Topic: Hearthstone: Blizzards digital TCG

[sirean_syan]

Yeah, I got invited a few weeks ago now. I haven't bothered to redeem it.

[idolminds]

Open beta started for North America, other regions should follow pretty quickly.

[Cools!]

Yeah, I got an invite some time back and another one recently. Haven't bothered installing it yet. Got a friend who's nuts about it and keeps telling me to install it.

[iPPi]

Open beta started at some point (I just grabbed it and started playing).

[idolminds]

It is now out of beta and just straight up released! Hooray!

[iPPi]

Hurray indeed.  This is a fun game and I've been playing it a lot.  If any of you are up for some friendly games, let me know.

[idolminds]

This might be useful for everyone wanting to play. Decks made with only basic (free) cards. When you get a class to level 10 and unlock all their basic cards it is a good idea to build a deck since the default one will be missing the unlocked cards. This should get you started.

[idolminds]

Expansion pricing announced

It is set up like WoW dungeons where there are multiple wings to take on. There will be 5 wings total, and the first one will be free if you play within the first month of release. After that it will be priced like all the other wings, $6.99 or 700 in-game gold.

Also bundles will be available:

[idolminds]

First wing is available and free for now! The main menu has changed Practice to "Solo Adventures" so now you go in there to play practice rounds or the new adventures. First wing seems to have 4 bosses? I haven't beaten the first yet but I'm super rusty.

[idolminds]

I like the new content. Its 3 bosses for this first wing and each one has special abilities that you need to plan for. For example the second boss will hit you with random missiles for as many cards as you have in your hand. So...build a deck with lots of cheap cards and card them as fast as you can! Course you still need to be able to deal with the cards she is putting down so you need to think about it a little more than that. Kind of. I did basically build a deck by throwing nothing but cheap cards in and won.

So beating each boss unlocks 2 cards for you to play with. Beating all 3 unlocks Heroic versions of the bosses making them harder and I believe more cards unlock by beating them again. It also unlocks special class challenges where you will face off against one of the bosses with a special premade deck. Winning that battle unlocks class specific cards.

So yeah, its cool.

[idolminds]

If this doesn't make you want to play, nothing will.

[iPPi]

The Heroic bosses in the Naxxramas expansion are very challenging.  I haven't really given it too much thought in tweaking my decks to deal with the Heroic bosses though. 

[W7RE]

Expansion pricing announced

It is set up like WoW dungeons where there are multiple wings to take on. There will be 5 wings total, and the first one will be free if you play within the first month of release. After that it will be priced like all the other wings, $6.99 or 700 in-game gold.

Also bundles will be available:

A new wing opens every week, right? I think I can save up 700 coins a week, if I do my daily quests.

I keep looking at deck suggestions and they all seem to either require cards I don't have and don't have the mats to craft, or they just suck. I had a "2 wins as paladin" quest so I found a beginner deck that was supposed to be good. I tried it, did terribly 3 matches in a row. Then I just let the game recommend cards to me and landed on a deck that carried me from 25 to 20 pretty fast, with few losses.

[W7RE]

This might be useful for everyone wanting to play. Decks made with only basic (free) cards. When you get a class to level 10 and unlock all their basic cards it is a good idea to build a deck since the default one will be missing the unlocked cards. This should get you started.

The rogue, paladin, and warlock ones are almost all the same cards, aside from the class cards. I tried the warlock one and got destroyed. =/

[idolminds]

I havent gotten all my classes to 10 yet, so far just mage, druid, and hunter. I'm going to work on that so I can get access to all the class cards.

[idolminds]

I played some matches with pyro the other day and have since gotten re-hooked on the game. Really worked on getting classes to 10 (only have shaman, priest, and paladin to go), then made a couple freebie decks and went into play mode to complete quests. Figured I'd also jump into Ranked at the same time because...hell, why not? Maybe I can earn a card back while I'm at it.

Beat my 3 quests and got a whole new set, and beat 2 of those (2 of them ended up being win 2 games as Mage so they were easy). Last quest has me win 2 games as paladin or priest which sucks since those are 2 I don't have leveled up. Ah well, I'll get there. Played a bunch of ranked and hit level 20 which is what you need to get the card back. I feel kinda dumb I haven't been doing that all along. I just squelch my opponent right away and then play like a bot match or something. I don't really like playing random players but that way worked out well.

So yeah, enjoying this again. Seriously thinking putting $20 in for the rest of the Naxx wings.

[idolminds]

Glad I picked this back up. Was kinda wanting a break after the wipe in beta and didn't play much at all for the last few months. So that means I missed out on a few of the card backs but...what can you do? I'm not too heartbroken over it. I earned last months back which is nice. However....this months card back. Dear god...


I will never need another card back. Already hit rank 20 so it's just a matter of waiting till the end of the month so I can use it.

Lets see, what else? Got all my classes to 10 so hooray I don't have to do that ever again. Beat all the expert AI to get 100g. In the process I hit 100 wins in any mode and got 300g for it. That plus quests and I've opened several packs which is always fun.

