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Blizzards Latest Game: Thoughts on The Hearthstone Beta

A few days ago Blizzard blessed me with access to the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft beta. Since I have been pretty busy with Terraria 1.2, Monaco and PixelJunk Monsters I haven't given much attention to the Hearthstone beta. That said, I installed it and over the last few days have played most of the practice matches once and tried my hand at two online matches with real live humans.

You start out Hearthstone by playing 5 guided matches. Over these matches they let you know the games rules and slowly acclimate you to how to play. The 5 matches are not optional and they are not skippable. I thought it was pretty nice and they really do usher in the more complex game... Read All A few days ago Blizzard blessed me with access to the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft beta. Since I have been pretty busy with Terraria 1.2, Monaco and PixelJunk Monsters I haven't given much attention to the Hearthstone beta. That said, I installed it and over the last few days have played most of the practice matches once and tried my hand at two online matches with real live humans.

You start out Hearthstone by playing 5 guided matches. Over these matches they let you know the games rules and slowly acclimate you to how to play. The 5 matches are not optional and they are not skippable. I thought it was pretty nice and they really do usher in the more complex game elements in a way that is not overwhelming. I started the game as Jana Proudmore and remembered her persona from Warcraft III and enjoyed the banter she had with the other heroes I played against.

The basic premise of Hearthstone is that you pick a hero to play as and then have cards that fit under that hero type. So Jana is a Mage and she has a special ability that for two mana she can target a creature or hero and inflict one damage. The goal of the game is use your cards to overpower the other hero and you can do that by casting creatures, spells and having your hero fight as well.

Hearthstone is very Magic: The Gathering-esque but goes off in different directions and as it does that builds up its own style. I really enjoy that by default your creatures can target other creatures or the Hero. Hearthstone has a taunt ability and when a creature card has it, all attacks from other creatures must hit the taunt creature first. Hearthstone has many things like this that really add to the strategy you use in the game but the core game itself is quite simple to understand.

Like most card games online, it is free to play and you can pay money to get booster packs. You can also accomplish in game stuff to get packs too, but if you don't want to wait for that you can drop the cash and get a whole bunch of cards. I don't mind this freemium aspect to the game as, at this point, its not annoying at all. I imagine this will divide up players that have lots of options from other player that have less options, but one can spend the time and get good cards without paying or by only paying a little. Or you could just play with friends that play for free too, since its all on battle.net your friends list carry over.

Hearthstone is a pretty easy to understand free card game I am really enjoying. I can't wait for more people to try it out and if I get some extra beta keys you guys will be the first to know. If you have played Hearthstone, I wonder what you think of it?

Plants vs. Zombies 2 Comes to Android

PopCap just released Plants vs. Zombies 2 on Android and I serious recommend you pick it up if you have an Android device. PvZ 2 is a freemium game but it isn't annoying. Where as I would have preferred to pay for it all and not have to spend time unlocking things, I never needed to pay for anything and the games increased challenge was a welcomed addition.

If you nab it on Android give it a go and let me know how it goes!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ea.game.pvz2_row

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/28/2013 at 04:58pm

I really wanted to try this out, but it's not compatible with my phone unfortunately.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/28/2013 at 05:21pm

What? Wow. Does it require the latest Android?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/28/2013 at 08:09pm

I guess so? I think I have the most up to date operating system. Maybe it just doesn't like my Galaxy S2.

hardeyez wrote on 11/02/2013 at 01:36am

Worked on my phone :) and yeah, the difficulty is a lot higher in this. You really need to use the superfood wisely and the power-ups. I really like the punchy plants. Set them right behind a walnut and they can punch anything attacking the walnut.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/02/2013 at 05:04am

The punch plants are a really nice addition for sure. They kind of fill the gap between the piraña plant and the wallnut, which is nice because they are not too expensive.

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Night In The Woods

Back this on Kickstarter!

"All Mae wants to do is run around with her friends, break stuff and hang on to a life of aggressive aimlessness. She dropped out of college and returned home to her crumbling old mining town to do just that, but she's finding that nothing is the same anymore. The old town seems different. Her old friends have grown in their own directions. Mae herself is undergoing some sudden and unexplained changes, giving her mysterious abilities that grant her access to a side of town she never knew existed. The world is changing, things are ending, and the future is uncertain. Up behind the park at the edge of town, back in the trees by the old mine- there's something in the... Read All

6.79 Patch update

http://www.brokenjoysticks.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dota2-wallpaper.jpg

The past several months of dota have been good. Extremely good. The stability of v6.78 created a strong dependable meta game and a fierce competitive scene.

But all good things must end right?

