Hearthstone - Heroes of Warcraft (beta)

[Jobydrone]

I FINALLY got into the private beta for this game two days ago and WOW the hype is justified.  Blizzard has really made a fun MMOTCG (massively multi-player online trading card game) for everybody, even people that have never played a card game before.  It's really simple to learn, with easily understood rules, card mechanics and combat, but with over 300 cards and more to come, it's very deep and fun to play as you delve into strategy, card combos, deck types, etc.

You play as one of the major characters from Warcraft lore, each representing a familiar class from WoW, such as Thrall (Shaman), Gul Dan (Warlock), Jaina Proudmore (Mage), and so on, and every character/class has unique cards that only they can use.  In addition, there are neutral cards that everyone has access to. The class specific cards are flavored so nicely to coincide and connect with the mechanics you may be familiar with from WoW, but so far they seem to be balanced pretty nicely so that no one class is super overpowered.  The goal of the game is to use creatures and spells from your self made deck of 30 cards to attack your opponent (computer AI, battle.net friends and/or random opponents).  First person to reduce their opponent from 30 HP to 0 wins.  Each class has strengths and weaknesses, for example the Mage deck is "control" based, fairly weak in the early game but tough to stop later on.  Warlock decks seem to favor fast damage for cheap costs, at the expense of your own health.  One unique element of the game is that Mana, the power you use to cast spells, does not come from your deck, but rather grows in a pool every turn.  So turn one you have one mana, turn two, two mana, etc. up until turn ten, when you've reached the most amount you can have.  Mana replenishes every turn, so you (almost) always have a full pool to work with at the beginning of every turn.  You win cards and gold from levelling up your character (wins and losses earn XP and completing quest objectives earn gold) which you can use to buy booster packs of cards from their online store to improve your deck.  Alternatively you can use real world funds to buy cards, otherwise this "free to play" game wouldn't make them any money.  I have a feeling that people are going to be buying lots and lots of booster packs.

I'm really enjoying it, it's scratching that old itch I had back in the 90s when I was a huge Magic the Gathering fan.  But you don't have to be familiar with card games to enjoy this.  Blizzard has mastered making what could be a complicated game totally accessible for all players.  If you have a Battle.net account you can apply for the Beta over on the main site.  They are stress testing their store so they might be increasing the numbers of people they're allowing into the beta.

I played against Billybob (Joe) last night, had tons of fun (and kicked his butt HA) so I'd love to have some more opponents to play with!

[Rico]

Great comments Joby. My younger son has been playing it. I haven't had time to dive in yet, but I will give it a go soon.

[billybob476]

That match was rigged! NONE of my banishing cards came up (shadow word pain/death). If I had one that berzerker would have been toast! It was fun! I hope to do it again!

[Jobydrone]

I think the high point of that game was when I used a secret to create a copy of your uber legendary dream creature and then sheeped yours before you had a chance to use it!!!  Pretty awesome.

[billybob476]

That's my one and only Legendary card and you STOLE IT FROM ME!!!! :)

[Jobydrone]

Ha ha must have been awesome to find Ysera in a booster is that how you got it?

[billybob476]

Yeah, I bought 2 packs for 2.99 since you get an additional legendary (gelbin mekkatorque: http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/251-gelbin-mekkatorque) if you help them "test the store" :)

I suspect that's all the money I'll be spending on the game for awhile.

[Jobydrone]

I got back into this game since it's release on the iPad, and though it really hasn't changed at all since the beta, it is still super fun. Rico give this a try, and anyone else reading this too, it's free to play and not a cheesy "have to spend money to have fun" kind of free either. My battle.net name is Jobyzone so look me up and add me to your friends list so we can battle!

[X]

I've been playing for a while and love it.

[Jobydrone]

Major update hit Hearthstone today, adding some single player matches (against very challenging opponents), and the chance to win new cards, in the "Curse of Naxxaramus" expansion.  The first taste is free for the rest of the month, then subsequent "wings" of Naxx will cost some money or gold to access.  I beat the first boss, but got stuck on the second. Good stuff!

[Rico]

Haven't played in awhile, but want to get back into it soon.