Had some fun games in ranked. One match I was facing off against a priest (mirror match), dude had almost nothing but spells. I think his whole deck was built for the minion, double hp, double hp, hp->atk and smash face for huge damage. The rest of his spells was just to keep my board as clear as possible so he can smash face with his combo. Too bad for him he messed up and buffed the hp the turn he played the minion and I had a simple low mana cost removal and poof, whole plan ruined. I had the "kill 40 minions" quest active and checked it after the match and he only played 3 minions the entire match.

Also managed to make lethal inadvertently playing as warrior against a mage. He dropped some 5/5 legendary that made my spells cost 5 more that turn. Had a yeti on the board, and in my hand a few smaller minions plus one that gave charge to my all minions with 3 or less attack. Played that first and my other little minions and I had exactly lethal with it. I actually surprised myself.

[W7RE]

I've been playing almost every day to keep up with my quests. I still feel like I'm losing because I don't have the right cards to build a decent deck. Anywhere I look for deck advice, they have "low budget" decks listed that cost 1000-2000 dust to make. I've been playing over a month and have gathered like 200 dust total. How the fuck is 1000+ "low budget"? Feels like I either need to play a shitload to get more decks (10g per 3 wins, wooo!), or drop real money on card packs so I get plenty of extras to disenchant.



Also, I suck shit at arena. According to this page:

Winning at least 7 games will earn the player their entry fee back in gold, in addition to other rewards. Winning 3 to 6 games compensates for the difference between buying a pack directly and earning one through Arena.

So fuck arena. I've never won more than 2 of my games. I'm usually lucky to win 1. So I'm just buying card packs directly from now on.

Also, I wish I hadn't spent the 1400g I did on Naxxramas wings. I barely played them and could have had 14 card packs instead.

[idolminds]

I haven't even run my free arena, which I'll probably do just to get the card pack from it.

I've had fairly decent success with some decks using only free basic cards. Icy Veins has some good ones to try out (linked to Druid but the rest are on the side there), of the ones on Hearthstone Players. Those ones all basically the same other than the class cards but the guides have good tips on how to play the deck and expert cards to slot in to improve it if you happen to get them so they are worth reading. Gave me some insight into why I would want to use certain cards over others.

I got lucky and got a pair of Faerie Dragons which are great to throw in a deck to replace the Bloodfen Raptors. Same stats, same cost, but can't be targeted by spells or hero powers? Awesome. Only reason to run Raptors for me now is if I'm playing hunter.

And yeah man no idea where the math comes from for the dust and crafting cards. I had an extra card I could dust and got my +95 bonus from it but havent decided what I want to craft. Probably a pair of harvest golems. But everything else? Oh hell no. If you melted faces in arena and dusted every card except for the one class you want to play...it would still take a while. Crafting a legendary basically requires you to get a gold legendary that sucks that you can dust and craft the standard legendary that you do want. Havent gotten any legendaries yet other than the free naxx wing one and the fun card from buying stuff in beta.

[W7RE]

Yea I've had luck with the icy-veins basic cards, so I've been 100% using their basic decks. I'm not confident that I could build a good deck myself, so I've been trying to save up to make one of their budget ones.

[idolminds]

So I learned you can earn the Fireside Gathering card back without going to one of the gathering events (I looked, none are really close enough to be convenient...plus I don't think my netbook will handle Hearthstone so well). You can either use a series of sandboxed instances of HS running on a single PC (and 3 Bnet accounts) or use a program called Evolve to fake a LAN environment. You only need 3 people to get the card back this way so if anyone wants to try get it I'd be willing to give it a shot.

[idolminds]

Bought the Naxx expansion content. $20? Eh...I've gotten at least that much entertainment out of the game already. The singleplayer challenges are quite fun, trying to work out a way to get the upper hand when the bosses have crazy hero powers and custom cards.

I was so close to winning this one...


I probably should have killed his minions instead of hitting him in the face, but I was top-decking and it didnt seem likely that I'd pull out a win anyway. I would have survived one more turn and thats about it. Luckily it was only the next match or two and I got the right cards in the right order for me to win it.

[iPPi]

I would like to play with some of you folks if we get the chance.

[idolminds]

Sure man, if I see you on I'll send you a message.

[W7RE]

Did some of you guys add me on Bnet? I got invited from iPPi and 2 people I don't recognize named Martinez and Iso.

[idolminds]

Hmmm, I don't have those names on my friends list.

PS, tomorrow is nerf day. Sad hunters, Starving Buzzard is going up to 5 mana 3/2 so the Unleash the Hounds combo wont really show up until late game for card draw. Leeroy Jenkins is also going up in cost to prevent slow it down and cut back one some of the insane combos its in.

[iPPi]

Sometimes you might get friend requests from people you just played against.  I suspect that's why there are names you don't recognize.

The hunter nerf is crazy.  I don't think Starving Buzzard is viable at all anymore (maybe with snake trap it can work on turn 7, or earlier if they are not played on the same turn).  I think the Leeroy change isn't bad.  It should mitigate the prevalence of miracle rogues.

[idolminds]

I think Buzzard will get tweaked some more. With the blizzcon finals coming up I think they needed to do something to just basically make it unplayable.

