I was at Rank 12 with my Pirate Rogue deck and still consistently winning when the servers ticked over. Now I’m back at Rank 20 and it’s Zoo city again.
Yeah, Zoo seems to be the meta right now. I’ve completely tilted my deck to anti-zoo, but am completely screwed if I meet a handlock or control warrior. All the zoos make up for it though!
The new 1/3 taunt/whirlwind deathrattle seems like it should be pretty good vs. zoo.
I wanted to check this game out, but when I start it up, I am taken to a screen consisting of a pair of doors and a glowing logo, my (movable) mouse cursor–and nothing else. And it just sits there indefinitely until I alt-tab out and end the process.
Any idea what could be going on here?
Windows 8, everything updated etc.
Um, click?
Yeah, actually. Have you tried clicking on the doors/logo? The first time the game starts up you click on them, they open up, run you through a cinematic(I think) and then go into a tutorial.
ETA : There’s a major game event going on these days, so it may be possible that your client is responding very slowly because Blizzard servers are clogged up.
I didn’t play for a few days – was one of those who couldn’t get past the authorization page for the Naxx update and didn’t want to play without the new cards.
Finally got in yesterday and decided to switch and play Hunter. I was totally lost with no idea how to play nor how to mulligan. It was a learning experience. Started at Rank 17, went down deep into 19, then came back up to finish right where I started at 17 after almost five hours.
Switched back to Zoo tonight and ran up to Rank 12 in less than three hours. I am more convinced than ever that plain, cheap Zoo is the strongest deck for ladder climbing; it’s not that it is easy to play, it is popular because it is the best deck for the purpose.
I’ve pretty much decided the skill/luck balance is off in this game. It’s going to take quite a while for it to be fully figured out, but there does seem to be too much luck. Much of the skill comes in choosing a deck and there are plenty of strong deck-makers posting their choices on the web, so anybody with the gumption to look up a good deck can play the same set of cards the top-ranked players are using.
There is some skill in playing the cards, and there are some subtleties, but most plays are pretty easy to get the hang of. The difference between a noob and a good player is not really very large and the difference between a good player and a very strong player is actually pretty small. It takes a long time and a lot of games for those few guys who are consistently at the top to grind their way there.
I still find the game interesting and will likely continue to play until the entire Naxx thing is done, then will probably be done with it. It’s fun, but it is very time-consuming to try to stay up to date, so I’ll remain a somewhat casual student of the game until I see its finished state.
I don’t agree. Top players who hit the top legend ranks consistently do it in hours. Luck may determine individual games, but your win rate over time will depend on your skill in picking and playing decks. If it’s high enough, then it doesn’t take much time to float to the top. Some decks, like the miracle rogue, require especially high amounts of skill to play well and optimise to the meta. I think the biggest problem is Hearthstone’s constructed play is incredibly hard to master. It’s very difficult to pinpoint why you lost or what plays you could have or should have made differently. That only comes with lots of experience, and in the meantime it’s easy to blame luck.
After a friend of mine raved about the new solo campaign, I picked this up again and gave it a try.
It was fun. I enjoyed the campaign, the tweaking of decks, and I’m working through the harder levels.
Then I went back, redid a few of my decks, and tried the ranked games again.
Same old shit. Skill will matter in about 2 out of 5 games, luck in 1, and the other two are decided by the big money cards in the deck, no matter how you play. Still, incredibly frustrating. Until the matching mechanism improves, I’ll be putting this game away for awhile again.
Well… I don’t know what to tell you. 
To a certain extent, it’s probably your deck - there are many decks which don’t rely on legendaries to win. I laddered up to rank 5 with my no legendary Rogue deck, but it does rely on your knowing what works.
On the other hand, some part of it is probably due to your skill as well. Soooo… I dunno what to tell you. Glad you had fun with Naxx, I guess?
