Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2373 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,045 out of 2373
  2. Mixed: 527 out of 2373
  3. Negative: 801 out of 2373

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  1. Antipika
    Apr 26, 2014
    4
    Won't talk about the whole "P2W" element. Anyone educated enough on CCG and TCG knows that they're a money drain. MTG is just as bad, especially Type-2. MTGO is awfully expensive too, more than Hearthstone.

    Why 4/10? Because in Hearthstone is far from being balanced and that's kind of an issue for a card game. Warlock and Hunter are completely OP while Mage are plain awful. Most of    Won't talk about the whole "P2W" element. Anyone educated enough on CCG and TCG knows that they're a money drain. MTG is just as bad, especially Type-2. MTGO is awfully expensive too, more than Hearthstone.

    Why 4/10? Because in Hearthstone is far from being balanced and that's kind of an issue for a card game. Warlock and Hunter are completely OP while Mage are plain awful. Most of matches are a battle of luck rather than skill. As a Mage, I already know at turn 5 or 6 if I'm going to lose or not. Especially if facing a Warlock or Hunter (which is about 70% of the population from Rank 10 and above.)

    So HS forces you to play the Flavor of the month and off course if you want to move from one class to another, you have to spend more money. Only class-less legendaries/Epics will be able to be re-used, all your Class Specific cards becomes useless the moment you want to play something else.

    Then the whole matchmaking system is MOBA-style garbage, a big play button, impossible do anything beside choosing "Casual" or "Ranked". No in-game chat, no chat room, impossible to play with the person YOU want (unless he's on your friend-list). How hard is it to implement a system not based on sh*tty matchmaking? I want to decide against who I'm playing.

    The Arena now is a huge joke:

    1. You cannot choose the class you will play (off course the game balance is so awful that everyone would pick Paladin or Mage in Arena)

    2. The matchmaking system is once again awful. Can't I just have a proper tournament-style Drafts like MTGO does? No instead the game just matches you against random people. Would be way better to have tournament either Swiss-Style, either with direct elimination.

    3. The drafting system is bad, I'd rather open a pack, pick a card, and pass that pack over another player. Again like MTG does well. No instead the game just feed me with 3 random cards, and I got to pick one. So everything is based on luck. With a proper draft, luck is way less important. Why? Because if the pack you open is full of garbage, then the whole table is going to get garbage.

    Beside that the game is fun, mechanics are fun too.

    TL;DR: Awful balance, bad matchmaking system, no proper tournament. Fun mechanics.    … Expand
  2. madattak
    Oct 30, 2015
    4
    There's a lot to like about Hearthstone. It's very addictive, fun, and good to play with friends. The only problem is, it is completely Pay 2 Win. If you decide to play this game for free don't expect to win against anybody who's been paying. Don't expect to play competitively. There are normally about three decks which are viable to play and have a good chance of winning, and if you don'tThere's a lot to like about Hearthstone. It's very addictive, fun, and good to play with friends. The only problem is, it is completely Pay 2 Win. If you decide to play this game for free don't expect to win against anybody who's been paying. Don't expect to play competitively. There are normally about three decks which are viable to play and have a good chance of winning, and if you don't have the cards required for them you can either grind losing games for hours and hours or pay up.
    Good game in theory, but like almost every other F2P in existence, a good theory is ruined by need to extract money.    … Expand
  3. paprik
    Apr 30, 2014
    4
    Nicely polished card game with pretty UI that is completely ruined by its lack of features and depth. Two game modes, no statistics, no single-player outside of 'practice', not enough cards etc. And the meta card pool at any given moment is so small that you keep seeing the exact same decks all the time in constructed. Arena is still luck based (you can get 5 legendaries/epics or noneNicely polished card game with pretty UI that is completely ruined by its lack of features and depth. Two game modes, no statistics, no single-player outside of 'practice', not enough cards etc. And the meta card pool at any given moment is so small that you keep seeing the exact same decks all the time in constructed. Arena is still luck based (you can get 5 legendaries/epics or none whatsoever). The business model is pretty bad as well and with the new expansion it's gonna get much worse.… Expand
  4. Antek
    Jun 23, 2015
    4
    Was an addictive balanced game while played with base decks/cards. Further becomes total pay to win. Overpowered cards which can be played for nothing are here and there. If you don't invest in this game - you won't be able to stay competitive at higher ranks.
  5. PersonalRiot
    Apr 23, 2014
    4
    Hearthstone is a quality casual card game that will dominate the mobile market for a long period of time. The aesthetics of the game are top notch and hearing the roar of "FOR THE HORDE" while your minions attack never becomes dull. Thought the game does suffer heavily from its current play systems. Cards can only be obtained in a few ways and completing a "powerful" deck may takes weeksHearthstone is a quality casual card game that will dominate the mobile market for a long period of time. The aesthetics of the game are top notch and hearing the roar of "FOR THE HORDE" while your minions attack never becomes dull. Thought the game does suffer heavily from its current play systems. Cards can only be obtained in a few ways and completing a "powerful" deck may takes weeks even months without buying cards. While the F2P system of the game should be commended for its accessibility; without quests the gold earned is 10 gold per 3 wins. It cost 100 gold for a deck of 5 cards. Assuming 50% win rate that is 60 games which is absurd. To make any progress it is best to play the game every three days or so in order to complete quest together. Disappointing that the game is behind a massive paywall that cannot even be overcome with paying due to RNG.… Expand
  6. BestNoob
    Jun 4, 2015
    4
    Completly unbalanced game.

    And this just because of Blizzard only want money from the Players. They should shame !

    New players have to play against players with much bigger card pool and experience.
    Matchmaking is also very bad.

    The game itself is one of the best card games i have ever seen but this doesn´t matter in front of the problems.
  7. TenchuuKhan
    Jun 9, 2015
    4
    Hearthstone is a bit like playing Backgammon against an opponent that has dice where 3 sides are jokers and he can just pick a number suiting his needs.
    There's really not much you can do from a tactical point of view to outplay someone with a better deck.
    A massive waste of time unless you are willing to throw in some coins to build your decks. While that's the business model of    Hearthstone is a bit like playing Backgammon against an opponent that has dice where 3 sides are jokers and he can just pick a number suiting his needs.
    There's really not much you can do from a tactical point of view to outplay someone with a better deck.

    A massive waste of time unless you are willing to throw in some coins to build your decks.
    While that's the business model of course, there's not much a free-to-play player can do except getting wrecked every game. Thus, the f2p model is ****    … Expand
  8. Toddler
    Apr 17, 2014
    4
    When I started off with Hearthstone, it was really fun and interesting game. I would have definitely given it 8/10 easily.

    Sadly, the game has taken turn for the worse: Nowdays you'll constantly run into few dominant decks (which people have been kind enough to share with others, thanks to wonders of the internet) and you can basically predict the outcome just after 1-3 Turns. The game    When I started off with Hearthstone, it was really fun and interesting game. I would have definitely given it 8/10 easily.

    Sadly, the game has taken turn for the worse: Nowdays you'll constantly run into few dominant decks (which people have been kind enough to share with others, thanks to wonders of the internet) and you can basically predict the outcome just after 1-3 Turns.
    The game that COULD have been a tactically demanding card game has now devolved into braindead zerg-rush 24/7.

    Oh, and thank you "Unleash the Hounds" card, you single handedly made the whole game worse.    … Expand
  9. WryMouth
    Aug 25, 2014
    4
    Same as all games the game is "free" unless you want to spend real money in the game...optional "spending". Decent game, not as good as Magic card game but its cute. Mostly made for eSports gamers that get donations to buy decks etc etc. Overall one major issues, as most battle.net games is their network. Game lags, sometimes you cant log in at all, even when you play vs computerSame as all games the game is "free" unless you want to spend real money in the game...optional "spending". Decent game, not as good as Magic card game but its cute. Mostly made for eSports gamers that get donations to buy decks etc etc. Overall one major issues, as most battle.net games is their network. Game lags, sometimes you cant log in at all, even when you play vs computer sometimes it takes them 2 to 5 minutes to make a move or pick a card.… Expand
  10. maxsmiley
    Mar 17, 2014
    4
    The animations and mechanics are extremely satisfying. The voice acting is as good as Blizzard has always delivered, and makes you reminisce about what made WC3 so great. But this game is plain and simple a pay to accelerate to drain the pockets of preteens. Not worth anyones time.
  11. Timeflows
    Apr 17, 2014
    4
    The game is fairly entertaining for the first hour but then you will find that it's very unbalanced. Classes like Mage, Priest and Warlock are the best and destroy everyone and each other while Classes like Rogue, Druid and Hunter are handicap with cards that aren't even capable of holding there own ground. Comparing the first 3 classes to the next 3 is that the cost of the cards are theThe game is fairly entertaining for the first hour but then you will find that it's very unbalanced. Classes like Mage, Priest and Warlock are the best and destroy everyone and each other while Classes like Rogue, Druid and Hunter are handicap with cards that aren't even capable of holding there own ground. Comparing the first 3 classes to the next 3 is that the cost of the cards are the same, but the first 3 have a large gap in damage and benefits in there cost while the other 3 are utterly weak and have not a large range of abilities. I'd say this game is still incomplete as it's whoever has the better class will usually win and it's certainly unfair for those who want to play with different cards other the being the most powerful.… Expand
  12. COHL7500
    Jun 29, 2015
    4
    Hearthstone may be the best game when it comes to digital card/board games, but holy **** it has the typical Pay 2 Win, and for some reason, many times Blizzard **** this up, relentlessly. But that's not the only problem in all honesty.

    If you have legendaries from this or that expansion pack, you'll ****ing EASILY rape others. I cant count how many times i've got ****ed up in Casual    Hearthstone may be the best game when it comes to digital card/board games, but holy **** it has the typical Pay 2 Win, and for some reason, many times Blizzard **** this up, relentlessly. But that's not the only problem in all honesty.

    If you have legendaries from this or that expansion pack, you'll ****ing EASILY rape others. I cant count how many times i've got ****ed up in Casual cause some person bought an expansion pack, where he gets this card cause he accomplish this and does that. It's just no okay, it just shows how Pay 2 Win it is, and when i see these occasions, i eventually just quit.

    And listen, this thing's a thing for ALL Blizzard's newly updated games (Such as WoW): Skills are not a thing, it's what you have on hand, not what your intellect is strongest at.    … Expand
  13. xenoxinius
    Jun 1, 2014
    4
    The over simplified mechanic doesn't do it for me
    I'm a great magic and yugioh fan
    I played quite some heartstone, and I just don't feel it's as good the higher tier cardgames I know a lot of people will disagree and I'm fine with that This is my humble opnion, If you like simple card games or want to pick up a cardgame to start off with this is certainly a great game. Maybe if    The over simplified mechanic doesn't do it for me
    I'm a great magic and yugioh fan
    I played quite some heartstone, and I just don't feel it's as good the higher tier cardgames
    I know a lot of people will disagree and I'm fine with that

    This is my humble opnion,
    If you like simple card games or want to pick up a cardgame to start off with this is certainly a great game.
    Maybe if there are a ton of new cards and abilities I'll concider picking it up again    … Expand
  14. HadeEAlder
    May 22, 2014
    4
    If you like Pay 2 Win, you'll love this game. Because Hearthstone is about as pay 2 win as you can get without placing a button that says. "Click to win ($4.99)"

    First the positives. Hearthstone is a functional game that has decent flow to it. It has minimal issues with bugs and runs well on older machines. The game does have a rather kitschy feel to it, as well as a sense of    If you like Pay 2 Win, you'll love this game. Because Hearthstone is about as pay 2 win as you can get without placing a button that says. "Click to win ($4.99)"

    First the positives. Hearthstone is a functional game that has decent flow to it. It has minimal issues with bugs and runs well on older machines. The game does have a rather kitschy feel to it, as well as a sense of self-parody for the WoW mythos. The gameplay is smooth and the interface is easy to navigate.

    Hearthstone falls short in several areas, however. For example, players must either buy boosters or earn them at an extremely slow rate, made slower by the fact that in-game currency is only earned through victories. Players are started out with the same set of basic cards and must grind packs or buy them. There are daily quests, but they usually involve winning matches to gain extra gold. While it is possible to win with the basic set of cards, many of the pack cards far stronger and some are actually game breaking. Which makes a player who pays for packs far more likely to get ahead in the game. Discounting daily quests, booster packs can be obtained with gold for WINNING 30 matches. I emphasize that intentionally, as no gold is gained for a loss, essentially punishing the player who is learning or can't afford to buy cards. Exacerbating this problem is that matchmaking is quite poor, and so called "Casual Matches" are well populated with "noob-stompers" looking for easy gold which slows down the rate which gold and subsequently packs are acquired. Another problem with the game is there is a lack of balance. Priest and Hunter decks have access to cards that swing the game too much, IMO. (Mind Control and Unleash the Hounds being the most infamous.) Other classes also have cards of this type but not nearly as strong or numerous.

    In addition to this is the Arena mode which can be entered for 150 game gold. (Whereas a pack costs 100 gold.) But can be instead accessed with cash, You are given a choice of three random decks and them create a deck from card options given to you. Everything is RNG based. Then you take your deck and play other players must win as many games as you can (up to 9) before losing 3. The mode rewards you with booster packs, gold and dust depending on how well you did. If you did well you will get more, if you did poorly you will get little and possibly not get a pack. Again this feeds into the demand that players win in order to progress.

    There is also a way to craft cards using the aforementioned dust. Although it is not at all efficient, cards can be broken down using dust, but creating one of a certain rank requires the equivalent amount of dust from breaking down 8 cards of the same rank. Like everything in this game it is a slow process, crafted to exasperate the player and make the cash shop more appealing.

    Finally the game deserves criticism for doing little to instruct new players in basic deckbuilding strategies. And has a notably annoying "response" system that many players use to taunt their opponents. It can be disabled, but only for the duration of your current game and must be disabled every single time you play a game. There is also no function for players to trade cards which was omitted simply to push the P2W game system.

