So yeah, one nice thing this week after having to quit a job with Amazon.com over my old back injury... I got a beta invite for Blizzard's next soul consuming monster, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

However, I have some good news. The game is godsdamned awesome. :D

There are nine decks to get, one based on each of the original classes of World of Warcraft. As for why Monk and Death Knight aren't present... good question, but it is still a beta so maybe they'll be unlockable. Each deck is also represented by a major figure from WoW lore, who acts as your avatar while you use that deck.

The decks you get are...

Jaina Proudmoore, the Mage. Jaina is the archmage of the city of Dalaran, currently floating over Northrend. Her deck has a basic setup of creature cards you can summon as well as spells like Fireball, Arcane Missiles, and so on. Also, all heroes in the game get a 'hero ability' that they can cast once a turn. Jaina's is Fireblast, which does one damage to any creature or player for two mana. Not much, but useful for clearing out trash or injured monsters.

Thats the starting one anyways, to unlock the rest you have to beat those decks in a battle. The other nine are...

- Garrosh Hellscream, the Warrior. Garrosh is the current warchief of the horde (at least until the end of Mists of Pandaria and holy shit am I looking forward to smacking him upside the head in both games), a bloodthirsty warrior who wields a giant battleaxe called Gorehowl.

- Thrall, the Shaman. Former warchief turned shaman, Thrall helped to heal the rift between worlds in the events of the Cataclysm and was there to deal the final blow against Deathwing the Destroyer.

- Vallera Sanguinar, the Rogue. Honestly, I dunno who the heck that is. Never run across them before... They look like a blood elf though and I mostly play Alliance these days so that's probably why I haven't seen 'em.

- Uther Lightbringer, the Paladin. Uther was the leader of the Silver Hand, an order of holy knights made up of humans and dwarves. In WoW lore he's long dead, having been murdered by Arthas Menethil before he went on to become the Lich King.

- Rexxar, the Hunter. Rexxar hasn't done much since the Burning Crusade, but he is a Mokk'Nathal, a half-ogre who helped Thrall build the city of Orgrimmar.

- Malfurion Stormrage, the Druid. Malfurion is the leader of the Night Elves, alongside his wife the priestess Tyrande. He's also partially animal these days (antlers, feathers on his arms, paws instead of feet) so yeah... he'd fit right in here on FA. :D

- Gul'Dan, the Warlock. Like Uther, Gul'Dan is no more in the actual storyline. He died during the ending days of the first war between the orcs and humans, chasing after the Tomb of Sargeras. He was one of the first orcs to become a warlock alongside his former mentor, Ner'Zul.

- Anduin Wrynn, the Priest. A character I'm rather fond of, he's the son of Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind city and crown prince. He's also been studying the light with the Draenai and their leader, Prophet Velen, so he's actually pretty strong in his own right.

Also, your decks level up. Apparently when I level Jania's deck I get a new spell... dunno if it's a card or a hero power or what, but I'll find out soon enough.

Battles are simple enough, you flip a coin to see who goes first and get three cards if you go first, four if you don't. Each round you get mana, your mana cap starting at one and rising by one each turn until you get to ten. You use mana to summon creatures, cast spells, and use hero powers.

There are three types of cards I've found so far:

Creatures: These are basically your minions, legbreakers, guards, slavering beasts, and goblins with unstable rocket packs. The stronger they are the more they cost to summon, and some come with useful abilities such as...
- Charge: Normally when you summon a creature it has to wait a turn to attack. Creatures with charge ignore this and can attack immediately.
- Battlecry: When you summon them they do something immediately. Summon more monsters, deal damage, heal you, etc.
- Enhance allies: Other cards you control get a bonus to their abilities. It can be specific (Grimscale Murloc gives +1 attack, but only to other murlocs) or for anything (Raid Leader gives +1 to all other creatures you control).
- Taunt: Enemies are forced to attack this creature before they attack any others (or you). It's worth mentioning that you can ignore your opponent's creatures and go straight for their throats... but if you're not careful they can whip up an army very quickly and overwhelm you.

Spells: Spell cards are one time things that cause damage, give you cards, and other effects. A couple examples from Jaina's spellbook:
- Arcane Missiles: Shoot three missiles for one damage each (targets chosen at random)
- Polymorph: Transform an enemy creature into a 1/1 sheep creature. (Great for taking out enemies with Taunt).
- Arcane Intellect: Draw 2 cards.

Equipment: Equipment cards allow your hero to attack directly, but have durability. They lose one each time you attack with them and when they run out the weapon breaks and is discarded. I don't have any yet but the last tutorial mission was against Illidan Stormrage who had his warglaves on him... that was one hell of a fight. ._.;


Lastly, the part I'm sure everyone interested in this game is wondering. How much do cards cost?

Yeah yeah, its a free to play game so we all know that 'freemium' is going to come in somewhere. After all Blizzard is a business and they need to turn a profit. Well, good news. You can buy single booster packs with gold (which you earn in game), but any more than that costs actual money... two boosters cost you about $2.99, seven packs will run you about ten bucks, you can get fifteen for twenty, and so on.

There's more too, quests you can do, unlocking and leveling up heroes, and so on... but I'm still new to the game so I don't know much more than what I've posted here. All in all I'm definitely hooked and looking forward to what else Blizz will come up with for this one.