Hopefully to make room for better things.
V6.79 brings a boat load of changes that have turned the meta upside down. The next few months will be an anything goes slug fest as we see old tactics become obsolete and new ones rise in their place.
dont believe it? Check this chart that tracks some if the most significant effects on W/L ratio.
http://i.imgur.com/hLTqLC8.png

I'd love to talk about the changes in depth and look at the new meta and theory craft. But I'll save it for another... Read All

JaBo wrote on 10/25/2013 at 10:59pm

Oh man, I love dota stats...look at the SB hahaha...BITCH. Also, the popularity change for Brood haha, so funny. Not surprising the win rate hasn't gone up terribly much yet. Still too new on changes and people don't know how to play her yet.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 10/26/2013 at 03:42am

Dat spreadsheet. Oh yeah.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/26/2013 at 08:44pm

Looks like a good time to re-install DoTA 2 and give it a go again. Hopefully this patch gets the game a bit closer to "dat perfect balance."

rettisawesome Post Author wrote on 10/29/2013 at 08:21pm

I tend to approve of icefrog's tendency to buff heroes that aren't quite viable. Rather than bringing others down. While some definitely needed to come down. I'm glad to see broodmother with big buffs. As well as others. It adds more diversity. And makes for more interesting play.

rettisawesome Post Author wrote on 10/29/2013 at 08:24pm

The best part of the datasheet is under popularity change for bloodseeker and broodmother. Lololol

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Burial at Sea episode 1 will release on Nov 12

Return to Rapture with Booker and Elizabeth on November 12 with the first installment of the Burial at Sea DLC.

To recap for those who aren't familiar, this DLC takes the main characters of Bioshock: Infinite to Rapture, before it fell into chaos.

If you have the season pass, then you're done-- just download the update when it's released and start playing. Otherwise, it'll set you back $15, as will the second episode. If you're fairly confident you'll want to play both, the season pass is $20, so more bang for your buck!

Reaper of Souls: The Mystic

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Blizzard showed off some early details about the Mystic, a new(ish) NPC coming to Diablo III when Reaper of Souls releases. I say "ish" because she was planned for the initial release but was cut before the beta.

The Mystic re-enchants weapons and armor. The basic idea is this: you have an awesome sword for your Barbarian but it has a useless Intelligence roll on it. You can take it to the mystic, pick that roll, and she'll re-roll it to something else. Now, it wouldn't be Diablo if you could pick that roll, there has to be some chance thrown in. So of course, the re-roll may be worse than what you started with, and in this case you can choose to stick with the... Read All

Year Walk Review: More than Just Mechanics

IGN said: “Year Walk is one of the creepiest, most atmospheric games to ever hit phones or tablets. Take a walk in the woods.”

Classic scare tactics include jarring music, sudden camera movements, and quick shadows in the background. There is a reason why they keep using the same methods to shock the bejeezus out of gamers, that reason being the fact that it works. However, a few special gems have taken all those by-the-book video game horror techniques aside. Enter an iPhone app that you wouldn’t even think of buying at first glance – Year Walk by Simogo (http://simogo.com/games/yearwalk/). Let’s have a trek at what this title has in store for its brave players.

A... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Episode 7: The Halloween Special

In The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Episode 7: Halloween Special we take a bit of a break to talk about horror themed games we have played that have had an impact on us. @CapnCurry drops a story during our roundtable about "Gonzo the Norn" that is a must hear. It's a really interesting tale about an experience he had with a particular Norn in Creatures 2. Experience the story that prompted us to spontaneously clap when he was finished.

We also polish off the episode by going over games we'd like to see come to Valve's upcoming SteamOS and Steam Machines. Come for the video game discussion stay for us dressing up strangely!

Terraria 1.2 Server: ... Read All

Path of Exile released!

The Action RPG Path of Exile released on Steam today, and you can play it for free!

Many people compare this favorably to Diablo 3, saying it's the sequel Diablo 2 deserved. Others think it's clunky and awkward. But for $0.00 you can bet I'll be trying it out. I love the aRPG genre and any new contender is welcome.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/238960

Final Fantasy on Android?

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I was just glancing at what games might be available for my phone (Andriod) and saw that the Final Fantasy games are being ported to Android? Has anyone tried any of these? I honestly never paid too much attention to which FF in North America translates to the original number, but I suppose I'll finally have to figure it out now!

Here's FFIV, which I think was FFII for the SNES? Looks like it's been remade in 3D?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.android_googleplay.FFIV_GP

Travis Admin wrote on 10/23/2013 at 08:21pm

That looks like the DS remake. I tried to play that but couldn't get over the cutesty models. I'll stick with the original or the PSP version.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/23/2013 at 08:54pm

That said, you should ignore me entirely about this game because I've only ever played about 5 hours of it.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 10/23/2013 at 08:56pm

lol, it's all good man. It does look cutesy, but I might be able to get over that if I'm able to play it on my phone. Still undecided if I'll get it or the others.

Matt_Derksen wrote on 10/24/2013 at 02:56pm

I haven't tried any of them yet, but plan to. I really like that they are going back and updating the graphics. Even the original FF is there with a fresh coat of paint. They seem to be using the numbering as released in Japan rather than the US. like FF IV was our II.

JaBo wrote on 10/25/2013 at 09:23pm

Oh shoot...I might have to get this

JaBo wrote on 10/25/2013 at 09:26pm

Hmm $16 though.... I really hate spending more than $5 on something I already own for a different platform =[
FFV is on sale tho for $11 right now. Only 142 MB too

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