    Hearthstone is hardly the worst game out there right now. In fact it could be good, but the P2W model and the frustrations involved with CCG mechanics that are quite faithfully ported over from card games like Magic: the Gathering are front and center without any of the social benefits. A potentially good, game but ruined by the P2W model. Only the most diehard CCG enthusiasts with money to burn will enjoy this game. For everyone else, it's more frustration than actual fun.    … Expand
  15. APG_Dizzee
    Jun 19, 2014
    4
    Although this game is a fun game i would really like to get into. It is also a game which is not friendly to new players. There is a sort of tutorial, which includes 6 missions however they never actually teach you the mechanics of the game and the last missions is a pain to even try and finish.

    At this point you may think it's okay i'll just go play against AI or even online against    Although this game is a fun game i would really like to get into. It is also a game which is not friendly to new players. There is a sort of tutorial, which includes 6 missions however they never actually teach you the mechanics of the game and the last missions is a pain to even try and finish.

    At this point you may think it's okay i'll just go play against AI or even online against people my level.
    This however is not the case. The majority of the ai is pretty easy to defeat, except for the warrior which requires one of two things. Luck, or skill. This is painful because of the fact that the game has not yet taught you the skill you need to defeat this opponent.

    After getting tired of this AI, i though "Maybe going online against people my level is easier." However after loosing almost 10 games in a row, i thought maybe not. And i don't mean to say they just beat me by inches. I mean to say if i had done any worse i think i would have reported the game for a bug where i lose 30 hp at the end of the third round.

    Another problem i had with the game is that although the people online were my level, almost all of them had cards i'd only seen in popular Hearthstone videos " e.g. Baumi or Blitz" It's at this point where i realized they had payed for these special cards which i had to access to as a free to play player.

    To summarize this game has some really fun features and is very entertaining, but its lack of noob friendly setting and pay to win features mean its very frustrating to play, and overall its just another Blizzard pay to win which feels as if an indie developer would have done better.    … Expand
  16. Pheo112
    Sep 9, 2014
    4
    Magic the Gathering: Warcraft Edition. Ages 6+. That is all this all hearthstone feels like, a simplified MtG.

    There is too much grinding for even the basic cards, let alone the strong legendary cards. Games usually come down to the RNG of card draw. Arena doubly so with the RNG of drafting. Constructed play consists of everyone playing only the strongest two classes with the same two    Magic the Gathering: Warcraft Edition. Ages 6+. That is all this all hearthstone feels like, a simplified MtG.

    There is too much grinding for even the basic cards, let alone the strong legendary cards. Games usually come down to the RNG of card draw. Arena doubly so with the RNG of drafting. Constructed play consists of everyone playing only the strongest two classes with the same two decks.
    The UI is amazing. That is the only nice thing I can really say about the game.    … Expand
  17. JigiSix
    Oct 3, 2014
    4
    No. Just, just no. This game is definitely not up to par. Because of one reason. Microtransactions. I mean, I think it's a decent concept. It's a trading card game with no trading. So it's a card game. A card game slightly related to the Warcraft series. But it's a bloody MMO. Which means the developers are going to milk money out of it. Things cost a lot if you use in-game currencies. TheNo. Just, just no. This game is definitely not up to par. Because of one reason. Microtransactions. I mean, I think it's a decent concept. It's a trading card game with no trading. So it's a card game. A card game slightly related to the Warcraft series. But it's a bloody MMO. Which means the developers are going to milk money out of it. Things cost a lot if you use in-game currencies. The in-game currency is quite hard to get, so things seem to cost a buttload of money. Guess what you can get more in-game currency with so you can buy some more cards and stuff? Real money. This... this. This is not a good thing. I mean look at all the games out there, which, after you've downloaded or purchased them, ask you for more money. DLC. Microtransactions. "Win by giving us more money". Things take quite a long time to unlock. Would suggest to stay away from it.

    In conclusion, I would wish to say that the game is a complete grind (or grindfest, if you will) and it gets repetitive fast.    … Expand
  18. ad505
    Mar 15, 2015
    4
    positives:
    *Its fun to make new and creative decks
    *The arena is great fun Negatives: -Multiple balance issues especially concerning the warlock -slight pay to win elements (3 wins for 10 gold? SERIOUSLY? ) -Legendary cards are too rare and too powerful -The meta rules the game,if your not playing a certain deck on ladder, your screwed, eliminating my first positive point. Overall,    positives:
    *Its fun to make new and creative decks
    *The arena is great fun
    Negatives:
    -Multiple balance issues especially concerning the warlock
    -slight pay to win elements (3 wins for 10 gold? SERIOUSLY? )
    -Legendary cards are too rare and too powerful
    -The meta rules the game,if your not playing a certain deck on ladder, your screwed, eliminating my first positive point.
    Overall, its fun, but not with other people (unfortunate as that's the only way to get gold) and the balance issues and meta out weigh the positives.    … Expand
  19. DKR
    Jun 13, 2018
    4
    Randomstone! Randoms of Randomcraft!

    Remember the first days of the grand Pokemon phenomenon? No, bc you're too young. Roughly 20yrs ago, Pokemon trading cards was like drugs for kids. I'm surprised it didn't make its own ghettos with gang wars and Snoop Puppy making a rap song about them. It had every kid fighting, every teacher banning them, and every christian pastor was losing    Randomstone! Randoms of Randomcraft!

    Remember the first days of the grand Pokemon phenomenon? No, bc you're too young.

    Roughly 20yrs ago, Pokemon trading cards was like drugs for kids. I'm surprised it didn't make its own ghettos with gang wars and Snoop Puppy making a rap song about them. It had every kid fighting, every teacher banning them, and every christian pastor was losing their s* over it. They copied Magic cards verbatim and made them cuter.

    Problem: your viability depended on how much money your parents were willing dump into your endless addiction.

    You'd buy a pack full of s*y cards hoping 1 or more were decent. It was like legalized gambling. One thing's for sure: it was printing money for Japs faster than our Federal Reserve ever could.

    HoW didn't learn (correction: didn't care) from past mistakes (correction: good marketing). All the starting cards suck, and viability is fortified by a paywall the size of a skyscraper. There are top-teir cards that give such an advantage, it should say "click here to win", Or better, "click here to win for 5.99".

    The presentation - contrarily - is brilliantly done. Shiny, flashy, pretty, soothing sound track, great voices, beautiful art, and Warcraft's charming humor often makes its way in (ie dropping the Raid Leader card and he shouts 'HANDLE IT!'). Critics have compared it to a glorified slot machine, and I couldn't say it better myself.

    It's laughable that people can take this competitively in any way. A game that has the word "random" twice or more isn't competitive. Let's see how HoW plays out:

    The game begins. You are RANDOMLY selected a few cards from your deck. You can choose which ones stay, or to RANDOMLY switch it out for another. You then draw a RANDOM card. Your opponent draws a RANDOM card. You place a card that RANDOMLY attacks friend/foe. They play a card that RANDOMLY kills everything on the board except for one RANDOMLY chosen card in play. They RANDOMLY draw 2 cards they combine that's ready to end the game in just 2 turns. But did you RANDOMLY get the card to counter it? No? WHAM! 1 more turn....still nope. WHAM gg. OR....you DO get the card, counter him completely and gg; YOU WIN. F* what is happening to video games??? With a pair of die and a little imagination, you can play this game for free w/o electricity!

    There's also single player, but it's even worse. I played against a boss that 2 shot me in the 3rd turn. I didn't even get a f*ing chance to draw 4 card and he 2 shot me 5x in a row. Who designed this SP?? Dunkey?

    And these gold-brick critics and their perfect scores. I'm gonna puke.

    "DID SUM1 SAY MOAR MUNNYZ??//1!"    … Expand
  20. 4Tifier
    Apr 24, 2016
    4
    There are many reasons why I have come to absolutely hate HearthStone after playing the game for over a year. Here is my entire list as to why I now absolutely despise this game and Blizzard as a company.

    1.) The Game Has Never Been Balanced And Never Will Be Hearthstone has an infamous history of overpowered decks and cards, and the solution of Blizzard for these broken game    There are many reasons why I have come to absolutely hate HearthStone after playing the game for over a year. Here is my entire list as to why I now absolutely despise this game and Blizzard as a company.

    1.) The Game Has Never Been Balanced And Never Will Be

    Hearthstone has an infamous history of overpowered decks and cards, and the solution of Blizzard for these broken game mechanics is to rather nerf the decks/cards to the point where they are absolutely useless, or just do nothing at all. Cards that have received heavy nerfs include the Starving Buzzard, the Undertaker, and Warsong Commander. While cards which have been powerful for an extremely long time and clearly need a nerf, such as Emperor Thaurissan, Alexstrasza, and Dr. Boom.

    At the same time, there are also classes in Hearthstone that are completely imbalanced. A common example is the Paladin class which features an incredibly variety of powerful card types and combos(Secrets, Weapons, Equality+Concecrate, etc) which allow players to create any type of deck that's possible to make; be it Aggressive, Secret, Mid-Ranged, Control or even an OTK deck.

    While other classes, such as the Rogue class, have been desperate for buffs for an extremely long time because their decks are as effective as a Basic-Card-Only Deck.

    2.) Always 50/50

    While many people constantly criticize HearthStone for being a "pay-to-win" game, not even the most overpowered cards will guarantee your victories. Whether you have every legendary in the game or have just started playing Hearthstone, the matchmaking system sets up games so that every player has the closest to a 50% win-rate as possible.

    This is especially evident in Ranked Ladder; where less than 10% of players within a region ever make it to and past the Silver League in a season.

    3.) The Recent Expansions Have Been Epic Failures!

    With the recent expansions in HearthStone, it is clear that the guys at Blizzard have done terrible jobs to make the game fresh, exciting and balanced. In the two recent expansions for HearthStone; "The Grand Tournament" and "The League of Explorers", less than 10% of the cards from both expansions see regular use in decks. Not only did Blizzard completely fail to create a new card mechanic "i.e. 'Inspire'", they also completely failed to change the META; instead STRENGTHENING it.

    4.) Whispers of The Old Gods and Wild/Standard Formats

    This was the most money-hungry failure from Blizzard so far!

    While Blizzard had promised that their cards would be relevant forever, they have not completely broken their promise by removing the Naxxramas and GvG expansions from "official gameplay" (i.e. the "standard" mode). At the same time, they are also releasing an expansion and updating cards which promises to balance the game and make it fresh.

    The first reason why this is bad is because instead of doing all of this, Blizzard could have instead just updated all the cards to balance the game. The only thing wrong with this in their eyes is that there's no $$$ in simply updating the cards.

    The second reason this is bad is because Blizzard knows how great their Naxxramas and GvG cards are and know how their latest expansions were complete failures both game-wise and profit-wise because only a few cards were actually useful, and those cards only made the Naxx and GvG cards stronger. So in order for people to purchase their newest expansions they're just getting rid of Naxx and GvG all together.

    The third reason this is bad is because of the design mechanics of the WoTOG's cards. A great example is C'Thun, which is a legendary that Blizzard clearly wants to make the newest "overpowered" card. Only problem with this is that this card is really hard-countered by a deck that's been the prime competitive and overpowered deck for over a year (Grimm Patron Warrior)! At the same time, they are once again releasing cards in the expansion which only make the current META stronger, and once again I refer mainly to the Grim Patron Warrior deck!
    ___________________________________________________________________________

    In one long sentence, in case you didn't read the extremely long rant above;

    HearthStone is (and always has been) completely unbalanced, most of the cards in the game are completely useless, you will never stop losing 50% of the time no matter how many cards you buy, and Blizzard's only solution to the many problems in HearthStone listed above is for players to buy more useless cards.    … Expand
  21. Lepstrung
    Jan 17, 2016
    4
    Game is good but its pay 2 win. Thode who have most money can buy best cards and those cards are owerpowered and can only be beaten if you buy cards too. I have lost countless times to some idiots who cant othwerwise play but because they have 3 legendary cards in their desks, witch all are only obtainable by buying expansions, I lose to them. So its good but really unfair.
  22. Opalitic
    May 13, 2016
    4
    Tried the game for the first time in 2014. Didnt have time to get into it at the time. Fast forward to 2016. I try the game again since I now have the time for it. I enjoyed it but it soon became clear that I had to pay some cash to get a quick start into the game as others have progressed with their card decks for 2 years now. Bought 40€ worth of cards. Got jack **** to show for it. MyTried the game for the first time in 2014. Didnt have time to get into it at the time. Fast forward to 2016. I try the game again since I now have the time for it. I enjoyed it but it soon became clear that I had to pay some cash to get a quick start into the game as others have progressed with their card decks for 2 years now. Bought 40€ worth of cards. Got jack **** to show for it. My current W/L ratio is around 1 win per 10 games and that is purely because the matchmaking in any mode does not consider decks into the matchmaking when finding a opponent. There is no way to win someone who has put more time/money into the game than I have and since the matchmaking cant see that I am facing opponents with better cards and more experience in the game than myself. It was fun for a while but after a 20 lose streak I started wondering if theres something really wrong with the game. There is. Its pure pay to win if you dont have the time to grind months for full decks before facing off against other players. I found a compiled list of cost / time to own all the cards in the game. As of 5/2016 it would cost you thousands of real life currency to get all the cards to play in an even field with the veterans the matchmaking places you with. Or in time. A whooping 8 months of daily grinding to get your decks to the state the veterans have them already.

    All in all. The game itself is really good but if you want to compete with other players you either need to drop over 1000 USD at once when you start playing or grind matches against bots for 8 months to stand a chance against veterans players.

    I am disappointed. I expected more from a "free to play" game.

    Shame on you blizzard.

    The only game mode that gives a fair chance at winning is the arena. Which lets you choose 30 cards from totally random cards to form a deck that you compete against other players whom have forged their own random card decks. But that game mode costs you. The entry fee for the arena is 2€ which lasts you until you lose 3 games in total or 100 ingame gold. After 15 hours of farming I got 160 gold. Not worth it.

