Hearthstone

[HumblePie]

Look up reynad's aggro warlock deck. It doesn't use any legendaries and is pretty powerful. It's by far the most popular deck I've been running into lately.

Not from what I saw past rank 20. 2 out of 3 decks were stacked with at least 5 of the aforementioned legendaries and they came into play at some point. Then there was usually a faceless manipulator, and other good epics thrown in as well. Most decks were 20+ cards of either legendary, epic, or rare in nature. The rest were the class spell cards that were good or the occasional loot hoarder/leper gnome kind of cards which are good in any deck for what they are.

 

[lupi]

Looks like blizz calling a mulligan on their decision to not change cards/rules anymore. Suspect a lot of dust will be made from this.



The final release of hugely addictive card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is nearing, Blizzard has said, and the developer has slightly tweaked some of its cards to make way for the end of open beta.

Tinkmaster Overspark, a popular high-level card, has had his damage and health buffed up to 3/3 (from 2/2) but now features a far more controversial Battlecry power: transforming another random minion into a 5/5 Devilsaur or 1/1 Squirrel. He was previously able to select his target.

"Tinkmaster is now destroyed," commented user KPT on Blizzard's site.

Also, the enduringly frustrating to play against (but great to have) Nat Pagle has also been tweaked slightly so that the legendary fisherman has a 50 percent chance of drawing a card at the start of a turn, as opposed to the end. Blizzard says this will give the other player a greater chance to counter its effects.

"The release of Hearthstone is on the horizon, and we have a couple of additional changes to certain cards we feel it is necessary to implement before the game goes live. As we’ve stated, we plan to make very few card changes when the game goes live, and we will only make changes to cards if they are absolutely necessary," wrote Blizzard. "Making these changes now will ensure a more balanced state of the overall game into release."

On top of these card changes, Blizzard will also modify its Ranked Play system so that bonus stars will be awarded as players head from season to season--in the past players would have their progress reset with each season, starting again at Rank 25.

Now if you're at Rank 1 or Rank 2, for instance, the bonus stars will catapult you to Rank 16 at the start of a new season.

 

[smackababy]

It seemed strange they would announce they weren't making any more card changes. That just makes little sense, lol.

 

[lupi]

But they did say it, and were fairly adamant about it. Not saying it was a smart course to attempt to take, but this is a fairly quick reverse on such a position.

 

[darkewaffle]

I like those two changes at least. And I don't think there was any firm announcement that "we wont change anything else", I was under the impression moreso that it was "we don't think it's likely but will see how things pan out".

Ysera's card needs to come at the beginning of a turn and so does Rag's effect imo.

 

[smackababy]

Rag's has to come at the end. If it comes at the start, it removes all your thinking and planning to help the RNG. Having to account for what that damage is going is what makes take a lot more thinking than just "oh! It's my turn and I don't have to think! Rag has done his job."

 

[Madia]

With little fanfare they've officially launched it in the Americas:

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/13154923/welcome-to-the-hearthstone-launch-3-11-2014

I wonder if they've finally got rid of that bug where you would see the back of your opponent's card on the game board when he bounced it back to his hand.

 

[Ns1]

With little fanfare they've officially launched it in the Americas:

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/13154923/welcome-to-the-hearthstone-launch-3-11-2014

I wonder if they've finally got rid of that bug where you would see the back of your opponent's card on the game board when he bounced it back to his hand.

so when I login today, everything will be reset (ie decks + collections)? I assume so but like you said, "little fanfare"

 

[Madia]

so when I login today, everything will be reset (ie decks + collections)? I assume so but like you said, "little fanfare"

No resets. When you log into it expect it to be the exact same as it was in beta except for the nerfs to pagle/tinkmaster. Currently, I've having trouble getting in which I think is the same for a lot of people. It should be back to normal later in the day. With so little fanfare for the official release and an open beta I don't see a lot of new players rushing to get in.

