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[Column] General: My Time with Hearthstone
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Hearthstone is Blizzard's latest addition to its stable of games, a trading-card game to boot. In his latest column, Matt Miller talks about his experiences in Hearthstone. See what he's got to say to see if you agree and then head to the comments to chat.
On a polish level, it is definitely a Blizzard game. The animations are smooth and fluid, keeping the World of Warcraft art style we have all become so accustomed to. The cards have a 3D feel to them, with the art popping off them when they are tilted as they are slung around the board, and there are particle effects, screen shakes, and incredible sound work (cribbing lots of familiar sounds from World of Warcraft). Overall I love the presentation. When I compare it to what we’ve seen so far of the upcoming Hex: Shards of Fate it looks a thousand times more polished.
Read more of Matt Miller's My Time in Hearthstone.
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Comments
I didn't think I could get burned out on Hearthstone coverage, but I am, lol. All my youtube favs are playing it...I guess it was only a matter of time before it came to MMORPG.com
edit: oops, said hearthfire, meant hearthstone
I think the biggest mistake was they gave the AI voices. The damn things seem to chatter too much.
It's like playing MTG against a trash talking human without the ability to punch them.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
Tons of hype, most popular game on Twitch.........then 3 days later everyone realized the truth and it disappeared.
Seriously? What truth did everyone magically realize?
No no, not truth.
truth
Also, I got no clue what he's referring to.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
I've been playing it and I really enjoy it. My favorite so far is Matt's least, the warrior. I haven't spent any money but still win at least 50% of the time. I've managed to get a few good rares and even a legendary from just the gold I've won.
I mention this because on browsing the hearthstone forum I noticed lots of people complaining the game is p2w or too based on luck . (welcome to cards)
I think he's referring to the erroneous belief that Hearthstone is pay to win, which it is not. One of the most powerful decks can be constructed from mostly commons and a few rares. It has over a 70% win ratio.
Aww come on guys, dont hate on Hearthstone, its probably one of the most fun games Ive had the pleasure of watching other people play for several hours on youtube.
Seriously, I know its Blizzard, but Compare how fun the game is compared to Scrolls (Which I love by the way and have plugged at least 40 bucks into on decks alone) and its almost sad they dont have more games like it.
Its super polished, super fun, and it doesnt take up your life or your wallet unless you want it to.
ITs defiently not pay to win either, Ive seen several youtubers who only put in 20 bucks or less and do fine in Arena battles. For a F2P game, it does it right, in the same way Leagues did it right and Scrolls.
These sorts of pay-by-the-pack collecting games scare me a little - they are very, very addictive. The thought of that sort of lure, backed up with the behavioural metrics analysis that can be done in an online game seems like a really dangerous combinaton. There's a part of my consumer brain screaming "danger: stay away" every time I encounter an article one of this new wave of virtual card games.
I'm not hating on the game at all. It does look fun and the UI is much better than MTG UI. I don't even play WoW, but I'd play this game. Right now though, I'm getting burned out on Hearthstone commentaries, lol. To the point where I start TotalBiscuit's hour long play-throughs when I go to bed, and then fall asleep to it, haha.
Arena is a an even playing field as it does not matter if you've unlocked 50 cards or 500 cards you're still drafing from the same cards everyone else is. If you good at arena and get 6+ games won there is a good chance you'll get enough gold to play arena again and in all cases you get a card pack.
It's been said but common cards can beat deck full of unlocked eipc and ledg cards, I have seen games won in 4 rounds so what good are those 7 and 9 cost ledg cards?
Hearthstone seems fun and all but the game lacks many things. First of all, what's there to do? You just endlessly duel players for virtually no reward or do the Pay Per Entry Arena mode. There's no currency or trading. No possible way to get Packs without spending money. No real meaningful progression or story to be found.
Don't get me wrong, the card game itself seems fun but I think this game will be met with negative reception after it releases. There are many high quality feature rich MMO card games on the horizon that have a lot more to offer than Hearthstone.
You can get card packs by spending your gold that you get for winning games. Gold is earned doing the quest you get each day, achievements and milestones and doing good in the arena mode, you can also enter arena with gold and not just real cash.
You can disenchant cards you don't want into dust and craft any other card in the game including the legendary cards.
You can level up each class the more your play and that is how you unlock your common cards for those classes.
There is a ranked play, are you good enough to be a 3 star diamond player.
HS is not designed to be played for hours each day it's a little side game you can spend half hour in here and there, the average match will take around 10 minutes.
If you complete the daily quest each day you'll likey have enough gold to buy a pack of cards every 2 days, want it faster than that then pony up the cash or try your luck in the arena and strive for that 9-0 win.
"Well sure, the FrinkiacVII looks impressive - DON'T TOUCH IT - but I predict that within 100 years computers will be TWICE as powerful, ten THOUSAND times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them." -Prof. Frink
Steam: Neph
But a fun cash grab.
One key difference though. Hearthstone can be played totally free. You can't do that with real world CCGs.