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[Grief.exe]

What he says about the Arena is very interesting.

Essentially everyone is drafting the same cards over and over again since you can't count on synergies showing up and hero powers invalidate some aggressive choices.

In the Arena, you initially select a class from three possible choices, which determines what cards you’ll see during the draft. You then see thirty separate “packs” of three cards from which you select one card each. Once you’ve picked your thirty cards, you have your deck – you don’t have an opportunity to cut any of them from your pool. This makes it very difficult to pick cards that are dependent on particular synergies, and is also very punishing if you begin down the path of one strategy and then decide to switch into a different one. As an example of this, in one of my first drafts I picked up an Abomination early, a defensive creature that deals damage to all other creatures in play when it dies. After that point, however, I started picking up aggressively oriented cards – mostly smaller creatures – and my deck went in a very different direction than I started. This made the Abomination actively detrimental in my deck – if I played him and my opponent killed him, it typically wiped out my entire board, so I would end up sitting with the card in my hand unplayed for most of the game.



Similarly, in another draft, I decided to pick up an Ancient Watcher to try it out. That card is a big, cheap creature that cannot attack. It can be powerful when combined with Silence effects that remove the powers from a creature, but by itself does absolutely nothing. I was unable to pick up anyancientwatcher Silence effects for the remainder of the draft, so every time I drew the Ancient Watcher it was literally a dead card with no possible upside.



The implication of this is an incredibly strong incentive to draft cards with a guaranteed baseline power level and to avoid using picks on cards that require synergies to manifest in order to be powerful. This leads to picking the same cards repeatedly, and a huge swath of cards going largely unpicked and unplayed. This issue is exacerbated by the existence of the Hero powers that suppress one health creatures. The only one health creatures that you can afford to draft at all are those that have a powerful ability when they come into play, because their actual body is not only invalidated by almost half of the Hero powers early on, but are also naturally much weaker later in the game due to the nature of the direct attacking system. This makes it very difficult to ever effectively draft an aggressive deck, further pushing players toward the same midrange creatures every game.



This flies in the face of exactly what is fun about drafting as opposed to constructed. The appeal of draft formats is that they’re ever-changing and you end up with a new deck every time. To the contrary, I felt like my deck in Hearthstone was pushed to being almost exactly identical every time I drafted the same class, and even between classes I was generally looking for the same neutral minion cards to round out my curve. There are only so many times I can play a Sen’jin Shieldmasta or Booty Bay Bodyguard and enjoy it. And no matter how fun the Murloc and Pirate synergy cards may look, it’s almost always a mistake to pick them.
Overall, I think Hearthstone is well done, but I feel like both the Hero powers and the nature of the draft format (and, notably, the combination of them) lead to very low variance in game play. The game is certainly fun for a while, and makes a great first impression, but I feel like it is shaky when it comes to replayability. If I were to make one change to the game, I would eliminate or vastly rework the Hero powers, because they’re a huge part of this, and they threaten to overshadow any future cards in the same way.

Where's my invite Bliz?

Blizzard pls. ;_;

According to Twitter, a new invite wave is going out very soon.

 

[Smokey Mcpot]

Whats the fastest you've destroyed your opponent?

I have managed turn 5 as paladin in contructed, and turn 6 and 7 in arena as rogue(s) and 7 as druid

Think I saw a hunter beast deck on a stream a week ago wreck the shit out of someone in 4 turns

 

[Xater]

Blizzard just put up a post about the incoming wipe with information of what will happen: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/11100276

There will be a separate post soon about the actual changes of the big patch.

I guess new invites will go out after this is done. Doesn't make much sense to invite new players now.

 

[Frostburn]

Wipe coming soon then I thought! I'm excited to see what's changed through all the testing.

 

[shadowstar]

No more wipes after this? I guess due to matchmaking it doesn't matter, but seems odd that when it hits open beta/release all the closed beta people will be able to keep their (new) stuff. Works for me I guess!

 

[Megasoum]

What sucks about that is that once the game opens up, the people who were in the beta will have a huge advantage over everybody else.

 

[Iadien]

Sweet, I'm glad the wipe is coming soon. It was getting hard for me to continue playing knowing that all of my cards would be gone at some point.

