[intense_lead ]After a long wait, the time has finally come: The closed beta of “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft” has ended, and from now on, all players can dive into the tactical free-to-play collectible card game and shake things up in the tavern with their favorite hero – the open beta is here![/intense_lead]
For those who have not heard anything about Blizzard’s latest game, I want to give a brief overview of what you can experience in Hearthstone and how to take your first steps into the world of collecting.
Let me say this: If you’ve ever played a trading card game like “Magic”, “Yu-Gi-Oh!”, or the “Warcraft TCG” away from your PC, the adjustment will be a piece of cake. In essence, these games function very similarly, but the rules have been simplified for Hearthstone to provide as many players as possible with a smooth entry.
The beginning is… child’s play!
When the game is started for the first time, the tutorial inevitably begins, which you must navigate to reach the main menu. After five quick matches, where you defeat iconic Warcraft characters like “Hogger” and “Illidan Stormrage”, you can finally start the main game.
As a newcomer, you only have the Mage class, represented by Jaina Proudmoore. It is advisable to complete a few games against AI in the “Practice” mode, because to unlock the other 8 classes, you must have defeated them at least once – the mode doesn’t matter here, and you can also internalize the basics again.
The goal is always clear: To reduce the opposing hero’s health points from 30 to 0 before the enemy can do the same.
How does a match play out?
No matter if you are facing other players or computer-controlled opponents, the process is always the same. Both opponents have a deck of 30 cards each, and it is decided at random who starts. The starting player draws 3 cards, and the second one an additional card to compensate for this disadvantage.
Each turn begins with drawing another card and increasing the mana counter by 1. All cards have mana costs that must be paid to play the card; accordingly, a card with a cost of “3” can only be played at the earliest in your third turn, while a card with 8 or even 10 mana costs will wait for its use for quite a while.
Unusual for card game veterans: There are no “Instant” cards that the opponent could play – in your turn, only you decide what happens! After just a few rounds, it becomes clear that merely “playing” your own cards will not achieve the desired effect; tactics and foresight are some of the many keys to victory in Hearthstone.
What types of cards are there?
All cards basically fall into three categories: Minions, Spells, or Weapons. Simply put, Minions are your units that you send into battle. Each Minion has a value for attack power and another for health points. When one of your Minions attacks an enemy’s Minion, they inflict damage on each other. For Magic players, it is worth noting that the damage is permanent. For example: If a 4/4 Minion (4 attack power and 4 health points) attacks a 3/3 Minion, the 3/3 Minion is destroyed, and the 4/4 Minion drops to 4/1.
All Spells are tied to a respective class, so Mages always have different magical tricks up their sleeves than Warlocks or Hunters. Unlike Minions, the effect of a Spell takes effect immediately and usually has no further impact on the game. A simple example would be the card “Arcane Intellect”, which lets you draw 2 cards and has no further use thereafter.
Weapons allow your hero to deal damage themselves. Unlike Minions and Spells, Weapons have an attack value and a durability value. Each time your hero strikes with their equipped weapon, the durability decreases by 1 until the weapon is destroyed.
And now the most important thing: How do I get new cards?!
There are many ways to acquire new cards in the game. First and foremost, you should level up all classes to level 10, as you unlock the so-called “Basic Cards” for a class by reaching this level; these cards can only be obtained in this way!
As is common in a trading card game, there are also Hearthstone cards that are common and others that are rarer. Besides the Basic Cards, there are also “Professional Cards,” which have a rarity of “common” (white), “rare” (blue), “epic” (purple), or “legendary” (orange). These cards are primarily obtained from packs, each containing 5 cards, at least one of which is “rare” or better. Packs can either be purchased for real money (2 packs for €2.69), bought with Gold (100 Gold coins), or you receive them for participating in the Arena.
As a last option, you can craft the cards yourself. For this, you need Arcane Dust, which you receive for disenchanting excess cards – not the optimal solution for beginners since they have no extra cards.
Then with Gold! How do I earn Gold? And what else can I do with it?
Every day, you receive a quest that rewards between 40 and 100 Gold coins for completion. In addition, you receive 10 Gold pieces for every 3 victories, although a daily maximum of 100 has been set (for which you would need to record 30 wins, which can take several hours even for experienced players). Certain “Achievements” also grant Gold coins, though only once, but it is certainly more exciting when the message “Achieve 100 Wins!” pops up.
So it is also possible for casual players to open a new pack every 1-2 days.
However, if you want to spend 150 Gold pieces, you can try your hand at the Arena mode. Here, you assemble a deck of 30 cards, and the twist is: The game presents you with 3 cards 30 times, and you must choose one each time until your deck is complete – this leads to amusing decks that both you and your opponent often do not expect. After that, you compete against other players until you either record 3 losses or 12 victories.
The interesting part: The more you win before accumulating three losses, the greater the reward. And don’t worry! Even with 0 wins and 3 losses, you still get at least one pack, so you would have only lost 50 Gold at most – from 7 wins onwards, you even get the 150 Gold back and essentially receive a pack for free. If you achieve even more, you will be rewarded with larger amounts of Arcane Dust, even more Gold, or even a second pack.
First Conclusions
Especially practical: If you ever forget what certain keywords like “Charge” or “Taunt” mean, you just need to hover over the card with your mouse, and you will receive a brief, clear explanation right next to it. Getting started is easy, and the seemingly endless combinations offer enjoyment for many sleepless nights – but don’t be discouraged, as especially the players from the closed beta have a significant experience advantage.
Don’t let that get you down and try to learn something from every lost round, then victories will come on their own soon – happy deck-building!
Access to the free-to-play game Hearthstone can be found here: http://eu.battle.net/hearthstone/de/
