Hearthstone : TCG

[BQE]

Just yesterday a friend and I were accepted into the Hearthstone beta and I have to say, it's incredibly impressive.

I've always been a Blizzard fangirl, but this game just reaffirms that notion that a core tenet is polished to a brilliant shine. The game is just exudes flair and style in a way that underlines everything rather than redirecting attention. All the little touches really scream out to long-time players such as the minion noises taking from Warcraft 2, 3, and World of Warcraft. I'm frequently experiencing a pleasant nostalgia as I play through a simple, yet evocative game.

This game is an excellent entry, it's not exactly a game you would end up playing endlessly for hours. It's a splendid game to wittle away some extra time in between major excursion.

 

[VanQ]

I'm still waiting on a beta invite. I'm glad the reception the game has received has been overall positive. When does the beta end?

In the meantime, I'll just keep on raiding in WoW, hoping to get that Garrosh Heroic kill while it's still relevant content.

 

[DoPo]

My housemate got invited in the beta, so, basically, everybody in my house plays it. It's quite cool - I like it. It's simpler than Magic, but it's not supposed to be Magic, I guess - it's faster paced and it still allows for cool combos to happen. Arena is also nice - it is a refreshing way to play a random games against really random people, not stacked decks, for example. Though it just might happen the enemy has two legendaries or something, in which case beating them is all the more satisfying.

Though, I must say - Priests are OP and it annoys me. Got in a game the other day - the daily quest was to win twice with a Paladin deck, so I quickly made one but it didn't have many required cards. So mostly the deck's weakness is any time you're not in advantage - if the enemy has more creatures than you, you're probably losing as there was no board clears (didn't have Consecration yet) and very little removal (that weapon Paladin's have and the...hammer something something that does 3 damage and you draw a card). By turn 4, my opponent had 4 creatures and had no intention of stopping. It's a more stark example but the damn priests just have too many good cards at a too little cost (silence for 0 mana, for example).

Other than that, the biggest issue I have with the game is the animations - they look nice, but I'd like a way to skip them, as they just get old.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Though, I must say - Priests are OP and it annoys me. Got in a game the other day - the daily quest was to win twice with a Paladin deck, so I quickly made one but it didn't have many required cards. So mostly the deck's weakness is any time you're not in advantage - if the enemy has more creatures than you, you're probably losing as there was no board clears (didn't have Consecration yet) and very little removal (that weapon Paladin's have and the...hammer something something that does 3 damage and you draw a card). By turn 4, my opponent had 4 creatures and had no intention of stopping. It's a more stark example but the damn priests just have too many good cards at a too little cost (silence for 0 mana, for example).

As good as silence for 0 mana sounds, it's actually a waste of a card. You're much better off going with something as simple as a 2-1 Owl with Silence. The game is won and lost with minions. Priests have some gimmicky bullshit that feels broken when you have no counter in place, like divine spirit on Lightspawns, for instance, and they are an upper tier class, but honestly they're a little over reliant on Mind Control to be competitive. Every Priest arena I have seems to play out the same way. You soak up abuse until around 5-6 mana and then try to run away with the game and pray you can swing it with a big MC late. The number of "OP" priest decks I've had that get rushed down by weenies is depressing.

Unless you're talking about constructed, but constructed is kind of retarded.

 

[DoPo]

Unless you're talking about constructed, but constructed is kind of retarded.

Yeah, the regular matches, not Arena. At least Arena has some equality, in that it's mostly luck what you get and you have to just play well - a normal deck is just stupidly evil, IMO. Buffing everything for the win (literally) is not funny, not when you're playing against it. Thing is, you need to have counters specifically for priest decks, while they can normally just play against anything. It feels that when I play against them, it's up to topdecking what I need, so ironically I'll play more like a priest than them...praying constantly and all.

 

[The Madman]

Not gonna lie, I'm envious. Card games are one of my weakness and from what I've seen, Hearthstone looks great. I'm chomping at the bit to give it a try myself but alas, no luck yet.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Yeah, the regular matches, not Arena. At least Arena has some equality, in that it's mostly luck what you get and you have to just play well - a normal deck is just stupidly evil, IMO. Buffing everything for the win (literally) is not funny, not when you're playing against it. Thing is, you need to have counters specifically for priest decks, while they can normally just play against anything. It feels that when I play against them, it's up to topdecking what I need, so ironically I'll play more like a priest than them...praying constantly and all.