[idolminds]

Daily quest for playing 30 minions that cost 2 or less. Yup have plenty of those, let me fill a deck with them! I lost of course but that was the easiest daily quest ever. No expectations to win, just drop as many as you can. Interestingly it didn't do as bad as I thought it would. Would get the opponent down to half health. A couple tweaks and a few finishers and the deck could probably do ok.

[iPPi]

Well I caved and got the rest of the Naxxramas adventure.  Doing dailies and trying to get 700 gold for each wing was too time consuming.  I got the rest of the cards -- thus far there are only three cards I have found useful -- Sludge Belcher, Death's Bite (warrior weapon) and Loatheb.  Everything else is too situational and not consistent enough.  Nerubian Egg is really good anti-AOE and should be good for zoo, but I don't currently have a zoo deck.

[idolminds]

Ok Blizzard I don't need to find any more copies of Repentance in my packs. I think the 5 I already have are enough. There are a LOT of cards I don't have yet I somehow have 3-5 copies of more cards than I'd like. Guess I could start dusting some.

[idolminds]

Trying one of the heroic Naxx bosses. The spider in the first wing, Maexxna. Starts with 2 creepers on the board and her hero power is return 2 of my minions to my hand at random...cost is 0 so it is used EVERY TURN. So you want minions that will do something as they are played, so stuff with battlecries and charge are the way to go.

So I *think* I have come up with a way to win as paladin but I'd have to seriously luck into the setup. Basically if she plays a bunch of creepers (or a couple 1/4 gargoyles) then Consecrate to flood her board with 1 damage minions, then she can only deal 7 damage to me per turn. Then there is that 7 mana paladin minion that heals for 6 when played. If you can play that every turn then it would take a while for her to kill you. Play that and a voodoo doctor and you'd gain 1 life every turn. The hard part would be causing damage. If you lucked out and filled her board with 1 damage minions...or even a couple nerubian eggs then you could heal for 6 and then use wolfrider and charge into her face every turn for 3. But with 45 health that would take 20 turns. Chances are you will be into fatigue.

Of course actually the hardest part is even getting to that point. Every time I play I get those untargetable knights, shade of naxxramas, and sludge belchers before I even get to fill the board. Then when I do manage to fill the board...I have no charge minions to actually deal damage. sigh...

Oh yeah, if you DONT let her fill her board you can say hello to sea giants. gg

[iPPi]

It takes a bit of luck.  I finally managed it yesterday with a Paladin with using primarily battlecry cards.  I used my weapon to take care of Shades and certain other things that don't have one attack.  Otherwise, Humility and the minion that changes enemy's attack to 1 also helps.  Near the end I played more than two cards per turn just to up the damage and/or healing.

[idolminds]

Sorry ippi, I remembered I got a volunteer thing tomorrow morning. But afternoon to evening I should be on for some games. But I wanted to post about the match I just did. I have win 5 games as druid or rogue and Ive been using my druid deck for it. But after we played I decided to go in and tweak it a bit. Replaced my yetis with Stallagg and Feugen, put my owls in for a little silence and to play with my Watcher card though I might swap that out if it doesn't prove useful. Which it probably won't. Anyway, some other tweaks. Then I gave it a test drive and went up against a priest.

Game went well and I was ahead on life and the guy was really on the defensive the entire game. At the end I ended up with a buffed 4/3 cleric which he couldnt kill with a spell, and then played the 7/4 twin. On the priests turn he heals himself with his ability and a minion drop and gets his life total to 11. I still have lethal unless he has a taunt or something. He plays his last card...shadow word death on the 7/4, causing the 11/11 Thaddius to spawn. No walking away from that one. Though I guess Im lucky he didnt have 2 of those in hand.

[idolminds]

Woo, I got my first non-Naxx, non-beta legendary!



Pretty exciting. Only "bummer" card is the faerie dragon since that makes it my 4th one. But the hunter traps make up my 2nd of each, I didn't have any soulpriest before so that opens up some fun stuff for priest decks, and of course VanCleef!

[iPPi]

Nice.  You need to disenchant any cards that you have more than 2 of.  There is no reason to have more than 2.

[idolminds]

I know, but right now its not going to give me all that much dust anyway. Might as well hold them until I can really use the dust and maybe one of them will get altered and I can get full value out of my extras.

[idolminds]

It feels good when you can wait out your opponent. Hunter keep me on the defensive the entire game. I survive 2 unleash the hounds, a highmane, and everything else. Start making my comeback with an ogre and sludge belcher. Bet he thought that Sunwalker topdeck was pretty hot.

Mind Control. Insta-concede.

[idolminds]

Botters getting banned. So sadly this is just a "warning shot" ban. Its a 3 month ban and they aren't going to lose what they've gained. Which kinda sucks since they botted to earn cards and they will get to keep all those cards. Though noted in the forums that future bans will be permanent.

I guess the good news is we will hopefully see a drastic reduction in bots.

[iPPi]

I haven't played in a while, until some of the streamers like Trump and Krip had videos on youtube showing games they played against bots.  Good to hear that Blizzard is doing something about it.