 

[Aikouka]

Supposedly, it's more than that as they've pushed out some bug fixes and graphical updates. I kept meaning to get my golden card for buying in the beta, but I kept putting it off. I really wish Blizzard would just give us dates, so I know how long I can procrastinate for! :|

 

[Madia]

Looks like blizz calling a mulligan on their decision to not change cards/rules anymore. Suspect a lot of dust will be made from this.

Tinkmaster Overspark, a popular high-level card, has had his damage and health buffed up to 3/3 (from 2/2) but now features a far more controversial Battlecry power: transforming another random minion into a 5/5 Devilsaur or 1/1 Squirrel. He was previously able to select his target.

I had both Tinkmaster and Pagle and have already disenchanted Tinkmaster for the 1600 dust. I agree that Pagle was overpowered but I'd only use Tinkmaster in beast decks and even then he never felt overpowered. It was an easy decision to disenchant him for a better legendary. Pagle is a more difficult decision on whether or not to disenchant. I haven't used him much in constructed but he's still one of the better legendaries. Any suggestions on keeping him or de'ing him for another legendary?

Also, any suggestions on what legendary to craft? The only non neutral legendary I have is King Krush but I rather craft a legendary I can use with all classes rather than just one (although Lord Jaraxxus is pretty tempting). I already have Ysera so I'm leaning toward Sylvanas and either Bloodmage Thalnos or Ragnaros if I disenchant Pagle.

 

[lupi]

Quote from Blizzard
Welcome to the Hearthstone Launch!
The tables are set and the tavern music is playing—Hearthstone is live!

The Hearthstone beta is complete and we wanted to take a moment to thank all of our participants for their incredibly valuable feedback and support. If you haven’t had the chance to jump into the game, now is the perfect time to check out the fast-paced strategy card game that’s fun for everyone. If you’re new to Hearthstone, getting started is simple: Just visitplayhearthstone.com and click on the “Play Free Now” button. Once your download is finished, fire it up and click on the Hearthstone icon. Install Hearthstone, then hit the “Play” button and you’ll be on your way.

As soon as you jump in you’ll challenge iconic Warcraft characters, including the ferocious Hogger, the mischievous Millhouse Manastorm, and the wise Lorewalker Cho. As you progress through these introductory missions, you’ll hone your card-slinging skills in preparation for a climactic battle against Illidan Stormrage! You are not prepared . . . for this much fun!

Once you’ve completed the introductory missions, you’ll have access to all of Hearthstone’s exciting offerings. Practice against the AI and you’ll be on your way toward unlocking all nine of the original World of Warcraft classes: Mage, Priest, Druid, Rogue, Shaman, Hunter, Paladin, Warrior, and Warlock! You can also challenge your friends to a duel, test your might against other players in ranked and casual Play mode matches, or fine-tune your mastery of deck construction for fantastic rewards in the Arena. An endless variety of decks are just waiting for you to build and play!

If you’ve already been playing Hearthstone with us, check out the new stuff we’ve added with the latest patch here!

Celebrate the release of Hearthstone with these class-themed Facebook cover photos and Twitter icons! (Available Here)

Start playing Hearthstone FREE today. We’ve got a seat waiting just for you!

 

[lupi]

I had both Tinkmaster and Pagle and have already disenchanted Tinkmaster for the 1600 dust. I agree that Pagle was overpowered but I'd only use Tinkmaster in beast decks and even then he never felt overpowered. It was an easy decision to disenchant him for a better legendary. Pagle is a more difficult decision on whether or not to disenchant. I haven't used him much in constructed but he's still one of the better legendaries. Any suggestions on keeping him or de'ing him for another legendary?

Also, any suggestions on what legendary to craft? The only non neutral legendary I have is King Krush but I rather craft a legendary I can use with all classes rather than just one (although Lord Jaraxxus is pretty tempting). I already have Ysera so I'm leaning toward Sylvanas and either Bloodmage Thalnos or Ragnaros if I disenchant Pagle.

I'd keep nat, say byby tinkie. Get rag next.

