In case you haven't gotten yourself into the closed beta, been watching streams, reading forums and wikis, or have been living under a rock for the last couple of months, I'm going to be talking at you a bit about Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. This is Blizzard's new timesuck for those that are already addicted to WoW, already addicted to card games, and/or are looking to get addicted to both.
Hearthstone is a Warcraft-themed collectable card game in digital form. Two players face off both with decks of 30 cards and a starting health of 30 life. By taking turns playing cards that represent spells, creatures and weapons, both players try to whittle each other all the way down to zero life. Each turn, you'll draw a card, gain a "mana crystal" (which is the game's resource system), and are left to play any number of attacks or cards in whichever order you choose. There are no real phases in Hearthstone. Simply the beginning of the turn (where your mana crystals will refill, you'll gain a new crystal, to a max of 10, and draw your card) and the end of turn (where any effects that say "at the end of your turn" will happen). This helps lower the entry barrier to those that are new to card games.
There are nine classes to play in Hearthstone (the standard nine from WoW: Warrior, Mage, Druid, Rogue, Hunter, Preist Paladin, Shaman and Warlock) and each functions differently. This is Hearthstone's take on the traditional "color" or "element" system from other CCG's, in that certain cards are class-specific. Things like a Rogue's Eviscerate can't be used in a Paladin deck. A Hunter's Multi-shot can't go into a Warrior build. No two classes have cards that cross over, but there is a rather large "general" type that can be used by any class. Each class also has a unique ability that can be cast once-per-turn for the cost of 2 mana. No 2 are the same and even subtle differences, like how the Hunter can do 2 damage direct to the opponent and the Mage can do 1 damage to any target, really reflect the variations in playstyle. If this sounds a little complicated, don't worry. There's a tutorial for when you're just getting started, as well as a practice mode where you can play against the AI.
Hearthstone is a Free-2-Play game and has one of the best models I've ever seen. Each class starts at level 1 and can unlock 20 (two each of 10 cards) additional cards to use with that class. The game is NOT Pay-2-Win, since the only thing you can purchase with real world money are Packs - which are all randomly generated and guarantee only one "rare" or higher card. These packs can also be bought with in-game gold, which you earn from winning matches (three wins yields 10 gold) and from completing daily Quests. Each day, the game assigns you one random new quest. Quests aren't usually that varied. They tend to involve you winning games as a certain class, or completing X number of games. They're often not difficult, but the class-specific ones do force you to play outside your comfort zone. Perhaps you have a really strong Rogue deck, but the game wants you to play as a Warlock today. Step 1 is leveling your Warlock to 10 so that you have access to all of its basic cards.
In addition to ranked and unranked games against players with your constructed decks, Hearthstone also has The Arena, which is Blizzard's take on limited or "draft-style" gameplay. You'll be presented with 3 different classes to choose from. Once selected, the game will then make you draft your deck from 30 "packs" of 3 cards each. Once you've "drafted" your deck, it's time to go head to head with other players in The Arena. This style of play does a couple of interesting things to the game. For one, cards that seemed somewhat under-powered in a format where there were better options suddenly see play because, well, there aren't better options. Mana curves change and beefier minions become worth more since The Arena has a very heavy minion-based meta.
Prizing for The Arena also differs from constructed play. As you win games, you'll be awarded higher and higher level keys. The higher level your key, the better "loot" it will open for you. You can continue playing Arena with the same deck until you either loose 3 games with the deck, or you decide to retire it and try something new. Now, entry into the Arena isn't free. It'll cost you 150 gold or $1.99 USD to enter - mostly because of the way the prizing works.
The last mechanic that makes Hearthstone really work as a F2P game is the Crafting system. Any cards acquired from packs can be "disenchanted" for "dust". Dust works as an in-game currency for "building" other cards. No card in the game is truely "rare", because they can always be crafted. It just all depends on how much dust you have or how many cards you're willing to sacrifice to build it. This mechanic really makes the model work. It's like a built-in trading system where you sell cards back to the game in order to buy better cards. It allows Hearthstone play to be broken down really positively.
1. Play games for gold
2. Spend gold to buy packs
3. Receive random cards from packs
4. Disenchant cards you dislike or won't use
5. Craft cards you do like or will use
6. Build and tweak decks with newly acquired cards
7. Test deck against other players
8. Rinse and repeat
There is no maximum gold earnings per day, and by rewarding constant play with cards, and dislike for cards with dust to make other cards, the game becomes and endless cycle of positive reinforcement. It's hard to be disappointed with the things you pull when you can always disenchant them and create those that you do like.
Hearthstone runs off Blizzard's Battle.net network and though there aren't custom/private lobbies, you can always challenge friends who are currently playing as well as chat with others who are using any other game supported by Battle.net.
I can't properly score Hearthstone yet since the game is still technically in closed Beta and I've got plenty more to understand about the depth of gameplay and potential balance issues. These aren't exactly my first impressions, but they're not my last ones either.
Plus, at the end of the day, even if Hearthstone was SHITE, its F2P model puts even League of Legends to shame.
-Nik "Latency" Trumble
No comments:
Post a Comment