Hearthstone

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 5:28 pm

SudyNym#1476 here.

Arena disconnects, huh?

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:07 am

The grind for gold sure is brutal, as far as affording packs or arena entires go. It makes grinding in M&M: Duel of Champions look downright productive. You'd think Blizzard would have even more quest/achievement incentives. As it is it's a fun game to come back to for shorter play sessions, but I burn out quickly.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:20 am

Sudy Nym wrote: You'd think Blizzard would have even more quest/achievement incentives.

Blizzard has an incentive to incentivize you to spend real money...

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:47 pm

Sudy Nym wrote:The grind for gold sure is brutal, as far as affording packs or arena entires go. It makes grinding in M&M: Duel of Champions look downright productive. You'd think Blizzard would have even more quest/achievement incentives. As it is it's a fun game to come back to for shorter play sessions, but I burn out quickly.

It's waaaaaaay better than it was before the patch a couple weeks ago. Used to be 5 gold for 5 wins. Ugh. The game really is designed to just be played in short bursts, though. It's definitely not a WoW experience where you'll sit down for a 4-hour play session (unless you are willing to spend some $$$).

Thanks for the friend add, by the way, I would have gotten a game in last night but I was rolling with a good Warrior deck in Arena. Although, I raged pretty hard when I got disconnected when starting up an Arena match and therefore got a loss.

My Warlock and Rogue are still at level 1, so I'd like to get some practice in with those decks. Maybe this weekend?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:49 pm

Also remember that Blizzard is also competing for the Magic the Gathering Online crowd, who are used to dropping hundreds of dollars a month to play. $2 for an arena game seems incredibly cheap when you've been drafting for $13 a draft (noting that you keep the cards you draft in MtG). As a MtG player their game seems really good for not a lot of investment unless you insist on disregarding crafting and want to play constructed. As a WoW player the game seems like a real money sink, so who knows. Depends on your perspective.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:42 am

I got my invite last night. Looks cute, but I can't afford to be spending real money right now so I will see how appealing it remains

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 9:25 am

Yeah I'm not complaining, I'm just used to being able to afford a pack (of 10-12 cards) after 5-10 games of Scrolls or M&M: Duel of Champions, where even there the grind can be a toil at times. Though admittedly, decks run 50-59 cards minimum in those games, and you're allowed 3 and 4 of a card in a deck, respectively, IIRC.

If you're able to gain entry to Hearthstone's arena on in-game gold, it's great value, since it's only 50g more than a pack, and you're guaranteed a pack as a reward. Never mind a shot at more cards, dust, and gold if you do well. And I don't mind dropping the equivalent of an MMO subscription cost on a game I'm enjoying, but I could find myself outdoing that easily for a while in Hearthstone, at least while I still find it fresh.

ska5fe wrote:Thanks for the friend add, by the way, I would have gotten a game in last night but I was rolling with a good Warrior deck in Arena. Although, I raged pretty hard when I got disconnected when starting up an Arena match and therefore got a loss.

My Warlock and Rogue are still at level 1, so I'd like to get some practice in with those decks. Maybe this weekend?

Yeah, my first arena I bought with in-game gold I got disconnected during a match I was doing well in. With the loss, I think I wound up going 1-3 or 2-3 in the end.

My very first one I went 3-3, which seemed pretty good.

It's my weekend to work unfortunately, so I may not be on much. But any time I am, just message and/or challenge me (however that works).

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:50 am

I don't know if priests are actually OP, but my priest + gurubashi berserker just went something like 6-2 in play mode. Too bad I forgot to enable ranked until the last game....

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:09 am

Does anyone know how the matching system works? I popped into the game earlier (still trying to like it) and had a quest to win 2 matches with a paladin. My paladin class is level 2 and my first match I got completely stomped by Jaina took 2 fireballs worth 8 damage each fairly early in the match and it went down hill from there. The second match is what prompted my question about how the ranking system works, I was matched against Rexxar (Hunter) and he was using the level 8 hunter rewards...uhmm...I am using a level 2 deck and my opponent gets to use a level 8 deck??