 

[Udgnim]

Gah... rank 15 and the only decks I run into now are stacked with legendaries. It's quite depressing. Every effing deck has at least several the following in them:

Nat Pagle
King Mukla
Ragnaros
Onyxia
Malygos
Cairne Bloodhoof
Gruul
Hogger
Illidan Stormrage
The Black Knight
Sylvanas Windrunner
Tinkmaster Overspark
Ysera

Most of the decks have at least 5 if not more of those legendaries along with the class specific legendaries and epic cards. Way too much try hard going on with these decks. I literally mean every deck has those going on. I play my mage burn deck and can win, but I have to have a perfect draw and the other person a slightly less than perfect. Which is really hard for them to do.

That's the one thing about this game is the massive reliance on legendaries as they are far and away usually better than anything else you can put into a deck minion wise.

people have hit Legendary rank with no Legendaries in their deck

http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1ylhao/trump_just_hit_legend_with_his_free_mage/

I still find Arena much more enjoyable than constructed though

constructed tends to either be super aggro decks or decks filled with legendaries and I don't enjoy playing against either

 

[Feneant2]

Arena is starting to be the only way to play... I find in ranked or casual, everyone just uses the same decks. I'm at the point where as soon as a warlock pulls out a murloc on turn one I just quit the game because it will be just like the last 10-20 warlock games I've played.

 

[lupi]

Went in yesterday to get the 3 quest wow mount. Saw I had 2 2 win with lock and a 2 win with pally quest so played 5 games to get all 3 done.

One of them as the pally was rather odd. Against a warrior whom at one point had 30 health and about 25 armor. Early in the game he used 4 cards to kill an adventurer I had droped and used the secret on to respawn it with 1 health. 2 damage cards + killing his minion and then another damage card when it popped back up.

After in the game I dropped illidan. He was almost killed but I panda'ed him although did not play on that same turn. Overall he had gone through about half a dozen more cards from his deck than I, his armor was finally gone but still about 27 health and my health was still at 30. He knew I had illidan ready to drop again, and I wiped the 2nd giant he had dropped and he was down to 1 card in his hand before draw. When I completed that turn he bailed on the game.

 

[Madia]

Arena is starting to be the only way to play... I find in ranked or casual, everyone just uses the same decks. I'm at the point where as soon as a warlock pulls out a murloc on turn one I just quit the game because it will be just like the last 10-20 warlock games I've played.

I think one of the problems with constructed is that the metagame has become longer meaning that the players lucky enough to have a lot of epic/legendaries now have a better chance to play them. Also, with many decks becoming so similar you have to invest a lot of time to get really good at the game whereas I'm more casual playing when have a free 20 minutes or so. I'm at the awkward stage where I have a page of legendaries, around 2/3 of the epics and most rares. The trouble is that now it's very hard for me to get the rest of the cards I'm missing. Even if I spent $20 I'd be lucky to get 3 or 4 cards that I don't have, not to mention the chance of pulling a legendary I already have (it's already happened twice).

For those reasons I usually only play constructed to get the gold for arena. I like the challenge of building a deck plus games take about half the time of a constructed game making it easier to play casually.

 

[HumblePie]

Arena is starting to be the only way to play... I find in ranked or casual, everyone just uses the same decks. I'm at the point where as soon as a warlock pulls out a murloc on turn one I just quit the game because it will be just like the last 10-20 warlock games I've played.

Yah, the lack of total cards is starting to show in this game. Games like this are typically min/maxed for deck builds. Which means only a certain limited subset of cards are going to be popular in the vast majority of decks. With a small set of total cards to already start with, that basically narrows everything down pretty fast for min/maxing. Which means running into the same decks over and over again.

I switched my mage deck up a little from the previous incarnation to have a bit more early game power. I was running into far too many agro decks and a late game mage deck was getting hard to deal with that. Now it's much easier to handle agro decks if I get a decent hand from the get go.

I have stayed away from looking at any of the "pre-built" decks that are thrown around on the net. Mainly because I can basically see most of what those are by playing the game. I do prefer playing against friends though as we screw around with different deck builds. The big problem is that playing in direct challenges doesn't could for squat really. Since you don't complete quests that way.

