Hearthstone

I have never been one for card games like Magic or Pokemon. The concept always felt way too abstract for me to understand. Those of you who play such games probably think that makes me sound a little simple minded, and I completely understand. My lack of interest and understanding of these games was the main force behind my complete lack of enthusiasm over Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The only reason I even put my name in the hat for the closed beta is because my husband convinced me *why not?*. Not a great reason, I know. In the end, I am really glad he talked me into it, because it turns out that I really enjoy the game. I could get loosing horribly, but I will still be having a fun time.

Hearthstone is currently in open beta, but the game feels pretty polished. If you are interested in trying it out, you can sign up for the open beta here. For anyone who is already familiar with the collectable card games, Hearthstone is just a digital version when some pretty graphics. If you are like me and new to the scene, the game has a lovely tutorial under the Practice game play that holds your hand through your first couple battles.

Here are two matches I recorded while I played. The first I am a Mage and I lose pretty badly. The second match I am a Druid and I win.

When first starting out, I find the Druid and Warrior class to be two of the easier classes to play as. Warlock is the hardest for me to grasp so far, but I am determined to get a handle on it. At this time, though, I haven't tried all of the classes. Each day they give you new "quests" which encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and try the different classes. Being able to play a variety is important if you want to try your hand at the Arena. In the Arena play more you are given an option of one out of three random classes to choose from. From there you put a deck together, slightly at random, on the fly. Then you play with that deck until you loose 3 times. Your prize at the end is based off of how many wins you achieved.

What has me really excited was that BlizzCon discuss that they were working to make the game available on iDevices as well as Android. The game appears that it will be free to play with microtransactions. I think these two factors will help bring a larger audience to the game. In the end, I think Hearthstone shows real promise and I am rather excited to see how it will all turn out.