Hearthstone -Android Style

It’s something that many have been clamoring for and for some time all we ever heard was December, and in a couple of cases a mention that it’s release might coincide with the expansion launch.  But sometime last month, the talk stopped and there was nothing for weeks…until suddenly it went live this week.

Strange thing is, to me anyway, it did so with little noise.  Sure, on the Hearthstone Forums it was announced, but that would be to a small portion of your player base.  There was nothing in the Battlenet launcher that I saw, unlike when GvG went live.  Perhaps I missed it, but the only reason I only know about it is thanks to Mrs. Amateur informing me yesterday.

I haven’t had the chance to play a game via tablet just yet, but I’m happy to be able to whenever I want.  I know the game has gotten some negative feedback over the expansion and its effect on general play.  The few games I’ve played I have certainly noticed a difference, even in my ranked play which consists of the lowbie 20’s.

What about you?  Have you been playing more since the launch of the expansion?  Are you excited to now have the option via Android tablet?

Naxx Comes To Hearthstone This Tuesday

The news came out today that the first Adventure Mode for Hearthstone will go live on July 22nd, which is this coming Tuesday (note: Blizzard, stop doing all your stuff on the same day).  During the “launch event” the first wing is completely free.  The remaining wings, as you will recall, are 700 gold each and once the launch is over the Arachnid wing will no longer be free.  How long the launch is, remains to be seen.

Whether you are a meta gamer with a Zoo Lock or just someone who enjoys puttering around with the game, there’s a good chance this new feature will be of interest to you.  If nothing else it’s something different.  You don’t have to just practice against the computer nor do you have to face other players.  This computer mode is both challenging and rewarding…and apparently if you go Hard Mode then you seem to have sanity issues.  So yes, I am looking forward to it.

I haven’t decided which deck I’ll use first against the Necropolis.  Leaning towards Shaman, but that could quite easily change.  What about you?  Now that we know Naxxramas is coming next week, are you ready?  Do you have a class deck in mind?

Hearthstone Naxx Cost Revealed

Blizzard released some new details for it’s upcoming Adventure Mode, “Curse of Naxxramas.”  We finally know what it’s going to cost to participate, and confirmation of how we all expected the release to work.  The Arachnid Quarter will be made available to players free of charge.  The remaining wings will be unlocked over the course of roughly a month.  Each wing can be obtained for 700 gold.

700 gold is a bit more than even I expected (though I’m fortunate enough to be saved up), but it’s not an insane amount and at least we now know for sure the exact amount.  This also gives players time to start saving if they haven’t done so, or continue saving if they started late or underestimated what the cost would be.  Of course, you also have the option of paying with real world money and if that’s your thing then the wings cost 6.99 USD.  The good news is Blizzard is offering a “Bundle Pack” option if that’s your fancy.  You can get all five wings for 24.99 or drop it about five dollars per wing you’ve already unlocked.

Now with the bundle pack it looks like in making the purchase, you can open all the gates at once.  This seems to be a bit conflicting, though, as the emphasis has been on rolling out Naxxramas one wing at a time. Suddenly that may not be the case.  Of course, it could also mean you can bundle up and open them all once they have all been released.  Time will tell though.  Unfortunately, if you’re like myself and you are planning on using in-game gold then there is no bundle option for you.  You’re paying a set amount regardless.

Unfortunately with the latest news, there is still no release date.  But with Blizzard that’s never a surprise as their motto is always “when it’s ready.”  I’ve said all along I expect July 1st or August 1st and clearly one of those dates has already passed us by.  Do I still think the beginning of August?  At this point it’s genuinely 50/50.  But I’m ok with that.  I’ll wait as long as necessary for the next phase of the game, which I expect to be a fun experience and a great new mode for the casual player (to say nothing of the meta cards waiting to be obtained in the Necropolis).

It’s Alive!

