functions. Some do direct damage to either minions, enemy Heroes (players), or both. Others allow for card draw, buffs, debuffs, removal of enemy minions, etc. A subset of spell cards called Secrets also exists. Only some classes have secrets currently (Mages, Paladins, & Hunters). Secrets are sort of like face down Trap cards that hang waiting to be triggered.

A category of cards that doesn't really fit either creature or spell are Weapon cards. Weapon cards can be equipped by your Hero allowing them to attack directly as if they were a creature. Only some classes have weapon cards currently and some have a wider array than others (Rogues, Warriors, Paladins, Hunters, Shaman), but the Warrior seems to have the biggest selection to choose from.

Like most CCG's there is card rarity with a Basic set that everyone starts with (which includes some very good cards btw) and then cards from packs that range in rarity from Common, to Rare, to Epic, to Legendary. Players can have up to 2 copies of any specific card except Legendary cards in their decks. Legendary cards are restricted to 1 copy per deck (but you can have multiple different Legendary cards in a deck). While some Legendary cards are game changing its quite easy to do well (even against players using Legendaries) with a deck made of mostly Rares and Commons.

I hope I covered the basics there! If you have any specific questions feel free to ask and I'll answer as best I can!

[Harlequin565]

Thanks for that Kyriani.

I guess you PvP rather than PvAi? Do you have to wait long in between turns? Do players quit when they're losing?

-H

[Kyriani]

Thanks for that Kyriani.

I guess you PvP rather than PvAi? Do you have to wait long in between turns? Do players quit when they're losing?

-H

It's far more fun to play vs players than the AI. It's also the primary way to earn gold for packs. Playing against the AI wont earn you any gold unless the daily quest for the day allows for completion in ANY mode (which is VERY rare. I've only encountered this ONCE since i began playing). Outside of that the only benefits of playing against the AI is to get each class to level 10 to unlock their basic class specific cards. You'll earn more XP playing against players though but playing vs other players is difficult without the very basic class cards to start off with. I should have mentioned that your Hero can "level up" but all this leveling does is periodically unlock specific class cards up to level 10. After level 10 you'll occasionally unlock "gold" versions of your class cards which are basically the same card but with a shiny border and animated artwork. It doesn't affect how well you do at all. it's important to note that it is UNWISE to focus on a single class to the exclusion and detriment of all the rest. You'll get daily quests that require winning with specific classes and not being able to do so cause you dusted all your other cards will limit your gold acquisition. It's also good practice to see what other classes are capable of so you can anticipate their strategies and counter them.

There's a timer for each turn so if an opponent takes too long they will forfeit their turn. If they are forced to forfeit their turn then their next turn is severely shortened if they dont take action right away. Games go by relatively quickly, especially in the current meta since many players are running "rush" decks. Decks designed to deal as much damage as quickly and efficiently as possible to their opponent's face. Players can and do concede if they foresee a loss.

RNG is a huge factor with your initial draw and draws throughout the game. Some games you have the perfect combo other games you hold a hand of cards that wont be useful till much later in the game and by then its often too late to make up the ground you lost earlier. I grin and bear it though I just try to make my deck as efficient as I can. I don't enjoy the super rush, I play more of a mid-game control style and it works out fairly well. I win some and I lose some but ultimately I am having fun.

[Ironwolf]

Strategies for play:

Card games are always about making your opponent fear what you may do next. Once you "level up" an AT you can look at how the cards they have in their arsenal stack up.

Mage for instance has many very nice low value cards - they have a card that gives 3 points of damage for only the cost of 1 spell point (you get those increased turn by turn to a max of 10). In this case my Mage has her deck built to be fast out of the gate and rapidly put minions on the board and get the jump on the other player.

My Paladin is the exact opposite - he is a mid-level game powerhouse. My main goal is to get to 5 spell points and above and just overwhelm my foe.

The players you face also have reactions to your choices. I had one player on facing my Mage who started out fast slapping cards down. They were eating my minions up! I then started directing my attacks at the hero themselves and that did the trick - they got defensive and started trying to protect themselves and I was able to deploy my troops safely after that.

The game has a few issues. There are 2 priest cards which are vastly over powered. Double your health and double your attack. I had a player use 2 of each of these cards in back to back turns and drove the health and attack rate up to 28/28 that was game over! They need to restrict those to being used only once on a character.

[Kyriani]

Strategies for play:

Card games are always about making your opponent fear what you may do next. Once you "level up" an AT you can look at how the cards they have in their arsenal stack up.

Mage for instance has many very nice low value cards - they have a card that gives 3 points of damage for only the cost of 1 spell point (you get those increased turn by turn to a max of 10). In this case my Mage has her deck built to be fast out of the gate and rapidly put minions on the board and get the jump on the other player.

My Paladin is the exact opposite - he is a mid-level game powerhouse. My main goal is to get to 5 spell points and above and just overwhelm my foe.

The players you face also have reactions to your choices. I had one player on facing my Mage who started out fast slapping cards down. They were eating my minions up! I then started directing my attacks at the hero themselves and that did the trick - they got defensive and started trying to protect themselves and I was able to deploy my troops safely after that.

