Rest Time Reviews is a series for those with limited time to play video games. While I'll discuss the game as a whole, I also focus on whether or not a game is literally a waste of time. This RTR is all about HearthStone!
I've been waiting for this game to release for quite some time. Despite swearing off WoW for the rest of my life, I still like the universe and Blizzard still makes solid games (sans Diablo III's release). Plus I've been wanting a decent digital trading card game that wasn't Magic, and up to this point the field has been pretty disappointing. When I saw my first HearthStone commentary from an early version of the game, I knew I'd found my game.
Last night I finally received an invitation to their closed beta, and I haven't been disappointed. I'm not terribly far in to the game, but I've experienced everything outside of building/playing decks using the best cards, so I think I can give a fair assessment of the game so far.
What's it about?
First of all, the rules are very similar to Magic. Two people face off using one of the 9 core Warcraft classes. Using a mix of cards only available to that class, as well as neutral cards that can be used by anyone, players build a 30 card deck that can only have 2 copies of a single card. Players then alternate spending mana to summon creatures or cast spells, all with the end goal of setting your opponent's health to 0. So far there are no alternate win conditions, but I have a feeling the game has room for advanced decks with hard-to-achieve win cons down the road.
What sets this apart from almost every game out there is resource management. Games always have some way of pacing what players can play so that they don't drop their best creatures on turn 1. Instead of making you juggle your own resources, you get an amount of mana equal to the current turn. On turn 1 each player gets 1 mana to spend, on turn 2 they get 2, and so on. It makes games very predictable, it makes the limited resource accelerators very potent, and overall I feel like there's much less frustration because random chance has hosed my ability to play my deck properly.
What do I do?
Much like World of Warcraft, you level each of your classes by using their starter deck, or one of your own creation. I don't know if there's much point in leveling a character outside of the class-specific cards you unlock each time - most of them are very thematic and generally pretty good, but even a level 1 character can have a decent deck from cards that have been unlocked in packs (more on that later).
There are 3 different modes in HearthStone.
- Practice lets you choose an AI opponent to test your deck against, letting you test a deck's concept against easier opponent's and give you decent character XP as you go. Unfortunately no gold can be earned here, and XP gains become pretty minimal after level 10.
- Play (yes, Play) pits you against a random opponent in a ranked or casual game. This is a good way to get gold and XP if you can win, but losing gets you nothing.
- Arena is my favorite so far. You pick from 1 of 3 randomly chosen classes, then create a draft deck. You are given 3 cards and asked to pick 1 for your deck, and continue on until you've made a 30 card deck that cannot be changed. You are then randomly paired against opponents until you lose 3 times or win 7 times. At the end of this you are rewarded based on your performance. My two times in the arena had me a 1-3 and I got two prizes each time (gold and cards), so I imagine you get a prize for entering and a prize each time you win. Note that these games don't need to be done all at once - a game takes 5-10 minutes, and I played my 8 arena games over the course of last night and today with no fear of timing out.
Collecting and stuff
Building up your collection in the game is pretty simple. Card packs can be purchased for gold or real-world cash. Each pack contains 5 cards with a guaranteed Rare, Epic, or Legendary card. These packs aren't class-specific, and I've opened several packs that had no love for the Mage I was playing at the time. There doesn't seem to be an ability to trade cards with players yet, and I'd honestly be fine if it were never implemented so that there's never an easy out for building an uber deck.
Remember how I said a deck could only have 2 of a single card? HearthStone has a way to manage any excess cards in your inventory. Extra stuff can be disenchanted for crafting material, which can be collected and used to purchase better cards. The value of the card compared to what you get from disenchanting is pretty lopsided, but it's not like you're doing anything else with the cards anyway.
Pay to play? Get my torch and pitchfork!i
I hate free-to-play models, because all the good content is severely limited for people not wanting to spend needlessly. HearthStone definitely wants you to pay, but I think they perfectly toe the line between "pay to win" and "play without paying." By that I mean I think it will appeal to all audiences without leaning too heavily one way or the other.
Entering the arena costs $2 or 150 gold. If you do well enough in the arena then you supposedly get enough gold from winning to pay for another round. I, however, don't have that luxury. So I play against regular opponents, but the winnings from that are pretty slim. The other way to earn gold is through daily quests, which today had me winning 3 times in Play mode and dealing 100 damage to my opponents. The payout for that was 10 and 40 gold, respectively. So you can see that it's not a simple thing to just grind out the Arena, which is the funnest aspect of the game. At the same time, it's not so impossible that playing it is a rare thing - it just requires you to play a lot of regular games and win, which... is really the big point of playing a trading card game in the first place!
That being said, using money to buy pack puts you well ahead of the curve. I played my friend's deck tonight, and there were a ton of powerful cards in there that weren't close to anything I had in my deck, and that's because he splurged and bought packs. I think the game is compelling enough to warrant paying real money for it, especially if a trading system is ever enacted. Still, there's nothing that can be obtained with real money that can't be equally obtained with hard work. It may take longer, but it also means you get to savor the game longer, and good cards become even more meaningful.
The time investment
The big idea behind these reviews is to evaluate whether a game is making the most out of a player's time. If I only have 20 minutes to sit down and play, I want to make the most of that time. HearthStone passes this test with flying colors. There are minimal menus, letting you enjoy the majority of the game looking at the beautiful artwork. Deck building is relatively easy, though understandably more time consuming if you don't use the suggestion feature. Combat is straight to the point, all abilities can be read by hovering over a card, and I'm rarely left confused about what's going on.
Final thoughts
HearthStone is a great game. Magic has lost its pizzazz because I rarely interact with the opponent's creatures. In HearthStone, you have to pay attention to what your opponent puts on the field or you'll lose. All classes are very flavorful, but there seems to be enough versatility to let you flex your creativity. It's pretty competitive from what I've seen, and decisions are meaningful and strategic, rather than inevitable and mindless.
I'd encourage you to sign up for the beta and check it out.The open beta starts early next year, but there's certainly no harm in enjoying such an awesome game sooner! It's going to take me quite awhile to be competitive, but when the iPad version releases I'll be able to dedicate a bit more time in to my stubborn, miserly ways.
See you tomorrow!
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