Hearthstone

[Barkeep49]

I have decided that I am going to start saving my gold for the expansion.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Matthean

As the player base matures, I can only assume it is getting worse.

Most likely, or at least the differences will become more extreme & obvious.

Not sure whether they'll become more frequent though, since I'm not sure what the retention level for the game is (it was a daily thing for me for a few weeks and now hasn't been touched in 2-3 weeks ... bumped off the gaming table as it were)

[Lathum]

I think this game may be in trouble for the casual player. I just played several casual games, not ranked play, and got smoked by decks with obvious themes that were well tested decks. Wasn't much fun.

[Matthean]

They need to figure out the ranking of decks and go from there. I wish them luck.

[Lathum]

Ended up winning one out of ten games. Ironically it was ranked. Every casual game I played I got crushed by a theme deck.

[terpkristin]

Everything I've heard is to play ranked, because casual is broken. People are just using it to stroke egos or something.

/tk

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Ended up winning one out of ten games. Ironically it was ranked. Every casual game I played I got crushed by a theme deck.

I find it funny that I brought the subject up last week, and all of a sudden I've been having a much easier time in casual. 4 of my last 5 in casual and I should have won the one I lost (attacked a minion rather than dealing the last blow to his character).

My arena runs have been terrible though.

[MacroGuru]

I just started playing ranked and I am 4/4. Casual I have done well with my rogue deck.

The Arena the most wins I have gotten to is 3.

[Lathum]

It is kind of BS that in arena play some people get epic cards to choose from and some dont.

[Peregrine]

I think one way to address this would be to have the game give your arena deck after you pick it an internal "rank" based on what kind of rarities you have, then it could try to match you with people of similar ranks.

[Lathum]

Why can't there just be a set number? For example every arena deck is offered one rare, one epic, etc. seems really dumb to me and uneven that when constructing a random deck your opponent has superior cards to choose from.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The problem is that there isn't necessarily a correlation between rarity and quality among cards. Lorewalker Cho, for example, is not nearly as powerful as Cairne Bloodhoof.

[Matthean]

Balance has never been a Blizzard strong point.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Why can't there just be a set number? For example every arena deck is offered one rare, one epic, etc. seems really dumb to me and uneven that when constructing a random deck your opponent has superior cards to choose from.

Not every arena deck is offered a legendary.

EDIT: didn't read as part of thread. Never mind.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Why can't there just be a set number? For example every arena deck is offered one rare, one epic, etc. seems really dumb to me and uneven that when constructing a random deck your opponent has superior cards to choose from.

I'd go further than that and say that you need some 'vision' with regards to what cards are coming or have it bias towards ones which help your selection.

For instance sometimes you'll get a card which requires other cards to function optimally (say other 'Pirates' for instance or a Weapon) ... its hit and miss as to whether you'll actually see the required card throughout the rest of the draw or not.

This means I go very 'vanilla' on my Arena decks to avoid this sort of thing screwing up the deck.

[Thomkal]

Curse of Naxxramas is now available to download and play

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Curse of Naxxramas is now available to download and play

So is that just like an expansion?

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So is that just like an expansion?

Solo Adventure, with new levels released weekly it looks like. Fun so far.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So is that just like an expansion?

Somewhat. It's an solo adventure where each week for four weeks you enter another wing of Naxx's lair. You have to defeat three bosses in each wing before you can defeat that wing. You will have to pay in-game gold or real money to get access to the following wings, the first is free for now. You can also unlock class challenges for each class I believe against Naxx's bosses.

I'm not a very good player-tried my highest level character, a mage against the first boss and got my ass handed to me very quickly. Switched over to my second highest ranked character, a paladin, and was able to defeat the boss on my first try. Kept the paladin around for boss 2 and defeated her fairly easily. You get a Naxx themed card for each boss you beat-they use all new cards that fit Naxx's realm. Expect a lot of Deathrattle cards, which you have to deal with carefully as they can heal the boss or summon a monster(s) upon death amongst other things.

Some complaints on facebook and the forum about how easy the bosses were to some-defeating all three in 10 minutes or so. Second wing opens in a week.

[kingfc22]

Supposedly they fixed the in-game crash bug for iPad 2's, but I have already crashed out twice in my first battle in Naxx's realm.

Edit: make that 4 times so far.

[Barkeep49]

The first boss gave me some issues though I ultimately prevailed. I then defeated the next two each on turn 5. I don't have a good grasp on Druid play so that construct deck is giving me some challenges. The rogue deck was fun to play.

[Warhammer]

Just like anything else in this game currently, if you have an overpowered deck, you can defeat the AI easily. The problem is, if you have an average deck, it will be difficult.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Just like anything else in this game currently, if you have an overpowered deck, you can defeat the AI easily. The problem is, if you have an average deck, it will be difficult.

In thinking about it I think you're right, it does seem skewed towards the high end players. This approach seems silly considering I think lower level people are more likely to want to do it.

