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[ZealousD]

Previous Threads:
Beta - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=755759
OT1 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=782919
OT2 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=878696
OT3 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1008907
OT4 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1086390
OT5 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1131872
OT6 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1201002
OT7 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1238073
OT8 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1311864
OT9 - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1358651

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What is Hearthstone?
Hearthstone is a free-to-play online Collectible Card Game (F2POCCG, which is a real genre) from Blizzard, based on the Warcraft universe. Choose a hero corresponding to one of the nine classes in Vanilla WoW and create a deck using their signature mechanics to fight other players in Casual or Ranked matchmaking. Earn Gold for every three wins and use the Gold to buy booster packs in order to expand your card pool, or use the Gold to purchase a ticket to the Arena where you construct your own deck on the fly using a random pool of all cards in the game. There is no offline play, but there are singleplayer adventure modes.

Download the client (Windows, Mac) on the main site. Note, you will also need a Blizzard account to log in to their launcher.

How to play Hearthstone?
I'm not going to go into that here, just play the tutorial to learn the game.

How to really play Hearthstone?
Read articles, apply critical thinking, watch good streamers.

Is there an in-game/player-driven economy?
No. There is no card trading or buying cards from other players and there probably won't be anytime in the foreseeable future. In its place is a crafting system. You can disenchant cards you do not want for arcane dust. You can then use that arcane dust to craft cards you do want.

Is this game Pay2Win?'
Of a sort. The thing you should know about Hearthstone is that if you're not going to pay money, plan on playing a lot (read: grinding) or becoming really good at Arena. The longer a player has played, the bigger their card pool will be. This means that an older, frequent player will always have better cards than a newer player. This is just an unavoidable part of collectible card games.

A paying player can save a lot of time by buying boosters, but it's not cheap and they're not guaranteed the best of the best cards, which is, in the end, what separates good decks from the best decks. Buying some boosters right off, however, will help you build a foundation to reliably win games in order to get Gold.

If you really hate not having good cards, then stick to Arena, which is a "level" playing field for a certain definition of "level".

What's the balance like?
This far post release, the Hearthstone team is committed to only affecting balance changes when they are "absolutely necessary".

If I like MTG/YGO/blah blah blah, will I like this?
Hearthstone is simplistic compared to games like MTG and YGO. The reason for this is because of Hearthstone's asynchronous turns, which means that you can't make any moves on your opponents turns. Hearthstone does have it's own particular brand of complexity, but it's really designed from the ground up to be a "pick up and play game". If you're looking for a hardcore card game experience like MTG, you won't find it here, but if you're looking for a streamlined card game experience you can jump in and out of whenever you want, then Hearthstone is right for you.

Anyway it's free, so you don't lose much by giving it a shot.

NeoGAF Hearthstone Discord Channel

Le Reddit Guide - Probably the best place to start if you're totally new.
Trump Teachings - A video series by one of the game's most notable streamers. This is essentially Hearthstone 101 and is mandatory viewing for any new player looking for a crash course in Hearthstone strategy.
Liquid Hearth's Beginner Guides - Some of the info is outdated but the general ideas remain the same.
Three Competing Resources Parts 1, 2, 3 - A series of articles on "resources" in the context of a card game, which goes well beyond just mana.

Official Forums - A veritable nest of QQ and cries for nerf, just like your WoW days!
Team Liquid's Hearthstone Portal - Better place to discuss and learn about Hearthstone, frequently featuring competitive analysis and deck tech articles.
IHearthU - Another good site for high level Hearthstone discourse.
Hearthpwn and Managrind - Part of the Curse family of gaming sites, not only does it have an online database of cards and deck building tool, it is also home to ManaGrind, one of the premiere Hearthstone tournaments!
Hearthstone Wiki - Obligatory game wiki.
HearthArena - This website will help you out while drafting for arena. You enter the three cards you are presented for each pick and the tool will attempt to recommend you the best pick based on a general tier list and your current deck.
Gutshot's Hearthstone Collection Spreadsheet - You can use this to keep track of your current card collection.