 

[KojiKnight]

Was not expecting only the one wipe... kind of beggers the question of why do any wipe at all if you aren't going to start from a clean state at release?

 

[kirblar]

Was not expecting only the one wipe... kind of beggers the question of why do any wipe at all if you aren't going to start from a clean state at release?

It means that they're done with balance and that the "beta" is just bugfixing. MTGO has had an open beta for their new client for a long time now. (Way too long, actually.)

 

[Iadien]

Was not expecting only the one wipe... kind of beggers the question of why do any wipe at all if you aren't going to start from a clean state at release?

Really? I thought I remembered reading that only one wipe would happen.

 

[KojiKnight]

It means that they're done with balance and that the "beta" is just bugfixing.

That fills me with even LESS confidence... We don't know a single one of their proposed balance changes, there hasn't BEEN any balance changes yet, and going by blizzard's past experiences a SINGLE balance patch is likely to still be very broken (or broken in brand new ways).

Really? I thought I remembered reading that only one wipe would happen.

But we all assumed it would be at the end of beta, not at the middle. I don't think anyone was expecting to go into live having a substantial advantage like this (besides gameplay experience).

 

[erpg]

I'm glad they will be multiple wipes. Opening a booster is incredibly fun but I don't plan on spending any more.

 

[EscapingJail]

What sucks about that is that once the game opens up, the people who were in the beta will have a huge advantage over everybody else.

Yeah I'm planning to save my wipe gold for when the big beta wave happens and then just destroy all the noobs on arena.

I'm glad they will be multiple wipes. Opening a booster is incredibly fun but I don't plan on spending any more.

The wording makes it seem like there will only be 1 wipe. No wipe on release.

 

[The Cowboy]

Cool, just this 1 wipe and good to go from that point - I expected multiple wipes during the beta and 1 last one at release.

Kinda sucky in a way for release players (we will have a card advantage), but ahh well.

Edit. Actually it kinda won't be to sucky due to ranking.

 

[Brakara]

What sucks about that is that once the game opens up, the people who were in the beta will have a huge advantage over everybody else.

Yeah, I thought it would at least be an open beta after the wipe. Sucks that it's not.

 

[shadowstar]

Yeah I'm planning to save my wipe gold for when the big beta wave happens and then just destroy all the noobs on arena.



The wording makes it seem like there will only be 1 wipe. No wipe on release.

Wouldn't you be matched against other people who aren't newbs who also go 3-0 to start? You don't keep getting matched up against bad players as you accumulate wins.

Same thing for constructed. While the beta people will have a head start to masters/gm, they'll only be facing other people who had the same head start anyway. There isn't really a reward for reaching GM so it's a head start towards nothing.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Good, means I can play arena again without having to spend money. I play like 5 matches a day just to get the quest rewards. Game has become pretty stale for me.

 

[Gothos]

I think it would be the first, such high profile multiplayer game that wouldn't have wipe on the release date to level the playing field. On the other hand, maybe it means that there actually WILL be open beta soon, contrary to what they said couple of days ago, since "open beta" is nowadays considered in many cases as soft launch of a given game. I'm confused

 

[Billen]

I just hope they have had enough of the moronic testers, that is the people actively trying zany stuff to break/exploit the system.

 

[shadowstar]

I just hope they have had enough of the moronic testers, that is the people actively trying zany stuff to break/exploit the system.

I don't think I understand what you mean. Aren't testers supposed to try to break the system so they know what to fix?

 

[Whooter]

I don't think I understand what you mean. Aren't testers supposed to try to break the system so they know what to fix?

That is exactly what beta testing is for, yes.

 

[KojiKnight]

I just hope they have had enough of the moronic testers, that is the people actively trying zany stuff to break/exploit the system.

Yeah, I hate how beta testers both try to have fun AND make sure that bugs and exploits are fixed before the game is released. They are ruining the fun of the non-beta testers!!



The only thing I feel bad about is that I haven't had the urge to play the game in almost 2 weeks <_< I'll feel better after wipe maybe.

 

[iirate]

Yeah, I hate how beta testers both try to have fun AND make sure that bugs and exploits are fixed before the game is released. They are ruining the fun of the non-beta testers!!



