{"id":306,"date":"2015-05-16T20:01:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-16T18:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/?p=306"},"modified":"2015-05-16T20:01:59","modified_gmt":"2015-05-16T18:01:59","slug":"hearthstone-blackrock-mountain-review-whoa-im-on-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/hearthstone-blackrock-mountain-review-whoa-im-on-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearthstone: Blackrock Mountain Review: Whoa, I\u2019m On Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, we looked in on the digital card game Hearthstone<\/a>, as produced by Blizzard Entertainment.<\/p>\n

In that review, my feelings were mixed. It\u2019s well put together, but ultimately a little shallow. It left me feeling like I wanted a new Magic: The Gathering experience that had both the monetization options and that wonderful visual and aural flair that Hearthstone possesses in spades.<\/p>\n

This week, I\u2019d like to talk a little bit about the solo adventure that released about six weeks ago, now. That solo adventure is based on various raids within Blackrock Mountain, a forbidding, lava strewn area of World of Warcraft that has been the nexus of many a story-telling point in that game.<\/p>\n

I love<\/em> the solo adventures. Part of my inherent problem with Hearthstone is that to make any sort of headway with levelling your avatars, you are almost forced into player versus player territory. Which is a bit of a pity, because the introductory forty five or so minutes against AI enemies \u2013 the tutorial part of the game \u2013 is one of the most fun parts of picking up Hearthstone.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re done with the tutorial, of course, the game dumps you in the cold and leaves you to the wolves. \u201cGo PVP,\u201d it says, \u201cand good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am not a player versus player sort. There is something inherently unappealing about going to fight other humans. While lots of folks may suggest that this is a \u201creal test of your skill\u201d the problem with player versus player is that \u2013 on the internet \u2013 it has devolved into being the meanest, baddest dude that ever lived.<\/p>\n

And I detest that.<\/p>\n

I detest the culture of calling someone a \u201cnoob\u201d [slang for \u201cnew player,\u201d but used in the most derogatory fashion available] if your opponent don\u2019t like what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

In short, as far as I\u2019m concerned, player versus player basically breeds the worst<\/em> of the worst sort of human.<\/p>\n

So, I \u2013 for one \u2013 am very grateful the player versus environment content exists in this game.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s talk a little about what happens when you buy Blackrock Mountain.<\/p>\n

\"when<\/a>
Wings! And Bosses! And bosswings! Oh my!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can either buy each wing separately for in-game gold or you can fork out some money. If you\u2019re a free-to-play player that\u2019s going to pay gold, expect to \u2013 on average \u2013 take about a month to earn the gold, in-game to pay for this particular content. Unless, of course, you\u2019ve gone infinite through the arena, but that\u2019s a different player, entirely.<\/p>\n

One problem with Blizzard is that their micro transactions almost always lean toward the macro end of the scale. Do I think $25 is on-par for an \u201cexpansion\u201d that adds 31 cards? Not really. If you do a breakdown of packs-to-expansion ratio, you find that you can buy 6 packs [30 cards] for just short of $12. So the extra money \u2013 the other $13 \u2013 is you paying for assets, testing and coding. And $13 is a bit steep.<\/p>\n

Bear in mind, too, that $25? It\u2019s only possible to get if you buy all the wings at once. If you buy them piecemeal, then the expansion is a staggering $35. Yes. Seriously. $35.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, there are 5 absolutely guaranteed legendaries going into this mix, but even then, those six packs you bought at the Hearthstone store \/might\/ [at a very small chance] each have a legendary in them.<\/p>\n

So I don\u2019t necessarily agree with the pricing model, here. $7 per wing is just a little \/too\/ steep.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
Everything’s on fire oh God!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What I do like and agree with are the animations and sounds. Once again, Blizzard has absolutely made the game charming and fun to look at and listen to. There are lots of little silly emotes and interesting touches that make the game stand out from nearly all of the other card game products on the market. At one point, as a result of your actions, the game even changes your username to a hilarious new username.<\/p>\n

The fights are fairly varied, too, leading to some interesting strategies and thoughtful play, but this assumes you\u2019re playing the matches on normal. For the most part, in fact, normal is pretty well balanced with only one or two bosses being any sort of big issue.<\/p>\n

But the heroic modes of each of these encounters? Some of them are just flat-out silly. And remember: you\u2019re doing the heroic modes to unlock a card back!<\/em> A card back, incidentally, that you paid for and might not be able to get, depending on your temperament, skill set and the cards you own.<\/p>\n

I have dabbled in free-to-play experiments with the heroic modes and I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s even possible to approach those modes with that card set. So if you\u2019re fresh to Hearthstone, you\u2019re going to have to wait out doing the heroic modes. Unless you\u2019re completely patient and have a deck that has the slimmest chance of winning.<\/p>\n

\"Class<\/a>
The mage challenge is A-MAGE-ING. Did you see what I did there?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are also class challenges \u2013 one for each class. While I\u2019m not totally for the \u201cmicro\u201d transactions on show, here, I do have to make special note of the mage class challenge. Which is basically randomness personified, but completely the most fun thing the game has offered up in a very<\/em> long while. Essentially, you\u2019re given a hand of \u201csummon random creature\u201d spells and you have to make the best of whatever comes out of those random portals.<\/p>\n

While I enjoyed my time in Blackrock Mountain, one thing has always bothered me about the player-versus-environment aspect of Hearthstone: it\u2019s simply not viable. Almost every quest that you get given only \u201cworks out\u201d to your advantage if you do them in player versus player. See, every three wins you achieve in pvp gives you ten gold. Do that in pve because you\u2019re finishing a quest? You get nothing. Also, more experience-per-avatar is doled out in pvp, nudging players \u2013 in essence toward that style of play \u2013 even if it is not in their comfort zone\/their preference.<\/p>\n

And I think this is kind of a failure for Blackrock Mountain [and the expansion that went before it, Naxxramas.] \u2013 People are going to play through that content exactly once and then forget about it. [It is, of course, a win for Blizzard \u2013 playing through once and never again means they\u2019ve \u201cearned their money.\u201d] And I think this is problematic design. There really ought to be incentives for stepping back into pve on a regular basis for those who don\u2019t like pvp.<\/p>\n

Do I think Blackrock Mountain is worth it, in the end? Maybe. If you save up 2100 gold and buy the last two wings for $15, I think it about \u201cevens out.\u201d But not if you pay the full [absurd] price.<\/p>\n

Having said that: if you\u2019re looking for new challenges and you want to get additional cards for your arsenal [and that\u2019s exactly why you\u2019ll be there, more than anything else] then sure. Put down some money. There are some fun fights, an occasionally fun joke or two and all the style Blizzard can muster.<\/p>\n

I did a series of videos with free-to-play decks taking on normal mode for Blackwing Mountain here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I would not recommend trying this for heroic mode at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, we looked in on the digital card game Hearthstone, as produced by Blizzard Entertainment. In that review, my feelings were mixed. It\u2019s well put together, but ultimately a little shallow. It left me feeling like I wanted a new Magic: The Gathering experience that had both the monetization<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[38,37,3,39,40,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}