Hearthstone Beta "Wipe"

[Peelyon 416]

Those that have been lucky enough to have an opportunity to test in the closed-beta will have all of their progress "wiped" within the next few days as Blizzard as they prepare for a major patch for the beta.

 

To read the post from Blizzard click here

 

Possibly the most IMPORTANT thing to note is that after the "wipe" any future cards, gold, progression that is made by players that have access to the beta, will be retained when it finally goes "live" to the rest of the world.  

 

So basically between the wipe and the final launch, any player progress made by those that have access to the beta will be allowed to remain and continue when it is released to the masses.

 

Now as one of the few who have been lucky enough to play and test in the closed beta, I have mixed feelings about this retention.

 

Is it fair to those that haven't had a chance to test the beta? (and there are HUGE numbers of people that would have LOVED a chance to help test).

 

Even though I have been extremely lucky to be involved, part of me doesn't "want" my progress to be retained.  Personally I would want everyone to begin on a level playing field on launch day.

 

However with the proposed matchmaking that will be available it could be argued it won't really have much impact on new players.

 

So what do you guys and gals think?

 

Are you disgruntled that people can "get ahead"?  Or if you have had access to the beta do you think it should be a "bonus" for helping test and report back?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Damien 1,514]

Where did you read about the fact that players from the beta would be able to keep their progress? I didn't catch that.

In any case, if that were to be indeed the case, I think that it would be a nice reward (maybe too nice) to those who actively participated in the beta.

[Peelyon 416]

Sorry yeah this is part of the press release thats in the above link

 

 

 

"Will there be any wipes in the future?"

 

We don’t anticipate any further wipes. This goes for both the Hearthstone beta and after the game’s official release. Any progress made during the beta after the wipe will be retained through the release of Hearthstone, such as new cards you obtain, levels that you gain and ranks you achieve. Basically, you’ll now be able to keep your stuff.

 

 

 

Not sure if its the right direction from Blizzard.  A lot of people are already disappointed that they havent had a chance to participate in the beta - just seems like an extra kick in the teeth that they are missing out.

[Omaric 246]

I'm going to go ahead and say that the reason they aren't wiping anymore is because of real money people are putting in to buy cards and to play in the arena.  I'm not sure they're confident in their ability to reimburse people for their purchases after a final wipe before live.

 

I could also be extremely wrong.  :D

[Vlad 411]

In my opinion, it's perfectly fine not to wipe again before the release. I haven't seen anyone make any good arguments to support the notion of this supposed advantage that beta players have. As far as I can tell, no such advantage exists.

 

1. As we saw with this wipe, Beta players had all their real money purchases refunded, allowing them to instantly re-buy their packs. This would happen if another wipe was to happen, which means that all players who have any money invested would not lose their advantage, just that their collections would be somewhat different.

 

2. Players who do not have any real money invested have a pretty much insignificant gain from playing the Beta anyway. They have the basic cards, and the other amounts of gold you get from the starter quests, but that takes what, a few hours of playing to get and then that's it. The amount of gold gains from daily quests and constructed game wins is so small that it only amounts to a handful of decks over the course of the entire closed Beta period.

 

3. The matchmaking system makes "advantages" irrelevant. You will always be pitted against someone of equal "skill" to you. When you start playing Hearthstone at launch, you aren't going to have your basic card deck go up against people with legendary and epic cards. You are almost certainly going to be playing against the other hundreds of thousands (or millions) of players who have just started out. The ladder system will ensure that you're only ever up against people you are supposed to be fighting.

 

And anyway, the biggest advantage that Beta players have, which is their understanding and mastery of the game, cannot be removed through a reset.

 

That's my opinion.

[Tarazet 144]

Based on my experiences I can only echo what Vlad has said. If anything, some of the beta folks who got very high ranks early on might find that they are outclassed once the game goes live and will find wins in Play mode few and far between, which will limit their ability to participate in further Arena matches.

 

And since the meat of the game, Arena, is based entirely on random card pulls, it doesn't matter at all what advantage a beta player would have.

[Omaric 246]

Hearthstone isn't hard.  A monkey could beat someone, honestly.  It all depends on what you draw and whether or not they have an efficient answer to anything you play.  Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.  You could outplay someone completely, but they still win because they got the cards required to counter you before you got the cards required to finish them.

 

It's kind of frustrating sometimes, but my point is that being "outclassed" won't be as prevalent as "out-RNG'd" once all the new blood comes in.

[Tarazet 144]

Hearthstone isn't hard.  A monkey could beat someone, honestly.  It all depends on what you draw and whether or not they have an efficient answer to anything you play.  Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.  You could outplay someone completely, but they still win because they got the cards required to counter you before you got the cards required to finish them.

 

It's kind of frustrating sometimes, but my point is that being "outclassed" won't be as prevalent as "out-RNG'd" once all the new blood comes in.

 

I can't tell you how many people I've seen wasting removal cards, silences, board clearing, etc. too early and getting screwed because of it. There is a difference between a great player and a good one. If you are knowledgeable enough about the decks to predict what secrets you could be up against, what answers they could have to your plays, what minions can get out of hand and in which decks, and how to counter expensive cards with cheap ones.. that's the challenge.

[Omaric 246]

I agree completely there.  I'm just saying that the good people, the ones ranked diamond+, generally know all that by now.  Those are the people that aren't going to get outclassed once the game goes live.  They will certainly have challenges, but there is still a skill cap on this game.