Hearthstone, hearthstoned, and hearthsteed

Tonight is one of those miserable nights that the back pain just won't let up. Can't sit, can't lay down, no position is comfy. Since I have to suffer anyway, I might as well game.

As some of you may know, Blizzard's card game Hearthstone just went 'live'. Apparently the beta is over and we can all finally enjoy the game. (Lol!) Part of the 'live event' (or maybe the whole of it) is players who log in and win three rounds of the game will receive a World of Warcraft mount and an achievement (Hearthstoned).

I will admit, I am crazy rusty in hearthstone, I haven't even touched it since the great beta wipe of '13, but after Ben's urging on tonight's recording, I figured what the hey.

Of course everyone and their grandmother is playing hearthstone right now for the pretty pony, which I did expect, but I didn't expect three wins to be such a challenge! My son had already cleared the intro 'story-line' (before he got his beta key) and so I was able to plunk right in.

It took me a bit over 90 minutes to get my pony, I found it was easier to play in ranked mode, rather then casual as I was much more likely to get players at my level, in spite of how intimidating 'ranked' sounds! You also can't game the system and get the Hearthsteed by playing against friends. Sorry! No win trading. I heard it was possible to get him with arena mode wins as well, but I don't like using my hard earned coins that way. (Yes, it costs to play in arena.)

I won with the Rogue, Shaman, and then Mage decks respectively, all at a crazy low level and the wins were not easy. But in the end I felt it was more rewarding to win my pony that way.

What? Am I supposed to be impressed by random wings? Please buddy!

You can see the amount of work and detail that went into hearthstone sparkle (as I have named him) over the other mounts. First off, I really like his face:

Hey good lookin!

It has a log of character, and a dragon like quality to it! He also has the best horse tail in the game, seriously, compare it to an older model:

Hearthsteed

Horseman's mount

Considering everything, I am calling this guy well worth the time, frustration and effort of playing a free game for 12+hands until I won 3 rounds! Now if only the horde red version was out...or a pet.

MMO world hopping frenzy

Tonight was a veritable tour of the MMO world!

First stop was World of Warcraft for a good long bout of raiding. Whomever thinks progression raiding is fun is the wrong sort of crazy. Tonight was one of those 'bash your head against the wall and see what happens' kind of raiding nights. Totally heartbreaking, but necessary in the long run of things. Oh well, I have my cloak, the world is shiny. 

Our next stop on the amazing tour was the great Final Fantasy XIV, or as I like to think of it 'catch the maintenance team napping!'

Seriously! This game always goes down during my prime time. (I am a recovering insomniac night owl and darned proud of it!) Extra heart break as I was working on a dungeon story mode quest when the healer bailed and we were stuck hoping to get a new one before the game went down. (shocking secret of the night: We didn't!) 

I decided to round out my night in Hex, and ended up staying up waaay too late as a result! (I think you guys are on to something!!) 

Hex, as I have mentioned, is still in Alpha, which means pre-beta testing. (Beta is where you find a ton of bugs! Alpha is more like 'watch us build a game! See changes happen! It's fuuuun! *entice entice*) Don't get me wrong, about 1/2 the games I played ended as concessions as the game would freeze, fuzz or become unplayable in some way, but the rest of the time was pure joy!

I played with 3/4 of the premade decks (the last one wasn't allowing the game to play normally) against the AI and other players. The AI is still making...questionable moves (he killed himself, used stupid cards that made no sense, that sort of thing) and made me feel utterly ridiculous when it won (I lost?? To the guy who tapped my tapped cards??) it could use some polish, but this early on I am not worried about it. 

The PVP mode is great! I actually have a friend also in the alpha and we spent the night discussing cards, strategies and general things about the game, comparing it to other card games (magic the gathering, hearthstone) that we have been playing lately. He's been in the game much longer so has a few personalized decks, but I still managed to hold my own (and win!) with the premades. 

So far I really like the originality of the cards, and the gameplay (no one deck seemed totally OP compared to the others) but I am really looking forward to the PVE content touted on the kickstarter! Raiding and dungeons with my friends and card games? Oh man I just can't wait to see this happen! (Or better yet, to be in the middle of it!) 

Being in the game so early means I can watch it form and maybe give important feedback, a duty I plan on taking seriously.

Well as seriously as I can as I dominate the world with fuzzy bunny troops!

What, I'm Alludra, did you really expect anything different?? 

Alludra's World of Warcraft Pet Battle class rationalizations!

It occurred to me yesterday that I haven't ever had my 'pet class rationalizations' put all in one place. (You may remember these from the early days of Pet Battles!) Lots of people commented on them, but I was content to leave them in the old shows until yesterday. I realized no one wants to sift through old beta news for all this fun stuff!

So without further ado: Alludra's World of Warcraft Pet Battle class rationalizations!

Aquatic - Take more damage from flying abilities, but undead hardly phase them.

Most birds eat small fish and the like, so it's a predator/prey thing. Undead beasts historically avoid water for its cleansing properties and thus the fish are strong against them.

Beasts - Take more damage from  Mechanicals, but Huminoids have a hard time with them.

Beasts are predators from the natural world, while Mechanicals are man-made constructs like guns and lasers. Claws are no match for that! Meanwhile the predators of Azeroth have found ways to kill and eat Humans (which is why they invented guns in the first place!)

Critters - Get eaten alive by Beasts, but take less damage from Elementals.

Critters are the prey, like rabbits and mice. Of course the predators (Beasts) are going to kill them more easily. But these critters live underground and in trees and thus know how to deal with the elements.

Dragonkin - Take more damage from Humanoids, but take less damage from flying.

Knights kill dragons! But the much smaller birds are at a sky disadvantage, Dragon armor protects from tiny beaks.

Elemental - Take more damage from aquatic, and less damage from mechanicals.

Keep in mind electricity for this one. Water amplifies it to craaazy levels, while Mechanicals use it for power.

Flying - Take more damage from magic, and less damage from beasts.

Magic zipps through the air, sometimes unseen. Sorry birds. But these same birds can just fly away from beasts. Yup, just like that! The larger birds of prey even sometimes eat some predators (Beasts) like snakes.

Humanoids - Take more damage from undead, while taking less damage from critters.

Basically, zombies eat humans, but the humans have found ways to get rid of small pests.

Magic  - Dragonkin hurt them more, Aquatic hurts it less.

Dragons are very magical beings, so it makes sense they would absorb the magic. But Water is a strong part of magic (as seen with the Undead aversion) and thus can absorb some of the magical harm thrown at them.

Mechanical - Takes more damage from elemental, and less from Magic.

Remember that super dangerous electricity? Well it fried the mechs. Sorry guys! But magic is the opposite of a mechanical (science) pet, and so their blows are ineffective past each other.

Undead - take more damage from critters, and less damage from dragons.

Critters cause plagues, thus giving the undead their abilities, but at a terrible cost. Meanwhile, a dragon doesn't want to eat rotten meat. 

And there you have it! Trust me it took everything in me to not ramble on the topics even more! Hopefully all this will help you remember these class differences as much as it helps me!