[PC Game] Hearthstone (Practically Beta)

[Hailey Knight]

Pez, don't take it so hard. Haven't you seen the thread title? The game is still in beta; they're gonna slip up now and then .[DOUBLEPOST=1483566518,1483566460][/DOUBLEPOST]

I think what it really comes down to is that for FTP players of Hearthstone, a free pack has far more value than a card back, and the free pack was taken away this week. Poe spends all his money on VR and Hearthstone cards, so he doesn't care if he misses out on that.

Alternative: win 30 games.

 

[PatrThom]

Interesting brawl this week, but holy shit Blizzard, why the hell didn't you give us a card back and a free pack?

You do get a card back for winning the brawl. No idea if you get a pack for achieving some other goal (revealing all secrets, hitting the right death rattle, whatever).

--Patrick

 

[Ravenpoe]

You might have a point if it cost the company something to give it out, but in this case it costs Blizzard next to nothing to give out free packs (I'm assuming there's some trivial amount of electricity spent on the server power handing packs, but it's almost certainly less than the processing power actually spent playing the brawl.)

Also, Hearthstone players got ignored this Winter Veil. WoW players got gifts, including a mount and other stuff. Hearthstone got... Nothing. The Winter Veil brawl we were supposed to get was postponed (assuming it will still happen). Not that I really wanted another brawl where the only reward is card back.

We're less than a month into a new expansion. It's the holiday season. New players came in. Old players came back. Blizzard is supposedly celebrating Winter Veil and the 20th anniversary of Diablo. So, yeah, I'm kinda shocked that they aren't being even a little generous to their players. "Hmm, it's the holiday season, and we screwed up on getting the themed brawl out on time. How should we make it up to players?... Yeah, we'll just do nothing, and hope no one notices."

And none of this sounds entitled to you? I can understand being annoyed you don't get a free pack this week, but you'll get another one next week. The free pack from brawls wasn't even meant to be a permanent thing, it was to celebrate the opening of the brawls and people like it so much they decided to keep it.

You also do not know what it costs blizzard to do anything. Yes, in theory a free pack should be easy to do, but the hearthstone backend is, frankly, a giant mess of spaghetti code. It was a tiny side project being worked on by two guys (and then one) that then expanded into one of Blizzard's most popular games. It took so long to add extra deck slots because the number of deck slots were hard coded into the game engine. The 'heroic brawl' that they tested out took the place of regular brawl because that's the only system they had to work with. So it's entirely possible that having a brawl reward two separate rewards was too difficult for them to implement with what they currently have, though admittedly this is pure guesswork.

What isn't guesswork is that you are still getting a free brawl adventure, with a free, unique reward for doing it, but you are upset that it isn't the free reward you want. That just seems like the wrong reaction to me.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Suck it, Cow King!

 

[figmentPez]

And none of this sounds entitled to you?

Nope. I also complain when restaurants don't give me enough napkins.

Here's the thing. When I last managed to talk one of my friends into playing Hearthstone, one of the things I told him was "Play the Tavern Brawl, it gives you a free pack each week, it's great for new players." Not long after was last year's winter brawl, which only got a card back. My friend came to me confused, asking why he didn't get a pack. And, honestly, his experience is one of the major reasons that I don't try to recruit any of my other friends to play. Hearthstone can be a really crappy experience for new players, and inconsistent rewards is one of the biggest factors.

I realize that Hearthstone is top dog, and is never going to offer new players 35 free packs like Shadowverse currently does, but I'd at least like to be able to say to friends "You get a free pack every week for playing the Brawl" and have it actually be true. I want to have more IRL friends who play Hearthstone. I want to be able to tell people to come play a game that I love, but quite frankly, Blizzard hasn't done enough to make the game enticing to new, casual, players.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Nope. I also complain when restaurants don't give me enough napkins.

Here's the thing. When I last managed to talk one of my friends into playing Hearthstone, one of the things I told him was "Play the Tavern Brawl, it gives you a free pack each week, it's great for new players." Not long after was last year's winter brawl, which only got a card back. My friend came to me confused, asking why he didn't get a pack. And, honestly, his experience is one of the major reasons that I don't try to recruit any of my other friends to play. Hearthstone can be a really crappy experience for new players, and inconsistent rewards is one of the biggest factors.

I realize that Hearthstone is top dog, and is never going to offer new players 35 free packs like Shadowverse currently does, but I'd at least like to be able to say to friends "You get a free pack every week for playing the Brawl" and have it actually be true. I want to have more IRL friends who play Hearthstone. I want to be able to tell people to come play a game that I love, but quite frankly, Blizzard hasn't done enough to make the game enticing to new, casual, players.

You could say "You get a reward every week for the Tavern Brawl, and it shows you what it is in the chest. It's usually a free pack"

 

[figmentPez]

You could say "You get a reward every week for the Tavern Brawl, and it shows you what it is in the chest. It's usually a free pack"

"If you don't have enough napkins, just eat your ribs with a knife and fork."