The only thing I feel bad about is that I haven't had the urge to play the game in almost 2 weeks <_< I'll feel better after wipe maybe.

Same, I love arena and haven't been willing to do dailies to do it recently. I've been playing in the Managrind weekly tournaments, but not really doing the testing I should in order to prepare.

 

[Wunder]

Yeah I'm planning to save my wipe gold for when the big beta wave happens and then just destroy all the noobs on arena.



The wording makes it seem like there will only be 1 wipe. No wipe on release.

EJ pm me your ID, let's play!

 

[jersoc]

Blizzard just put up a post about the incoming wipe with information of what will happen: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/11100276

There will be a separate post soon about the actual changes of the big patch.

I guess new invites will go out after this is done. Doesn't make much sense to invite new players now.

sweet, time to start playing again after this wipe since the progress stays.

 

[eznark]

Cool, I'll jump back in after that.

 

[Frostburn]

It's still possible the wipe will happen just before open beta starts meaning EVERYONE will be on the same level playing field for "release".

 

[Grief.exe]

It's still possible the wipe will happen just before open beta starts meaning EVERYONE will be on the same level playing field for "release".

It did say one time wipe. So this may be the only one.

 

[steadfast]

It's still possible the wipe will happen just before open beta starts meaning EVERYONE will be on the same level playing field for "release".

The blog post specifically stated that this wipe is it and anything earned post wipe will be kept for retail.

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/11100276

Will there be any wipes in the future?

We don&#8217;t anticipate any further wipes. This goes for both the Hearthstone beta and after the game&#8217;s official release. Any progress made during the beta after the wipe will be retained through the release of Hearthstone, such as new cards you obtain, levels that you gain and ranks you achieve. Basically, you&#8217;ll now be able to keep your stuff.

 

[iirate]

I really hope this means the open beta is right around the corner. I have friends that haven't gotten in yet and that I'd want to play with, and I'd rather not have those of us in closed beta to have a head start.

 

[Xater]

I would assume that open beta will be soon after the wipe. One wipe makes sense if you will let more people in after it.

 

[Grief.exe]

Blue post implying that there will not be another wipe

The Korea, Taiwan, and China closed beta tests have not yet begun, and we do not anticipate there to be a wipe for the closed beta tests in those regions. Also, it is important to note that your collections will not be shared across the different regions.

I would assume that open beta will be soon after the wipe. One wipe makes sense if you will let more people in after it.

They will probably test the update first before going complelty open.

Remember, for an Open Beta scenario to start they have to have the server backend infrastructure in place. One of the reasons DOTA 2 took forever to officially launch is due to this very reason.

 

[Haunted]

The game will launch and everyone will download it and play it.

This is a closed beta that's an actual beta. Not a marketing tool.

They specifically gave out keys to popular Youtube and Twitch channel people and encouraged these high-profile streamers to show off the game.

What? This is a marketing tool 100%, the "beta" part is just a side consideration. You don't have giveaways and popular streamers in the game to drum up hype for a regular ass beta.

Yup. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Xater]

They will probably test the update first before going complelty open.

Remember, for an Open Beta scenario to start they have to have the server backend infrastructure in place. One of the reasons DOTA 2 took forever to officially launch is due to this very reason.

For sure, but it might not take that long or the will just do more invite waves at first.

BTW I got so desperate today for my CCG fix that I played some Duel of Champions. I really hope I get a Hearthstone invite soon so I don't have to play this subpar stuff.

 

[Megasoum]

They specifically gave out keys to popular Youtube and Twitch channel people and encouraged these high-profile streamers to show off the game.

Or you know...journalists, like him.


Note: I don't think there's anything wrong with that, I know why Blizzard is doing it and it's working.

 

[erpg]

Aww, bummer. Oh well, I'll enjoy these twenty packs one more time. Hope I don't get screwed over.

 

[Professor Lich]

http://imgur.com/leYPXXO

5-0 right now, after a close encounter with a rather resilient Druid.

DAMN. Thanks for that.

Also, my .2 cents, I really dislike instant high damage spells to your hero. Yeah, yeah, it's about mages being able to deal 2/3s of your heath in two turns,(Priests have that ability too with Velen) but it's less about the damage and more about the fact you can't do anything about it.