    DL;DR Money grab. Pure p2w. Stay away.    … Expand
  23. IntestineFiesta
    Nov 30, 2017
    4
    I began playing Hearthstone less than a month after the game came out in 2014, and for quite a while I found the game highly enjoyable. For the first two years the game was on the market, it was completely feasible to play the game either for free, or for about $40 a year should one not be willing to grind as much in game currency. Then, late last year, Blizzard decided to begin steadilyI began playing Hearthstone less than a month after the game came out in 2014, and for quite a while I found the game highly enjoyable. For the first two years the game was on the market, it was completely feasible to play the game either for free, or for about $40 a year should one not be willing to grind as much in game currency. Then, late last year, Blizzard decided to begin steadily increasing the rarity of necessary cards in their online store with the release of the Gadgetzan expansion. Since then, all three expansions in 2017 have proven to continue the climbing cost of building decks for the game. Should Blizzard return to their original system of card rarities in packs and reduce the pay to win aspect of the game, I will adjust my review accordingly. Until that happens, however, avoid the game at all costs. If you are reading reviews in an attempt to find an enjoyable ccg, Shadow Era, CD Projekt Red's Gwent, CyGames's Shadowverse, or even MTG online all provide alternatives to Hearthstone that cost less real money while offering a comparable level of quality.… Expand
  24. Enark
    Nov 10, 2018
    4
    I have been playing Hearthstone every single day since 2014. It has been as much a part of my daily routine as putting on pants. If I had reviewed this a couple years ago, I would have given it a solid 9/10. However, I am sad to say that I played my last game of Hearthstone 2 days ago. What started as a mostly fair free to play model has succumbed to corporate greed and graduallyI have been playing Hearthstone every single day since 2014. It has been as much a part of my daily routine as putting on pants. If I had reviewed this a couple years ago, I would have given it a solid 9/10. However, I am sad to say that I played my last game of Hearthstone 2 days ago. What started as a mostly fair free to play model has succumbed to corporate greed and gradually switched to pay to win. This type of business model should not be supported.
    -
    Let me first say that I have been mostly a free to play player. I purchased one of the single player campaign releases with gold (earned in game) and the rest with cash. I also occasionally purchased bundles of packs when they were on sale for around $1.00 per pack. This worked out just fine for me back in 2014 through 2016. I wasn't able to earn every card available by completing daily quests (which award gold to be used to purchase packs) but I was able to stay competitive. When an expansion was announced, I'd stop buying current packs and save my gold for the next expansion. This would give me enough gold to buy about 30 packs when the expansion released. It would then take a couple months of completing daily quests and buying packs with gold to get competitive again. I naively believed that, if I kept doing daily quests without missing a day, that I would eventually be able to get all the cards... that it would just take me longer than those who shelled out a bunch of cash.
    -
    That all changed in 2017 because, instead of 7 or 8 months between expansions, expansions are now pushed out every 4 months. Because of this, I have not been competitive for 2 years. By the time I get enough of the new, higher end cards to build some of the better decks, it's time to start saving up for the next expansion which will make many of the current cards obsolete. I never get a chance to try to climb the ladder anymore.
    -
    It is also my belief (though I can not prove it) that they (Blizzard) reduced the odds of getting epic or legendary cards from packs. I used to get a handful of legendaries, several epics, and a lot of rares when I opened 30+ packs at once. The last three expansions awarded me 1 or 2 legendaries, 4 or 5 epics, and little more than one rare per pack. Now, this could just be attributed to poor luck but that doesn't make it taste any less sour.
    So, of course, the thought occurs to me that, if I enjoy the game, perhaps I should support the developers and put some money into it so that I can continue to have the same experience that I had back in 2014. But how much would that cost?
    -
    Let's say that a person could be competitive with only half of the legendaries of the current expansion (so about 13 out of the 25 available). Let's also assume that buying enough packs to get 13 legendaries will also give us enough epics and rares to also be competitive. I was able to get 7 legendaries from the current expansion before I started having to save up for the next one so I need 6 more. At a generous rate of a legendary every 15 packs and $3.00 per pack, that means we would have to purchase 90 more packs for a total cost of $270. That's not the cost to complete the collection - it's just enough to stay somewhat competitive with the current meta. And it will only be enough if you also complete your dailies every day. And that cost is every 4 months!

    Also of note: If you are a new player, you can expect to spend thousands of dollars if you want to have a healthy amount of the cards from previous expansions.

    Summary: In order to stay even mildly competitive in Hearthstone, you will need to spend a minimum of $270 every 4 months. The only way that this type of business model will go away is if we stop feeding it our cash.

    Thank you for taking the time to read this.    … Expand
  25. Slava12321
    Feb 21, 2020
    4
    + easy rules - very easy rules. - donators are much stronger.
    - a lot of unbalanced cards
    - and random
  26. SLTYSPTOON
    Feb 25, 2020
    4
    A fun game to play casually but you have to pay to get any decent cards and it gets boring after a while. The good thing is that it's barely any storage and its free.
  27. shostakn
    Oct 15, 2020
    4
    Summary: Hearthstone is a free-to-play digital strategy card game that anyone can enjoy. Players choose one of nine epic Warcraft heroes to play as, and then take turns playing cards from their customizable decks to cast potent spells, use heroic weapons or abilities, or summon powerful characters to crush their opponent.
  28. Solo_Player_8
    Dec 31, 2020
    4
    I'm one of the idiots who spent a ton of money on this game, I started in 2016 and I'm planning on quitting in 2020. They improved the game a lot but it's too expensive, the game is pay to win because getting gold in this game takes way too long. Crafting cards in this game with dust is just so unfair as well. If Blizzards cuts crafting costs by 50%, I'll give hearthstone a positive reviewI'm one of the idiots who spent a ton of money on this game, I started in 2016 and I'm planning on quitting in 2020. They improved the game a lot but it's too expensive, the game is pay to win because getting gold in this game takes way too long. Crafting cards in this game with dust is just so unfair as well. If Blizzards cuts crafting costs by 50%, I'll give hearthstone a positive review but at the moment it's just negative or mixed, the game is too expensive for people to get into, I understand Blizzard needs to make money but the crafting costs make this game way too expensive. Sadly the game mechanics and the 10 card, 7 monster, 30 life, and 30 card system is really fun but the card pack prices and especially the crafting costs ruin the game. A good game ruined by its costs, try Legends of Runeterra instead, even Yu-Gi-Oh is a bit cheaper if you just buy a few structure decks.… Expand
  29. tekjester
    Apr 23, 2014
    3
    The amount "random" cards makes this not a lot of fun to play. Granted, it works both way, but the game's winner is determined by luck more times than Poker. The only strategy is in the deck building. But stuff like "Destroy Random Minion" "Deal 3 Damage to two random minions" "Deal one damage to a random minion" "Take control of Random Minion" "Copy random card from opponents hand" TheThe amount "random" cards makes this not a lot of fun to play. Granted, it works both way, but the game's winner is determined by luck more times than Poker. The only strategy is in the deck building. But stuff like "Destroy Random Minion" "Deal 3 Damage to two random minions" "Deal one damage to a random minion" "Take control of Random Minion" "Copy random card from opponents hand" The list goes on. Then of course the randomness in the deck. I've played many CCGs, Magic, Pokémon, Star Wars, LOTR, and get there's always an element of randomness, but this goes way beyond that. The game is fun and well put together, but the luck factor is way too high.… Expand
  30. Jinxter
    Mar 30, 2014
    3
    I have played this game a LOT, and there is a LOT of depth in this game, however, there is very little in way of strategy to this game. It is an overly simple game that relies upon 'luck of the draw' than anything else. I have taken all of my characters to 20 and a couple to 35. Regardless of what deck you build, what expert you follow, your 'strategy' WILL fall apart when you do NOT getI have played this game a LOT, and there is a LOT of depth in this game, however, there is very little in way of strategy to this game. It is an overly simple game that relies upon 'luck of the draw' than anything else. I have taken all of my characters to 20 and a couple to 35. Regardless of what deck you build, what expert you follow, your 'strategy' WILL fall apart when you do NOT get 'that one card'. I have built decks with only 6 spells, and I HAVE ALWAYS seen the majority of my first 7 or 8 cards to be spells. In a completely random system this CAN happen, but the frequency to which I HAVE seen it tells me that the system is NOT completely random but weighted to spells so as to balance to game out against players with more spells and less minions.

    I wish they would have spent more time on this game and truly developed a strategic system where in people could ACTUALLY USE strategy, but when you have a game where you have to "hope" your card comes up, is NOT hat good a game. There is NOTHING worse than to be at the beginning of a game, you only have 1 mana available and the first card from your deck is 5 mana or higher.

    Due to the current system, they have cards that are literally worthless to have in your deck. Cards that WOULD have strategic use if they used a system of a weighted draws. However, since they allow ANY card to come up, it IS fair, but the decks you will fight against the majority of the time is FULL of cards costing less than 5 mana, and almost ALL decks are a version of a RUSH deck. It makes the game VERY predictable and ultimately BORING. What purpose is there to 'building' a deck, when the cards that you put in there, to FIT the way YOU WANT to play, NEVER show up in your hand until it is past the point that you could use it to ATTEMPT to win.

    Don't believe that hype of people posting "THIS DECK GOT ME TO LEVEL 5!!! I used this build and GOT A 70% WIN percentage." DO NOT believe these people at all. I took one of these so-called Mid-budget 4000+ dust to craft and after 200 games with the deck could do no better than ~50%. I have found, that due to the way the cards hit your hand there is NO WAY that anyone gets more than a 50% percentage win unless they just plain have better luck. The only strategy is in keeping track of how many cards your opponent has that could possibly hurt you, then realizing that you are not getting the cards you need and then losing yet another game.

    I had hoped for an actual strategic card game...this is NOT it. If you like it, now worries, but I do NOT think this is a good game. It is actually rather poor.    … Expand
  31. Sephet
    Mar 12, 2019
    3
    Hearthstone is a fun game to be played casually, but there's no balance of any kind since the goal is to make you spend money. After you play a few matches and reach higher ranks you'll start facing decks with absurd combos against which you can do asbolutely nothing; all your cards are countered really fast and won't survive until the next turn, and you'll feel completely impotent in theHearthstone is a fun game to be played casually, but there's no balance of any kind since the goal is to make you spend money. After you play a few matches and reach higher ranks you'll start facing decks with absurd combos against which you can do asbolutely nothing; all your cards are countered really fast and won't survive until the next turn, and you'll feel completely impotent in the game as your opponent has absolute control of the match simply because he spent money to build a killer deck.… Expand
  32. Zyromkiru
    May 10, 2015
    3
    The game is quite a lot of fun but there are so many things that pull it down from being as good as it could be. I want everyone to know that this game has so much potential but it just throws it out the door with all it's flaws.

    The good: It's better than other virtual card games I have played and it's free.. The lame: Most cards in this game are exactly the same and it's usually easy    The game is quite a lot of fun but there are so many things that pull it down from being as good as it could be. I want everyone to know that this game has so much potential but it just throws it out the door with all it's flaws.

    The good: It's better than other virtual card games I have played and it's free..
    The lame: Most cards in this game are exactly the same and it's usually easy to read what your opponent will do next
    The bad: This game is extremely luck based even though it's a card game it takes luck to a whole new level
    The ugly: There are multiple characters you can play as that have different abilities and some are completely obsolete while others have extreme advantages.
    The Horrid: The Arena (draft mode) is yet again VERY luck based and you get to choose a character out of 3 random choices that usually suck compared to the rest and people can get the overpowered characters already giving them a HUGE edge in the game as well as getting God-like cards that make your deck completely useless. This is very very sad because it's beyond better than draft mode in Magic the gathering, etc. but you have to pay real money or in-game points to play and then just get completely screwed over with a crap character and crap cards. (the character choice being the worst)
    The Worst: Completely Pay to win    … Expand
  33. Zingledot
    Apr 5, 2014
    3
    'A game lacking depth that was put in the rock tumbler so long it came out smooth' is the best way I've seen it described. This very quickly becomes a Pay-to-win game. You'll get some packs and gold from doing the tutorial, and it leads you to believe that you'll actually get a reasonable flow of cards. Nope.

    Look forward to sitting on your stagnant deck, and if you're good at playing,    'A game lacking depth that was put in the rock tumbler so long it came out smooth' is the best way I've seen it described. This very quickly becomes a Pay-to-win game. You'll get some packs and gold from doing the tutorial, and it leads you to believe that you'll actually get a reasonable flow of cards. Nope.

    Look forward to sitting on your stagnant deck, and if you're good at playing, you eventually hit the wall of people with better cards. Period. Further, because your available cards are based on the class you're playing as, every class plays the same strategy and there is a definite rock-paper-scissors balancing act going on between classes.

    The only reason this game isn't getting a lower rating is because the production is just so good. I tell everyone, if Magic the Gathering had made their computer games look and feel like Hearthstone, they would have been good games. Blizzard setup a great platform, but the game is crap.    … Expand
  34. gabriot
    Apr 19, 2014
    3
    This game really just isn't fun, like AT ALL.

    I sincerely don't get why everyone keeps playing this game, hell I don't get why I played it for so long ( I have over 1000+ wins on record in this stupid game) Watch any streamer that plays this game and you'll see that there is ZERO fun to be had in this abomination of a card game. Blizzard should be ashamed on many different levels,    This game really just isn't fun, like AT ALL.

    I sincerely don't get why everyone keeps playing this game, hell I don't get why I played it for so long ( I have over 1000+ wins on record in this stupid game)

    Watch any streamer that plays this game and you'll see that there is ZERO fun to be had in this abomination of a card game. Blizzard should be ashamed on many different levels, on the actual design of the game, but also the amount of game breaking bugs in such a simple game that they just leave unchecked for MONTHS on end. They aren't ashamed though, because they are clearly not the same company that made masterpieces like Diablo ii and stracraft back in the day. They are laughing all the way to the bank with this one.

    The game is so rng based it isn't even funny. All it accomplishes is that it leaves you frustrated when it doesn't go your way and slightly amused when it does. There is in fact SO much RNG in this game that you'll never get to witness your "good play" producing results unless you play hundreds upon hundreds of games and somehow keep track of plays that you made. Otherwise you can play absolutely perfectly, and your opponent can play like a complete noob, and it doesn't matter, there will be NOTHING you can do to win, because rng will **** you over that hard.

    Take this scenario for example, you play an "amani berserker", which is a card that has 2 damage and 3 hp, but has a condition that when it receives damage of any sort and survives, it will gain +3 attack. Now on your opponents turn, let's say they play a "mad bomber", which is a card that will fire off 3 random bombs to any random targets. So in this scenario, playing that mad bomber is a "dumb" play because there are 3 targets for it to hit, and it's likely to land one of those on the amani, thus giving it the +3 attack bonus. But nope, all 3 bombs hit the amani and your opponent just got rewarded for making a dumb play, and you are SEVERELY behind now at that point. Yay, sound fun? No? Well that's because it isn't. This type of crap happens ALL THE TIME IN THIS AWFUL GAME.

