Hearthstone Expansion Launch

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

Despite a silly little bug forcing card duplicates out of the pack (which has harmed pretty much everyone who bought a 50-deck starter pack) I have to say I love the way this expansion launched.

Before the good, the bad is that I love the illusion that there is a fair RNG shot at legendaries and really good cards just by playing away with no need to buy tons of packs. If there are x number of cards, and y number of legendary cards in my mind it’s a clear ratio of y/x for my chances.This “bug” totally ruins that illusion for me. Of course they make legendaries harder to get, so you have to buy more to have that chance. Of course they have swung it in their favor to make more money. I just like living under the illusion of fairness. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

That being said they were really generous with their launch of the game and ‘free’ pack giveaways. There are three different factions in this expansion and in serial order you need to complete quests for each. The quests are as simple as win 3 games with a, b, or c classes (solidifying the launch of the new system of multi-class cards) and each quest completion gives you two packs. 6 packs for just playing a range of classes is better than most of the morning quests I get each day. It was fun to do that.

I had also saved up a bunch of coin to buy the new packs and I received one legendary out of the 8 or so packs I had, which seemed above average considering some of the 50 pack buyers were saying they received 2-3. I am not sure what the ratio should be. None of the new cards seem game breaking yet but I also haven’t ran into full decks as designed to use some of the new mechanics. As such, I am reserving my right to complain about pay to win at a future date. As a gaming blog that right should just be implicit anyway, right?

Alt-itis Rears its Ugly Head

At the conclusion of the Rogue Class Hall quest I started leveling my Shaman. I have written (and read plenty elsewhere) that this is not a very friendly Alt expansion – and I still agree with that. This perspective really depends on how much you love your main character as well. I am not maximizing my main experience, but log in everyday to do my Emissary quests. Rep is almost all at Exalted. The main quest-line portion that is available is just about complete. I am now 850 ilvl with my Rogue and also do the daily Emissary quests but not much else. I am interested in the story from other character’s perspectives. My Paladin is at 106 and is moving along nicely on the Class Hall quests and I just wanted to dig in on getting a character up for the next experience.

My Shaman, while only 87, is one of my favorite classes of all time thematically, even though they have watered down the play style over the years. I still don’t want to get too far ahead with my alts until they fully unveil their plans for alts to catch up, but i have a hunter at 100 and plan to get some others up to the 100 threshold using the 200% rested XP gains. At this point I just want options. As a gaming blog that desire should just be implicit anyway, right?

Clash Royale

Because I need another daily phone game distraction I started playing. Kids on my son’s team play it a lot so I became interested. It is fun and I am already shooting up the ranks of the team’s clan. It’s weird with kids and games and social media – many have Instagram accounts (etc.) at 11 and when they request the add I always follow back. Fun to see what is important to them but because of the age gap and what not, I do find it a bit odd and it took me some time to get comfortable with it. It does make me more mindful about what I am posting of which is probably a good thing. The kids all asked me to join their clan and find it “cool” that I play. They love beating me in a friendly and can’t believe an old guy can beat them (when it actually does happen). I wonder if the teenage years will make it yet again not cool to ‘hang out’ with a dad, but we’ll see if the new digital age makes kids more inclusive. I’ll be fine if they end up kicking me because it’s not cool anymore. In the short term, its fun to see the way the interact and play these games.

Happy Friday, Everyone!