The game has a few issues. There are 2 priest cards which are vastly over powered. Double your health and double your attack. I had a player use 2 of each of these cards in back to back turns and drove the health and attack rate up to 28/28 that was game over! They need to restrict those to being used only once on a character.

I'm reluctant to say any card is "overpowered" and especially reluctant to say any combo of multiple cards is either. Nine times out of a ten when a card (or combo of cards) is referred to as "overpowered" it's usually that the speaker doesn't know how (or is unwilling) to do what's necessary to foil it or have experienced some bad spots of RNG where they just didn't have a counter immediately at hand. In the case of priests and divine spirit/inner fire combos, they are a novice tactic that only really works on other novices/those with limited card selections.

Once you realize its a possible priest tactic, it becomes rather easy to build and play around. There are two things specifically that are the bane of priests; mobs with 4 attack and silence. Silence robs them of those scary buffs and completely shuts down one of their favorite class cards (Lightspawn). Priests are also fond of taunts and silence strips that away too. There are 4 neutral minions with silence battlecries that any player can use. 2 of them also have 4 attack making them extra delicious vs. priests. Some classes have additional silence options as well. Priests themselves have the most access to silence ironically enough.

But there's a reason you don't really see priests much (if at all) beyond rank 15. Their one-trick-pony play style doesn't really work anymore past that point. By then they are engaging players with experience and broader card collections. Any priests you do see past that point are not using those cards or tactics. Now that's not to say you're guaranteed to have an answer in hand for any and every situation but neither does your opponent have any guarantee that they will have all the right cards in hand to pull such a maneuver. Just because a combo is effective doesn't mean its overpowered. Especially not when that tactic requires at a minimum 4 different cards to pull off and can be shutdown by silences, removals, and certain other battlecry effects.

My mage deck is my favorite one to play though I only do so so in the current meta. But I have no fear of priests and in fact I get giddy when I go against a priest knowing I'm almost certain to win because most of their tricks are ineffective against me. The biggest upset I can receive from a priest is from their copy cards. If they nab the wrong thing from my hand or deck it can really throw a wrench in my plans but hey that's rng for ya!

[Harlequin565]

So I downloaded it and went through the tutorial. It really is quite simple and addictive... Haven't had this much fun since the Win98 version of MtG! BtW - I never played WoW and it doesn't matter a jot.

So, some more questions...

I got my Wizard to level 10 which means I have (all?) the basic cards. I guess I need coins now to open Expert packs to get Expert cards. Do the challenges, get the coins, buy the packs, spend no money. Gotcha.

All my other characters are at the unlocked stage and no further. Should I play against the AI to level them up to 10, or should I just jump in to PvP? My experience with my custom mage deck (which as you can imagine has only a small amount of Expert cards and has a noob driver) is that I lose a fair bit and I'm seeing a lot of cards I don't recognise. I tried a game against the "Expert" AI with a fresh character and lost. Soundly. Where are the best rewards?

I get the right click to emote thing, but I see some people sending emotes I don't have (like "Hmmm") Am I missing something? Could do with a facepalm one that's for sure.

This seems like a fun game. It is possible to game against specific people or do you have to play a stranger every time? Would be fun to play some CoX'ers.

Oh - and there's no chat function right? Just emotes?

And lastly, what's the difference between a "ranked" game and a casual one? Is it best to start playing ranked games when you're more advanced (in terms of knowledge as well as cards)?

Sorry for all the Q's in the thread, but I've found this section of the forum really helpful for evaluating what to download and try. Thankyou all so much for your detailed replies so far.

-H

[Kyriani]

So I downloaded it and went through the tutorial. It really is quite simple and addictive... Haven't had this much fun since the Win98 version of MtG! BtW - I never played WoW and it doesn't matter a jot.

So, some more questions...

I got my Wizard to level 10 which means I have (all?) the basic cards. I guess I need coins now to open Expert packs to get Expert cards. Do the challenges, get the coins, buy the packs, spend no money. Gotcha.

All my other characters are at the unlocked stage and no further. Should I play against the AI to level them up to 10, or should I just jump in to PvP? My experience with my custom mage deck (which as you can imagine has only a small amount of Expert cards and has a noob driver) is that I lose a fair bit and I'm seeing a lot of cards I don't recognise. I tried a game against the "Expert" AI with a fresh character and lost. Soundly. Where are the best rewards?

I get the right click to emote thing, but I see some people sending emotes I don't have (like "Hmmm") Am I missing something? Could do with a facepalm one that's for sure.

This seems like a fun game. It is possible to game against specific people or do you have to play a stranger every time? Would be fun to play some CoX'ers.

Oh - and there's no chat function right? Just emotes?

And lastly, what's the difference between a "ranked" game and a casual one? Is it best to start playing ranked games when you're more advanced (in terms of knowledge as well as cards)?

Sorry for all the Q's in the thread, but I've found this section of the forum really helpful for evaluating what to download and try. Thankyou all so much for your detailed replies so far.

-H

I'm happy to answer your questions!

I advise playing against the AI till you get each class to level 10. This unlocks all the class cards for you. There's also another reason to do this: Achievements.