 

Hi there!  Remember me?  No I’m not dead, gone, or any other theory.  I’m also ok, though I appreciate the number of e-mails and such that I received inquiring about me and my well being.  Truth is, I’ve spent the past six weeks or so since I posted just living the day to day life.  Whether being a dad, working, or doing things around the house…you name it.  It was just one of those lengthy periods where I wasn’t logged on to the game and when you’re not…it’s hard to write about it.

Sure, I could talk about the flow of WoD information that continues to come out in light of Blizzard flipping the Beta switch recently.  Honestly, there are enough sources out there and enough people doing it that the subject is well covered.  Personally, I’m not sure on how I feel about various things that I’ve learned and I’m taking a “wait and see” approach to things (Garrisons, I’m looking at you) rather than share my thoughts right now.  Though I will say the mount flavour text is hilarious.

I continue to dabble in Hearthstone, but even that’s been on the back burner during these few weeks -just less so than WoW because my son actually asks me to fire it up on occasion so that he can watch.  Plus, it seems easier to play a quick game versus trying to accomplish anything with certain characters in Azeroth.  I’m not complaining, just observing.  The things I want to do require sitting down and focusing to some degree.  Except for my Baradin Hold rep.  Had I kept at the dailies instead of a complete hiatus, I’d have that Drake by now.  C’est la vie.

This isn’t to say I’m back in the swing of things either.  It’s summer time so my schedule drastically changes for July and August so going to the computer is even less appealing.  Though there are some holidays in there where I might be able to dabble a bit more thoroughly.  Instead, I suspect it will be when school starts that I can spend some time truly immersed in the game once more.  That it’s already been four years and the boy is even going to school to begin with is an adjustment in itself.

One final note, I would just like to once again congratulate Cymre for making it into Warlords of Draenor as an NPC.  I was incredibly excited for her when I heard the news.  If you happened to miss it, here’s her post on the details.  Many of us have always asked the question of what we’d want if we were to be in World of Warcraft and she’s the latest to have that wish come true!

Prepped For Naxx

For someone who doesn’t have much luck in Arena Play, I’ve amassed a bit of gold now.  Heck, I think I’ve played 1-2 Arena games since the beginning of April in an effort to stockpile the surefire amount of gold.  Do I miss out on cards as a result?  Of course.  But my current decks are doing alright on their own.  I honestly wanted to make certain I had enough gold for the launch of Adventure Mode.  Not because I want to get the new cards immediately, but because I want to be able to access Naxxramas right away.

Blizzard announced the solo game earlier this spring and, while they haven’t announced a release date for it, I suspect the July or maybe August season. The idea is something for casual players to indulge in.  Yes, there is a Casual Mode but if you’ve played it…it tends to be anything but.  I find I either lose to a 4+ Legendaries deck, or beat someone in 7 rounds.  There’s literally no control over the balance, and it worsens when players of high rank hit a cap because they then take their decks into Casual and just stomp anyone and everyone.  Why?  I have no idea.  I don’t have that kind of complex.

So Naxx is on the way and will solve that, to some degree.  I expect it to be difficult, more so than the computer mode now.  We’ve also seen a few previews of the card rewards and that’s going to make it even more appealing to all types of players.  The plan is Blizzard will release the first wing free of charge.  After that, they will release one wing per week, at a cost.  You can pay either real money or you can pay with gold.  Clearly the latter is the route I plan to take and that’s where it becomes a guessing game.  Just how much will it cost?  That depends on the approach taken.

My original theory was 150-250 gold.  That’s just above the cost of Arena, which means it isn’t terribly out of reach for the average player. If you only manage to complete 1-2 quests a week and win 3 or 6 games in a week, that would get you 100 gold or more, depending on the quests.  So every couple of weeks even a weaker player would have a fair chance to play the new wings.  But is that what Blizzard is aiming at, or will it be a high end investment reward that nudges impatient players towards buying?  If that’s the case, 250g won’t be nearly enough.  In that situation, I see 400 gold being a more realistic amount.  Possibly even a bit more.  With an amount like that, good players will have no problem getting that much gold together and players who don’t want to wait to do so will just choose to spend the money and buy it right away. Given a company that still charges 15 dollars a month for their million dollar MMO, I can’t put a financial grab past them.