    There are tons of cards like this mad bomber car, that are completely rng based. There is even a card for priest that will summon any random minion from your opponents deck into the battlefield. This can absolutely break a game. Why would you EVER have a retarded card like that in a game that you wanted to have any semblance of competitiveness?

    There are 2 game modes to play - constructed and arena. Constructed is boring, you'll only see 5 or 6 decks because the game is so cheesily designed that at any given point there will only be a few optimized decks that are viable.

    The other mode is arena, where you get a random deck created from a random selection of cards that you draft from. This mode is almost fun, because you actually get to see some variety instead of the same cards over and over again, however once again it is TOO RNG based, to the point where there's not a chance in hell you can beat some opponent's decks, and you have to FREAKING PAY to play the damn mode. That is unacceptable on so many different levels. You pay either 2 dollars USD (they're taking real life money in a game that, by the way, has game breaking bugs, such as not even letting you get pas the mulligan screen to play your match that you just PAID to be able to play), or you can use 150 in game coins, which take FOREVER to acquire. You will get 1 quest per day, if you're lucky it will earn you 60 gold but most only earn 40 gold, and you can earn 10 gold for getting 3 wins in constructed play. So basically, you're limited to maybe one arena every other day or two days depending on how good you are. You can earn the gold back if you do well enough in an arena, but that's pretty much once again all up to the RNG of the opponents you get (match making is HORRID in this game) and the RNG of your own deck.

    All in all, a very disappointing, promising but horribly executed buggy game that is 10% fun and 90% frustration, rage, and generally unfun moments that leave you wondering why you wasted time and/or money on this trash in the first place.    … Expand
  35. Polarthief
    Mar 16, 2014
    3
    Critics give it way too much praise. Most (good) decks are composed of about 90-95% of the same cards (excluding class cards, which are the same among the decks of those classes), so every match comes down to "who drew what first". I know most card games use luck as a factor, but skill can usually overcome that. In this game, no such level of complexity exists. Decks are too small, no wayCritics give it way too much praise. Most (good) decks are composed of about 90-95% of the same cards (excluding class cards, which are the same among the decks of those classes), so every match comes down to "who drew what first". I know most card games use luck as a factor, but skill can usually overcome that. In this game, no such level of complexity exists. Decks are too small, no way to counterattack unless you're one of the few classes with Secrets (trap cards), it's a total crapshoot! If you enjoy games of little to no skill in a fun, casual, Warcraft theme, then this is definitely for you.

    Aside from giving the gameplay an absolute 0, the sound effects, music, graphics, and overall theme, however, are very delightful. For the few months that I played, it was definitely fun, until I realized how luck was everything. Still, outside of the gameplay, it's pleasant, but sadly, games without good gameplay get scores such as these, if not worse. If it ever comes to smartphones (and not just the iPad), I'd vote it a 6 or 7 as a Mobile game, but for a PC game, it doesn't deserve the ridiculous praise people are giving it.    … Expand
  36. CoffeeGuy22
    Apr 2, 2014
    3
    This is a F2P you can't enjoy without paying, first f*cking mistake. It has so many balance problems that it's unplayable (you'd think that would be easy considering it doesn't have a lot of cards), second **** mistake. But the biggest problem with this game is the fact that it's too simple, it has no **** depth whatsoever compared to other card games making it mostly luck-based because ofThis is a F2P you can't enjoy without paying, first f*cking mistake. It has so many balance problems that it's unplayable (you'd think that would be easy considering it doesn't have a lot of cards), second **** mistake. But the biggest problem with this game is the fact that it's too simple, it has no **** depth whatsoever compared to other card games making it mostly luck-based because of the lack of strategy needed so you'll be better of buying Duels of the Planeswalkers or any other digital card game that doesn't have a pay to win model... Can you tell I was dissapointed?… Expand
  37. spyke2009
    Mar 12, 2014
    3
    Negative reviews sum it up, this is basically the warcraft CCG that they released a while back as a flop. Overly simplified gameplay which would be a bonus if they didn't break the golden rule of F2P models

    "NEVER, SELL POWER" Perhaps if they hadn't been so filled with greed and hubris this would have been a real contender with the other F2P titles on the market, but right now it's    Negative reviews sum it up, this is basically the warcraft CCG that they released a while back as a flop. Overly simplified gameplay which would be a bonus if they didn't break the golden rule of F2P models

    "NEVER, SELL POWER"

    Perhaps if they hadn't been so filled with greed and hubris this would have been a real contender with the other F2P titles on the market, but right now it's not competing and doesn't deserve a good review.
    They can do better.

    Alongside the financial model issues is the heavy reliance on RNG in their card design, a problem which alongside the cost was noted by many of my friends on the actual CCG's release.

    Overall due to the fact there are many documented bugs and flaws, and the fact they've had an active cash shop for months now while still being a "beta" product, I cannot in good conscience give this any higher than a 3, worth some time if you don't take it seriously, but a monumental let down in terms of potential... YgoPro etc won't be quaking in their boots from this "official" release.    … Expand
  38. takalol
    Jul 29, 2015
    3
    Ok so I come from a really grand blizzard past, and I was a beta tester in hearthstone, I really love Blizzard, I love Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft, I have always been with them since SC1, D1 and WC2, all blizzard games excelled technically in all aspects of gaming, and were top products on their time, every game had a way to improve the market around it and inspire people to do betterOk so I come from a really grand blizzard past, and I was a beta tester in hearthstone, I really love Blizzard, I love Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft, I have always been with them since SC1, D1 and WC2, all blizzard games excelled technically in all aspects of gaming, and were top products on their time, every game had a way to improve the market around it and inspire people to do better stuff and try to be like Blizzard, but too bad that Hearthstone cam out, a gambling machine that operates on high grinds or loads of money needed, Welcome to "RNG, The Game", where your skill will never matter. This game is about 5% skill or so, and that's what pisses me off the most. If it was more "Magic The Gathering'er" and they didn't spend their resources on more luck based cards on every single expansion, if they researched and put more ways for new players to dive into the game, and improved the free to playesque capabilities of the game, maybe the game could be good, but as of now, I rate it a 3.… Expand
  39. SethEvandor
    May 16, 2014
    3
    Some key issues with the game. No1, they have a casual mode, but people play casual to stomp and a lot are BM. They need to remove casual mode because it doesn't seem casual friendly. No2, golden card rewards... Yeah, we aren't trading cards, Blizzardv2.

    I don't like the large range in mana costs, it adds to the randomness of the game and makes it less strategic. Certain cards just make    Some key issues with the game. No1, they have a casual mode, but people play casual to stomp and a lot are BM. They need to remove casual mode because it doesn't seem casual friendly. No2, golden card rewards... Yeah, we aren't trading cards, Blizzardv2.

    I don't like the large range in mana costs, it adds to the randomness of the game and makes it less strategic. Certain cards just make the game more kinda like a "yay I drew this card" which is okay except it rewards luck greatly. The varied mana costs and card efficiencies makes it feel frustrating in general when luck doesn't go your way. The game highly revolves around around the classes, but how you stop the deadliest tools your opponent is with generic answers, just throwing down minions, having a silence, nerfbat or taunt ready or just a combo which isn't really designed to counter anything. Then there is the golem meta, draw and throw out golems... Ugh.    … Expand
  40. blade01
    Sep 25, 2015
    3
    Hearthstone(from now on HS) is a TCG.You can pay for many things like booster, adventures or simply for cosmetics.First of all i have an account where i buy 6 packs every month and one that is pure F2P.Because of that i can say HS is NOT pay to win.HS is pay to accelerate.If you start a pure F2P account you build ONE class first for laddergames and that works just fine.You can even watchHearthstone(from now on HS) is a TCG.You can pay for many things like booster, adventures or simply for cosmetics.First of all i have an account where i buy 6 packs every month and one that is pure F2P.Because of that i can say HS is NOT pay to win.HS is pay to accelerate.If you start a pure F2P account you build ONE class first for laddergames and that works just fine.You can even watch Trump on Youtube right now, hes playing a F2P priest and climbs the ladder like a machine.While he is a pro he plays without money.The problem is that most players are just terrible and need a perfect, premade decklist to play.Of course you have troubles when you are not capable of adapting with your cardpool but that is YOUR OWN FAULT.The F2P modell is really fair i think.You can buy 3-6 packs per week depending on what quests you get or you can play arena.

    Lets look into the rest of the game:

    Sound:Everything here is ok.Some cards have nice sounds, most not.The music is ok.

    Visuals:What do you expect here, its a TCG!The game look ok.

    Gameplay:I wont discuss the basic rules, the game is easy to learn and the mechanics(!!) are easy to master too.I think that appeals to a lot of people because games like YGO or Magic are MUCH MUCH MUCH more complicated and you need to know a lot of rules.Maybe the game is too simpel.A big problem is the current state of the game.The people that design the cards must be complete retarded.Whatch some videos on YT for footage from the alpha or beta how broken some cards were back than.Now they fixed most of this **** but if you want to play competetivly you need an "unfair" deck.I talk about secret pala, face-hunter, grim patron warrior and so on.Youll encounter mostly agressive decks while you are most of the time screwed if you play a controldeck.This is a design-flaw in my opinion.You should never get punished that hard if you play a slower deck.You miss turn 1?Too bad, most of the time its already GG in a meta where you need the perfect play most of the time.

    That aside Blizzard managed to push the RNG bull**** to next level.Cards like shredder for example.This is e-sports?When you lead BY A LOT and you shredder drops a doomsayer for example?Or the shredder drops an Darnassus aspirant and you lose mana because of that?In my opinion this is bad design.Blizzard is talking about fun.Im sorry, i had never fun when i won or lost a game because of that bull****.

    Conclusion:Because of the bad design and not enough expansions(it took me just some weeks to get all the playable cards from the latest expansion on both my accounts) i cant say HS is a good game.Its an okay game with a very very fair F2P modell that is easy to learn.You can have a lot of fun but not just sometimes youll find yourself in a really salty spot because you lost to RNG bull**** or unfair decks/cards.Like i said gamedesign is not a strong point in the HS team.    … Expand
  41. DelMann2
    Apr 6, 2014
    3
    Casual game for the ever growing casual market.

    RNG based, grindy, if you want to get the cards you need. Arena Fees... Nothing for me, thought it entertained me for a bit.
  42. Sghignifiss
    Jan 7, 2015
    3
    I started playing at this thinking about it as the next gen CCG that would revolutionize the genre. By the time I decided to give it a try It was already so famous it had to be like that, there was no other explanation for its fame. Then, after a few weeks of standoffish play I finally understood.

    This is a dumbed down CCG with some very smart aesthetic details and some very bad    I started playing at this thinking about it as the next gen CCG that would revolutionize the genre. By the time I decided to give it a try It was already so famous it had to be like that, there was no other explanation for its fame. Then, after a few weeks of standoffish play I finally understood.

    This is a dumbed down CCG with some very smart aesthetic details and some very bad money/time devouring game concepts at base. It is a pity since it could have been a really fun and well designed game. Unfortunately devs have decided to come across too many compromises in order to make the game playable and light. It is really playable by everyone, shame this is a bad thing for a CCG: everyone here can win at least a match, it doesn't matter how smart you are, how skilled or what. It's really a matter of having the good cards and playing them when you get them, and having the luck to have random effects actually work. No real strategy here, not at a level you can expect from a CCG, at least.

    The game soon comes to be repetitive, cards are few and mostly the same in all decks (why define classes with less than 20 types of cards and A TON of generic cards every class can use??). Getting new cards is pure pain due to ridiculous rewards for winning, boring mission system and incredibly high costs of everything.

    It still has very good and funny graphics, and even a really smart and nice way to interact with other players, but after few days of playing it is really not enough to keep you in the game.

    Simply put, a good time waster for casuals, a bad CCG for everyone else.    … Expand
  43. Planeswalker
    Mar 17, 2014
    3
    TITLE: BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TECH SUPPORT

    Let me start by saying that this game is great and addictive. It has solid game mechanics that is fairly easy to understand and you can create a variety of decks from the total card pool. So why do I give it a negative score? Customer service and Technical support. I spent money on this game on expert packs. I got some good cards from it,    TITLE: BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TECH SUPPORT

    Let me start by saying that this game is great and addictive. It has solid game mechanics that is fairly easy to understand and you can create a variety of decks from the total card pool. So why do I give it a negative score? Customer service and Technical support.

    I spent money on this game on expert packs. I got some good cards from it, one was a Legendary card named Lord Jaraxus. For some reason, the said card is now missing from my collection. I went to the hearthstone forums and found out that this is already a rampant problem with the game with many players reporting cards disappearing from their collection.

    My thead is here: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/12091329391 ... as of writing, there has been 0 response from tech support. A tech support did reply into another missing cards thread only to post Blizzards' "No card restoration or refund" policy. The thread is right here: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/12032473280

    Please take note that the tech support did not even explain why the cards are missing or any information at all about this issue. I have already filed a dispute with paypal to hopefully get at least a refund from my initial purchase. This behavior from blizzard is a huge turn off. I advice those who plan to spend money on this game to think twice before doing so.

    Summary: Should have been a great game. But let down by poor customer service and a very unhelpful tech support.    … Expand
  44. MrEndorphino
    Dec 24, 2015
    3
    Pay 2 Win, completely random unless you have amounts of overpowered cards (that you get from spending your sweet munies on packs). Luck let alone, even if you facerolling your enemy 90% of game, they will then pull this unbalanced legendary card (10/10 drag that will wipe whole your army as battlecry when entering the game, and then rekt you in 2 rounds) and you will taste your sour tears,Pay 2 Win, completely random unless you have amounts of overpowered cards (that you get from spending your sweet munies on packs). Luck let alone, even if you facerolling your enemy 90% of game, they will then pull this unbalanced legendary card (10/10 drag that will wipe whole your army as battlecry when entering the game, and then rekt you in 2 rounds) and you will taste your sour tears, made of pain that inflicted you the **** by blizzard, completely selling every last piece of game balance to everyone, who is willing to milk their wallets to oblivion.

