I admit the main reason I opted into the Hearthstone beta was because of the Hearthsteed. Up until yesterday, I had no real knowledge of the game or games like it. I had purchased a number of TCG packs over the years, purely for a chance at the loot cards and no real interest in the game itself. Unfortunately, the only two loot cards I managed to see came from the Wrath and Cata Collector’s Editions. I even tried my luck with the new Reign of Fire set, buying four booster packs but no loot cards inside.

A couple of days ago, I received my own beta invite prompting me to install the Battle.net desktop app which is a requirement to play. As soon as I saw the opening screen, I was pleasantly surprised. There was so much animation and the heroes even talk to each other making the opening matches fun to play through. You can even interact with the corners of the board and use emotes to communicate with the other player.

As soon as I finished battling Illidan I was eager to get a priest deck going. Around the same time, Coolidge had made a paladin deck so he was eager to challenge me to a match. I have never played this sort of game before so with only the practice matches to go by, I sent him a challenge.

Hearthstone bench

I was so used to my hero ability doing damage (after playing Jaina) that I made a few boo boos during the match. Let’s just say I didn’t make things any easier for myself and Cool didn’t help much :P

A few hours later, I logged back in to try a few matches in Play mode which meant I was playing against other people. I was able to beat six other players meaning I could start making decks for several other classes. After each win, I slowly began to tweak my custom priest deck so it’s been quite fun incorporating some of the more interesting cards available.

This afternoon I logged in to find a challenge from Arv. OMG, he has a lot more experience with this so I didn’t have high hopes. I immediately messaged him saying “[he was] going to kick my ass” but he said, “I’ll go easy on you”. Yeah, right! After a particular move, he apologised. Apologies, my ass!

For now, I’ll keep playing for the experience and hopefully some really nice cards. I might have a go at the Hunter, Shaman and Warlock decks before I step into the arena, I’ll just have to wait and see.