Company Blizzard Entertainment finally completed testing her conditionally paying collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and announced the official release. On this occasion, festive events and distribution of gifts took place – as the latter, for example, a winged horse’s horse for World of Warcraft. However, the main gift is, of course, herself Hearthstone, which, apparently, will become the most pretty, affordable and popular game in its genre.
At each level of the rating, you are awarded the title: on the twenty -fifth this is a “evil chicken”, on the first – the “owner of the tavern”.
Cards, money, two tables
We have already shared our impressions of beta version Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Game mechanics has not undergone any special changes since then. Having passed the course of starting training with bots, players can take any of 9 available heroes and fight each other in online duels. These are familiar games of the series Warcraft magician, warlock, warrior, hunter, robber, priest, paladin, druid and shaman. In addition to common for all of them, each of them has their own unique creatures and spells that determine the special style of the game. And you yourself decide which of them to take in a deck of one or another hero.
As you participate in the battles, your warrior, shaman or warlock receives experience, grows in levels and opens new basic cards. And the player himself earns money, which they allow to buy sets in a built -in store. You can also spend your blood rubles there in order to purchase, for example, several expert sets at once, where in addition to the usual there will be rare or even legendary cards. In addition, they can be created by yourself – a special resource, sorcerer’s dust is spent on this. But it turns out by the destruction (spray) of other maps. In this way, you will directly get the most powerful creatures and spells. Otherwise, it remains to hope that they will accidentally fall out in some set.
IN Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Three modes are still available: these are rating or ordinary duels online, training with bots and arena, where each player, choosing a random set of cards, should hold out as long as possible until he suffers three defeat in the amount. For participation in the battles in the arena, special awards are issued (as an option, the same sorceress dust). In addition, you get useful prizes for performing different tasks – for example, win 5 victories with a priest or destroy 100 creatures.
Simple, but with taste
The game remained the same “casual”. She does not offer any complex tactical systems with different types of resources for different cards or the need to somehow especially have them on the gaming board. Your creatures and spells, as a rule, directly attack the enemy hero or impose different effects on opponents and allies. And all the resources are used for everything – Mana.
However, this simplicity is actually a rather deep mechanics: you must competently use the special skills (strength) and the specialization of each hero, know how and when to lay out a particular card most effective. And most importantly, you have to select a deck from scratch in accordance with your preferences and the chosen style, given the combinations of the effects of different creatures, secrets, skills and spells. Fortunately, many of them, in addition to the main action, can activate additional, in different ways affecting other cards. For example, one creature increases the attack of neighboring fighters, and the other, on the contrary, cancels the special properties of the enemy or reduces his health to one.
As a result, players, using the same hero of approximately the same level, often prefer completely different styles. Moreover, each deck can have a maximum of 30 positions – you have to break your head well, what creatures and spells from a huge number of options to take. Another reason for thoughtful thoughts – which cards to utilize on sorceress dust and what to spend it on?
This is a combination of simplicity and accessibility with deep mechanics and determines inhuman fascination Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. In addition, it is simply aesthetically pleasant to play. As always, Blizzard, Here is the most convenient interface, a bright pretty picture and atmospheric music. And all this is combined with enchanting animation and an incomparable voice acting – thanks to this, during the duel everything around is literally comes to life, you hear the funny comments of the heroes, the enthusiastic hover of invisible spectators during a particularly powerful attack. And you can even interact with different objects located along the edges of the game field: for example, click a cursor to rumble a massive door or shoot a stone from a catapult.
During the battles, you can communicate with the enemy with the help of prepared and sometimes very funny phrases.
It is also important that the game remains really free and affordable: karting sets, as we have already said, are also sold for intra -game money, and sorceress dust does not appear at all on sale.
Gold of the rating
During beta testing, reproaches about distortions in the balance of the game were often heard-some heroes
turned out to be stronger than others. And some powerful cards were too cheap. Therefore, the developers constantly ruled the balance of patches, changed the cost of cards, removed or weakened their effects. The situation with the balance has improved the release of the balance, although some questions are still left, and it is clear that new patches are still waiting for us.
In addition, during an open beta test, a system of ratings and rating seasons was introduced: the players fought with each other, received the stars for victories (for their defeats, respectively, shot) and gradually moved from the twenty-fifth (lowest) level to the first. So, the official release introduced different additions to the rating system. New awards have appeared: for 500 victories with one hero you will receive its gold, especially an animated card, and for participating in the rating season you will be given special “shirts” of cards, which can also boast of other players.
But the most important thing is that now at the start of each new season your achievements will be taken into account in the previous. That is, the player, depending on the rating received by the last time, will give additional stars at the start, and, accordingly, he will no longer have to start climbing from the lowest level.
Another most important innovation that appeared after the release is the right to return to the game in the event of a departure or loss of connection within 60 seconds and continue the interrupted duel.
In general, the release Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft He met expectations: we received a beautiful, “casual” and easily accessible in essence, but extremely fascinating in fact a card game, which with the introduction of rating seasons and tournaments begins to tear and scatter competitors on the sides. At the same time, she still has where to grow and develop: in the future I want to see more game modes, get a plot campaign and a flexible matchmaking.
Pros: simple, but extremely exciting mechanics;Convenient interface;beautiful picture;chic music and voice acting;the ability to create cards;An interesting rating system.
Cons: only three modes;There is no story campaign.