Early this month, Blizzard’s Hearthstone (Free) soft launched, but it wasn’t until this past Wednesday afternoon that the iPad version hit worldwide. I’m not sure it surprised anyone that we loved it in our review, and it’s safe to say that if you haven’t at least tried the game (Which has been available on the PC and Mac for quite some time!) you really should give it a shot, regardless of what platform you’re playing it on. I’m even starting to warm up to the game, as I slowly come to grips with my main criticism of it which seems to be that it’s not Magic the Gathering.
One of the cool things about the game, which you likely already know, is the way the different classes work. Instead of just having a deck like traditional CCG’s, you also have persistent class abilities and cards that only your specific class can use. This is instrumental in what gives the game it’s World of Warcraft-y flavor, as the cards make it feel a lot like you’re actually in a duel with a mage against a druid, or whatever classes happen to be fighting at a time. It’s crazy how well Blizzard nailed this.
Anyway, aside from arguments over which classes are the most overpowered right now, it seems like everyone has their own favorite class to play as when we discuss the game around the ol’ TouchArcade virtual water cooler. Personally, I find myself leaning towards the warlock, largely because it seems to mirror the play style I prefer when playing Magic or other CCGs. In Magic there’s a deck type commonly referred to as “Suicide Red," which uses lots of very fast cards that have almost no defensive abilities, and sometimes even cause you damage in the process. The idea being, you kill your opponent before you kill yourself.
That’s exactly how the warlock works. Your class-specific cards are under-costed when it comes to mana crystals, but often have an additional life cost associated to them. I’ve always really enjoyed the often too random risk and reward that playing these types of decks allow. They might not be the most consistent thing in the world, because you can totally kill yourself then have your opponent make you pay for it… But the games where you just explode out the gate make it all worthwhile.
We’ve had a thread in our forums, since the soft launch hit for Hearthstone, but I figured I’d start a more focused discussion here to see which class everyone’s playing and why. Sure, you need to face every class to unlock the arena so everyone probably knows what each class does, but until you spend significant time playing you might not know all the cool interactions that makes a particular class truly awesome to play.
So, what are you playing? What makes it awesome? Why should someone consider switching off their main class and focusing on learning yours?
