Hearthstone

[Sir Bruce]

This game is pretty fun but I'm a total noob at CCGs. Seems pretty easy to advance up the ladder with minimal skills. I think I'm Plat 2 after only 10-15 ranked games played. I've been using a Hunter-Unleash the Hounds deck which seems kinda cheesy as maybe 40% of the time I can one-turn kill on round 7 or 8 and another 20% of the time I can still win.

My one real complaint is that the Free-To-Play pacing seems too slow. There are daily quests which give roughly half a pack, which takes maybe 30 minutes to an hour max. But aside from the daily each win is 3% of a pack and each loss is 0%. Since a game is roughly 5-10 minutes and as a noob I only win 50-60% of my games that is A LOT of time (several hours) to get one pack. Plus it feels bad to lose and not make any progress towards packs/cards. I know that prevents loss-spamming but it still sucks.

[Sir Bruce]

What are features people would like to see added? My short list (so far) is

- match history/replays
- friend spectating
- ability to actually chat with opponent (make this opt-in to avoid ridiculous flaming)

[v8mark]

First of all, and most importantly, I'd like the ability for me to play the game to be added.

Apart from that, replays (or recaps) are probably the only thing hugely necessary. Chat with opponents was left out as a design decision and I'm pretty sure will stay that way.

[Sir Bruce]

One more: Being able to spectate or view other player's decks (once they've been played at least once) would be nice.

[Jowy]

Tournaments and proper ranked mode. Non-arena matches need some meaning or else it will get boring fast.

[Sir Bruce]

Everyone loves unlucky RNG stories, right?

Game 1 today: Priest opponent had a 32/32 Gurubashi Berserker by turn 6 and my two deadly shots missed on turns 5 and 6.

Game 2 today: I draw 28 of 30 cards and don't draw either of my Unleash The Hounds.

[v8mark]

Heh. The first one is dodgy removal I guess... the second just bad luck though :D

Would you mind posting your deck? I'd be interested to see how it differs (if at all) from the chanman one.

[Sir Bruce]

My current deck is:

2x Arcane Shot
2x Tracking
2x Unleash the Hounds
2x Stonetusk Boar
2x Timber Wolf
2x Young Dragonhawk
2x Explosive Trap
2x Bloodfen Raptor
1x Bluegill Warrior (!)
2x Direwolf Alpha
1x Scavenging Hyena
2x Starving Buzzard
2x Animal Companion
2x Deadly Shot
2x Kill Command
2x Multi-shot

I'm missing some cards that I want to add. Possibilities: flare, freezing shot, eaglehorn bow, explosive shot. Cards to be removed: Bluegill warrior, scavenging hyena, one of the kill commands or multi-shot. Finding the right balance of early removal is the tricky part of the deck. I think adding an eaglehorn is the biggest no-brainer addition right now since it's OP in general.

I ran a Stormwind or 2 for a while because it helped out when I couldn't one-turn kill but I decided it was a dead card way too often when I'd rather have removal or a low-drop beast to help the rush.

I actually like the bluegill way more than I should. Having it as an opening card lets me hit for 2 plus typically trade next turn AND use steady shot (or coin for a 3-drop). It's basically a more flexible Arcane Shot in my deck. Hmm... Maybe I should run two of them and 1 Arcane Shot.

[v8mark]

Cool, thanks. I think I agree broadly with your proposed changes. Not altogether sure about the Bluegill. Seems a waste of a card to me... if you're using it on turn 2, it's basically the same as your hero power. Its only real use is as a removal for your opponent's 3/2, and I'd probably rather have an Arcane Shot for that...

There are one or two cards I'd add - Ironbeak Owl is really strong (and would have shut down your Berserker before it had a chance to get rolling!). If you want a bit more higher end stuff, Chillwind Yeti is an excellent card. At 4 mana it's not too expensive, and the 4/5 stats mean it's just out of range of a bunch of spells that come in to play at about that level. It also dodges some of the higher end AoE stuff like Flamestrike.

The only removal I'd say you're missing is Explosive Shot, which does 5 to the targeted minion and 2 to adjacent minions. At 5 mana it's a little expensive, but it extends the deck a little more into the mid-game.

[Merovech]

Is Stonetusk Boar really worth playing? That's the 1/1 charger, right?