As a side note, speaking of deck rewards; the level 15 shaman reward is a foil version of a card you get 2 of at level 1. Seriously??? Do all the classes get screwed at 15 (which I guess would mean they're not actually screwed) or just the Shaman?

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:21 am

Yep, same thing for each class. Not at my computer to verify, but I think you only get 3-5 class card unlocks over your early levels, then rewards just transition to gold versions. The other class cards unlock from packs.

I believe the matching system is based only on win-loss. You can probably build an average deck around a class's starting cards, but you're still going to get some pretty wide win variance.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 2:55 am

So do medals award you anything currently? And are they linked to matchmaking?

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:50 pm

Sudy Nym wrote:So do medals award you anything currently? And are they linked to matchmaking?

I believe the answers are 'no', and 'yes', respectively. From what I understand, the ranking system doesn't work like Starcraft - once you're in a tier, you can't be bumped to a lower one, which I'm hoping they fix before launch, as it will likely cause most players to eventually hit a wall of consistent losing, which would be frustrating. Granted, I'm not the expert on the ranking system, either, so don't quote me as an authoritative source.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 4:34 pm

ska5fe wrote:
Sudy Nym wrote:So do medals award you anything currently? And are they linked to matchmaking?
I believe the answers are 'no', and 'yes', respectively. From what I understand, the ranking system doesn't work like Starcraft - once you're in a tier, you can't be bumped to a lower one, which I'm hoping they fix before launch, as it will likely cause most players to eventually hit a wall of consistent losing, which would be frustrating. Granted, I'm not the expert on the ranking system, either, so don't quote me as an authoritative source.

(FWIW, you can no longer be bumped down a tier in StarCraft 2 either - not until the next Season or unless you voluntarily leave your tier.)

buckeyeshane · Post by **buckeyeshane** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:35 pm

Does anyone here have an extra key? I don't get it I see people getting multiple keys sent to them and hundreds on ebay selling for upwards of $100, and yet here's me whose purchased just about every major blizzard release (some collector's editions) and yet I get no key, makes no sense

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 8:28 am

Everyone who opted into the beta will get a key eventually. You must go to your Battlenet account and actively opt in to be eligible.

buckeyeshane · Post by **buckeyeshane** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 8:42 am

Lorini wrote:Everyone who opted into the beta will get a key eventually. You must go to your Battlenet account and actively opt in to be eligible.

Oh I did that a long time ago, still no luck

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 11:54 am

Just yesterday they promised all opt in's will get into the closed beta before open beta starts. Also look in your spam folder just in case.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:15 pm

GODLIKE!

Just went 9-0 in arena with a Rogue deck. What a rush! Haul was 210 gold and 2 expert packs. They kept throwing priests at me, but I kept mowin' 'em down. Deck and draw was good enough to recover from a few serious misplays, but most games I just steamrolled.

Seemed to coin Defias Ringleader almost every game, and frequently got Raging Worgen or Spiteful Smith out early enough to dominate. When they saw me with an Assassin's Blade buffed by Deadly Poison and Spiteful Smith at the same time, they just curled up in a corner and cried.

The deck had loads of utility, and always seemed to give me exactly what I needed.

Cold Blood x2
Deadly Poison
Young Priestess
Shiv
Acidic Swap Ooze
Defias Ringleader x2
Ironbeak Owl
Perdition's Blade
Fan of Knives
Acolyte of Pain
Demolisher
Ironfur Grizzly
Raging Worgen
SI:7 Agent
Silverback Patriarch
Chillwind Yeti
Sen'jin Shieldmaster
Silvermoon Guardian
Assassin's Blade
Assassinate
Booty Bay Bodyguard
Faceless Manipulator
Spiteful Smith x2
Stampeding Kodo
Agent Commander x2
Sprint

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 6:56 pm

Well done, and with a Rogue, no less! I have yet to get higher than 7 wins in Arena. Just out of curiosity, what is your Arena rank? I'm in Diamond.

buckeyeshane · Post by **buckeyeshane** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:43 pm

Finally got a key today!

