The Happy Hearthstone Podcast

Hero Abilities (Part 2) - Episode 8

Hello!

• Dan is on the show this week
• Topic: Hero Abilities
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Dan?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite class in WoW
• Hunters carry cards?

What are Hero Abilities?

• 9 Heroes in the game, each with a unique ability
• 2 mana to use
• Can be used once per turn, unlimited times during game

Garrosh Hellscream

Orc Male Warrior

Ability: Gain 2 armor.

Discussion

• What Defines Warriors in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 6,8
• Power Rating: 9,7

Gul’dan

Orc Male Warlock

Ability: Lose 2 health and draw a card.

Discussion

• What Defines Warlocks in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 10,10
• Power Rating: 8,11

Malfurian Stormrage

Night Elf Male Druid

Ability: Shapeshift for one turn, becoming a bear that has 1 Attack and 1 Armor.

Discussion

• What Defines Druids in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 10,10
• Power Rating: 3,3

Thrall

Orc Male Shaman

Ability: Summon a random totem. (4 unique options)

Discussion

• What Defines Shamans in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 11,10
• Power Rating: 8, 2/4/6/8/10

Rexxar

Orc Male Hunter

Ability: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.

Discussion

• What Defines Hunters in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 5,7
• Power Rating: 8,7

Card of the Week

Felguard don’t care about your precious crystals

Farewell

• Follow Dan on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Hero Abilities (Part 1) - Episode 7

Hello!

• Gavin is on the show this week
• Topic: Hero Abilities
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Gavin?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite class in WoW

What are Hero Abilities?

• 9 Heroes in the game, each with a unique ability
• 2 mana to use
• Can be used once per turn, unlimited times during game
• New heroes?

Valeera Sanguinar

Blood Elf Female Rogue

Ability: Equips a 2/1 dagger onto the hero. If hero already wields the dagger, it adds 1 attack to the dagger.

Discussion

• What Defines Rogues in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 9,9
• Power Rating: 8,7

Jaina Proudmoore

Human Female Mage

Ability: Deal 1 damage.

Discussion

• What Defines Mages in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 5,4
• Power Rating: 5,6

Uther the Lightbringer

Human Male Paladin

Ability: Summons a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit.

Discussion

• What Defines Paladins in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 8,6
• Power Rating: 6,6

Anduin Wrynn

Human Baby Priest

Ability: Heal target minion or hero for 2.

Discussion

• What Defines Priests in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 7,6
• Power Rating: 9,9

Card of the Week

Slam, slam, thank you, ma’am!

Farewell

• Follow Gavin on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Leftover Questions - Episode 6

Hello!

• Lucas is on the show this week
• Topic: The little things of Hearthstone
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Lucas?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite mode in card games

Hearthstone as a casual game

• Does that phrase make you excited about the game?
• What do you think that means for the game depth?
• Can casual games be fun?
• Are you going to play on PC and iPad?

Combat Mechanics

• Stealth
• No instant-speed cards
• Secret cards
• Creating cards that don’t exist in your deck

Equipment

• Weapons can only be equipped by heroes
• Weapons lose one durability every time they attack
• No equipment for units

Heroes

• Do you like heroes as a card game mechanic?
• Need more heroes?
• Different health amounts?
• How powerful should heroes be on the battlefield?

Cards

• Is 300 enough?
• How often do they need to add new cards to keep your interest?
• Do all card games follow “blocks/sets” like Magic?
• Does WoW tie-in interest you at all?
• Standard rule is that mana cost roughly = HP + Power

Community

• No trading, no gifting
• No chat in the game, except with battle.net friends
• Concerns

Card of the Week

Kill it quickly, or die quickly—just like in Gnomeragan!

Farewell

• Follow Lucas on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Free to Play - Episode 5

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

The Game Modes - Episode 4

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