    I have 10 hours in and I got to 15 Rank thanks to quite decent deck guide for Mage, but at this point, no matter how clever I am trying to be, trying to predict and take some aspects into consideration I will always get facerolled by someone pulling out these cheesy Legendary/Epic cards and turning tide of battle with 1-2 cards. Sadly for me, I didnt get any epic/legendary from my decks. Thats exactly what blizzard want, they want me to pay a fortune now to get dem cards - gambling like tard for excessive amounts of money.

    No thanks.

    Art is quite nice tho, interface too. Would give it 8/10, but I definitely cant with this business model that ruins game completely.

    Soon this game will fall and no one ever will remember it, as It has no serious competitive potential.    … Expand
  45. Tedamerica
    Apr 6, 2014
    3
    Here's the honest to god lowdown. Is the game fun, sure it is. Its based on cards that work together. You start with a basic set of cards plus additional cards for each class. As you progress you earn more and better cards. It takes hours and hours of grinding to get new cards. Of course Blizzard gives you the option to use real money to buy additional cards. You move up very quickly butHere's the honest to god lowdown. Is the game fun, sure it is. Its based on cards that work together. You start with a basic set of cards plus additional cards for each class. As you progress you earn more and better cards. It takes hours and hours of grinding to get new cards. Of course Blizzard gives you the option to use real money to buy additional cards. You move up very quickly but then you become frustrated by other gamers that are fool enough to pay real money for virtual items. (just my opinion) So unless you want to spend real money it becomes near impossible to compete. I hate being exploited by companies that make games pay2win.… Expand
  46. Freaksy
    May 22, 2014
    3
    This game might have the best interface and art compered to other card games. But it has just too much randomness, %75 luck %25 skill and last and the worst part is it's Pay2Win.
  47. Talamare
    May 21, 2014
    3
    Good art, and audio. The gameplay interface is also very good. However the gameplay mechanics, the card game mechanics are very shallow. Any even slightly hardcore TCG player will get bored by the overly simple mechanics. The business model also places an emphasis on either winning a ton or spending a ton of money.
  48. ZoeF
    May 24, 2014
    3
    Fun at first. Then you start to realize that you need those fancy cards. As you can not win at some point whithout them. Bummer blizzard is as money hungry as ever. Let them win some then realize you need money to continue playing and actualy winning.

    Pathetic effort at a pay to win concept!
  49. Thorssa
    Oct 7, 2014
    3
    Strategically too simple and with an unnerving amount of unnecesairy random elements.

    Personally I'd urge people to give the VERY underrated game Might & magic: Duel of champions a try instead of Hearthstone. Tried it while I was waiting for my HS beta-key, haven't looked back since. (well, tbh I do still grind a few dailys now and then, and played through the Naxx-expansion)
  50. Neloangelus666
    Oct 12, 2014
    3
    At first glance this game is pretty good, at second glance it gets worse, at final glance it is a frustrating piece of ****

    The main problem is the card decks and the element of luck in every game you play, for example you can play the same deck against the same opponent and the first time you can beat them without them even hitting you once, then you can reload and they will destroy    At first glance this game is pretty good, at second glance it gets worse, at final glance it is a frustrating piece of ****

    The main problem is the card decks and the element of luck in every game you play, for example you can play the same deck against the same opponent and the first time you can beat them without them even hitting you once, then you can reload and they will destroy you by move 8, you retry and destroy them by move 8. This has nothing to do with playing the cards you are dealt, since if luck isn't on your side you can end up with 4 cards that need 8 crystals and the opponent will have a zerg rush waiting to kick your ass.

    It gets a 3 because it is a well crafted game like anything Blizzard make, but as for the gameplay mechanics it gets a big fat 0 since it isn't even a game that you can be good at, you just sit there and hope that *this* time your cards will come out in the right order and you can't actually be a GOOD Hearthstone player, just someone hedging his or her bets that the deck you've built is going to beat the odds so you don't need to be lucky to win it.

    Which also means if you want to be good at Hearthstone you just need to buy the cards you need to win and play a lot, since there is no actual skill involved to become a good player, just the bare basics of gameplay where you don't make really stupid decisions. Get the basic elements of play down (don't use a group damage spell when the enemy has no minions, don't be stupid.) and you will win, and the reverse of that if you have a **** deck and luck isn't on your side you will fail.

    I really wouldn't mind any of the luck element if the skill element could make up for bad luck, but it doesn't. You can be a brilliant strategist but you will lose against a lucky retard rolling his face across the keys and summoning a murloc zerg while you hold 2 core hounds you can't use for 3 turns. You might as well just download a higher/lower card game app on a tablet, because that's basically what Hearthstone is, just a random number generator with nice graphics.    … Expand
  51. Trollden
    Oct 18, 2014
    3
    You need spent many time for playable deck or DONATE, DONATE AND DONATE!!!!!!!!!!!!! If u lucky and collected good deck you will encounter with "awry" random system.....
  52. Kamamura
    Mar 25, 2017
    3
    Prime example of the "Ameritrash" design approach. Focus is on theatrics, gaudy effects and grotesque lore, and solid gameplay is secondary, which is starting to show on the overall balance and quality of the game.

    Initially solid foundation was undermined by greed, slow response to problems (patches take 6 months to arrive), incompenent direction and lack of focus and dubious design    Prime example of the "Ameritrash" design approach. Focus is on theatrics, gaudy effects and grotesque lore, and solid gameplay is secondary, which is starting to show on the overall balance and quality of the game.

    Initially solid foundation was undermined by greed, slow response to problems (patches take 6 months to arrive), incompenent direction and lack of focus and dubious design decisions. It seems that the developers more and more satisfied with themselves, while the quality of the game plummets. Meanwhile, the cost of the game is being silently increases by non-obvious means (no more adventures that are replaced by more expensive pack expansions, power inflation in effort to force players to buy the new OP cards, card rotation, etc).

    Advice to new players - stay away! The golden age of Hearthstone is gone and will not return. The game is worse and worse with each expansion.    … Expand
  53. Cephai
    Mar 25, 2015
    3
    It has all been said before, but I still want to add my voice.

    There is a strong Pay-to-Win aspect to the game. Some rare cards are simply overpowered. Also chance plays a MUCH too great role in all the parts of the game: drawing cards, the effects of many cards are randomized, luck determines what new cards you get... . These are essentially 2 factors that determine the outcome of    It has all been said before, but I still want to add my voice.

    There is a strong Pay-to-Win aspect to the game. Some rare cards are simply overpowered.
    Also chance plays a MUCH too great role in all the parts of the game: drawing cards, the effects of many cards are randomized, luck determines what new cards you get... .

    These are essentially 2 factors that determine the outcome of any given match: chance, and how much you have spent for card-packs. The result is a win-ratio of about 50% against comparable decks (in terms of invested money, or to a much lesser degree time). The optimal next move is pretty much given at all times, only determined by, you guessed it, the luck of the draw.
    Against decks that are "boosted by cash" however, those chances dwindle.

    I have played this game for over two months, it is addictive, but the game mechanics are just not good.
    It throws you enough bones to keep you going, but the outcome barely ever up to you, except for the money-thing that is.    … Expand
  54. Crackfarmer
    May 24, 2016
    3
    Went down hill pretty fast. After the Naxxramas Expansion it died for me. New crap cards release, new stupid rng stuff which noone needs. And it's pay2win. Lame. Full of Botters.
  55. philip3242
    Feb 25, 2016
    3
    Pay to win so its fun at first and then you realize if you want to play more than a few hours you have to pay. It has the posibility to be good, but falls short in the end with numerous balance issues.
  56. VoidSoldier
    May 27, 2016
    3
    Hearthstone is a rather fun and easy to learn but hard to master card game. The game is, however, pay to win and very grind-y.

    To earn cards in this game, packs must be opened. They cost 100 gold in game currency. This means you will be able to open one pack per three days if you role 40 currency quests. An additional pack can be earned via tavern brawl, a weekly event that lasts a few    Hearthstone is a rather fun and easy to learn but hard to master card game. The game is, however, pay to win and very grind-y.

    To earn cards in this game, packs must be opened. They cost 100 gold in game currency. This means you will be able to open one pack per three days if you role 40 currency quests. An additional pack can be earned via tavern brawl, a weekly event that lasts a few days. Cards can be crafted through dust, which is earned through recycling cards you don't want or have two duplicates of.

    This can be very grind-y, so if you don't play the game often, or conform to the quests, you will earn cards very slowly, as duplicates mean getting all the cards takes a long time. Legedaries and epics cost a lot of dust, and you get less dust back than it costs to craft.

    This is not good since the meta of the game in both standard and wild modes, and even to an extent casual, revolves heavily around meta decks. You simply can't get above rank 16 without a good meta or anti-meta deck, not even if you are very good at TCGs. And since the meta is ever-shifting and old cards are made redundant in standard, new cards released, earning all the cards needed to make a relevant meta deck is impossible without dedicating your life to the game.

    And since, as I said, the meta shifts, and cards give less dust when disenchanted, you can't simply disenchant and re-enchant cards to play the meta deck you want to. This leaves the game feeling frustrating as you simply cannot progress through the ranks. Buying packs will give you more cards, but because of duplicates, you still will not get the cards you want even if bought in bulk, and my luck of getting legandaries seems awful. I only got one legendary in 30 packs when I preordered WoTOG expansion- never again. Seems to me like there should be a set number of them you get in a certain number of pack openings, or the probability should increase.

    Some pros: Some cards can be earned through DLCs where you play a quest against AIs. However, these addons are expensive and cost too much to grind in game money. Also, they do not contain the cards for the best meta decks, really, and they will rotate out in standard.

    Final score of 3. Has potential to be a fun competitive game for the masses, but for those without a ton of time or a big wallet, it is impossible to progress beyond a certain point.    … Expand
  57. Anuel
    Mar 11, 2017
    3
    Game with great potential... that was completely ruined.
    First things first - this review is being written by not native english speaker, so please pay no attention to mistakes. I have been playing Hs for over a year and have over 3k games won. The game mechanics is great, there are dozens and dozens of cards and every four or so months there is a new card expanssion, which is great    Game with great potential... that was completely ruined.
    First things first - this review is being written by not native english speaker, so please pay no attention to mistakes. I have been playing Hs for over a year and have over 3k games won. The game mechanics is great, there are dozens and dozens of cards and every four or so months there is a new card expanssion, which is great because it makes (or should make) game less repetetive.
    So, why only 3 stars? - if you are someone that thinks over starting new adventure with HS... don't. Just don't. In Hs there is no such thing like matching opponent of similar game count, which means that right from begining you may be spared against enemy with 30x times more games played and thus over 30x times more cards - i can tell via my own experience when as i had about 120 games won i have played against dude with rank 7 and over 4k won games. Another thing - cards cards, cards. You think you will get what you want/need? Think twice. You won't. after year of playing i am still using decks of my own creations which are "outside of meta" making me win 2-3 games out of 10 played. Is losing bad? Normally i pay no attention if i am winning or losing... but here comes HS punishes. If you don't win - you get no gold. There is absolutely no reward for losing a game no matter how hard and mental exhusting it woult me. now, what can be bought bu gold - card packs and arena entrances. To get a card pack you have to win 30 times. yes 30. Each game can easily take 10 min or even more. Now, recall me saying that i win 2-3 game out of 10. Yes, collecting 100 gold sometimes takes me from dawn till dusk.
    Another thing - i said that new card expansions makes game less repetetive. In the end, it doesn't. As you are playing ranked and see, let's say - a warrior, in current meta you can be 95% sure that this would be pirate agro face warrior. almost no exceptions.
    But hey! there is an option to use real life money! It will bring you nowhere to. I know. From, once again, real life experince. I have spent **** load of money on HS hoping that i would get better cards. I dind't, and here i am. almost crying with each game being played as i stuggle to collect 150 games to play on arena - the only, lemme reapet - ONLY fun thing in HS, which is making deck of random cards and fighting against another oponent with random cards - so you can be sure that you will never use same cards and play against same kind deck twice.
    So, summarizing, HS is a GREAT GAME with wonderful system, nicely made rng, bah! even a lore and advnture system... but it is a shut "society" if you would join it now, prepare on devastation and completely lack of support for new players.
    I highly disrecommend starting playing this game for anyone that is not a masochist, for i have no idea why i keep playing this game and keep wondering over quiting playing this game for good. I think that i will just wait till next expansion and see, if thing would get at least little less "unplayable"    … Expand
  58. angryreviews
    Oct 23, 2019
    3
    Личное казино от беседки, закинь денег и отсоси после этого
  59. Aaaaaaaaaaaaa2
    Sep 4, 2021
    3
    F*king lagging piece of crap, devs don't do any balance check ever before big patches, plus the f*king card just frozen in a middle of screen in the bg lobby and I lost a match - amazing f*king job ///////
  60. Crimson9
    Dec 29, 2022
    3
    This is a pretty bad card game compared to Magic the Gathering from what I've gathered (haha.) Overall a pretty bad card game in every way.
  61. DoctorFox
    Apr 24, 2014
    2
    More pay-to-win, pay-to-play debauchery. Unbalanced classing system, and any real social system is non-existent. Graphics are goofy, and the actual playing cards are weakly illustrated. Blizzard is trying to spend as little time, effort, and money to gain as much income as possible. As usual, Blizzard / Activision care little for the consumer, and more for capitalistic gains. PlayMore pay-to-win, pay-to-play debauchery. Unbalanced classing system, and any real social system is non-existent. Graphics are goofy, and the actual playing cards are weakly illustrated. Blizzard is trying to spend as little time, effort, and money to gain as much income as possible. As usual, Blizzard / Activision care little for the consumer, and more for capitalistic gains. Play Scrolls: still in beta and a far superior product.… Expand
  62. NDiggy
    Jul 23, 2014
    2
    Graphics are nice, but the game itself is pay to win at its worst. Add to that how incredibly imbalanced the game is along with many, many bugs, and you have a huge waste of time. If they bothered to balance the game and simply gave us a game that we could purchase instead of being nickle and dime'd, there might be potential.
  63. LD9000
    Mar 28, 2014
    2
    Games like this should be regulated like gambling. If a person under the age of 18 is not allowed to gamble, because their judgement is not considered mature yet, why is Blizzard developing a virtual casino for 9-13 year olds? Sure they will ask their parents or just buy prepaid cards to buy decks. Some will get seriously addicted, as they chase the next "rush" of random battles.