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:20 am

Glad you finally got in, Shane. I was definitely checking my e-mail 50 times a day before I finally got mine.

Not sure of my rank, ska5fe, being that Blizzard's down for maintenance right now. But it can't be especially high. Since I started tracking myself on http://www.bahida.net/arena.php" target="_blank, I think I'm 24-15 total. That includes my best guess of my first couple runs. I followed up my 9-0 rogue run with a 5-3 rogue, but most of my others are 3-3s with a few other classes. I've been playing Arena only sparingly as I I level up the classes in constructed.

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:36 pm

That's a great record. I'm 40-42 since I started keeping track of my arena runs, which is a little disappointing to not be above .500. I'm currently on a Hunter run that I think I'll do pretty well on, though. Had a crazy win with it last night where Freezing Trap saved me from a loss, ended up winning with 1 health left.

miltonite · Post by **miltonite** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 4:55 pm

I got my beta key the other day, I have yet to install it though.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 7:14 am

Drafting both Alextrasza and Deathwing is awesome. Except when your priest opponent mind controls the latter. In my defense, I would have died the turn I played Deathwing if I hadn't used him. And my opponent had already burned onw mind control. Of course, he'd been able to exploit a buffed 7/7 Northshire Cleric for so much card draw earlier in the game, I wasn't surprised he had another ready to go. I pulled off so many great plays to keep the match close, but it just wasn't enough.

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 4:24 pm

Mind Control is brutal.

I've gotten surprisingly few legendaries in my Arena decks since the wipe. I finally got a really good one (Ysera) in a Priest deck, then I went 0-3 and never got to play it. In my defense, one of the losses was due to a bug.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 2:23 am

Just capped off a 9-1 priest arena run with a win against a rogue who had me down to 1 health.

Yeah, priests are OP. But still, 9-1!

Of course, I preceded that with an 0-3 Paladin run....

According to my records, I'm 49-31 in arena now. But outside of my 9-win runs, I'm pretty mediocre.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:14 am

I'm not sure what was worst during this 4-3 priest run; when I hit alt-F4 during a match instead of alt-enter, or when I unthinkingly cast Holy Nova while Auchenai Soulpriest was in play.

buckeyeshane · Post by **buckeyeshane** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:51 am

Been playing this alot since I got my beta key last week, I like it alot. Like it enough that I purchase some card packs with real money. I have only played arena once as a warrior and went 0-3, I'd like to think I had bad card draws in each of those games since I do ok in the constrcuted decks mode. I like the idea of completing the daily quests in the play mode and then using the gold earned to buy my entrance into the arena. Doing it that way you really do not need to spend any "real" money other than maybe buying some card packs so that you can be somewhat competetive in play (contructed deck) mode. So far I have accumulated over 700 gold. Even going 0-3 in arena I still received a card pack + some gold + some dust. If you are planning on buying a card pack with your gold (100 gold) you might as well spend the extra 50 gold for the arena entrance fee (150 gold), in my opinion since you are guaranteed a card pack not matter the results.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:37 am

Got a key a couple of nights ago and played several games tonight. It's polished, but for Blizzard that's not a surprise.

I've been playing a mage exclusively and have built what I feel is a pretty good deck but in practice haven't had much success. I think I need to adjust the mana curve as I don't have enough 1 drops and wind up not playing cards sometimes in early turns.

Name is red51ve in game.