[Peregrine]

I havent played the expansion yet but I wonder how competent the AI can really be. It seemed terrible when I was playing the practice games - does it just use strength to overcome bad play?

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I havent played the expansion yet but I wonder how competent the AI can really be. It seemed terrible when I was playing the practice games - does it just use strength to overcome bad play?

I haven't played the "hard" version yet but it's definitely improved in how it uses its spells. But more of the difficulty comes from strength of cards.

[Alan T]

The hard version is pretty tough so far for me. The AI starts with 40 health instead of 30, and their 2 power specials are more buffed. Such as the first boss on hard level for 2 crystals can call a 4/4 creature pretty much every turn.

I haven't managed to beat the first boss yet on hard level, my best was getting him down to about 9 health I think before I just ran out of steam and lost control of the board.

[Fidatelo]

I got stuck on the spider last night on normal. I'm going to have to custom make a deck for that guy, I think. I can't imagine playing these things on a harder difficulty, I'd get stomped.

[Barkeep49]

So for Anub'rekhan, the first boss, I used this deck which ended up working. I swapped out the haunted creepers for some other low cost taunts which ended up working. The key seems to be to get Wild Growth to play for turn 2. You'll need other card luck as well. The key for me was getting Ironbark protector out with some bonuses on top of it.

The second boss the key is to have a "zoo" kind of deck with lots of low cost creatures. If you don't have many cards in your hand her power isn't so bad and I was able to win this even on hard without too much trouble.

The final boss I'm thinking a lot of direct damage cards plus charge. Thinking I'll do warlock?

[MacroGuru]

Blew through the boss and the Class Challenges this morning.

[Izulde]

Yeah, ranked mode is sucking right now. I haven't played this in a while and keep getting hammered once I hit 20. Solo Adventure was fun but I beat it pretty quickly.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Yeah, ranked mode is sucking right now. I haven't played this in a while and keep getting hammered once I hit 20. Solo Adventure was fun but I beat it pretty quickly.

same exact thing for me. Even in casual I get smoked by epic decks.

[MacroGuru]

So I can't do shit against Noth, his deck is freaking crazy and I don't know how to counter it.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I havent played the expansion yet but I wonder how competent the AI can really be. It seemed terrible when I was playing the practice games - does it just use strength to overcome bad play?

The AI is woeful and the expansion opponents largely rely upon pre-canned combinations and/or over-powered powers/cards in my opinion which is a bit of a shame really.

(especially with regards to the 'practice' AI as otherwise it'd be a good way of testing out decks)

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

So I can't do shit against Noth, his deck is freaking crazy and I don't know how to counter it.

There are two easy routes with basic cards you can use against him.

Take a Mage deck and nuke him from orbit with spells or (my preferred) take a Priest Deck and just don't give him minions he can kill easily - he tends to go heavy on lots of smaller creatures so spawn the 'healing 0/5' units and double their health, use them to hold him from killing you while the right cards show up.

Easiest kill is 0/5 healer, then double health - follow with another double and make attack equal to health and instance 20 hit, for double coolness clone it using the minion which mimics another on the battle field ...

PS - Word of warning he does have a card which destroys anything but skeletons, but tbh with a Priest he's fairly easy to beat anyway as you can easily power up units to beyond his killable range and his AI isn't clever enough to victimise them after that meaning you can pick things off ..

[Barkeep49]

I agree that that the lack of a good AI is disappointing but I actually think they made the AI worse than it would have to be after overpowering the characters in other ways otherwise they could be neigh unbeatable.

[Lathum]

So you have to pay to do anything past the firsy level?

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So you have to pay to do anything past the firsy level?

You don't ever have to pay anything (I haven't purchased anything apart from the 'solo adventure') ... HOWEVER that being said in my opinion the gameplay is inherently unbalanced so as to encourage you to purchase card packs.

Its not 'required' but you will find yourself increasingly running into decks with 3+ legendary cards once you get to rank 16+ and if you have none yourself then you'll often simply feel 'nuked from orbit' at times (I have zero legendaries in my deck and I can handle decks with a few of them through cloning and instant kill cards, but you're dependent on draw (as always) and there are only 3-4 of these in my deck).

(You'll also find the monthly reset is painful for newbies as it effectively places all the lesser powered players into the better players sights for a few days until they grind up the ranks again)

If you're starting out then I'd recommend the Priest, Mage and Hunter as the easiest to play classes in my experience.

PS - Arena would be awesome if the cards you got to choose from were at all balanced between draws, as it stands sometimes you get legendaries in your options ... sometimes not, sometimes you get an early card which requires others to be useful and then never get the options for the 'others' to make it useful etc.

[Lathum]

I wasn't talking about the overall game, just the expansion. Sorry for any confusion

[Marc Vaughan]

same exact thing for me. Even in casual I get smoked by epic decks.

Best bet to dealing with epic decks in my experience - go cheap and dirty with a Priest deck.

