A Newbies Impressions

[Eternia 0]

Hey party people,

 

first of all I just wanna say hello to all of you.

 

second, I am playing Hearthstone only since about 30 days, so I, for some reason, thought it might be a good idea to share my impressions so far. Of course I want to talk about the things I do not like, because talking about everything that i DO like would take much longer. This game rules.

 

However, there are some things I have noticed. Please do not kill me, if there are already threads about these topics. As I said, its just about the first impression not about starting a descent discussion.

 

1) The Coin

I cannot tell if the coin itself is a fair game mechanic or not. What I do not like about it is the fact that it is a SPELL which allows rogues to use it for combos and triggers spell-related abilities of minions.

 

2) Murlocs

As far as I can tell, next to no one uses murloc decks, while mech and beast decks are very common. Now there are dragon synergies since Blackrock has been released. I dont understand why they introduced a new kind of minions (some dragons have been there before) instead of giving the players a reason for playing the existing ones.

 

3) Prices

Guys, the game rocks, but come on... 60+€/$ for 60 packs of cards... Well, I bought 5 big packs of both (because I am pretty stupid *G*) and the result was...lets say it was ok. But how often shall I do this to actually have all cards / enough dust for crafting them? I would like to know how much blizzard earns with this game in relation to WoW or other games...

 

Well, that was my first post, thanks for reading, see you soon. :-)

 

Tony

[Sottle 221]

1) Yeah, it's fair. Long term statistics show that the majority decks have stronger winrates going first than they do with The Coin, both in Arena and Constructed, so if anything, the 2nd player equaliser needs to be stronger. Certain decks like Rogue and Flamewaker Mage do benefit from it a lot though.

2) Not every deck has to be viable all the time, Blizzard did introduce a couple of new Murloc synergy cards in GvG in the form of Neptulon and Siltfin Spiritwalker for Shaman, but they didn't lead to an upswing in Murloc decks. The way the game functions is in a fluctuating meta, which means at some point, the game may organically evolve to the point where Murlocs are good again, Blizzard have been relatively careful with the number of cards they adjust, and generally just tend to let the meta solve itself.

3) Yep, packs are expensive, but in comparison with other CCGs like Magic, Hearthstone is actually pretty god damn cheap. Not to mention that the time investment is there, there are many top level pros who have not spent a penny on Hearthstone and have simply unlocked everything through time, that option is there, nothing is outright locked behind a paywall.

Thanks for your first post :)

[Vastidious 2]

Welcome to the game! 

 

1. As Sottle said, it's proving out to be quite fair. There are some cases where some decks have better results depending on if they go first or second, but overall it appears to be well balanced. As for it being a spell, yes some classes and combo's will take advantage of it being a spell but you won't see that many situations where a deck is built around that. Over time you'll be fine with it.

 

2. Murlocs were really big back early on both during beta and just after release. There are phases where everything shifts with new cards and new discoveries. You mention the use of dragons and they are getting more play time right now since they just were introduced into the game. Give it a few weeks and you'll see things start to settle into a more normal 'meta' scene as players figure out what works and what doesn't. The reason they added new cards and synergies like the dragon, is because if they don't the game will become stagnant and the players will leave. Over a period of time, the meta will become stabilized and it takes a bunch of new cards to upset things just enough to keep things interesting.

 

3. As for pricing, yes it CAN cost a lot of money to play the game. However, you CAN viably play for free and never spend a dime. For example, my co-host on our podcast, has created a second account and he has not spent a dime in the game on that account and was able to do very well in the game including unlocking each of the wings of Blackrock Mountain. I've also heard of many others who have been able to get to Legendary on the ladder, without spending money. It takes time, but it's doable. If you want to get cards fast, spending money is an option but not one you have to do.