There is a story mode that acts as a tutorial and is 20 missions that provide rewards for completing. There is a practice mode against the AI and a very cool "Solo Arena" mode that you compete in against several AI opponents. I believe there will be a second story coming as IAP.
I've played three, winning all three. Which is more of a compliment on the matchmaking than my skills. All 3 matches were clearly against noobs like me. The online connection and play was pretty close to my Hearthstone experience, albeit with a more basic UI.
Like others have said there is a story mode, but you'll finish it within a day or two. After that you'll have Solo Arena and Practice Modes. Solo Arena costs 150 gold (the in-game economy is near identical to Hearthstone's, except with more generous rewards), and Practice mode is free to play. Solo Arena consists of drafting a deck of 30 cards (down from the game's usual 50) and facing off against 9 AI opponents, with 3 losses equaling death. And the rewards definitely make it worthwhile. Practice consists of picking any deck you like and playing one game against the AI. You have 3 difficulty levels to choose from, with corresponding rewards. The rewards are 5, 10, or 15 Crystals, depending on which difficulty you picked. Crystals are the games crafting currency and almost identical to Hearthstone's Dust. So there's plenty of Solo play to enjoy after the Story mode is over.
In story mode I keep getting all these decks do I make one good deck out of them all at do I use them as they are Iam in act 3 now
I think they are separate decks to try out. I did try a couple of them, but generally went back to the original one (I became more familiar with it).
No, you can replay different chapters though but it's probably better to just use the practice room. If you can beat expert with a deck it's usually ok for PvP. There will be future story chapters released but I don't know when.
To reiterate on a few posts above, Solo Arena really is tons of fun, and one of TESL's unique appeals. I wrote a post about it's awesomeness over in the beta thread. Don't overlook it, on pain of not having as much as you could be having! New'uns, check out my post on the second page for am introduction to what distinguishes TESL, a little guidance on where to go for more TESL info and fandom, and what to do once yer there. The next story expansion, The Fall of the Dark Brotherhood, releases on the 5th of April. Legend-decks hosts a spoiler list of all revealed cards. Many of us have been impressed by how Dire Wolf expand upon TESL's already wide design space in the newly revealed cards mechanics, really happy at the lack of RNG (two cards so far. Contrast with Hearthstone's 9 RNG-based cards out of a total of 18, for some cheap, smug, petty superiority), and believe this expansions bodes well for the future of the game and indicates that TESL is going in an even more sophisticated and interesting tactical direction. Sorry I didn't pipe up sooner. But Jake7905 pretty much nails it. The starter package is definitively the best value for yer hard-plundered pieces o' eight. If you've more to spend, the Madhouse Collection plus either one 20-or-so-dollar IAP of 15 packs, or 6 arena tickets for about half that amount, will get you a long, long way towards building lots of both fun and ladder-viable decks. (Add a pre-order for the Dark Brotherhood expansion on top of that, and you'll have another 40 unique cards and quite a lot of solo content.) I've purchased the starter, Madhouse, and two 20-dollar IAP of packs, but my professed passion for the game notwithstanding haven't had much time to play during open beta (I've had more opportunity to actually read about the game and theorycraft than to actually play, something that will change once the iPhone client hits). That said, I currently still sit at a 71% collection completion. I never feel limited in my deck choices. (And substituting powerful but expensive legendary cards for cheaper alternatives when you copy popular deck lists is a fun process in itself.) Once you learnt to play the AI in Solo Arena, and to draft with style and smarts for versus Arena, you can f2p your way to some serious cards! And the regular PvP rewards are some of the most generous around as well.
This game is really good. I wonder if both HealthStone and TESL came out the same time, how would this game fare?
Hearthstone is explicitly targeted at a less competitive audience (which is why Blizzard doubles down on the RNG even as the cry of the pro rises to the heavens), so I think it would always have found a greater audience. Also, Blizz is one of the few companies who can out-value and out-trade even a Bethesda-backed project, and Azeroth is one of the few settings which is more iconic than ES/Nirn/Tamriel/whathaveyou. I think TESL would have done great still, even in direct release date and franchise competition with HS. I think it still will
Ayjona, thanks for being our sherpa! Lots of great info. Finished the story mode long ago when I snuck into soft and am trying to get back into it. Bought the starter pack and am at about 50%. Trying to focus on one type (mage) so as not to be overwhelmed. Speaking of overwhelming, an expansion on this one and then an expansion for HS a day later...
I played a bit and enjoyed the game but unfortunately had to delete it. As a policy I do not play games that require an internet connection. I don't understand why I don't have the option to play the story mode or single player games without being connected. I use my iPad mostly when I travel. To me developers that go the extra mile in including this deserve the most support.
Bye to 95% of games then Internet connection is more about trying to catch or prevent cheating... This game is pretty fun..
95% of games? Really? Maybe free to play yes, but then I dont care. I have thousands of games on all platforms, that do not require an internet connection to play solo.
So, once the new'uns have had a few weeks to buff upp their collections, how would you feel about some regular TouchArcade Legends tournaments? My pleasure (really) Yeah, I think that's the way to go for all of us who is not planning to make our livelihood from streaming TESL content (i.e., have time to keep our day jobs). I don't have quite the composure not to branch out, but try to keep my focus on a few (esoteric and often ineffective) archetypes at the time. And I do leave basically all my Legendary cards and more powerful Epics alone*, for those wild deckbuilding flights of fancy. * Except for my Spider Daedra. I kept her in my collection for so long. Waiting for her day to come, for the rise of the Spiderling meta. And then soul trapped her SO hard one day when I was just a few gems short of whatever card I believed I so desperately needed at the time. I know now the path to Legend is paved with soul dust, Skooma and regrets.