I recently had some free time and worked my way through Naxx. When I had only ~700 gold and one wing of Naxx left, I figured I’d go earn some gold playing arena. Instead, over the course of the next 10 or so arenas in which I never once crossed 7 wins, and often went under 3, in the process losing all my gold, I learnt one of the following things. The problem is, I’m not sure which one
a) I’ve become much worse at playing arena
b) Everyone else has become much better
c) Don’t play arena at super off peak hours (Like very late at night. Only the hardcore types are around, and that makes the field tougher. This is something I’ve always suspected)
d) Naxx has somehow changed the arena valuations of many cards and I haven’t cottoned on yet, while everyone else has
Anyone have opinions they’d care to share?
Absolutely arena (and the game in general) is much harder at super off peak hours. I only play at late night (like midnight) and super early morning US time (just before 7am), and for sure it’s harder before 7am than at midnight. Sunday mornings in particular are brutal - I managed to get matched up against a legend rank from rank 6 once. I can only imagine that it’s easier at peak casual times.
Everyone is kinda better now though, true casuals have kinda moved on by now, and everyone has at least heard of the arena value lists etc. It’s harder to coast by on the strength of your draft these days, I find, you have to have some sort of synergy to do well.
Naxx has also changed the meta somewhat, too - some of the new cards are absolutely game changers, like the Undertaker, Death’s bite, Dark Cultist and less obviously, Zombie chow and Haunted Creeper. In general, minions tend to stick to the board a lot more, even more than arena used to, and so things like Argus and Cult Master tend to get even more value. AOE is kind of weaker too, given things like Haunted Creeper being auto-picks, more or less.
Still, I think most of what you’re seeing is people just getting better at arena.
I also suspect that now that Naxx is over and there are no new events on the horizon, there are fewer casual players playing right now, which means the average arena player is better.
I’m a casual player, so I’m more interested in learning the cards, seeing what works/what doesn’t, and building my own deck rather than borrowing someone else’s deck or buying cards.
As I said, I’m a casual player. Blow a half hour here or there. Learn the ropes and the cards. I’ve won plenty of games with my cheapo decks, but since I don’t have the wherewithal to actually work at leveling up, I’m happy just playing games in the 18-16 level. What the problem is that at that level, there are simply too many morons with loaded decks. For every evenly matched deck that I play, there are 4 or 5 that have me clearly outgunned. I’ll still win some of those, but I don’t like playing a game where for every one good, fun game, there are 4 that just suck.
Yes, Tabby, that must be it. :rolleyes:
I’m not claiming to be a force to reckoned with who could dominate if I just had a great deck. I’m just a casual player who enjoys the gameplay and slowly building a deck. But it’s no fun when I have to sit through 3 beatings by bad players with Ragnaros and Faceless Manipulators to enjoy one game where strategy and skill actually matter. I’m looking for a game that is fun to play, and the games against other players isn’t that.
Not telling me I’m bad at the game might be a start.
I did, thanks. It was actually quite fun. You learn the opposing player, they’re challenging, but not impossible (although one was just pure luck), and you don’t need a superpowerful deck to win (on normal mode, of course, I tried a few heroic and had fun, but soon crapped out). I also enjoyed the Class Challenges because it gives me the chance to experience new cards and see how they work.
And that’s the difference in a nutshell. When I play against the developers, they actually make an effort to make the contest fair; with decks being relatively even in strength. But when I play some idiot with nothing in their hand less than a white, it’s completely unbalanced and no fun.
I don’t mean to take away from your enjoyment of the game; you’re clearly invested in it. But for a casual player like myself, the program that matches you with another online player is broken and results in too many games that are unfair. Which wouldn’t bug me so much if I were at level 13 or above, but when I’m at level 20, it’s frustrating as hell.
Coincidentally, I just got into this game last night, leveled my starting Mage to 12 or so, and generally had a good time. I’ve never played a CCG in my life.