    Arena    Games like this should be regulated like gambling. If a person under the age of 18 is not allowed to gamble, because their judgement is not considered mature yet, why is Blizzard developing a virtual casino for 9-13 year olds? Sure they will ask their parents or just buy prepaid cards to buy decks. Some will get seriously addicted, as they chase the next "rush" of random battles.

    Arena requires you to grind for hours and hours to get a free entry (150 gold to enter, 10 gold per 3 wins, at 50% win rate you need 90 games to get free entry. at 10 minutes per game that's 15 hours of grinding.

    Once you are in the arena, it becomes apparent just how broken it is - the "random" draft lets you stay and fight for long if you have a good deck. But you soon realize that weak decks get eliminated quickly, and you are left fighting players who are either using OP builds, or just have a bunch of OP orange cards in their decks (ex: Ragnaros).

    Introducing PVP is the driver of the pay to win system. Once you see how many people at low ranks have rare and legendary cards in their decks, the feeling of "unfair" will make you buy decks. Once you buy decks, you realize that because they give you cards for all 9 classes, and lots of common cards, you need A WHOLE LOAD of decks to get your favorite class on par with the rest of the players.

    Or you can build one of the rush decks and just overwhelm the enemy. Got frothing berserker? Got void horror? Got buzzard, hyena and unleash the hounds?

    After a while, this game made me sick to my stomach because of how such flashy and seemingly user friendly game exploits the human brain.    … Expand
  64. Aquila
    Aug 22, 2016
    2
    If you don't misplay, 100% of the games you lose is due to RNG. Its funny watching streams because you don't have to lose to RNG. Even watching streams is getting boring. Playing since late beta and doing your quest 90%+ of the time then you have a somewhat playable collection. But for newer players getting a playable collection feels like a huge mountain to climb and pay2win.
  65. nefarel
    Dec 11, 2014
    2
    Pros:
    - easy to learn with nice tutorial
    - nice graphics and animations for a card game - warcraft universe - localization (polish language) Cons: - pay to win, free players play against premium players which have better legendary cards - lacks depth, doesn't require much strategic thinking - grind based for free players - luck to win, cards you get are random, even cards you    Pros:
    - easy to learn with nice tutorial
    - nice graphics and animations for a card game
    - warcraft universe
    - localization (polish language)

    Cons:
    - pay to win, free players play against premium players which have better legendary cards
    - lacks depth, doesn't require much strategic thinking
    - grind based for free players
    - luck to win, cards you get are random, even cards you use have random effects
    - lacks single player content

    Summary avoid this game it is all about trying to get you to pay money.    … Expand
  66. macmac
    Feb 22, 2015
    2
    This is Blizzard's first dabble in the free-to-play, pay-to-win concept. It's fun at first playing the computer AI, and the initial online matches. However, it quickly takes a turn downhill as you start playing people who have lots of powerful cards. I had fun for the first couple of hours, but the last few matches I played weren't even close. The rate that you accumulate the in-gameThis is Blizzard's first dabble in the free-to-play, pay-to-win concept. It's fun at first playing the computer AI, and the initial online matches. However, it quickly takes a turn downhill as you start playing people who have lots of powerful cards. I had fun for the first couple of hours, but the last few matches I played weren't even close. The rate that you accumulate the in-game currency is way to slow to make the slog through overpowered opponents worth it. So what do you do? Just pay a little bit of real money to speed up the process. No, thanks. The game isn't that fun. It's pretty simple, and the strategy is clear: play more powerful cards than your opponent and you will win. That's it. Oh well, it gave me a few hours of free entertainment.… Expand
  67. Muuvinki
    Oct 14, 2016
    2
    I played this game almost 1,5 years. Now in its current state I cannot recommend it to anyone at all.
    Almost every game breaking card has RNG mechanic in it, which means that luck decides many outcomes of the matches right from the start. This game is no longer the same fun & entertaining card game it used to be.

    Hear me out and please don't waste your money on this garbage.
  68. sviskon
    Apr 13, 2014
    2
    + Its free.

    - Lack of depth makes the game repetative relatively quickly.
    - Luck determines the outcome of a match more often than skill.
    - Only 1v1 game mode, 2vs2 would be a great addition to the game.
  69. szarek
    Feb 16, 2015
    2
    How to get cards: 1.5€ for 5 or you can just play and get like 5 everyday, the problem is that everybody pays, and if you are upper than range 20 (25 is the minimum) you will find loads of people with cards that are just BETTER than yours.
    RNG: the amount of RNG in this game is just ridiculous. I know that is a card game but 50% of the game is RNG, 45% your deck (what will probably be a    How to get cards: 1.5€ for 5 or you can just play and get like 5 everyday, the problem is that everybody pays, and if you are upper than range 20 (25 is the minimum) you will find loads of people with cards that are just BETTER than yours.
    RNG: the amount of RNG in this game is just ridiculous. I know that is a card game but 50% of the game is RNG, 45% your deck (what will probably be a clone of a pro deck and that will depend of how much have you spend). That means that all the "skill" that this game has is not doing missplays and knowing what cards the opposite deck will have (quite easy since there are only like 10-20 decks that EVERYBODY plays).

    So at the end is just a candy crush stile game, but harder to play if you are not paying.    … Expand
  70. amandra
    Oct 17, 2014
    2
    I originally rated this a 6 since at the core it's a great game, but was moderately pay-to-win.

    I'm adjusting the rating again since it's has become completely pay-to-win. I've played since beta without paying and don't have a single legendary. I've earned $100+ of cards for free over a year or so to give you a scope of how much money/time DOESN'T get you a legendary. You simply    I originally rated this a 6 since at the core it's a great game, but was moderately pay-to-win.

    I'm adjusting the rating again since it's has become completely pay-to-win.

    I've played since beta without paying and don't have a single legendary. I've earned $100+ of cards for free over a year or so to give you a scope of how much money/time DOESN'T get you a legendary. You simply don't get them without paying money. That would be fine if it was the business model to pay for a card, but it's not. You dump money into a RNG card generator hoping for a good card.

    I play ranked primarily and I've always reached a point where it's not skill that matters, but having legendary cards. I've accepted that because I didn't play enough to hit that point quickly every month (rank resets every month), so it was still fun.

    Now they've modified the model again and it's easier to get specific legendaries, but ONLY if you'll dump $40 into 15 minutes of content and three card rewards. The result is that the ranked cutoff where you need very rare and legendary cards to succeed is hit very early now in a matter of a few sittings.

    Plus you can stack as many legendaries as you like. I played someone that I had dead to rights and then he played four legendary cards in a row. That's not deck-building, that's Bliz rewarding careless $$$ spending.

    It's impossible to put my support behind a model like this because I just don't know whether my investment ends up useless three months down the road when they rework the system again. A lump sum up front for all cards, then for follow-up expansions would be ideal. Then you can have fun deck building. As it stands right now I haven't seen a card I can use in my favorite decks in months. It just feels like a treadmill.

    It's a shame because I love games like this and I wanted this to succeed, but a Blizzard got in it's way.    … Expand
  71. DimitriX
    Jul 13, 2014
    2
    If you like Magic The Gathering, then you will like this game. I don't mean this in a good way. In fact, I think it is worse than MtG. Both games have the problem that if you are willing to spend a pile of cash, then you can be sure to have the cards to build an over powered deck full of rare cards that will ensure a win. What makes this worse than MtG is that Hearthstone is run by aIf you like Magic The Gathering, then you will like this game. I don't mean this in a good way. In fact, I think it is worse than MtG. Both games have the problem that if you are willing to spend a pile of cash, then you can be sure to have the cards to build an over powered deck full of rare cards that will ensure a win. What makes this worse than MtG is that Hearthstone is run by a computer which sets up players against each other. So, the computer should be able to look at my deck and see that I am a casual player with very few overpowered cards and set me up against a player with the same level of deck. Instead, I am often put up against someone who has obviously spent a lot of money and now has a stack of rare cards in his deck.

    After a while, the constant beat down stops being fun and I stop playing. Though this game is free, there is no incentive for me to buy cards, which may not even fit the class that I want to play, for a game that I am not enjoying. Unistalled.    … Expand
  72. BigdavemsH
    Sep 6, 2014
    2
    At first this free to play, magic the gathering style, 'build your deck and play as a magic wielding hero' game seems like fun. It's very well presented in typical interface and graphics quality expected from such a large publisher. However, after quite a few hours of play, having built up tactics and got a good feel for the game, you realise the depth is lacking. 30 card decks with 2 cardAt first this free to play, magic the gathering style, 'build your deck and play as a magic wielding hero' game seems like fun. It's very well presented in typical interface and graphics quality expected from such a large publisher. However, after quite a few hours of play, having built up tactics and got a good feel for the game, you realise the depth is lacking. 30 card decks with 2 card limits and only limited card pools to choose from leave a sour taste in the mouth every time you lose (and it will be frequently) to the very high weighting luck has in this card game. The character powers add some depth to the gameplay, but at the end of the day you'll play people using almost the same cards and win or lose on luck. The mechanics are quite restricted too, so I'm not sure that they can make a card base large enough to add the required variation to at least mask this element.
    Those getting higher into the rankings will also realise that free to play gets you so far. The number of players using high %s of rares, even low in rankings, is very surprising and will limit the fun for the casual player.
    It's certainly fun for a quick game here or there, and it's a shiny, we'll presented blizzard package, but if you're looking for some depth to your skill base in a card game, look elsewhere, as ultimately this is half built game mechanics with CCG-esc pay for power rankings.    … Expand
  73. umutation
    Nov 28, 2016
    2
    The greedy high frequency of the change in the game's meta makes it impossible to climb without spending money in a weekly basis. The game itself may be a free one but it is the most expensive one if you want to enjoy it. And i can't feel victorious after i win because i know that me winning only means that i recently spent more than my opponent. It kind of feels bad to see how greedy theThe greedy high frequency of the change in the game's meta makes it impossible to climb without spending money in a weekly basis. The game itself may be a free one but it is the most expensive one if you want to enjoy it. And i can't feel victorious after i win because i know that me winning only means that i recently spent more than my opponent. It kind of feels bad to see how greedy the legendary game makers become.… Expand
  74. mirdinn
    Feb 2, 2015
    2
    Hearthstone is an usual card based game with a simple yet ingenuine twist - it's marketing strategy. The cards in Hearthstone are as in any Blizzard game could be of common, rare, epic and legendary quality. Cards could be obtained through buying card packs - for game currency (100 gold ) or real currency. Game currency could be obtained via daily quests - 40/60 gold + 30 wins wouldHearthstone is an usual card based game with a simple yet ingenuine twist - it's marketing strategy. The cards in Hearthstone are as in any Blizzard game could be of common, rare, epic and legendary quality. Cards could be obtained through buying card packs - for game currency (100 gold ) or real currency. Game currency could be obtained via daily quests - 40/60 gold + 30 wins would provide additional 100 gold ( first 1000 gold could be earned through onetime "achievements" ). Which means around of 1 pack per day or via fight on arena which provide you with 2 packs per day at least for additional 12 games. Which translates into 2-4 hours of play everyday. On average one in five packs would be epic card and one in 20 packs would be random legendary card. However, since many cards are belongs to specific class a chance of obtaining specific card is very low so deck's building strategy revolves around random cards or you could transform cards into "Arcane dust" at very low conversion rate e.g. one specific common card costs 40 points while result of conversion of common card is only 5 points, one pack in average converted to 40 points, in order to buy specific rare card required 100 points, in order to buy specific epic card you would need 400 points e.g. 10 packs while legendary card is equal to 160 packs. So in order to built some average deck you would need to spend about 160 hours of game's play during 40 days or pay to Blizzard about 200$. Now would you be willing to participate in tournament where are fundamental advantage could be bought via real money ?
    Gameplay itself isn't bad except couple of severe bugs for Mac client which probably already fixed, the expansion Naxxramas isn't bad either, although all 5 wings on Normal mode could be eliminated in a couple of hours , however cards from Naxxramas quite useful so expansion is also part of marketing strategy , in terms of money it's a really good deal since it's provides specific valuable cards for a low price. The game is theme is all about World of Warcraft universe and some cards provides nostalgic value to fan's of "wrath of the lich king" expansion. If you are looking for a long term time investment and rewarding competitive gaming you will find this game as a huge disappointment. Surely as any card game results of every match could be quite random so if you are lover of carefully crafted strategies and well deserved rewards you should stay away from this game as well.    … Expand
  75. algebramania
    May 17, 2015
    2
    Отыграв 600+ игр,я смело могу сказать - игра скатилась в деньговысасывающий мусор, даже уже нету места стратегии - пулл в 30 карт и хп превратил всю стратегическую составляющую в веселый аттракцион:"Раш в лицо или задонать часть своей зарплаты на карточки".
    Вот небольшой расчет для новичка,решившего выбрать второй путь: В 2400 рублей вам выйдет два текущих дополнения дополнения - без    Отыграв 600+ игр,я смело могу сказать - игра скатилась в деньговысасывающий мусор, даже уже нету места стратегии - пулл в 30 карт и хп превратил всю стратегическую составляющую в веселый аттракцион:"Раш в лицо или задонать часть своей зарплаты на карточки".
    Вот небольшой расчет для новичка,решившего выбрать второй путь: В 2400 рублей вам выйдет два текущих дополнения дополнения - без хотя бы первых двух кварталов первого можете даже не пробовать играть,так же вам понадобятся хотя бы 60 классических паков и 40 паков что выйдет в какие-то 6000 рублей - итого 8400,неплохо для f2p игры,правда?Нет,ну конечно вы можете годик другой делать ежедневные квесты (40/60/100 золота в день) и тратить 150 золота на арену,которую одно дело научиться собирать,а другое - играть с тем что есть(читай:насасывать),а это то еще испытание.мой вам совет - не тратьте время на эту игру,в ней нет ничего сложного и требующего смекалки - любой кто умеет считать до 30 с легкостью освоит топовые деки этой игры - фейсханта и мехомага    … Expand
  76. LazyDevelopers
    May 18, 2015
    2
    This game can be summed up in one word - RIGGED. Whether it is the "RNG" targeting to matchmaking, I am utterly convinced that the the coding for this game has some sort of algorithm to detect whatever criteria Blizzard has chosen and single out the players who don't meet them.