Regardless of what the decision ends up being, I honestly think I’m now set.  Come whatever may, my decks are ready (as they’re going to be) for Kel’Thuzad and the rest.  I’m looking forward to it.  If nothing else, it will be something different and the end result will determine whether or not we see future “expansion” adventures down the road.

Marching Into April

Hard to believe it’s already the end of March.  It really flew by.  At the start, of course, I put together a small list of things I wanted to try to accomplish.  For what it’s worth, after two weeks I looked like I was going to blow through things with the greatest of ease.  I had no problem getting Paramita to 45, or a Pandarian level for Liouxpold (he’s now 86).  Even Semblance.  I wanted to get her to 35 and ended up with a level 40 Warrior.  My successful attempt at cleaning up the Claws of Nature Guild Bank is also well documented.  Unfortunately, that’s where my accomplishments end.  Sure, I did get other things done unexpectedly, but not the other items on the list.

• Junkshot only made it to level 15
• Elcombe barely completed 1-2 Fishing Dailies, nevermind getting two levels.
• Saintvache made it to 451 Herbalism.  Wow, I never realized how tedious that can be.  Never touched his Enchanting either.
• I also didn’t make it to 2,500 daily quests.  I know I’m less than 100 quests from that goal though, so that one will come in April.

A couple of those I might’ve come closer to completing if not for coming down with something this past weekend.  All three of us in the Amateur household are suffering from it, though I think Mrs. Amateur has it the worst.  But the key is focusing on the things that did get done and moving forward and building upon.  So a quick to do list for April and then a little blogging exercise.

• Junkshot (15) to 20
• Liouxpold (86) to 87
• Semblance (40) to 50
• Boost my Engineers: Carrera (392), Semblance (185), Oddfodder (116), Vortmar (112)
• Still get a friggin’ Alchemist started somewhere…
• 2,500 daily quests should be easy to obtain at this point.
• Saintvache to 600 Herbalism (again)
• Maybe get my Albino Drake.
• Get to level 20 in Hearthstone in April for the sexy Pandaren card backs.

We’ll see how things go this time around.  I already know a good chunk of the coming weekend is a write off, so I expect to be a touch behind the 8-ball.  Either way the important thing will be to once again focus on what I do manage to accomplish.

So now the blogging exercise.  I really don’t know where Mrs. Amateur found this, but it’s one I can definitely handle doing.  It’s another 30 days type of exercise, but the questions (to me) are pretty straight forward with good odds of being easy to answer.  How much elaboration comes with the answer is entirely up to the writer.  I know AmerPriest plans on doing it as well, and I would love to know if anyone else decides they’re up for it.

See you in April!

Deed To The (Hearth) Steed

Finding myself with some free time yesterday afternoon, and knowing the Mrs. was also in Azeroth, I decided to try to put in some more time on my Warrior.  Unfortunately, like many other folk I found myself on the receiving end of Error #113.  The login server was busy and to try again later.  No problem, I’ll just do the daily quest for Hearthstone instead.  Oh, hey!  Hearthstone is now live!  Awesome.  Wait, no.  Can’t play that either because the Battle.net client won’t connect and thus I’m out of luck.

Almost three hours later, I managed to login to said Gnome Warrior and there was some mail from Mel Francis.

I clicked on the attachment and put it into my bags.  A short time later the mount was learned and it was time for me to see how it looked.

Yes, mighty sexy indeed.

Now, I don’t know if it’s a current glitch or not but when I went Horde side the mount was still blue.  Previews had suggested red and blue and I certainly figured that meant depending on faction.  I hope it isn’t based on the toon that opened the mail because I would have most assuredly jumped Horde first in order to get the red one (only slightly more sexy than blue).

If you’re wondering where and how you get said mount, I should point out that about an hour before I got into Warcraft I was finally able to sign in to Hearthstone.  With it now being live, they have implemented the mount achievement, which requires you to win three games against other players.