CONNECTION ESTABLISHED BLOG: Hearthstone Open Beta is Here

On Jan. 21, Blizzard decided it is now time to let everybody in on the hot Trading Card Game. Hearthstone is a free-to-play TCG using the Warcraft universe and characters.

First off, what makes this game awesome is because it is newbie friendly. People who haven’t played a TCG before will not be overwhelmed by this game at all. The mechanics in this game are easy to learn, and will walk you through everything step-by-step.

The production value in this game makes everything alive. Minions have voice acting, spells have spectacular animations and hits can cause the entire screen to shake. Even the board environment reacts whenever you click on the doodads. The visual elements in this game add an extra dimension that most other TCGs don’t have, which makes Hearthstone unique.

The format of this game easily lends itself to be possible iPhone/iPad/Android release. When this game goes live and is on mobile devices, this game might spike in popularity.

So what is my personal experience with the game so far?

I adore this game. I love the fact that it is fast-paced and you can finish matches in a relatively short amount of time. I can usually get two or three games in about 40 minutes, just to give you a perception on how quick the matches are.

I also like the simplicity of the cards. There are not too many cards that are super complicated, at least early on. So even if you are new to the gaming scene, it won’t take too long to understand the basic cards that you will see every game.

Arena Mode is probably the sickest idea that I have seen from Blizzard in a long time. It is a pseudo King of the Hill format where you create a deck of cards that are randomly assigned to you. Once you have created your deck, you can play until you have lost three times. After that, the amount of wins you have after your third loss will get you prizes to better expand your collection for standard play.

My final thoughts on this game: must play – recommend this game to anyone

It would be a mistake to for anyone to pass up on this game. Remember, this game is free to play; you can pick it up and see for yourself if it’s the kind of game you’d invest in.