Official Blizzard Channels: YouTube, Twitch. Blizzard's Official YouTube/Twitch channels. Used for officially sanctioned tournaments and announcements.
Amaz: YouTube, Twitch - Over the top reactions. Says "That's a card". Constructed and arena.
Brian Kibler: YouTube, Twitch - High level, very professional streamer. Former MTG Champion. Doesn't usually play meta-decks. Constructed-only.
Disguised Toast: YouTube, Twitch - Variety video content and fun streaming.
Dog: YouTube, Twitch - Popular, chill stream.
Hafu: Youtube, Twitch - Very high level arena play.
Kolento: YouTube, Twitch - Very high level stream.
Kripparian: YouTube. Twitch - Very popular stream. High-level arena play. Good YouTube content.
Reynad: YouTube, Twitch - Pro player who nonetheless probably hates the game and his life. Some of his donators sexually identify as attack helicopters.
Trump: YouTube, Twitch - Nice guy. Lots of good YouTube content. Constructed and arena.
Funny and Lucky Moments (Trolden): YouTube - Crazy play montages.
Epic Plays (Rage Orc): YouTube - More crazy play montages.
Hearthstone Science: YouTube - Advanced Rules Experimentation and Discovery

Hearthstone Calendar
Team Liquid Calendar

 

[TankUP]

I was proud of last season where I hit rank 5+ in both wild and standard, the stats they chose aren't very impressive but they are still good to get.

Also I guess they're pulling from all three regions to make this snapshot because I finished more daily quests than there are days.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

New thread, yay! Druid 4 Lyfe!

 

[A Pretty Panda]

Delete Priest

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Went back and popped my Old Gods pity timer and ended up getting a Shifter Zerus...

RIP dreams of Yogg.

 

[scarlet]

Delete Priest

The light shall burn you

 

[TankUP]

Went back and popped my Old Gods pity timer and ended up getting a Shifter Zerus...

RIP dreams of Yogg.

What are you talking about? Shifter Zerus could be anything! It could even be Yogg!

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

What are you talking about? Shifter Zerus could be anything! It could even be Yogg!

we all know it'd turn into yogg on turn 9 no coin

 

[wiibomb]

no wall of shame? BTW, how gaf gets those wall of shame?

 

[ZealousD]

Wall of Shame

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Wohoo and I even was banned for a couple weeks in between.

no wall of shame? BTW, how gaf gets those wall of shame?

when you click on the number of posts next to a thread you get a list of posts per account listed from highest to lowest.

 

[Fewr]

Oh yes! Bottom of the list. Being featured in these lists is a first for me. 💪

 

[Professor Lich]

Squeezed in there at the end, nice. Here's to the new thread!

 

[wiibomb]

how the hell did I end up second lol

when you click on the number of posts next to a thread you get a list of posts per account listed from highest to lowest.

can't believe I never clicked that link before

 

[Pooya]

I don't get those emails even though I opted in last month. lame.

 

[The Mango Sentinel]

Just got a secret keeper up to 11 attack. Feels fucking good to beat a priest down with my turn 1 card.

 

[Htown]

cool, new thread

for the time being I've stalled out around rank 9/10

if I fall all the way back to the rank floor I'll probably try messing around with different decks instead of secret mage

 

[scarlet]

I don't get those emails even though I opted in last month. lame.

It's really underwhelming. I thought it would be a complete stats, apparently not.

 

[SonicXtreme]

is the nerfs happening with maintenance tomorrow? I need to play tf out of giant aviana before it's too late

 

[Karsticles]

I figured I would be up high this time.

Delete Priest

+1

 

[fertygo]

got rank 5 with control pally

Streaking hard because all other people play aggro deck, btw dark conviction is very underrated card
Maybe its too much for 2 off, as 1 off its super solid tho

is the nerfs happening with maintenance tomorrow? I need to play tf out of giant aviana before it's too late

No.

prolly next week

 

[pixelish]

I don't get those emails even though I opted in last month. lame.

how do I opt in for the monthly stats email?

 

[soulslayer]

how do I opt in for the monthly stats email?

There should be an option in the settings of the Battle.net website wherein you can opt in to receive Blizzard newsletters.

 

[Ladekabel]

Delete everything but Priest.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

AS OF THIS POST DRUID IS KING

AND NOBODY CAN STOP THEM

 

[FeD.nL]

Chipping away at the dailies atm. Looking forward to the nerfs just to see how thing will shake up. It does make me want an alternate ladder that just has different modifiers every month, like only commons + 1 legendary and the legendary start in your hand, or simply only rares etc. Just a way that refreshes the ladder experience every month.

