Episodes
Tuesday Apr 23, 2013
Free to Play - Episode 5
Tuesday Apr 23, 2013
Tuesday Apr 23, 2013
Hello!
- Derrick is on the show this week
- Topic: Free to play as the business model
- Reasons to be happy this week
Who is Derrick?
- History with card games
- History with Blizzard games
- Are you a cheapskate or a big-spender?
Free to Play in General
- This is Blizzard’s first F2P game ever
- What does that mean?
- Microtransaction controversy
- Examples you might be familiar with
Microtransactions We Expect To See (Speculation)
- New skins for the avatar
- New hero to unlock
- Buff to boost chance to find gold cards in packs (just visuals)
- Card packs
- New voice-over packs
- Playmats
- In-game Tournaments
- Technical account conveniences: name changes, inventory moves between PC and iPad
Microtransactions We Don’t Expect To See (Speculation)
- Rent cards temporarily
- Purchase more powerful cards than you can get in packs
- Game Modes
- XP potions
On A Technical Level
- Probably Paypal
- Diablo 3 Hook-up
- Battle.net authenticator
Buying Card Packs
- Only confirmed purchase so far
- Planned $1 per pack
- Pack = 5 cards
- 1 guaranteed rare
- Each other card slot has a chance to have higher rarity
Why Buy Packs?
- Thrill of opening for random cards
- Build out your decks with more/better cards
- Use to play in the Forge
How To Earn Free Cards
Every time you play a game, you earn the most basic “starter” level cards
Every other card is an “expert” card and can be earned from 4 sources:
- Opening packs, which can be won periodically by playing
- Purchasing them from Blizzard directly?
- Crafting them (we’ll discuss this in-depth in future)
- Earning achievements in-game
What We Want To Come “With The Box”
- 1 hero starter deck (your choice)
- 3 packs dedicated to your hero deck after you pick
- 1 free pack every time you “level” via XP system (if there is one)
- 20 avatars (like LoL)
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Derrick on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Wednesday Apr 17, 2013
The Game Modes - Episode 4
Wednesday Apr 17, 2013
Wednesday Apr 17, 2013
Hello!
- Adam is on the show this week
- Topic: The different modes Hearthstone will launch with
- Reasons to be happy this week?
Who is Adam?
- History with card games
- Online card games too
- Making up your own game modes
Game Mode #1: vs AI (beginner)
- How it works
- Corollary in other card games
- How casual/hardcore?
- Why play it?
- How fun will it be?
Game Mode #2: vs AI (expert)
- How it works
- Corollary in other card games
- How casual/hardcore?
- Why play it?
- How fun will it be?
Game Mode #3: 1v1 PvP
- How it works
- Corollary in other card games
- How casual/hardcore?
- Why play it?
- How fun will it be?
Game Mode #4: The Forge
- How it works
- Corollary in other card games
- How casual/hardcore?
- Why play it?
- How fun will it be?
What We Think
- Happy with these modes only?
- Other modes we want to see added
- Overall, boost confidence in Hearthstone, or make you nervous?
Card of the Week
Healing Stream Totem isn’t technically a card in the traditional sense, but we’re counting it for this week!
Farewell
- Follow Adam on Twitter
- Thanks to Lilraceangel3 for the kind iTunes review!
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Friday Apr 12, 2013
People Who Played It - Episode 3
Friday Apr 12, 2013
Friday Apr 12, 2013
Hello!
- Chris is on the show this week
- Topic: Hands-on impressions from people who’ve played Hearthstone
- Reasons to be happy this week?
Who is Chris?
- Founder of MMO Reporter network
- Cool dude
- Played Hearthstone at PAX
The Hearthstone Panel
- What was it like?
- How excited were people there?
- What was your favorite part?
The PAX Demo Station
- How long was the line?
- Did you overhear people saying anything about their impressions?
- How long did it seem to take to complete a match?
Chris’ impressions
- What mode did you play?
- What hero did you pick
- What was your favorite card you played?
- Any cool special effects?
- How responsive was the UI?
- Seems pretty in the screenshots–pretty in motion, too?
- First impressions: Fun?
- Are people too hyped, not hyped enough, or just right for this?
Other impressions
Simon Sage @ iMore
“For example, you can see which cards your opponent is fiddling with during gameplay.”
Matt Daniel @ Massively
“One last thing I wanna mention is kind of silly, but it made me smile. Since my character was a Horde character, the game’s play area was Horde-themed, with an Orcish hut in one corner, a catapult in another, and so forth. To my surprise, these turned out to be interactable objects, and I could actually drag a rock into the catapult and then fling it at my opponent, or I could poke the Orcish hut and cause it to belch fire from its chimney stack. I don’t know whether my opponent could see it, and it had no effect on the game at all, but it was silly and fun. I appreciate things that are silly and fun.”
Caitlin Cooke @ Desctructoid
“After selecting a hero, players start out with five cards in their hand and are able to switch out one card of their choosing for a random card in the deck (aka the traditional “mulligan” stage). I found this to be a really neat concept that puts the power into the player’s hand vs leaving it up to chance.”
Sardu @ Ten Ton Hammer
“For example, knowing I was up against a mage, I expected that Fell would no doubt have some minor minions to harass me early on while he built up enough mana each round to eventually unleash a ton of direct damage.
Meanwhile, my warlock was less about massive damage throughout but was able to play a game of attrition thanks to a number of minions or abilities that would heal my character. By mid-game I took a gamble and began holding my most damaging cards – those that did X damage to everything on the board – paired with one larger heal. The idea here was that I’d give Fell a false sense of security by allowing him to take my health dangerously low, before pulling out the big guns in two devastating rounds.
That strategy almost worked, but the match had progressed long enough that Fell was able to smack me in the face with two fireballs, each one doing 6 points of direct damage to my avatar. Even though Fell walked away victorious, he also had that “crap, that was a close match!” look on his face as we stepped back from our demo stations.”
Card of the Week
Don’t hit me, hit the big Shield Bearer!
Farewell
- Follow Chris on Twitter
- Win free stuff on Defiance Reporter
- Thanks to Gh0st11_98 for the kind iTunes review!
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Tuesday Apr 02, 2013
Friends and Family - Episode 2
Tuesday Apr 02, 2013
Tuesday Apr 02, 2013
Hello!
- Jenna is on the show this week
- She’s here to provide a casual gamer’s perspective
- Why are we happy this week?
Who is Jenna?
- Do you consider yourself a gamer?
- What experience do you have with video and card games?
- Every gamer has non-gamer friends or family like this
What do you know about Hearthstone?
- Have you heard anything?
- Seen any trailers or videos online?
- Let’s watch the trailers and see what you think
- First impressions of the game
What else do you want to know about the game?
- Any questions about how the game works?
- Any concerns about how fun it will be to play?
- Reassurances from Josh
The moment of truth
- Will you play Hearthstone with me?
- How excited are you for it?
Card of the Week
Mind Control Tech, here to anger all your opponents!
Farewell
- Follow Jenna on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts do you want to have visit us