The only direct counter is Counter Spell, which only a mage has funny enough, or an indirect counter of a strong minion.

But I dunno, I probably spent 15 dollars on Arena passes already, so I do really enjoy the game.

 

[Wunder]

DAMN. Thanks for that.

Also, my .2 cents, I really dislike instant high damage spells to your hero. Yeah, yeah, it's about mages being able to deal 2/3s of your heath in two turns,(Priests have that ability too with Velen) but it's less about the damage and more about the fact you can't do anything about it.

The only direct counter is Counter Spell, which only a mage has funny enough, or an indirect counter of a strong minion.

But I dunno, I probably spent 15 dollars on Arena passes already, so I do really enjoy the game.

Yeah, I get what you mean. However, direct damage to your hero, especially when you have board control, is usually the wrong move. If someone wastes a fireball or pyroblast on your when you have like 3-4 creatures on the board, that is really a win for you. It depends on the situation of course, but that's why weapons are valued so highly by top streamers/players, because of that ability to eliminate a creature, even at the cost of your own health.

It gets dicey vs a mage once you get into the 10-15 hp range though because you can get pyro'd and then lose next turn pretty easily.

 

[shadowstar]

It's really hard to establish board control against a Mage though.

Flamestrike
Ice Lance
Frost Nova
Cone of Cold
Frost Bolt
Blizzard
Vaporize
Arcane Explosion

I love baiting out minions as a Mage with Nova, CoC, Frost Bolt, etc just so I can Flamestrike. Good players know not to fill the board, but some can't help it!

I agree with Pyroblast and Fireball being too much direct damage, but at the same time you can also bait out removal cards and force them to have to burn the Fireball. I'm not sure what the fix is or if there is any. I fear a Fireball less than a concealed Adventurer or Auctioneer.

 

[Freki]

Well - here's some hope...

The wipe in closed beta is very important to us, and marks a pretty big milestone that we hope a lot of you can be excited about.

First off, wipes aren&#8217;t super fun. In fact, they are negative fun. We chose to wipe in the closed beta at this point so we can impact as few people as possible. We understand that wiping data in Hearthstone may cause some frustration for people, but we anticipated having to do this since day one. Wiping will allow us to balance classes and carefully monitor that balance with a bigger player pool.

A bigger player pool? What? Well, after the wipe and patch that goes with it, we&#8217;ll be on different hardware than we were before. I&#8217;ll spare you the boring behind-the-scenes details, but we were limited in the amount of people we could invite to the first part of closed beta just due to these hardware limitations. With this patch and wipe, we&#8217;ll be making some serious transitions into hardware that can accommodate a larger pool of players. TLDR: Brace yourselves, the opt-ins are coming.

It&#8217;ll be a process&#8212;the gates won&#8217;t swing wide open right away, since we still need to make sure this hardware can hold up to the punishment we&#8217;re about to inflict upon it. However, as we invite more players to the closed beta test, the feeling of &#8220;hey, he&#8217;s in closed beta now and I&#8217;m not so he has a big advantage!&#8221; will diminish greatly since those players that have that small amount of play time &#8220;benefit&#8221; will soon be in the vast minority.

source

 

[steadfast]

Well - here's some hope...


source

That's pretty encouraging, actually.

 

[Xater]

Well - here's some hope...


source

Yeah, this sounds good. Wonder how soon the wipe will happen. Probably within a week right?

 

[Narag]

Yeah, this sounds good. Wonder how soon the wipe will happen. Probably within a week right?

I hope so. Backed off on my playtime some waiting for it since I'd be losing all my cards anyhow.

 

[Frostburn]

The blog post specifically stated that this wipe is it and anything earned post wipe will be kept for retail.

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/11100276

What I mean is, if they do the one wipe just before they start Open Beta then everyone will be on the same page since everyone can join an OPEN beta.

Of course if they do the one wipe and then don't immediately start the Open Beta then those that are in the Closed Beta would have an advantage of card library prior to Open Beta/Launch of the game.

EDIT: Just saw the latest news from Blizzard on this, sounds good!