 

[SteveWD40]

I have been playing Druid since Beta, it's my only golden portrait. I played Ramp, Beast, Force, Cthun, Yogg and now: Jade.

I feel dirty, it's the first time (since Force Druid) that it feels broken, I have had wins come of of nowhere thanks to UI.

The only deck I insta concede to now is Quest Mage, as I lose 100% of the time due to how slow Jade can be to get going (with all their freezes).

 

[ZeroX03]

all this Druid complaining when you're about to get three months of Priest hell

enjoy

 

[scarlet]

Tried to play again, last 5 games raza had been in the last 5 cards. GG I love Hearthstone.

I've only doing daily quests now for the last 4 days.

 

[DyslexicAlucard]

New thread, wooooo! Kind of been getting a bit bored of the game lately, but I still play it every couple of days for the quests. Damn, they really are an effective way to keep me engaged.

 

[EverVigilant]

Been playing razakus and I'm not really sure if I like it or not. When it goes it feels like it has answers for days. And then the next game it can just fall flat on its face desperately trying to draw anduin.

Miracle rogue with sprint instead of auctioneer on the other hand, is a lot of fun.

 

[Ladekabel]

Taunt Token Druid is the most fun I had with Druid. Won two games where my earliest ramp was Nourish on Turn 5. Didn't even need UI.

Spreading Plague + Shellsomething Scavenger is fun!

 

[jerd]

I haven't watched any Hearthstone on twitch in a while so idk how long it has been this way but being able to hover cards on the board is really cool.

 

[Tunoku]

Just managed to win an arena match through the Warlock DK and a one-sided Doom. Whew.

 

[Hycran]

We should probably update the OP to remove Forsen from the HS streamer list gachiBASS

 

[IceMarker]

We should probably update the OP to remove Forsen from the HS streamer list gachiBASS

Who the hell even watches him anymore anyways?

 

[Q8D3vil]

Tried to play again, last 5 games raza had been in the last 5 cards. GG I love Hearthstone.

I've only doing daily quests now for the last 4 days.

Yeah, extremely hard to win if either cards in the last 10 cards.

 

[Grief.exe]

Tried to play again, last 5 games raza had been in the last 5 cards. GG I love Hearthstone.

I've only doing daily quests now for the last 4 days.

Yeah, extremely hard to win if either cards in the last 10 cards.

I kind of wonder if my opponents are laughing at me when I'm sitting there clearly focussing on drawing near the end of the game.

 

[QFNS]

Good thread title. I somehow avoided the wall of shame on this one. Good job me.

All the priest haters can suck an egg. I AM READY FOR THE PRIEST META

 

[Mr Cola]

Savj mill warlock is a bit hilarious, i approve, probably more troll than viable but still

 

[Sande]

Somehow I'm getting progress on "Play 30 shaman class cards" as jade druid.

 

[Dahbomb]

Somehow I'm getting progress on "Play 30 shaman class cards" as jade druid.

Jade Spirit is a tri class card.

 

[ZealousD]

Jade Spirit is a tri class card.

Same with Aya.

 

[Miletius]

Blizzard keeps on highlighting my Arena runs, got 12 wins again last month so it goes up on the board and everything they talk about is Arena related. I didn't really try to do anything else last month so maybe that's ok

 

[slightconfuse]

Started playing wild N'zoth palidian. Stilla good deck!

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Started playing wild N'zoth palidian. Stilla good deck!

was it ever an actually good deck?

 

[fertygo]

I dont know but I miss Solemn Vigil

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Finally rank 5, mostly due to not playing much or dicking around with mill rogue, rexxar hunter and other stupid decks.

I dont know but I miss Solemn Vigil

only thing in slow Paladin that could make up for the card disadvantage that is pyro equality.

 

[Yaboosh]

only thing in slow Paladin that could make up for the card disadvantage that is pyro equality.

Is it really a card disadvantage of you're killing at least two minions?

 

[G.ZZZ]

was it ever an actually good deck?

It's deece in wild right now mostly because it trash most control decks with pyro equality as board clears + anyfin as 40 damage burst finishers.