But Hamlet’s experience cautions me; I will never be more than a casual player. Can I likely continue to have fun playing just single-player, perhaps with an occasional Arena? Hamlet, is your primary complaint about Ranked play, and other PvP modes (casual, arena) are OK?
You’ll see the same thing in ranked and unranked play. It’s just something everyone goes through when they start playing. If you can’t accept that you’ll get blown out every so often by legendary-rarity cards, you’re going to be frustrated. If you can handle that and play through your quests, you’ll have a good time getting more cards and seeing your prospects improve.
The game can be fun but it can also be very frustrating even to those who have all the cards. The top-ranked streamers / pros talk about the huge amount of luck involved in the game. Long losing streaks happen to everybody; the good news is that up until Rank 5 the bonus for winning streaks makes it possible to rank up even while winning less than 50% of your games.
It will take a very long time (hundreds of hours) to get the complete set of cards by grinding in free to play mode. Some people get lucky and get a playable legendary or two quickly but most will not. The solution to not having the big cards is right in front of you all the time – you can pay.
The game is designed to get the maximum money very quickly out of those who are inclined to pay. You can’t just buy the cards you want, you have to buy packs and hope to get the cards you want. While it is possible to get lucky, more common is people spending $200 to $600 to get the cards they want. Even with a complete set of cards, there are still long losing streaks. Frustration is built into the game.
It is still possible to climb the ranks with F2P cards, gradually building your card collection and hoping to get that legendary card you want. Look for streamers like Trump, Reynad, and Kolento (among others) for guidance on building a playable F2P deck.
I have enjoyed the game in F2P mode. The first couple of months I played a lot, now I pretty much just play enough for the daily quests and play an Arena when I have enough gold. I did finally get a playable legendary (Leeroy Jenkins), but it really hasn’t made much of a difference in my win rate.
A skilled, experienced player with a reasonably composed basic deck will beat an unskilled player with a fistful of rare and legendary cards over 50% of the time. In other words, becoming a better player will make a bigger difference in your win rate than spending $600 for all the cards.
I’m not knocking people saying they are bad players. I’m saying “Don’t spend $600 thinking it will make you win more.” Only spend the money if you really enjoy the game and are ranking up satisfactorily with a basic deck and you want to play against the very high level Legend rank players.
Personally, I don’t expect the game to have a very long life. The frustration new players feel when they get pounded by big cards will drive many away. Blizzard doesn’t care about those players; they want the ones who will buy the packs hoping to eliminate the frustration. The game is designed to extract the maximum amount of money as quickly as possible from those who are willing to pay.
When those players find out they still aren’t winning, they too will leave the game. There will be a small hardcore group remaining, but there is no income stream for Blizzard from long-term players. Once it becomes too expensive to recruit new players who will buy large numbers of packs, the servers will shut down.
Still, it’s a playable game, and a lot fun … until it isn’t fun any more.
I dunno about that, Magic’s monetisation scheme is far, far worse than Hearthstone’s, and it’s doing fine. All TCG monetisation schemes are like that, really.
I pretty much agree with the rest of your post, though. Cards are options - there’s not a single card in the game that you “need” to win, or will win you games just by being in the deck.
Has Blizzard released any data about number of players or how it’s changed over time? Would be interesting to see.
In other news, I finally built myself an almost complete miracle rogue deck(No van cleef), and I must say, it’s really fun to play(even though I don’t play ranked all that much). You almost always have some options and the deck is competitive no matter what you’re going up against.
Now if only I can stop shadowstepping Leeroy, before I attack with him…
The game started working for me a few days ago for some reason. (Previously, it would just hang at the opening screen.)
Pretty fun! I’m terrible!
Quick newbie question: Do you just get one quest a day, or is there a way to get more than one in a single day? (I assume if you go two days without completing one, they stack up. But I’m just wondering if there’s a way to accumulate more than one.)
Probably not because the current rate has me constantly just on the brink of springing for a couple of bucks here and there and I imagine that’s exactly where they want me But anyway I thought I’d ask.