 

[Ravenpoe]

"If you don't have enough napkins, just eat your ribs with a knife and fork."

Real talk though, if you ever have a restaurant that forgets to give you napkins, you have a legal right to burn the place down.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I played with a slightly modified Warlock deck from Blizzard's classic recipe and now regretting dusting all those cards. Could've been dusting Druid cards instead!

In any case, might give the Arena a go this way, if Warlock shows up available, but either way I've learned a lot about minions and board control. Thanks, Poe.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I played with a slightly modified Warlock deck from Blizzard's classic recipe and now regretting dusting all those cards. Could've been dusting Druid cards instead!

In any case, might give the Arena a go this way, if Warlock shows up available, but either way I've learned a lot about minions and board control. Thanks, Poe.

I would recommend not dusting any cards other than those you have more than 2 copies of, and gold cards. You only get a quarter of the dust you need to craft them by dusting them, and you never know when those cards are going to end up being useful.

 

[PatrThom]

You only get a quarter of the dust you need to craft them by dusting them

Legendaries and Epics are 1:4 ratio, but Common and Uncommon are 1:5 or even 1:8, so if you intend to craft, you're better off exclusively crafting Epic/Legendaries, even if it means having to save your dust up for a loooong time.

--Patrick

 

[Hailey Knight]

I did not know you could only have 15 pack codes redeemed per account.


I bought more than 15 ...

 

[Ravenpoe]

I did not know you could only have 15 pack codes redeemed per account.


I bought more than 15 ...

Where were you buying pack codes from?

 

[Hailey Knight]

Where were you buying pack codes from?

eBay. The ones I was allowed to use worked. I suppose I could just re-sell the rest at a price reduction.

 

[Ravenpoe]

eBay. The ones I was allowed to use worked. I suppose I could just re-sell the rest at a price reduction.

I wasn't aware of the limitation, though I've never tried buying pack codes, they're usually given out for promotions. I'm guessing the codes were probably cheaper than just buying packs in the client, and probably for that very reason.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I wasn't aware of the limitation, though I've never tried buying pack codes, they're usually given out for promotions. I'm guessing the codes were probably cheaper than just buying packs in the client, and probably for that very reason.

Yes, to all of those.

Problem solved though; my wife says she wants to get back into it, so I'll give them to her.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I wish I'd been streaming for my own posterity. This Warrior was armed to the teeth with mean cards and C'Thun bullshit, and I was holding him off with the classic recipe Mage, mostly basic cards. I know he was just hoping to draw his C'Thun and get close to ending the game, but it never happened. It felt so good to be countering every move.

I wasn't going to buy any Old Gods card packs because I figured I could just craft anything I needed from the set. I did not know you get a free C'Thun and followers for it. I may never use them, but I'll happily take them.

Also got two of the Warlock cards I wanted in those two packs I purchased. Lucky!

 

[Hailey Knight]

Wife started up again and holy shit, if you haven't played in a while they really want to welcome you back. Each welcome back quest's reward has been triple card packs. Between those and the codes, she got about 160 cards last night? Golds and extras turned into 600 dust.

Really wish I'd been able to resume on my old account when I came back, but now I have more on this one, so whatever. I'm happy for her.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I bought Karazhan. I really need to follow advice here sooner--while I was wasting gold on card packs that weren't getting me what I wanted, I could've been saving up for adventures where you know what you get, and even if it's an older adventure that won't be good for standard soon, that's what I call dust.

Anyway, I'm through half the class challenges, and almost done with the bosses, but this last one ... can fuck right off. I was so close to beating him with my warrior deck last night. I had a shit-ton of armor and if I'd just put the shield attack card in my deck, that would've been the end of it. As it is, I'm struggling with his constant barrage of 6/6 infernals and his "kill a minion and get three health, and this card costs almost nothing to play" bullshit.

 

[PatrThom]

The adventure bosses are notoriously unfair until you learn their "thing."

--Patrick

 

[Ravenpoe]

I bought Karazhan. I really need to follow advice here sooner--while I was wasting gold on card packs that weren't getting me what I wanted, I could've been saving up for adventures where you know what you get, and even if it's an older adventure that won't be good for standard soon, that's what I call dust.

Anyway, I'm through half the class challenges, and almost done with the bosses, but this last one ... can fuck right off. I was so close to beating him with my warrior deck last night. I had a shit-ton of armor and if I'd just put the shield attack card in my deck, that would've been the end of it. As it is, I'm struggling with his constant barrage of 6/6 infernals and his "kill a minion and get three health, and this card costs almost nothing to play" bullshit.