Mind Vision - cheap (1) and steals an opponent card, wait until round 5-6 when they're likely to have better cards in their hands and cross fingers you steal a legendary.
Thoughtsteal - more expensive (3) but steals 2 cards from the opponents deck at random, use on a turn when you have nothing better to spend 3 on and cross fingers you get lucky.
Lightwell - Cheap (2) 0/5 healing unit. You want to put this down and have it survive a round (hide it behind a cheap taunt unit or play it early when they can't do 5 damage easily). Then use power word shield (+2 health), divine spirit (double health) and inner fire (attack matches health) to maximum effect.
Its VITAL you only do the power ups after the unit has survived a round as any player worth their sale will instant kill it next turn, however you can often simply win a game using this trick - my preferred is Lightwell, Divine Spirit x 2 and Inner Fire for a 20/20 minion, that leaves the opponent with 10 health and often they'll simply give in at that point because its likely you'll pick them off fairly easily from there.
Lightspawn - Mid-range cost (4) 5/5 attack matches health unit; expect it to get nuked from orbit but if it doesn't use the same trick as with the lightwell (without inner fire as it already has it effectively).
Faceless manipulator - Clones a unit on the battlefield, this is awesome for cloning legendaries or more frequently if I have a mid-range powered up lightspawn or lightwell (ie. 10/10) then its a good way to help ensure that I keep a powerful beastie on the board (as people generally have one instant kill option in their hand at a time but rarely two).
Mind Control - ludicrously expensive (10), but for legendaries very useful in the late game
Shadow Word Death - cheap way (3) of dealing with high powered beasties; kills any minion with 5 or more attack
Ironbeak owl - cheap (2), weak minion but with silence as its battle cry. Use either to take out annoying powers or as a sneaky way of getting past taunt units to finish an opponent.
Gurubashi Beserker - mid-range (5) 2/7 unit which powers up when injured; another 'good one' to consider doubling up on.

At the start always redraw if you don't get cards you can use early on - controlling the board is vital to winning with this approach. The units who you can power up are expendable - chuck them out there and see if they get nuked, expect them to get nuked and power up if they don't ..

Oh and you'll still get regularly nuked from orbit by anyone with an advanced deck - thats just how the game is setup to play, try not to feel bad about it ... it frustrates the heck out of me at times ... you're not alone

[Alan T]

For those that did not know, they announced the next expansion over the weekend: Goblins and Gnomes.

Looks pretty neat so far. Online people are making a big deal about the Random nature of the cards that have been shown thus far, but the report is that those are generally the most random and interesting ones and they did not show many of the more normal cards.

Looks like a pretty large expansion, much larger than the Naxx expansion that was a few months back.

[Julio Riddols]

I've been enjoying the game a reasonable amount, won my first ranked match this past weekend. I figure I will do better when I get more packs opened, I think I have only gotten 4 so far. Hopefully the expansion will add to the free game play.

[kingfc22]

I need to get back into this.

[cschex]

Can't wit for the expansion. Apparently, the arena rewards will be all expansion packs once it releases

[Alan T]

Next expansion is officially going live next Tuesday (9th).

They have released images of all of the new cards, some really fun looking cards to get!

[cschex]

For anyone who hasnt been playing in a while, apparently Blizzard will be giving everyone who logs in and plays during the expansion launch event window 3 free expansion packs and a free arena run

[Alan T]

According to patch notes, at some point soon (this afternoon), they're switching over arena play to use the new cards a few days ahead of time, and also giving 1 free arena play too it sounds like?

With the new patch, spectator mode is also going in, where you can watch your friends play. if anyone who plays doesn't have me on their friendlist already, I'm AlanT#1932

You can watch my crazy priest decks that I play with

[Julio Riddols]

I've been slowly slogging my way to a decent collection of cards, hard to really compete with some of these decks when you don't buy 40 packs to start yourself off, but I have won a decent amount, probably 30-40 games out of maybe 200. I like saving up my gold and drafting a deck and then failing miserably in the arena. My best run so far is 2 wins. Seems like I just get terrible draws and then get stomped.. But I have an idea for my next run that I am going to try.

[Alan T]

For some of the classes, yes it is very difficult to compete higher ranked if you don't have some good cards, but you can make a few decks (hunter and warlock primarily) that use almost 100% cheap or available cards that can compete at much higher levels than I am able to get to with a bunch of legendaries even.

I'd be more than happy to provide some deck lists that are pretty cheap if you are interested.

For the arena, I've gotten to where I generally average around 57% win rate, meaning mostly 4-6 wins on average. I've had some good runs of 10+ and some bad runs too. I've found in arena, it really is important to have quality minions over spells, and have a good selection of 2-4 cost minions to do well. (That is an overly simplified summary of course, but trying to keep this response short).

[Vince, Pt. II]

Yeah, I haven't played in ages but I found that when I got over trying to be clever and pull off combos in arena, my win rate rose dramatically. It's almost entirely about board control in Arena, and that means high quality, cheap minions.

[Alan T]

I have to say that I love spectator mode. It is fun trying to figure what move I would make and compare to others.