    For example, if they wanted, Blizzard can totally code in in whatever programming language to detect if a    This game can be summed up in one word - RIGGED. Whether it is the "RNG" targeting to matchmaking, I am utterly convinced that the the coding for this game has some sort of algorithm to detect whatever criteria Blizzard has chosen and single out the players who don't meet them.

    For example, if they wanted, Blizzard can totally code in in whatever programming language to detect if a player has paid X amount this month." Oh, he hasn't paid this month? In fact, he/she only paid 2.99 USD once? Who does he think he is? Nuh uh, we aren't having any of that. We're going to code it in so that in super tight situations, the opponent will draw the exact cards they need to win. Wait! What's this? He made it to rank 5 using a budget deck!? No no no no no; your winning streak ends here."

    "Well, what can they possibly benefit by doing this?" you may (as many others have) ask. Let me answer your question with my own, - Who do you think is more likely to fork out more money to purchase packs/arena runs. The one who constantly loses and doesn't have all of the (especially Legendary) cards, or the one who wins often? It's simple psychology, it's addicting enough that you can't stop playing it no matter how frustrating it gets. But that (insert goal here) is just out of reach without some help. Buuuuut, if you dish out 69.99 USD for 60 packs a month or buy one (or more) of our frequently added adventure wings for 4.99 each, you too may have a chance of reaching Legend. Baloney! You expect me to pay for such a garbage game? Like I said, it's addicting so I am always tempted to put false hope into making it to legend each month and it's hard for me to abandon (hence my non-zero score). But how dare these developers expect me to pay for such a rigged piece of garbage and help to keep their antics afloat.

    Oh, you needed those knives from the Knife Juggler to hit any of the 5 minions on the opposing board? Too bad, 3/4 of them are going to the face. Oh hey, full opposing board and you have a Ragnaros out. Hitting any minion will do. What happens? Face! Oh, you have a taunt minion out and you just need one good attack and you win? Nope! You opponent topdecks the ONE card they needed to get through the taunt and attack you for the win. You need any of the 4 cards to help you out of the current jam even after mulliganing? Well, they're napping at the bottom of the deck. And just to add insult to injury, EVERY TIME this happens, that card you need will be in your opening hand in the next match. Screw you and your house, Blizzard!

    Matchmaking: This one has me pulling me hair out. Playing Handlock? Well, you're going to run into a ton of Hunters that'll rush you down before turn 5. Okay, switch to Priest deck that devastates face hunters. What do you get instead? Handlocks, other priests, and anything else that hard counters you. Everything except the face hunters you encountered all the time 5 minutes ago. Okay, fine, switching to a midrange hunter that work well against those ANNOYING AS HECK Flamewaker mages and Handlocks. Whoops! Back to facing face hunters that wrecks your midrange. Do you seriously mean to tell me that this is all random? How is it that every time that I switch decks, all of a sudden all I face are the decks that hard counter mine!? Huh!? This. is. NOT. RANDOM! This is RIGGED! To all of you who say things like "There are low odds of these things happening, but even low possibility is still possible. It's just bad luck on your part." I say to you to screw that noise. How come I can run into such a streak of "bad luck" of such low odds when I don't ever get "unfortunate" enough to unpack 5 different legendary cards I don't have? Huh? Why is my bad luck so selective?

    I am not going to go ahead and say that I don't run into fortunate situations from time to time, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get to rank 4. I can only theorise that those people paid less than I did (which isn't much) or Blizzard was savvy enough to know to add some "good luck" so the rigging isn't as blatantly obvious.

    Also, this game seems to love disconnecting me a lot. Often, it is when I am still connected to the internet. This game doesn't use much data, according to my data usage on my phone when I use the app. How is this rigged, you say? It only, ONLY happens in game where I am winning. Never, not ONCE, has this ever happened in a game that I was doing terribly at. So not only does it limit my ability to win, when I do sometimes do well, the game just pulls the plug on me.

    One last point. Most of the essential cards, as of writing this review, are from the "Classic" series of card packs. But ever since they introduced the Goblins vs Gnomes packs, they have since stopped giving Classic packs as rewards, making acquiring essential class cards an atrocious ordeal especially for the newest of players. I've been playing since late open beta, so it doesn't affect me too much. But, I still need a few and it's a hassle to get them.    … Expand
  77. Darkiepie
    Aug 11, 2015
    2
    Don't be deceived by the free 2 play, if you want to win something or be good and not rage 24/7 then you have to p2w, thast way you rage 20/7, it's cool thinking how the cards interact and such but the RNG in this game it's complete nonsense to a point where no matter how good you or your deck are, it doesn't matter, it all comes down to who have the bigged $$$ Card in hand, you think youDon't be deceived by the free 2 play, if you want to win something or be good and not rage 24/7 then you have to p2w, thast way you rage 20/7, it's cool thinking how the cards interact and such but the RNG in this game it's complete nonsense to a point where no matter how good you or your deck are, it doesn't matter, it all comes down to who have the bigged $$$ Card in hand, you think you got a good deck now? Forget it next patch they will introduce a new and more OP deck, you want it?? OFC you do, then all you gotta do if you are a free player is just spend months playing to get all the cards, while the p2w pros are just gonna buy them and pwn, BUT there's more! Once u have all of them unlocked, they will release new cards! it's a never ending cicle, I give it a 2 for good waste of time when you are bored only arena is worth playing, and even then RNG is a god.… Expand
  78. skinnyhippo1234
    Oct 3, 2015
    2
    Easiest game in the world. The game requires nearly no thinking and hardly any skill. It's extremely difficult to be bad at this game, and if hell freezes over and pigs begin to fly and someone is terrible at this game, all they have to do is google a good deck and hope they get lucky with RNG. The RNG in this game is also crap, and making the game require less skill from the little itEasiest game in the world. The game requires nearly no thinking and hardly any skill. It's extremely difficult to be bad at this game, and if hell freezes over and pigs begin to fly and someone is terrible at this game, all they have to do is google a good deck and hope they get lucky with RNG. The RNG in this game is also crap, and making the game require less skill from the little it already needs. Honestly, you would probably have better luck playing poker than playing this game because it is 80% luck, 10 % knowledge, 5 % skill, and 5 % grinding all day. Other than the **** game mechanics and constant grind or pay to win system, the game is good for 5 mins of fun every here and there before you begin to constantly vomit, so I'll rate it as a 2.… Expand
  79. praisethesun11
    Mar 29, 2016
    2
    Extremely Pay 2 Win. Do not play Hearthstone unless you plan on investing a lot of money. I have been playing card games my entire life, but sometimes there is literally nothing you can do against stacked decks. I finally called it quits after only my 30th match. In that time I got 19 wins, 3 of which were perfects (pretty dang good if I say so myself), and 11 losses. Only 2 of the lossesExtremely Pay 2 Win. Do not play Hearthstone unless you plan on investing a lot of money. I have been playing card games my entire life, but sometimes there is literally nothing you can do against stacked decks. I finally called it quits after only my 30th match. In that time I got 19 wins, 3 of which were perfects (pretty dang good if I say so myself), and 11 losses. Only 2 of the losses were to "Standard" decks.
    Great graphics and animations for a card game. Great music. Sadly, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to play casually.    … Expand
  80. royalys
    Jun 16, 2016
    2
    Warcraft universe? Check!
    Cool Art? Check!
    Skill base on skill? Missing.

    It's just an another **** 75% luck based game.
    Have luck, have fun. Have no? Go **** yourself!
  81. Nyakuya
    Dec 31, 2016
    2
    - Las cartas están muy disparejas. Hay algunas que son extremadamente poderosas y otras que son una tremenda porquería inservible.
    - Es un PAY TO WIN. El que paga para comprar masos tiene mas cartas. La joda del juego es comprar y comprar masos con dinero real hasta que te toquen un par de cartas ROTAS (osea extremadamente poderosas), y luego las utilizas para ganarles a todos. Pay to    - Las cartas están muy disparejas. Hay algunas que son extremadamente poderosas y otras que son una tremenda porquería inservible.
    - Es un PAY TO WIN. El que paga para comprar masos tiene mas cartas. La joda del juego es comprar y comprar masos con dinero real hasta que te toquen un par de cartas ROTAS (osea extremadamente poderosas), y luego las utilizas para ganarles a todos. Pay to Win.
    - Los mazos y las jugadas son repetitivas, desde el inicio del juego han ido agregando cartas pero no han agregado nuevos tipos de jugadas, solo mas de lo mismo.
    - Tienes que ganar (literalmente) 30 partidas para poder comprar 1 mazo, el cual el 90% de las veces te da cartas malas, y solo da 5 cartas.    … Expand
  82. Caerleon
    Dec 13, 2018
    2
    Piece of misunderstanding. Every year the game gets dumber and more boring. A huge number of pseudo random. For example, when everything is bad, then you get a card that will change the situation in your direction. It is interesting to watch, but not to play. Blizzard isn't trying to make the game more interesting, they're making it more entertaining.

    Dull and monotonous gameplay. Of    Piece of misunderstanding. Every year the game gets dumber and more boring. A huge number of pseudo random. For example, when everything is bad, then you get a card that will change the situation in your direction. It is interesting to watch, but not to play. Blizzard isn't trying to make the game more interesting, they're making it more entertaining.

    Dull and monotonous gameplay. Of the party in the party you play with the same decks. There's no point in playing. You will know what cards to play your opponent and know what to expect from him. The effect of surprise disappears and the whole game is reduced to luck. After two or three weeks, meta will form. Will play three decks of the type " rock-paper-scissors." And there will be games that are impossible to win. Interesting? All this is very similar to a slot machine, where you just pull the handle and wait for good luck.

    Another disadvantage of the game - community. Toxic players will deliberately delay the move. Will spam emotions when he won at the expense of luck. You think Blizzard's doing something to them? Dude, take off your pink glasses.

    I strongly advise against playing this garbage. Don't waste your time, money and nerves. Better read the book - it will be better.    … Expand
  83. realmanpwns
    Feb 7, 2019
    2
    Where to start? This game has the potential to be one of the top games out there but it's made by a company so greedy that they overwhelmingly bias the game in favor of the rich people out there who can afford to drop 100's of dollars on card packs, If you are a free player you can expect to lose 95 percent of the games you play. Their matching system to a "worthy player" is a joke. ItWhere to start? This game has the potential to be one of the top games out there but it's made by a company so greedy that they overwhelmingly bias the game in favor of the rich people out there who can afford to drop 100's of dollars on card packs, If you are a free player you can expect to lose 95 percent of the games you play. Their matching system to a "worthy player" is a joke. It might as well say "player who's got the advantage over you" or maybe "cough up the money or get used to losing" when the little dial spins. Stay away from this game until Blizzard decides to play fair.… Expand
  84. Titotitoburg
    Apr 28, 2020
    2
    I don't usually write a review unless it's something I'm passionate about. I've been playing Hearthstone for years on and off. When it's a good game it's pretty fun, unfortunately this game is horribly balanced and exceptionally greedy. You must have the best cards to play this game properly, there are 10 classes in hearthstone, I can afford to only play one without shelling out hundredsI don't usually write a review unless it's something I'm passionate about. I've been playing Hearthstone for years on and off. When it's a good game it's pretty fun, unfortunately this game is horribly balanced and exceptionally greedy. You must have the best cards to play this game properly, there are 10 classes in hearthstone, I can afford to only play one without shelling out hundreds of dollars. I have already shelled out hundreds of dollars in purchases of this game and I am constantly disapointed with the Dev teams choices. I like to play control, I prefer there to be some sort of thought and skill put into a card game, however with their recent expansion Ashes of Outland the meta has become mindless repetitive boring and extremely aggresive. The Dev team for Hearthstone is so abhorrantly terrible at balancing their own game it's ridiculous. I suspect they do it on purpose with new expansions because they're greedy and want higher sales for the more overpowered cards before they nerf them, either way what charm this game has initially is lost because of the extremely high cost of entry and absolutely abbysmal balancing. 2/10.… Expand
  85. CarsInTheSky
    Oct 3, 2020
    2
    Game is no longer fun anymore, singleplayer content is mainly the same "play this deck we made for you" or dungeon run.

    There are too many cards to keep up with all the time, requiring regular players to keep buying the next expansion prepurchase megapacks to even have a competitive chance to play with others at the same skill level since every expansion ups the ante of stronger cards.    Game is no longer fun anymore, singleplayer content is mainly the same "play this deck we made for you" or dungeon run.

    There are too many cards to keep up with all the time, requiring regular players to keep buying the next expansion prepurchase megapacks to even have a competitive chance to play with others at the same skill level since every expansion ups the ante of stronger cards.

    Battlegrounds is even worse, considering you have to pay for a pass, each expansion, just to get 2 extra heroes to find at the start when clearly there are heroes with high winrate percentages.

    Been playing this game for 3 years and now its apparent that hearthstone is an easy cashgrab for blizzard while they only do updates when they want to instead of on the spot.

    The game has changed a lot since the start, no longer are you creating decks just for fun and trying things out, everyone is looking for the competitive advantage and will play whatever highest winrate decks appear on vicious syndicate every week.    … Expand
  86. MissIndica
    Jul 3, 2022
    2
    The only reason this gets a 2/10 is because the artwork and sound are on point for a game like this. However, everything else is just flaming Pay-to-Win garbage.

    If you're not willing to open up your wallet, you aren't going win a single game or have fun. This game will remind you every time you play that you haven't given an appropriate tithe to corporate overlords. Also the game is    The only reason this gets a 2/10 is because the artwork and sound are on point for a game like this. However, everything else is just flaming Pay-to-Win garbage.

    If you're not willing to open up your wallet, you aren't going win a single game or have fun. This game will remind you every time you play that you haven't given an appropriate tithe to corporate overlords. Also the game is horribly unbalanced. You HAVE to have certain cards for certain classes otherwise you're just going to waste your time and sanity. And how do you get those cards? Money, of course!

