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I mentioned lost post that the game keeps going by teasing me enough to think I might one day be good enough to play this game on a competitive level. Well, it's done a great job recently of just that...

I find myself on my EU account with enough gold to start playing arena. Out the box I manage a respectable run to seven wins with a shaman. I really like shaman and have most of my experience with this hero on the US side. Seven wins give a reward big enough to go again into the arena plus the pack reward. This time I get to play paladin, another favorite of mine (though truth be told I like all the heroes except rogue). I select the thirty cards to be my deck and think I should stream this run. No one watches me play but I do like to stream it anyway. I tend to talk though the turns when I stream and don't play so fast. This causes me to see more options and make better choices. I knew the deck was solid from the start. I had a great mana curve and just enough removal that I had hoped to run to seven again. I had never managed to have back to back runs up to seven, in fact I only had three streaks that high before with one being an eight game run. I really knew the deck was special when I stood at five wins without a loss. The first five were easy with no threat at all by the decks I faced. I was rolling over each so fast they barely had time to say hi before I owned the board and was face rolling.

Game six I ran into another paladin...

To be continued

If Ever

If I ever get myself up to writing here weekly like I should I would be excited. Seems I can have all the want in the world, but still fall down when it comes to action. Once again I make a start and once again I make plans. 

It's been 8 months since that day I got the e-mail putting me into the world of card games again. I played around early and then found other things to do (Diablo 3 update) that took me away from Hearthstone. I returned around the start of the year once again and found I really do like the game but I hate losing enough that I get frustrated and walk away for a time. I am the average player that the game thrives on and always leads on enough to get me to think I might get better one day. I play enough to keep my quests done And rank up the ladder into the teens. I do love to watch the streamer play! I even learn a few things time to time by doing so. 

This last weekend the shiney had worn off Diablo enough that I played mostly Hearthstone and watched Trump in his 12 hour streams. I found myself on my EU (Europe) free to play account most of the time where I own almost no cards and had spent so little time I only had one hero up to level 9. I played around and ranked 3 of the heros up to 10+ and crushed all the AI on easy and advanced to grab the achievements and the resulting gold to buy more packs. 5 packs later I had a new legendary and a couple other nice cards on the account. Played the free first run in arena and managed 5-6 wins. Don't really remember which. Put together a F2P shaman and priest and ran quickly up to rank 19 so the end on the season would add a card back to the account. 

This is where it got interesting... 

Arena

When you enter the arena area and agree to a fee payment (cash or gold) you are offered a choice of three classes to play randomly. Have just started and not knowing anything but Mage I am sad to see that is not an option for me. I do see priest and select it. You are then shown 3 cards to chose from. These can be class cards or common to all classes but will all be of the same rarity. You pick a card and  another set of 3 with be shown. This continues till you have picked thirty times completing a deck. 

Deck chosen and off I go to Match wits with another player I hope is as new as myself or playing cards they know nothing about like I do. 

Now you get to play match after match till one of two things happens. You either win a total of nine games or you lose three. Either of these will end your arena run. Guess which I had happen?

Three games later I am looking at the menu to do something else, lol. 

Second day

I am home again and excited to go at it again. Hearthstone

(Hearthstone is a new CCG game from Blizzard, the guys that brought us World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo.)

I quickly settle in and begin to learn the Mage class. The Mage is the class everyone has unlocked when they start the game for the first time. I am playing the AI as I start to get the feel for the game, cards, flow. 

 As I continue to beat up the computers AI I start to level up the character I am playing to level 10 (you will unlock a series of Basic cards the relate to that class, Mage in this case, as you level).

All this winning against a poor AI has me again feeling like a giant among boys. It's time to mash the play button and find that poor player that shall feel my wraith. 

WAIT, what's this? Arena?

MASH 

What's this? This area costs either real world cash or ingame gold to play. I am quickly informed you that I am welcome here the first time for free, but from then all shall pay. 

To be continued

 

I'm in!!

10/21/13

So I found the mail I so hoped for and desired for awhile now...

Welcome to the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Beta Test

Woot! I am in, only 10 more hours of work and I will get home to download it. 

10/22/13 05:30am

Home sweet home, start the download process, off to shower

0600

Sit down to see what it's all been about, this waiting. Blast thru the tutorial. I have a background in MtG (magic the gathering) so the tutorial is very simple to beat but does a OK job of getting me up to speed with the mechanics of this UI (user interface).

Now I think I am all that and a bag of chips so I jump in and look for a real game to play. An easy loss later maybe I ain't all that??? Really???

Off to bed. I do have another 12 hours work tonight