Arena is fun, but not something you can do all the time unless you have money to blow. Also, I seem to be lately getting extremely screwed over by the draft. The last 4 times I've done arena, the cards I had to pick from to make a deck all were complete crap. There wasn't a chance in hell of winning even one game with any of those decks. So I didn't bother and just retired and turned in a zero played key. Nets me the same "reward" as if I wasted my time going 0/3 or even maybe a 1/3. Unless you can do better than 3/3 there isn't any point to playing arena IMHO. So if I get a deck built I know is going to not at least have a good chance of going 4/3 I don't bother.

 

[JeffNY35]

This is a great game. still having fun with it.

I spent 20$ and that really boosted my card inventory. Yet I feel like I have gotten way more than 20$ enjoyment.

When I play my friends we fool around with decks a bit and that's been fun.

Arena is like gambling. Its fun but man I find it very hard to get more than 5 wins. Once in a while ill find myself with a really killer deck, then fate has it I run up against even better ones.

Whats missing in this game?

More card variety - Could use more as people have said the decks are starting to become very similar. Every priest relies on lightspawn, increasing health etc. Almost every Hunter deck relies on spamming low cost beast cards at the right moment. Every warlock deck is some kind of murlock rush deck...

Some sort of 2v2 play mode would be really nice especially if I could co-op with friends. I think this is #1 to me.

unfortunately knowing blizzard these things will not come for a long time. they like to polish what they have rather than throw updates with new stuff. Maybe 1 big expansion. I don't know....

Having said that in my opinion its the most attractive online card game out there. I have tried all of them. My favorite card game is probably MTG, I still miss it. But I found the online incarnation clunky at best and well, the game is aged and it just feels like a huge investment to get back into something nobody I know still plays.

 

[JTsyo]

I think one of the problems with constructed is that the metagame has become longer meaning that the players lucky enough to have a lot of epic/legendaries now have a better chance to play them. Also, with many decks becoming so similar you have to invest a lot of time to get really good at the game whereas I'm more casual playing when have a free 20 minutes or so. I'm at the awkward stage where I have a page of legendaries, around 2/3 of the epics and most rares. The trouble is that now it's very hard for me to get the rest of the cards I'm missing. Even if I spent $20 I'd be lucky to get 3 or 4 cards that I don't have, not to mention the chance of pulling a legendary I already have (it's already happened twice).

For those reasons I usually only play constructed to get the gold for arena. I like the challenge of building a deck plus games take about half the time of a constructed game making it easier to play casually.

You're supposed to enchant the key cards you need.

I got Ragnaros the Firelord in my last pack and not sure if I should use in most of my decks. Seems about the same as the giants but lower starting cost.

 

[Madia]

You're supposed to enchant the key cards you need.

I got Ragnaros the Firelord in my last pack and not sure if I should use in most of my decks. Seems about the same as the giants but lower starting cost.

The trouble is that the legendaries cost 1600 dust to enchant. The epics are doable at 400 but it's really hard to get up to 1600 especially when an average pack of duplicates (4 commons, 1 rare) will only net you 40 dust.

Definitely keep Ragnaros. He's one of the best legendaries there is and the 400 dust you get for disechanthing him isn't worth it. I'd strongly advise against disenchanting any legendaries you pull except if you get a golden one you don't want. Then you coulsd de the golden for 1600 dust and enchant any legendary of your choice.

 

[Hacp]

Sad day for me. I disenchanted my Gold Tinkmaster b/c they nerfed it so much. It was one of my few gold legionaries. I can pick up two legendaries now, I'm thinking Cairne and something else?

 

[smakme7757]

Seems Nat Pagel is worth 1600 Dust now. I haven't played him in a deck yet, maybe worth disenchanting for something else?

 

[Hacp]

Seems Nat Pagel is worth 1600 Dust now. I haven't played him in a deck yet, maybe worth disenchanting for something else?

Yes it is worth it to disenchant b/c if you have seller's remorse, you can always pick him up for the same amount.

 

[lupi]

Still don't get the nat change. He had a 50% chance at end of turn to get a card. A shammy can put down a totem and get a card every turn.