What is Hearthstone? Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is an upcoming free-to-play digital card game by Blizzard, based on the Warcraft series. Players battle each-other with their custom decks, each consisting of 30 cards. Whoever defeats the enemy hero first wins, which can be done many ways depending on how you construct your deck, and which cards you choose. New cards are earned through leveling up you heroes, and unlocking card packs through in-game currency purchases, micro-transaction purchases, or in-game Arena rewards. It is currently in closed beta, with plans of being released on both Windows and Mac, as well as on Android and iPhone systems.
Heroes and Decks In Hearthstone, the core of each deck is the hero. The heroes are based off classes from the Warcraft series, and are represented by corresponding figureheads of each class from their universe. Heroes each have 30 health, and a unique hero power that costs 2 mana crystals. Ranging from damage, healing, and summoning, each ability caters to the general play-style of that hero.
Along with the hero, the deck is constructed of 30 cards. No more than 2 of any card can be added to a deck, unless building one in the Arena. A player starts the game with 3 cards if going first, or 4 cards and the coin (a 1 turn bonus mana crystal) and they draw one card per turn. Players can use other methods to draw more cards to their hard through minion powers and spells. If a player is out of cards, their hero will take damage equal to the amount of turns they have gone without drawing, starting from 1 damage.
There are currently 9 heroes in game: Warrior, Shaman, Hunter, Priest, Mage, Paladin, Rogue, Warlock and Druid.
Cards and Mana Cards are the backbone of Hearthstone. In general, a card is usually a minion, spell, or weapon card. All cards cost mana crystals in order to be played. Mana costs for cards are displayed in the top left corner of a card. Every turn, you gain a mana crystal that is refilled each turn. Mana gain and costs can be affected by various cards, but is always capped at 10 mana crystals per game. If cards are used to overflow your mana pool, you will be able to draw a free card in order to compensate.
Minions each have an attack and health counter, displayed at the bottom left and right corner respectively. Card descriptions and bonus effects are displayed in the bottom half, and along the bottom edge certain minion types are displayed, which can be used to gain special bonuses for those cards. Spells only require mana to cast, and can be used mostly to damage minions or heroes, buff other minions up, and summon extra minions. Weapons also have an attack counter, but instead of health, they have durability and are equipped directly to your hero, allowing them to attack as well. Being attacked will lower a card's health, and the card will die when it reaches 0 or less. A gem in the center of the card represents its rarity: white for common, blue for rare, purple for epic, gold for legendary. Cards without a gem are default cards you start the game with, and are bound to your character.
Any card other than default cards can be disenchanted into crafting dust, which can be used to craft any card in the game for a price. The rarer the card, the more dust gained. Cards also come in a golden quality, which are worth significantly more dust, but other than that serve only as a foil-like collector's card. Cards are also earned through booster packs, which each contain 5 cards, guaranteeing at least 1 rare quality card.
Gamemodes and Quests Currently in Hearthstone, there are 3 game modes: Regular matchmaking, Ranked matchmaking, and the Arena. Regular and Ranked matchmaking are both played using decks built ahead of time, custom tuned to the player's preference. The Arena is a mode where you buy-in for 150 gold, and are given 3 random heroes to choose from. After selecting a hero, you are shown 3 cards which you must pick one of to be added to your deck. Every card in the game is available in the Arena, and this process is repeated 30 times until your deck is complete. You then can play games with other Arena contestants using your deck in attempts to reach the goal of 12 wins. You keep playing until you either hit the win cap, or lose 3 times. Once you finish your Arena run, you can use your key to unlock your reward, getting bigger and bigger depending on your performance. Potential prizes include gold, crafting dust and booster packs. Winning at least 7 games guarantees your entry fee back in gold.
Quests are also available daily, allowing players ways of earning more gold. These usually have requirements like win games as a certain class, or kill/summon X amount of minions. On top of that, every 3 games you win will reward you with 10 gold.
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Closing Remarks It's a really addictive card game with simple mechanics, but lots of room for depth and strategy. I recommend you sign up for the beta if you haven't already, since apparently spots are pretty tight. It's definitely worth the weight and there are some really nice guides and streamers out there to offer lots of help + commentary. While micro-transactions are a thing you don't really need to pay unless you want to buy an ass load of booster packs in attempts to get rare cards fast. Also apparently it's a lot like Magic: The Gathering but I've never played it so I wouldn't know.
Open beta is officially out for North America, get your free access at the official site!