    Another disgusting practice is this battlepass system that replaced the old daily system. You can't do **** with it if you can't win games, thus you are back to square one of "give us money, now."

    Just save yourself the headache and pass on this. Flushing money down the toilet would be a more thrilling experience than this game.    … Expand
  87. Wlotu
    Sep 9, 2023
    2
    I have played Hearthstone since 2015. I have spent over 3000 hours in the game. I rate the game what it is now, not what it used to be.

    Pros: - relatively frequent updates of content - a little bit of Warcraft's atmosphere - brilliant tavern music - many beautiful arts Cons: - gameplay is often unbalanced - many new cards added but lack of new mechanics so the freshness of    I have played Hearthstone since 2015. I have spent over 3000 hours in the game. I rate the game what it is now, not what it used to be.

    Pros:
    - relatively frequent updates of content
    - a little bit of Warcraft's atmosphere
    - brilliant tavern music
    - many beautiful arts

    Cons:
    - gameplay is often unbalanced
    - many new cards added but lack of new mechanics so the freshness of gameplay is unsatisfying
    - relatively high entry threshold (in Standard)
    - the meta is often a “rock, paper, scissors”
    - lack of basic function as in game deck tracker, graveyard, detailed statistics/progress, one-click unhooking (open all packs button etc.)
    - lots of bugs and problems with fixing them
    - very very bad (for the players) monetisation of the game.
    - blatant pay to win in Hearthstone battlegrounds (dramatically increased chance of a good hero by purchasing a battle pass)
    - senseless esport system, very unattainable high demanding and low rewarding for players    … Expand
  88. Skulb
    Apr 26, 2014
    1
    I had to try this just to confirm what I already knew. The game is a moneygrubbing exercise, just like everything else Blizzard has been doing since it was infested by Activision. Five matches in I got pitted against people with totally OP cards, over and over and over again, and you basically have to pay to have any chance within ten-twenty minutes of competition. F2P at its absoluteI had to try this just to confirm what I already knew. The game is a moneygrubbing exercise, just like everything else Blizzard has been doing since it was infested by Activision. Five matches in I got pitted against people with totally OP cards, over and over and over again, and you basically have to pay to have any chance within ten-twenty minutes of competition. F2P at its absolute worst as expected from the slimy wreckage Blizzard has become. To slap you in the face some more, just for fun, arena play - basically the only remotely interesting part of the game - requires you to PAY BLIZZARD MONEY every time you want to try a random deck against somebody else. I can`t believe I just wrote that about a half assed game like this! Who in their right minds are paying for something that should be in the damn game for anyone since it`s a game mode? Oh why do I even bother...
    It might be possible to have fun with Hearthstone for about an hour, perhaps two, although there are of course about ten thousand games you should be playing instead. But unless you are prepared to waste your hard earned money filling the pockets of repulsive fatcats who made the game, then that`s it.
    It is reasonably enjoyable while it lasts in fairness. But naturally the few AI matches you get to do are a lot more fun than PVP, simply because they are at least balanced for F2P, and they`re not really all that great. In addition to all this, priests seem totally broken, although this was a first impression. Trust Actiblizz to botch any sense of balance though, as is their tradition.
    It looks as disgustingly generic and worn out as you would think, with a billion esoteric references to Blizzard`s grand old turkey, World of Warcraft. But it is polished enough and not directly offensive to the ears or eyes, although it is incredibly offensive intellectually and if you are looking for entertainment. But trust me when I say that you don`t want to see or hear any of it, unless you hate yourself and/or have a Blizzard fetish. All in all, another absolutely trashy game from Blizzard, which has now sunk to such lows that words fail me. I thought DIablo III was bad but this just blows it out of the water as far as unmitigated refuse and suspicious piles of matter on the sidewalk goes. Their games, and this one in particular, are now so bad you`d be better off getting a C64 emulator and downloading shoot-em- ups from the mid 80s. Avoid this gaming equivalent of syphilis at all costs!    … Expand
  89. dallaen
    Apr 17, 2014
    1
    Game is exactly as described. It is seriously Pay to Win. The matching system is horribly broken and will match you up against the kid/guy who paid a ton of cash to buy virtual cards. The classes at first seem balanced but then you realize some have specific cards that are so powerful they defy logic. Nothing about this game is even remotely fun outside maybe playing against the terrible AI.
  90. AlBag
    Sep 2, 2015
    1
    I decided to try this game because a lot of my friends were playing, but this game was extremely disappointing. A lot of the cards that are introduced in each new expansion are cards that have unreliable effects. This ends up leading to a large chunk of cards that are not very viable for competitive play and ranked play ends up being only about 4-5 commonly seen decks with very littleI decided to try this game because a lot of my friends were playing, but this game was extremely disappointing. A lot of the cards that are introduced in each new expansion are cards that have unreliable effects. This ends up leading to a large chunk of cards that are not very viable for competitive play and ranked play ends up being only about 4-5 commonly seen decks with very little variation from one deck to the next. Not only that, but it is near impossible to even build a deck that counters the more commonly seen decks because they have cards that, in junction with 2 or 3 other cards, have the capability of dealing enough damage to kill you from near full health. Ultimately, the majority of constructed deck gameplay ends up being a stall until one player gets his combination of cards that kills the other player.… Expand
  91. VendettaBB
    Apr 9, 2014
    1
    This is a pretty harsh score I would say but it is deserved because primarily it is deceptively not F2P and greatly encourages purchases as the Legendary cards are basically only acquired through the purchase of packs to either luckily pull one or get enough rares to disenchant until you may be able to craft them, and let's face it: anyone who's played past rank 13-12 will run into decksThis is a pretty harsh score I would say but it is deserved because primarily it is deceptively not F2P and greatly encourages purchases as the Legendary cards are basically only acquired through the purchase of packs to either luckily pull one or get enough rares to disenchant until you may be able to craft them, and let's face it: anyone who's played past rank 13-12 will run into decks with Legendary cards that always tip the scales. This is a big problem, but not the only one of course.

    A big issue I had is the incredible amount of repetition that I kept seeing. Everyone begins to have the exact same deck from their respective class after a certain rank, you see the same cards over and over until you run into the maniac that keeps pulling legendary cards on you, which isn't terribly fun either. The problem is that there is no variety in its play, I would say that 80% of the decks are control decks, all you will see is one form of control over the other because there really aren't that many cards to begin with and the mediocre decision to have classes with powers means everyone will build around their classes' respective power. This is a poor decision on blizzard's part and simply adding more cards with different abilities in place of this would have been a far better choice in the long-run.

    It was fun for a week but you will begin to see how incredibly limited the game is and how repetitive it does get. If you've dabbled in MTG this is a big no-no as it feels like a starter pre-school version of MTG. Don't believe a word I say? Check it out for yourself as it's free to get started but don't buy packs, you will end up regretting it    … Expand
  92. ph4nn0m
    Nov 30, 2015
    1
    This game is completly a p2w. I had playing since it lauched, at start it wasn't p2w , but it begins to introduce more and more aventures ($$$$$$$$$$$) ,more and more new booster packs......and with the low rewards its imposible to get all cards if you dont pay....
    I had more than 1500wins and 400 arena wins , i know what im talking about. If you want to start play this game, think before    This game is completly a p2w. I had playing since it lauched, at start it wasn't p2w , but it begins to introduce more and more aventures ($$$$$$$$$$$) ,more and more new booster packs......and with the low rewards its imposible to get all cards if you dont pay....
    I had more than 1500wins and 400 arena wins , i know what im talking about. If you want to start play this game, think before , that you wont be competitive if u dont pay
    Boring of this p2w . They will say to you that it isn't a p2w , ofc not if you play 24hours per day 1 year, if you play normal or casual 1-2hours per day , u wont have good cards for being competitive.    … Expand
  93. NFFNSNC
    Nov 8, 2015
    1
    This game is Pay 2 Win, unless you're willing to shell out a couple hundred or you've been playing since release you stand no chance of ever catching up or competing. Sure you can sort of compete by grinding and dusting everything in to the current OP flavor of the month deck but you'll be right back at the beginning once it's nerfed.

    PAY 2 WIN, AVOID AVOID AVOID.
  94. war_dog
    Jul 2, 2023
    1
    Scam and money grab.
    First of all, the game is fun.
    But it is very much p2w, but it does not stop there... i spend about 100€ on card packs to get the meta. And after a while, the game meta change and on top of that some of my cards that i bought gets invalidated. Now my 100€ are wasted, i can of course choose to spend another 100€ each time the meta changes, but instead i decided    Scam and money grab.
    First of all, the game is fun.

    But it is very much p2w, but it does not stop there... i spend about 100€ on card packs to get the meta. And after a while, the game meta change and on top of that some of my cards that i bought gets invalidated.

    Now my 100€ are wasted, i can of course choose to spend another 100€ each time the meta changes, but instead i decided to quit the game.    … Expand
  95. KiT2142
    May 5, 2014
    1
    Another pay to win game. You cannot normally play without buy a several card packs for real money because in some point you find yourself in the situation, where you can't make in-game gold.
    Worth trying but just for training, which more interesting then actual game
  96. FogCityRoller
    Mar 3, 2017
    1
    My original review of this game was almost 3 years ago, and I was far too nice to it but in my defense the game was in its infancy and it was a much better game than it is now. That review was pre-GvG. Ever since the release of GvG, Hearthstone has continued on a downward spiral to its current state of being a glorified slot machine mobile app. The levels of RNG added to the cards isMy original review of this game was almost 3 years ago, and I was far too nice to it but in my defense the game was in its infancy and it was a much better game than it is now. That review was pre-GvG. Ever since the release of GvG, Hearthstone has continued on a downward spiral to its current state of being a glorified slot machine mobile app. The levels of RNG added to the cards is inexcusable for any game that tries to pass itself off as being skill-based. They have completely destroyed arena, which has turned into a game of "who can get luckier while curving out" because reactionary play has been mitigated to the extreme.

    The only thing I can say about this game is that Whispers of the Old Gods was actually a really fun, innovative expansion. However that did not last, and every one since then has been a disaster. Even with sets rotating out, they leave a mark that is terrible from a business point of view.
    *GvG=permanently destroyed constructed play by making it COMPLETELY about RNG.
    *The Grand Tournament=managed to be worse than GvG and single-handedly destroyed arena...in a million years I didn't think this would have been possible.
    *Whispers=as I said, the only great one and probably forever.
    *Mean Streets=reintroduced unbelievably broken 1-drops that made constructed AND arena intolerable.

    Blizzard is one sh*t company these days, it's actually depressing because I grew up obsessed with their classics. Oh how the mighty have fallen.    … Expand
  97. Blacknsilver
    Dec 3, 2014
    1
    Do you enjoy playing the same match over and over again? Being forced to pay hundreds of dollars for the basic pieces everyone else has? Being required to copy-paste other people's decks or get curbstomped? Having a game where the worst player is only marginally worse than the best player and the only difference between the two is who the die will favor this time? If so, you'll loveDo you enjoy playing the same match over and over again? Being forced to pay hundreds of dollars for the basic pieces everyone else has? Being required to copy-paste other people's decks or get curbstomped? Having a game where the worst player is only marginally worse than the best player and the only difference between the two is who the die will favor this time? If so, you'll love Hearthstone.
    -A person who wasted over 2000 hours of his life on this pile of ****.    … Expand
  98. Nican
    Mar 18, 2014
    1
    Hearthstone is a game that you can either love or hate.
    Here are a few things you should know to help you make up your mind:
    1. Its a "pay to win" game, you must be prepared to either dish out around 80 bucks to build decent decks or spend several months playing at a serious disadvantage while building them. 2. There are some balance issues. Some classes just aren't viable in high    Hearthstone is a game that you can either love or hate.
    Here are a few things you should know to help you make up your mind:

    1. Its a "pay to win" game, you must be prepared to either dish out around 80 bucks to build decent decks or spend several months playing at a serious disadvantage while building them.

    2. There are some balance issues. Some classes just aren't viable in high ranked play. If you dont mind switching to whatever class works you will be fine. If you like sticking with your favorite class, you might have a problem. 3. Hearthstone favors "aggro" / "rush" decks, meaning if favors decks with low cost cards resulting in relatively short matches.    … Expand
  99. vovanas666
    Mar 12, 2014
    1
    Эта игра сделана разработчиками-халявщиками, привыкшими делать всякое гавно для школьников, домохозяек, весь смысл игры сводится к покупке карт или доступа к арене, никакого баланса тут в помине нет, одно разочарование.Эта игра сделана разработчиками-халявщиками, привыкшими делать всякое гавно для школьников, домохозяек, весь смысл игры сводится к покупке карт или доступа к арене, никакого баланса тут в помине нет, одно разочарование.
  100. Kcen
    Mar 20, 2014
    1
    Pay to win + horrible new player experience.....not a good combination

    When you start the game you either have to pay a lot of real money to build a deck, or accept you are going to lose every match for a long time.. neither is really fun or conductive to a new player experience. You see the way the game matches players is flawed and it sticks brand new players against people with    Pay to win + horrible new player experience.....not a good combination

    When you start the game you either have to pay a lot of real money to build a deck, or accept you are going to lose every match for a long time.. neither is really fun or conductive to a new player experience.

    You see the way the game matches players is flawed and it sticks brand new players against people with tricked out decks and a lot of rare and legendaries, new players cant counter this and just get crushed, this is of course intentional to cause said new players to go spend money to even the odds.....

    Yeah great idea... dragged down by the real money aspect, it would have worked much better as a monthly fee or pay once where you know it would be balances for fun and not for sucking money.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PC Game of 2014
7
#7 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
41
#41 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. Hardcore Gamer
    Jul 6, 2014
    90
    When Blizzard announced they were making a digital CCG, we all expected it to look and sound beautiful, and there was little doubt that it would be well-balanced, but I don’t think anyone anticipated this level of sophistication and subtle brilliance.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Jun 28, 2014
    85
    Simple rules, high production values, low system requirements and huge tactical freedom make Hearthstone one of the best card games available. And if you take into account the free-to-play model – it’s the best one. [05/2014, p.62]
  3. GameOver.gr
    Jun 7, 2014
    85
    A fine example of a great free-to-play game. Hearthstone is not only an addictive and well designed card game, but absolutely fair with gamers that do not wish to spend money on it.
    Read full review
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