Game Review (Battlenet): Hearthstone

Posted by Jessimi February 07, 2017

Game Review (Battlenet): Hearthstone

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

Review

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/

This is my review and opinion on the game of Hearthstone, by Blizzard. I will be sharing things I like, and things I dislike about the game and my personal experiences with it. I hope you enjoy the read.

I am a HUGE fan of Hearthstone. I play it nearly every day, even if only for 30 minutes to do a daily quest. This is a virtual card game, free to play and download. You can battle other players online to improve your rank, and build up your decks. As with a lot of games, 'pay to play' applies here... if you pay money, you can get advantage quicker. However, -almost- everything in the game is able to be acquired for free if you commit enough time and effort. Paying simply gets you there a little faster.

As you play, you earn gold which can then be used to buy packs, play in the arena, or take on adventures. You can gold from daily quests, which max at 3 if you haven't done them. Every three games you win, you also get ten gold. So building up and saving gold is easy, it just takes some time. If you are a casual player, it might take you a bit longer to get the type of cards you really want.

There is also a 'dust' system. As you get cards, if you happen to get more than two of the same card, you can then disenchant them into dust. This dust can then be used to craft other cards you want. Crafting is a bit expensive... but the longer you play, the more dust you will build up and then getting those elusive cards you want gets easier.

Rank System

Hearthstone has a competitive ladder rank system. Each month the rank system is reset. You start at the lowest rank, 25, and then work your way down to try to get to Rank 1, and after that, you get Legendary rank with a whole new ladder. Your goal each month should be to reach Rank 20, which gets much easier after you've played the game a while. At this rank you get the month's special card back. If you reach rank 15, you get a better monthly reward chest thank rank 20 (but the same card back.) You cannot go below Rank 20 in the same month once you've reached it. So you can play all you want and no matter if you lose all your games the rest of the month, you still get your Rank 20 chest.

Competitive players goal is to reach Legend, and then, the ultimate goal... Legend Rank 1. Its near impossible to KEEP #1, but you win by reaching it regardless.

Arena

I will start by saying... I'm terrible at Arena. The most wins I've gotten in there is 3. The Arena ladder goes up to 12 wins. Heh. So that said, I'll explain arena a little bit.

You pay to play Arena, either with money or with gold. Each round of Arena starts with giving you a random selection of three classes. You pick the one you want to use. Then you will be given a selection of 3 cards to pick from at a time, building up your deck. The picks are random, and you can get anything from common to legendary cards. You don't keep these cards after arena, they are only for use during arena, so its different every time you play. Arena is highly competitive, and you'll be matched against players who have similar win rates to yours in that game. You can lose twice and keep playing, but upon the third loss your arena run will end, and you will be rewarded with a chest of goods based on the rank that you reached. Naturally, the further you go the better your prizes will be. People good at Arena can earn a lot of gold playing it regularly.

Tavern Brawl

Hearthstone releases a weekly 'Tavern Brawl' event that people can participate in usually for free. If you win a game of Tavern Brawl, you'll get a free Classic pack. Further wins in Tavern Brawl give you nothing special. There is no ladder, no rankings, and no more prizes. Like ranked play though, every three games you win you get ten gold... so if you are good at that particular brawl that week, its a good way to build up some gold.

Tavern Brawl is probably my favorite mechanic of the game, because it keeps things new and fresh. They are usually quirky little events either completely random or specifically constructed. Sometimes you play against other players, sometimes you play against NPC bosses, and sometimes you team up with other random players and try to work together to take down an NPC boss. Team mechanics in this game are very rare, and I love when we get the chance to do them.

Adventures

There are also adventures you can play, where you go up against a ladder of NPC bosses. You unlock special cards and card backs by completing these adventures. However, I find them a bit expensive and the fact they lock old expansions when new ones come out is frustrating. Once locked, you have to pay gold only... and its a lot of gold to get through those adventures.

However if you have managed to unlock yourself a full adventure, you are in for a treat because there are unique mechanics and bosses to face which is refreshing and challenging. There are two modes of the adventures as well, so if you get through it once on normal mode... you can then go back and (for free) take it on in Heroic mode which is much harder. Beating an adventure on this mode gives you a special card back many players are envious of because they're difficult to obtain. Great for bragging rights.

More

You can also have special character skins you pay for or obtain during special promotion events by Blizzard. These special skins are animated and fun to use instead of the default class skins. Like the class skins, you also have card backs you can choose to use. You can set each of your decks to a different card back, or you can right click on your favorite and set it to apply to all your decks. I tell you what... I am incredibly jealous of people who have gone to Blizzard conventions and gotten special awesome card backs I'll never get. Hehe.

If you don't want to play competitively, there is also a non-ranked play mode where playing against other players doesn't matter if you win or lose. Though... I believe you still get ten gold for every three game wins. This mode is great for practicing new decks, or just having some relaxing games you don't have to worry about losing.

My Scores

Visuals: 10/10. The art and animations in this game are gorgeous, and even if you have your graphics turned down to low, it is still pleasant to the eyes. They have voice overs and animations on the cards, emotes for the players to use to communicate (or troll.) I don't think they could do any better on the visuals.

Game play: 8/10. The game is easy to learn with a little practice, and they have introductory systems to guide you. With time you can build the right decks to really push yourself far in the ranked systems. You do NOT have to pay anything in order to get good cards.. you just have to be dedicated and consistent. The reason I give a score of eight though is there is room for improvement in some of the meta and mechanics of the cards. Once in a while, things get unbalanced and a specific class gets over powered, making it harder to rank up. They do their best to balance the system with each new expansion, but with RNG and over powered cards... I think this will be a consistent problem in the game for a while to come.

Replay value: 9/10. If you only play ranked, or you only play arena... the game can get a little stale. But there is a lot more to do in the game, from quests, to tavern brawls, that help keep things fresh. Getting bored with a deck? Try a new one. Tired of arena? Do the rank system, or an adventure.

Price: Free. The game is free to play, and completely worth it. The entertainment you get out of it for being free is well worth any money you might consider putting into it later. Their market is used to buy card packs, hero portraits, and adventures. So while the game is free to play, you CAN get a slight advantage by paying money to get ahead of other people faster.

Recommendation: High. This is a great game to pass the time with, whether casually or competitively. If you play it often like me, you'll come to adore some of the characters and cards, or cheer on people playing on Twitch who you can learn new methods of play. If you visit an unofficial fan site called Hearthpwn, you can also download and use other people's decks or upload one of your own to share.

Thanks for reading my review. I hope if you were interested in this game that my review helped interest you. Below are a few screenshots of some of my personal achievements in the game. Enjoy!