It is no secret that I am an avid supporter of Blizzard titles. Whether I’m running around in Azeroth with my Paladin, or bashing the undead grossies with my monk in Diablo, I enjoy them.
I have been excited about Hearthstone since they announced it. I have played the beta, and was beyond excited when it launched on iPad last week. This was what got me excited in the beginning before the beta started… iPad gaming!
I downloaded the game from the iTunes Store (it’s free by the way) and started playing right away. You do, of course, need a blizzard account, but it’s easy enough to create.
What is this Hearthstone, you may ask?
Hearthstone is a turn-based card game, almost like Magic the Gathering, or the World of Warcraft trading card game, but in a digital format with the cards featuring Blizzard characters. If you are familiar with the titles, you will definitely recognize the names, but fear not, you don’t need intricate knowledge of previous titles to play the game!
This is how it works:
Once you have created your account and logged in, you play a short tutorial against some of the characters, to show you the ins and outs. Once you have completed the tutorial you start playing and build your deck of cards as you go along. If you struggle to select cards, the game can even suggest cards for you.
At this point you start playing against other people (so you’ll need an internet connection obviously). You can cut your teeth playing casually, or go straight into ranked games… This just means that you gain ranks as you win or lose, and there are seasons that you play in; so you’ll be able to say I was rank 2 in season 1… if you like to brag, of course. Playing like this will give you access to your class cards, as well as buying new decks of cards to expand your deck.
You can also play arena games, which cost gold to enter, but you can choose from ALL the cards, and not just what you have gained through games. The benefit here is that the game starts getting really interesting.
If you’re a bit shy, don’t worry, you won’t have to play against strangers the whole time. If you add your friends on battle.net, you can challenge them to play games against you, and also improve your skill.
An average game lasts about 15 minutes, but it depends on the luck of the draw and your opponent’s skill. It’s a brilliant time killer, but you also need to give some thought to what your next move or three will be. It’s all about strategy after all.
This takes iPad gaming to a whole new level for me. If big names like Blizzard can release games like these for iOS, I’m expecting more from other developers. Honestly. Flinging birds at stuff can only be fun for that long…
Hope to see you in-game soon.