 

[Freki]

Closed Beta Patch – Featured Updates:

In our previous blog, we covered some of the nitty-gritty facts about the wipe and what exactly it entails. It’s an exciting time for the Hearthstone team, since this wipe will coincide with our first major closed beta patch for both the Americas and Europe regions. Our update covers a wealth of bug fixes and quality of life improvement within Hearthstone, and today we’ll be sharing some of the highlights of this upcoming patch. Many of these changes are based on feedback that you, our valued community, provided to us on the forums.

Daily Quests

We’ve gotten a lot of comments on quests. The community has discovered some fun hidden quests, but some of our daily quests have frustrated those of you who have quests that don’t correspond to your favored class. After the patch, daily quests that require you to win with a specific class will now give you a choice between two classes, allowing you some additional flexibility.

Balance

Class balance has been a hot topic, with many of you commenting on the strength and versatility of the Rogue class compared to other classes, such as the Warrior and Priest. Rogues will have some key spells and minions adjusted to bring them more in line with the other classes. Warriors and Priests will find themselves with new tools and improved cards to round out their arsenal, and we’ve made some adjustments to the other classes here and there as well. We’ll be publishing our full patch notes so you can review these and other changes to the heroes of Hearthstone in full detail.

Golden Cards

Golden cards are fun to collect in Hearthstone, and a cool way to show off your accomplishments. Many golden cards have been updated with new animations, and there are still more to come. If you’ve helped test our in-game store and acquired your new forever-friend Gelbin Mekkatorque, check out his shiny new animation! In addition to the new animations to Golden cards, we have also added the ability to unlock Golden Basic minions at higher experience levels. Now you can shoot for creating a 100% golden card deck to really dazzle your opponent!

Crafting

We’ve received a lot of feedback regarding the crafting system, and how the crafting interface didn’t feel quite as intuitive as it should have been. Crafting is intended to be easy to access and a fun way to craft new cards for your collection, and we want that to be noticeable right away to the new player. We’ve updated the UI for our crafting system, so making cards for your collection should be even easier than before! Click the “Crafting Mode” button to access the updated crafting UI.

Social Improvements

We’ve improved our chat functionality to make it more streamlined and easier to interact with your friends. We’ve also introduced Toasts: they’re a cool addition to our social features that let your friends know when you’ve done something awesome in-game, like open a Legendary card or complete an Arena run. Combine these two improvements together and you’ll never miss an exciting moment with your card-slinging friends in Hearthstone!

Play Mode and Arena

Finally, we’re aware that a lot of discussion on the forums is revolving around Play and Arena mode, and how to make them more compelling for players to participate in. We’ve changed experience and leveling so you can max out your Hero at level 60 and earn experience in any game mode up to max level. This includes Play mode (ranked or unranked), Practice, matches against friends, and the Arena.

The rate that you acquire gold has been one of the other most-commented on topics on our forums. This patch will improve the gold output of Play mode, changing the gold generation rate from 5 gold per five wins to 10 gold per three wins. We will be monitoring this update as we progress further into closed beta and will continue to make changes as needed.

We’ve made significant changes to the Arena as well: In general, rewards gained will include less dust and more cards, as well as guaranteeing more gold for both five and six Arena wins. To further entice you to become an Arena Grand Master, an extra pack OR a golden card is now guaranteed at nine wins.

Full patch notes will be available alongside the patch, which will include the collection wipe. For more information on the wipe and what that entails, please read our blog here! Thank you for your continued feedback as we continue the closed beta testing phase of Hearthstone.

To opt-in to our closed beta test, please go here!

 

[RPGCrazied]

I thought this game was coming out this summer?

 

[Sothpaw]

Cool Blizz I have only purchased every one of your games since WC1 on release day I don't need a HS beta key clearly.

I need a key.

Edit: OK I didn't buy D3 console but I don't like auto-aim in my arpgs tyvm.

 

[eznark]

Any idea when the patch is hitting?

 

[dimb]

Cool Blizz I have only purchased every one of your games since WC1 on release day I don't need a HS beta key clearly.

I need a key.

Edit: OK I didn't buy D3 console but I don't like auto-aim in my arpgs tyvm.

1v1 me in starcraft 64 for a key.

 

[CannedHeat]

So excited for it. I feel I've learned so much from watching streams/Biscuit doing his series for it, that when I go into the game I'll probably be doing very well. I love games like this.