One thing to keep in mind is that you choose when you face malchezaar. Use taunt minions and acidic swamp oozes to keep the beginning orc at bay, and only kill her when you have a hand built up that you can unleash on the real final boss. If you can beat him down quickly, you won't get overrun by internals

 

[Hailey Knight]

One thing to keep in mind is that you choose when you face malchezaar. Use taunt minions and acidic swamp oozes to keep the beginning orc at bay, and only kill her when you have a hand built up that you can unleash on the real final boss. If you can beat him down quickly, you won't get overrun by internals

I beat him first try after my post, but this is sort of what I did. For all the deck building and BS I put into it the night before, I ended up building a slightly-modified version of the basic bitch Priest classic recipe that's in the game. Two Northshire Clerics ended up with me having more cards than I could hold by the time I got to Malchezaar. I forget what I cast, but I ended up with some heavy duty minions. I think it was important to finish him off fast before his side of the board got out of control.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I beat him first try after my post, but this is sort of what I did. For all the deck building and BS I put into it the night before, I ended up building a slightly-modified version of the basic bitch Priest classic recipe that's in the game. Two Northshire Clerics ended up with me having more cards than I could hold by the time I got to Malchezaar. I forget what I cast, but I ended up with some heavy duty minions. I think it was important to finish him off fast before his side of the board got out of control.

Divine Spirit/Inner Fire shenanigans are usually a good and cheap way to cheese these bosses.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Blackrock Mountain is probably only going to be in standard for another 3 to 6 months and I'm still considering getting it. What the hell is wrong with me?

 

[PatrThom]

Blackrock Mountain is probably only going to be in standard for another 3 to 6 months and I'm still considering getting it. What the hell is wrong with me?

It really depends on whether you ever consider playing Wild format.
If you do, then buying the adventure (and eventually completing it) is probably more economical than trying to craft all the cards from dust.
If you don't, then you should be dusting anything that leaves the standard format the instant it does so that you can craft the new standard cards anyway.
If you just want them for completeness' sake, then you're too late, because as of now you can never get cards like the golden E.T.C. or golden Gelbin Mekkatorque, for instance.

--Patrick

 

[Hailey Knight]

It really depends on whether you ever consider playing Wild format.
If you do, then buying the adventure (and eventually completing it) is probably more economical than trying to craft all the cards from dust.

You can craft an adventure's cards without buying the adventure?

 

[figmentPez]

If you don't, then you should be dusting anything that leaves the standard format the instant it does so that you can craft the new standard cards anyway.

Unless you want the cards around to use in Tavern Brawl.[DOUBLEPOST=1484072044,1484071962][/DOUBLEPOST]

You can craft an adventure's cards without buying the adventure?

At least for adventures that are no longer part of Standard (which no longer available for purchase). I'm not sure if this applies to current adventures.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Thinking more, even if I choose to dust a bunch of cards, the Karazhan one was fun, kind of like a puzzle game. I might do Blackrock for that on top of brief playability and dust.

 

[PatrThom]

Unless you want the cards around to use in Tavern Brawl.

...which is one of the Wild formats, yes.

You can craft an adventure's cards without buying the adventure?

Once they move out of standard, yes.

--Patrick

 

[tegid]

At least for adventures that are no longer part of Standard (which no longer available for purchase). I'm not sure if this applies to current adventures.

For current adventures, you can only craft the cards after you have gotten them through the adventure (or so I read earlier today).

 

[Dei]

This is why I like Toast, even though he's cringy.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Now that I have it, I'm going to miss Imp Gang Boss when it leaves Standard.

I will not miss Reno though. Every loss tonight was because of Reno, which has got to me some statistical anomaly and I don't expect that'll happen tomorrow.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Now that I have it, I'm going to miss Imp Gang Boss when it leaves Standard.

I will not miss Reno though. Every loss tonight was because of Reno, which has got to me some statistical anomaly and I don't expect that'll happen tomorrow.

I'm going to miss Reno so much. I know to a newer player he might feel OP, but he really isn't. The sacrifice you have to make in deck construction is large, and as someone who has played a lot of Reno decks, I can tell you the inconsistency of a singleton deck can really be felt. That the archetype exists is great for the game, though, and I'm curious what will come in the next set to keep it going, because I don't think Kazakas alone will warrant it.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I'm going to miss Reno so much. I know to a newer player he might feel OP, but he really isn't. The sacrifice you have to make in deck construction is large, and as someone who has played a lot of Reno decks, I can tell you the inconsistency of a singleton deck can really be felt. That the archetype exists is great for the game, though, and I'm curious what will come in the next set to keep it going, because I don't think Kazakas alone will warrant it.

It's a risk deck, and I'm sure there are plenty of times unknown to me where I beat a singleton deck where my opponent was hoping so hard to draw Reno, but didn't. Tonight I just happened to face a handful of lucky SOB's.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I thought people were exaggerating about Dark Peddler; I thought, how good can it be? Well damn, the cards you can wind up with from there can turn matches around or give you the bonus needed for a finishing push. I climbed three ranks tonight. Probably only lost 2 out of 9 games, which feels so weird.