If you ever find yourself top decking, it means you undervalued card draw when building your deck. I know this because I constantly under value card draw when building decks, and then I'm like "Derp why am I top decking and this guy has 7 cards?!". It's annoying.

If you're worried about priests just carry a Spell breaker or two and MAYBE one owl. A priest who plays a Lightbringer and a Divine Shield and an Inner Fire and a Divine Spirit on it and then gets silenced by a fucking 2 mana owl is going to take a huge momentum hit and probably lose the game.

That, and get them on the ropes before 8 mana or you're going to get corn holed by Mind Control. I find Shaman or Hunter weenie decks work well against Priests, especially if you can mix in a couple of Flesh Eating Ghouls.

 

[Rack]

Not gonna lie, I'm envious. Card games are one of my weakness and from what I've seen, Hearthstone looks great. I'm chomping at the bit to give it a try myself but alas, no luck yet.

Have you tried Card Hunter yet? It's seriously good and should act as a nice buffer at the very least.

In general with card games if you don't find yourself in top deck mode it's because you've overvalued card draw. Of course if you're in top deck mode for long periods your deck could probably stand to be cut higher but cards in hand don't win games.

With Priests I think the issue is mostly that it's very hard to do any kind of structured deck with the basic cards, you have to do a slightly slow, slightly weak long game of establishing tempo. Since that's what Priests excel at they are top tier at the start. That said I'm still only in Diamond so I've just been steamrolling most classes and only occasionally having tough games against skilled opponents of various classes or when I'm playing a class I haven't grokked yet. Mages have given me the most difficulty so far but I wouldn't read anything into it.

 

[notred360]

i just got beta accesses recently and the game is brilliant, i don't play TCG usually but i'm hooked on hearthstone, the game's so simple but you can employ such brilliant strategy's in it, and the feeling of clearing your opponents board when victory seems impossible is unparalleled.

that siad, there still some balance issues to be addressed like lots of spell cards have a low mana cost for the amount of pain they can deal, i normally play with a paladin deck and using a few of the ridiculously cheap buffs i get, i can easily hit damage levels in the high 20's and kill the other player in a single turn

 

[Baldr]

As someone who played since first wave beta with ranked Master medals, and Grandmaster Arena medal. There are definitely no OP classes per say. It about how well you construct your deck, and how you play your cards. You have to sync the synergy of the cards to your play style.

Winning in the game is all about experience. What opponents cards are priority to get rid of, knowing what order to attack or play a card. Learning to efficiently use you mana. When to hold on to cards.

 

[Smertnik]

Just so you know, there's no trading involved in Hearthstone.

 

[therandombear]

I really like Hearthstone, got into beta few weeks ago. Played some pvp matches, though reluctant too do so in lenght, mostly cause the whole: "Shit man, gonna get owned, not a good deck etc." Gone both ways so far, won some, lost some.
Played some Arena, and idk, I seem to get shitty picks there. xD

 

[The Madman]

Have you tried Card Hunter yet? It's seriously good and should act as a nice buffer at the very least.

No but I play Shadow Era fairly often, especially on my phone. It's a fun card game. Would still definitely like to give Hearthstone a try though.

 

[DelinquentTurtle]

Yeah, never played a card game in my life (except a few bouts of Munchkin but that's a whole different thing) and I decided to try it once I got invited since Blizzard and all. I must say I'm hooked.

Incredibly polished and doesn't seem as Pay2Win as I've heard most card games like Magic are. The fact that you can get in game gold as well as get card packs and more through Arena (which is randomly drafted) means realistically you never have to spend actual money in-game. Also high-end legendaries seem to be more unique than overpowered.

All-in-all pretty impressive game. Just hope it comes out on Android eventually as I feel it'd really shine as one of those games you just play on your tablet or phone instead of a pc.