Taz’dingo! Or, How Hearthstone Stole My Heart

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I should start off this post by stating that my experience with Collectable Card Games (CCG), or really any card games for that matter, is virtually nonexistent. I did, for a short time, collect the World of Darkness (WoD) cards, way back in the 90s, but it was mostly that … collecting. I think I actually played only a handful of times and if I ever won I neither remember, nor would I have had a clue how it happened. Despite being an avid World of Warcraft player, I never bought a single pack of their paper CCG either; the WoD card game kind of soured me on the whole CCG thing, though I do still have all the cards I bought. Hey, maybe they’ll be worth something some day (shaw, right).

With all of that in mind, when I first began to hear whispers of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft I pretty much wrote it off as something that I’d never ever take a look at. As I explained, I was kind of soured on CCGs. A few of the folks in the guild I’m a member of managed to get invites to the closed beta and, while they raved about it, again, I just ignored the hoopla. I was pretty damned sure CCGs weren’t for me. I trucked along, minding my own business and skipping by all the Hearthstone related tweets and posts, content in the knowledge that while it might be something other folks could enjoy, I wouldn’t.

Then the open beta started, more of my friends started playing and raving about it (gosh, Mogsy, Pid, and Maric … you guys sure are mouthy), and I began to waver. After googling some details and learning that it was entirely free to play, I thought, what the hell, and gave it a download. I figured I had nothing to lose but some disk space I could recover. Plus, I do really love the Warcraft IP. I was pretty much hooked from the tutorial, though I continued to deny it for a few more days. I set myself a bar; I thought that if I could get each of the nine classes to level 10, unlocking their basic decks, and I was still enjoying myself, then I’d admit to myself and others that I was hooked. That only took about a week.

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The clincher on the whole deal was last Friday night when I hopped in to TeamSpeak during the Hearthstone event Zelibeli organized for Multiplaying and the Alliance of Awesome. I had such a great time that I’ve pretty much been playing Hearthstone, mostly to do my daily quests, each day since. I even went out and spent some money for booster packs.

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This past week I’ve also ventured further into playing other real folks, through the matching system, in both Casual and Ranked games, and I even used up my one free Arena entrance fee and tried that out. I won two games before my three strikes and I was pretty impressed with myself. Though, I’m honestly not really sure if that was good or bad.

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Still, it gave me the confidence to pursue more Ranked play, as well as Casual play to complete the dailies, and I have been having a fantastic time with my Druid. I’ll play the other classes if they’re needed for a daily, but Malfurion is most definitely my favorite. I went through my cards, disenchanting anything I didn’t absolutely need for my Druid deck, and built myself a sweet set of cards to wield with the Night Elf.

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While an experienced CCG player might not be satisfied with the above progress, for a complete CCG noob like me I was just flabbergasted to beat anyone in Ranked play. The rankings get wiped tonight, and I’m looking forward to starting fresh with everyone else.

If you’ve never played a CCG, or are an experience player and are still on the fence about Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, I highly recommend you take the plunge. You’ve literally got nothing to lose by trying it. And, with the basic decks outlined over at Icy-Veins.Com (I’ve found them to be an invaluable source), which can be built from each class’ basic decks and don’t cost a cent to get, it’s quite enjoyable in it’s entirely free to play state. Blizzard has done an amazing job at making this genre of games easily accessible, a cinch to learn, and a barrel of fun. I am SO looking forward to the iPad version.


4 Comments

  1. j3w3l February 28, 2014 5:00 pm  Reply

    haha.. I think I was like that a little too until some friends prodded me in the direction of hearthstone and now I find myself doing dailies, arenas, ranked, buying packs and gearing up a few decent decks. It’s a lot of fun

    • Tenten February 28, 2014 5:50 pm  Reply

      I guess it’s a good thing our friends are into games and not like crack or meth. LOL

  2. Jaye Dub (@xXJayeDuBXx) March 1, 2014 12:26 pm  Reply

    On the surface the game seems basic, but there’s this nice layer of complexity that doesn’t hinder the game, and it’s addictive!

    • Tenten March 2, 2014 9:57 am  Reply

      Definitely addictive. And yeah, I’m. Or icing the layers now. My win ratio just went in the toilet and I have no idea why. LOL I might have to try a different class for a while. Or, do some reading to figure out what I’m doing wrong with my Druid.

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