Cactus Game Design Message Boards

That's really a shame.

Are there reactions for any of the adventure mode bosses if you play their cards against themselves? Like if you play Loatheb against itself or Kel'Thuzad against himself?

Also a shame, but I suppose that would be a lot of work to do.

Just jumped on the Hearthstone bandwagon. Any advice for a noob who sort of knows what he is doing?

Welcome! The best advice I can give is that, if you're willing to spend any money on the game, you should buy one or both of the Adventure Packs (Naxxrammas and Blackrock Mountain) as they add a TON of single-player stuff to do as well as give you a specific set of cards just for beating the bosses inside (as opposed to having to get random cards from packs).

Other than that, I suggest playing all the classes to level 10 to give you a feel for how they play, and then from there just pick ones you like playing and build up decks for them.

Hey, thanks for the advice! I am unwilling to spend money on it, though. Is it worth saving 700 gold to unlock?

Those videos were helpful, thanks Lambo!

Okay, thanks. Is arena warfare worth it, or should I just save my gold for the adventures?

Arena will typically only "break even" in terms of rewards at 4-5 wins. If you can hit 7 wins on a regular basis, you earn over 150 gold and can start another arena run immediately.

The adventures are not worth it at first if you're not going to spend money. Work on buying packs and building your collection that way first. It's much more efficient until you get better at the game.

It really depends what cards you can acquire for your collection. My advice is to play the class(es) you enjoy playing while you're building your collection. If you get to the point of wanting to get Legend in constructed you can always build the "better" decks later.

If you're going to play arena for learning the cards, play on the EU server.

The what now?

So when you open Battle.net there are three servers to choose from: Americas, Europe, or Asia.  I assume you want the bulk of your collection on the America account, however if you like you can start one on EU and Asia as well, which is basically starting over. I now play all my arenas over there because it's not worth me spending the gold on, since I'm not yet infinite and I don't need Goblins vs Gnomes packs anyway.  Arena is a great way to learn by getting thrown into the fire, but if you don't want to waste your gold you can do it over there. Alternatively, it allos you to play more arenas. You do have to complete the tutorial on each server though.

Asia>Americas>EU as far as arena difficulty goes.

Here are my main pieces of newbie advice:

1. Level up your heroes: When first starting out, just spend all your time fighting the AI on easy difficulty until you get each of your heroes to level 10. This will unlock all of the basic cards, which you will need in order to play competitively. After that, try out the expert AI, then casual play, then ranked play, in that order, as you feel comfortable with them.

2. Study the arena before entering: The arena was my favorite format when I first started because everyone starts at an equal level, and it remains my favorite due to the replay factor. If you want to play a game or two in arena early on to see if you like it, go ahead. It costs 150 gold to enter, and you are guaranteed a card pack as a reward no matter what, so at very worst, you will lose 50 gold of value from playing. However, you need to be able to win at least 4 games per run on average in order for the arena to be worthwhile (not counting the entertainment factor), so I think it's best to watch a good player play an arena run or two before trying it out. (I started with Trump and continue to watch almost everything he posts to this day, because I enjoy him.) Also, picking cards can be tough, so I recommend using an arena tier list (I use Icy Veins) to make picks in the arena when you first start.

3. Complete quests efficiently: You get one new quest every day, and can have a max of 3 at a time. Most of them give 40 gold, but some give 60 (or more). You are also able to replace one quest of your choice with a random new one every day. If you want to maximize the average amount of gold you get from quests per day, avoid completing 40 gold quests at all costs unless you have 3 of them, because given enough time they will eventually end up being more rewarding quests as you cycle them out. Make sure you are able to cycle out a 40 gold quest every day by not completing them, and focus on completing the 60 gold (or more) quests only, whenever possible.

4. Plan your purchases wisely: How you want to spend your money depends mainly on whether you want to be primarily an arena player or a constructed player. If you don't like the arena or are really bad at it, you will be making most of your money on quests (which should earn you an average of about 55 gold per day if you take my above advice) plus a little more for winning games in constructed, depending on how much you play (you get 10 gold for every 3 games you win against a player, so it takes a lot of games to make a noteworthy haul, especially when you are new).

If you like arena and are able to get your average number of wins per run to 7 or more, you are able to actually make money playing the arena while getting cards, because at 7 wins you are guaranteed at least your full fee of 150 gold back, in addition to the (now essentially free) pack reward. This is the ideal place to be, but even if you can get your average wins to 4 or 5, you can at least essentially get discounts on card packs by making more than 50 gold on average plus the pack reward, making it a more efficient way of expanding your collection than playing constructed. Plus, you get the enjoyment of the arena. This is what I have always focused on.

If you do not play the arena, I would try to spend your money mostly on Classic packs, and buy them as soon as you have 100 gold, as new cards will allow you to improve your decks and thereby win more games. After you have bought 20 classic packs or so, move on to Goblins vs. Gnomes packs until you have gotten about 20 of those. After that, start saving your money for the adventures. A lot of the cards you get from the adventures are really good, and you will definitely want to complete them eventually.

If you play a lot of arena, you will be getting GvG packs automatically as rewards, which isn't as good as getting classic packs when you are new, but it shouldn't matter as much, as most of the games you play will be in arena. My advice is to save your money enough to make sure that you are always able to buy an arena entry. Slowly, you should be able to build up enough money to get a few Classic packs over time. I would say that once you have gotten about 10 or 15 Classic packs, you should start saving for the adventures.

5. Do what you enjoy, even if this conflicts with any or all of the above advice. It's a game after all!

Do Arena's and have someone here spectate your games with you. You'll learn all of the cards while having someone experienced here able to help coach your Arena's.

So, I've been having a lot of fun with this deck:



I'm going to replace divine favor with Solemn Vigil when that releases today. I *might* put volcanic drake in as well. I'll see.

The Redemption - Baron Rivendare - Sludge Belcher combo has already won me multiple games. Add in sword of justice and avenge for better results.