Hi 2+2ers, last week I got back into WoW after 3 years not having played it, I even posted in the WoW thread (I'm all over 2+2 lol) but all my WoW friends when they saw me log in started spamming my chat box "you have to play hearthstone zomg so good yaddayadda". I tried to read the topics here but you guys use so many initials when you write about the game it was like reading a string of DNA. Sorry if already posted, but why should I play this instead of WoW? Or why should I play this at all? Can you explain the game? Isn't it like Magic (which I've never played or understood). Can you get good being a total nub and not a video gamer? I am kind of in bed for surgery and would like something other then playing with my little pony. Any opinions are welcome. Thanks!

Just play it and find out if you like it. It's like a dumb downed MtG from asking people who play both.

play it if you like card games and collecting things. if you are starting right now, it is tough to catch up without spending $$$$. you can get good by learning the game and playing a lot or reading up on what to do. the game, honestly, can be very addicting.

ty much for replies. I love card games but nobody can explain what this one is about, or what magic is about for that matter lol! Been trying to read up on it, the more I read, the more confused I get (you attack other players with good cards? Like poker?). But thanks, I might give it a try. Me, addicted... nah...

So my opinion is the game is much simpler than magic for many reasons and it's also much cheaper than magic since you can earn cards through gold which can be given away for free.

Magic is much older and has a lot more mechanics/more complex. As someone who owned cards but never really played I'm not the best person to answer the question. I know the fact that you essentially get mana for free in Hearthstone and not in Magic is a big difference. In HS you also get to pick the characters that will be attacking and what they will be attacking in comparison to Magic where the defender get's to select what is getting attacked.

HS is fun for a few reasons. Game is reasonably complex but the games are short. Cards, if you have time, are easy and relatively cheap to collect. The number of people playing, because it's basically free, is much greater than MTG online can ever imagine. The breadth of classes/strategies in HS is pretty strong despite only having 9 heroes and a limited card collection at this point. Blizzard is also one of the best game creators and while the team dedicated to HS isn't large--they tend to release 4 expansions or adventures a year and actively, albeit to many too slowly, make updates to cards.

If you're not familiar with Magic or Pokemon, it's kind of hard to explain. But I'll try.

There are 9 different heroes in the game, each with a different ability.

You and your opponent each start with a hero with 30 life and a deck of 30 cards. Each turn, you can play one or more cards. The basic card types are spells, minions, and weapons. The minions get placed on a central board. Each minion has an attack value and a health value. Your minions can attack your opponents minions or can attack your opponent's hero. A minion deals the amount of attack listed on the card and survives as long as it's health is greater than zero. In general, you aren't required to attack your opponent's minions (though there are exceptions), but you may wish to do so to prevent your opponent from having minions on the board. The goal of the game is to bring the enemy hero down to zero life.

Spells are more complicated. They can deal damage to minions or to the enemy hero, draw cards, buff your minions and the like.

Weapons get attached to the hero and allow the hero to attack.

It's a "collectible card game." You are given a basic set of cards and earn more cards as you level each of the 9 heroes up. Eventually, you'll unlock all 133 "basic" cards. As you play, you earn gold by winning and completing quests. With the gold, you can "pay" for expansion packs, which are additional cards that you can add to your collection. There have been several expansions that have increased the total number of unique cards to 698, so you can create a lot of different 30 card decks from the 698 available cards. You can also pay for packs with real money.

That's the gist of it, but it gets a lot more complex than that, as there are many different effects that interact with each other and with your opponent.

As for why to play it, the variety of cards and heroes can make this game very diverse. You can play super aggressive, super conservative, or anywhere in between. The 9 different heroes each play very differently, It makes you think, solve puzzles, and plan ahead.

The best advice I have is to download the Hearthstone client and try it. It's free to play. You'll be pitted against the computer's AI first and it will run you through a tutorial of how to play the game. As the tutorial proceeds, it teaches you more and more card types.

If you like the game, then proceed to learn how to play each class and how to build a deck for each class via this basic guide: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...cbVjzHsnH9PjDX

As gusmahler said there's a pretty good tutorial built in. If you have any interest just download it and go through the tutorial. It'll give you a much better overview of the game then any of us could do. Once that's done you should have an idea if you want to continue or not.

thanks so much for the replies. Just downloaded the game after spending all day doing good for humanity (solo'ing the Lich King raid in WoW). Very impressed with myself lol again, really appreciate the responses, will try Hearthstone out tomorrow, now I go out to dinner because all this raiding has me fatigued. For the Horde!

Everyone,

OP has a fantastic avatar. I expect nothing less than heartfelt responses.

OP,

The strength of HS is two-fold. It is easy (and arguably "free") to get into, but there is also a subversive depth to it that keeps you engaged. The WoW crowd is probably migrating to HS in middle age because the time requirement is drastically less. Being able to play on mobile is also very cool. As a WoW player you'll appreciate all the finer, more subtle points - characters, creatures, spells are all directly from Warcraft.

As an aside, soloing ICC is very fun as well.

"Why play this?"

Because it's fun?

So I'm curious. What has been your initial reaction?