Achievements in Hearthstone include:

Unlock every hero (which you already said you did). This rewards 100 gold

Collect every card in the Basic Set. Basic cards are those you start with and those you get from leveling each Hero to level 10. This rewards 100 gold. To clarify this achievement requires that you have ALL the basic cards not just the ones for a single class. So you MUST level each Hero to 10 to finish this achievement.

Win 100 games in any mode. This rewards 300 gold (that's enough for three packs or two arena runs)

Defeat every Expert AI Hero. Once you've unlocked all the Heroes you can play against a harder version of the AI called Expert mode. The reward for beating each one on expert is 100 gold.

There are other achievements (some of which give cards) but those are long term things and very specific.

You can chat with people on your friends list but you cannot chat directly to an opponent that is not on your friends list. You can send an opponent a friend request after your match but often they wont accept since they don't know you and some less savory folk request a friend invite just so they can bitch at you about how they lost and how cheap you were with whatever you did to beat them Anyone on your friends list you can chat with and duel directly but direct matches wont count for daily quest credit or towards your number of wins for earning gold (you earn 10 gold for every 3 matches you win in casual or ranked mode)

Most emotes are accessed by right clicking your hero. But some occur randomly if you take a long time to make a play. Those aren't currently able to be done intentionally.

Casual games match you against people with a similar hidden rating which is based on your wins and losses. But its a very loose matching and if the only opponent available is someone much better than you/with way better cards you'll still get matched with them. Ranked mode is a much better matching system that matches you with people at your rank or at least very close to it. I've been matched against people 1 rank above or below me but usually the same rank. Casual is basically a crap shoot whereas ranked is where you'll get closer matches. There's a catch with ranked mode however.

Currently there are "seasons" for ranking. Right now a season lasts a month, so at the beginning of each new month/season everyone's ranks are reset and all the uber good players with the best cards are thrust into the starter pool again. Its probably a good idea to avoid ranked mode for the first week of each month he he. Casual mode is a good place to test a new deck concept without fear or losing ranks. I don't recommend using even the expert AI to test deck ideas because frankly the AI is just nowhere near as capable as another human being. Oddly enough I'd recommend ranked mode to newbies before casual mode (as long as its not the first week of a new month).

[Harlequin565]

Thanks again Kyriani.

Last question... What's the Arena all about? Why would I pay gold to play there?

-H

[Kyriani]

Thanks again Kyriani.

Last question... What's the Arena all about? Why would I pay gold to play there?

-H

Arena entry costs 150 gold. It's a sort of draft format. You get to choose from 3 random heroes and build a deck with random cards for that hero. Once you lose 3 times in the arena your session in the arena is done. Winning games in the arena will improve your rewards however. Just for your 150 gold entry fee you're guaranteed to walk out with a pack and something else... maybe some dust or a little bit of gold perhaps. But winning can lead to better rewards like cards, bigger amounts of dust and gold or even a second pack.

[Kyriani]

I think I just had a match with Ironwolf in Hearthstone! If its not the Ironwolf here someone else has your name! In any case it was pretty damn epic... went to my last card and squeaked out with a win vs multiple legendaries thrown at my face. Was an awesome game! I never had to work so hard for a win vs a priest when using my mage deck!

[Harlequin565]

Well I had the weekend to try and get to grips with things. My first Arena venture was 0-3 but I wasn't surprised as I have no real idea what I'm doing yet. Still got an expert pack out of it so wasn't too bothered.

Gosh it's dull levelling your heroes to 10.

Getting my head around the crafting side of things. It's probably the first crafting system that I've understood without having to read a lengthy tutorial (although my last effort at understanding crafting was Firefall which I gave up on). I like it that I can ditch stuff I don't want and create stuff I do want.

I'm Harlequin565, so if you bump into me, it'll be an easy game Thanks again for your help guys.

-H

[Kyriani]

Well I had the weekend to try and get to grips with things. My first Arena venture was 0-3 but I wasn't surprised as I have no real idea what I'm doing yet. Still got an expert pack out of it so wasn't too bothered.

Gosh it's dull levelling your heroes to 10.

Getting my head around the crafting side of things. It's probably the first crafting system that I've understood without having to read a lengthy tutorial (although my last effort at understanding crafting was Firefall which I gave up on). I like it that I can ditch stuff I don't want and create stuff I do want.

I'm Harlequin565, so if you bump into me, it'll be an easy game Thanks again for your help guys.

-H

Just some advice with the crafting aspect... don't dust cards just cause you dont think you'll use em. It's a good idea to keep 2 of each card handy to build decks with. There's also a button that will dust all your duplicate cards beyond 2 without you having to do each one individually.

[Ironwolf]

It wasn't me Ky - likely one of my friends. I play under the name BabaORiley. I usually play online with Mage (22) or Paladin (14).

I had one epic match where it came down to the last card to pull it out versus another mage.

[Kyriani]

It wasn't me Ky - likely one of my friends. I play under the name BabaORiley. I usually play online with Mage (22) or Paladin (14).

I had one epic match where it came down to the last card to pull it out versus another mage.

Ah I see! Still was a good match! I'll keep an eye out for your handle in the future though!