EDIT: guess that's actually red51ve#1673

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 8:29 am

Had a lot more success playing last night. I put in another 1 drop minion and pulled out a 6 drop to compensate and it seems to flow better. Whole lot of minion solutions helped me get out of almost every situation my opponents threw at me.

miltonite · Post by **miltonite** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 6:28 pm

Miltonite#1867

Lets get a list of OO battlenet names going.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 6:56 pm

I got to 1-star platinum rank (mainly thanks to my priest and shaman), but now I'm back to losing more than winning, and also seeing a lot more legendary cards (for a while there, I hadn't seen a single legendary for at least a couple of months). It'll be interesting to see how the dynamic of the matchmaking changes when open beta starts in a few weeks, resulting in a major influx of players.

Watched the Blizzcon panel on Hearthstone - I'm happy that they are changing Unleash the Hounds (they don't know yet what exactly they are changing, but either way, the card is OP as hell). Not sure how I feel about Mind Control cost upped to 10 mana, considering most of my matches end before we even get that far...oh well.

Really don't like the 3rd change that they mentioned, though: changing Starving Buzzard from 2/2 to 2/1 - that just means that the card becomes completely unplayable against mages, and semi-unplayable against rogues.

Zork · Post by **Zork** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:15 am

Zork63#1251

I've played in the arena two or three times and have not done better than 3 wins. Having fun though!

-Zork

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:18 pm

gilraen wrote:Really don't like the 3rd change that they mentioned, though: changing Starving Buzzard from 2/2 to 2/1 - that just means that the card becomes completely unplayable against mages, and semi-unplayable against rogues.

...and Druids (shapeshift)! It did need to be nerfed, though, the card draw off it is ridiculous. Now maybe a nerf to Northshire Cleric?

KiloOhm · Post by **KiloOhm** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:48 pm

gilraen wrote: Watched the Blizzcon panel on Hearthstone - I'm happy that they are changing Unleash the Hounds (they don't know yet what exactly they are changing, but either way, the card is OP as hell). Not sure how I feel about Mind Control cost upped to 10 mana, considering most of my matches end before we even get that far...oh well.

Really don't like the 3rd change that they mentioned, though: changing Starving Buzzard from 2/2 to 2/1 - that just means that the card becomes completely unplayable against mages, and semi-unplayable against rogues.

I haven't had "release the hounds" change a game much, but maybe I've been lucky. Starving Buzzard I'm always annoyed by but never thought it was too OP. There are a lot of options to get rid of that (I mostly play mage).

Mind control has taken several games that I would have won and turned it into a loss. I expect this to happen when the games are close but that card turns a easily won game into a loss. I think it can tip the scales a bit too much. The 10 mana change is probably a good change IMO.

Zork · Post by **Zork** » Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:22 pm

Looks like a new patch will be landing soon.

Highlights of patch:

Shattered Sun Cleric is now a 3/2 (was a 3/3)
Argent Commander is now a 4/2 (was a 4/3)
Flame Imp’s Battlecry now deals 3 damage (up from 2)
Mind Control’s mana cost is now 10 (up from 8)
Starving Buzzard is now a 2/1 (was a 2/2)
Unleash the Hounds has been reworked and now reads: “(4) For each enemy minion, summon a 1/1 Hound with Charge”.

-Zork

tru1cy · Post by **tru1cy** » Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:20 am

somehow I missed I received a beta invite for this back in OCt... will download the client tonight to check it out

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:46 am

I just got in a week ago and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. My biggest complaint is that they put the Arena behind such a big game-money wall. Drafting a new deck before playing is such a fun way to play, and it's a shame you can't just play that way all the time.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:26 am

I got in the Beta last week as well but just saw the email today. I want to finish SC2:HotS before starting it though. Only 8 missions left.

Torfish · Post by **Torfish** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:35 am

I received an invite a couple weeks ago. Usually I try to stay away from betas so I can avoid spoilers and not be frustrated with bugs. But I took the plunge anyway because of the of the good vibes I'm hearing. Glad I did, I'm loving it! A perfect game for me where I can play for a quick 10 minutes or half a day. Easy to pick up and lots to learn to master. Love it.