Introduction
Starting a new game is going to come with some ups and downs throughout the persons new player experience. Hearthstone is a game that can be played to the highest rank without spending any money but requires a large dedication of time and patience. Seeing what the new player experience from a perspective of someone who has never played a card game like Hearthstone should present valuable information going forward.
Who Started Playing
The new player is my girlfriend Rachel, who started playing the game in April 2016. Rachel played for a couple weeks without spending any money on the game and shared her thoughts about the experience which included many questions and recommendations for Blizzard going forward. As mentioned before, Rachel has never played any card games like Hearthstone nor has she played any games made by Blizzard so she is an unbiased voice. Rachel has been an avid gamer throughout her life with some of her games coming from the Sims franchise, Left 4 Dead and steam purchases.
The Tutorial and First Impression
The tutorial that Hearthstone takes a new player through pits them in matches against various figures from Warcraft lore. The game gives you hints about what cards should be played and other moves that need to be executed, but Rachel suggests having a brief overview of card types and rules could make a new player more comfortable. The tutorial locks the new player into using the Mage class throughout all the matches. The tutorial has to be completed for each new account before the features of the game unlock.
Choosing a Class and Playing
Once the tutorial has been completed, the new player is able to access all the modes available in the game. The major problem with this is that so far the new player has only played the Mage class and has no knowledge about how the other classes play. A new player such as Rachel who had no earlier TCG experience essentially has to start from scratch every time she would play a new class. Obviously Hearthstone gives the player a nudge toward the Mage class because of the tutorial, but what if they wanted to play something other than Mage? On the flip side of that argument, having every class unlocked with their class cards could be quite overwhelming to a new player that has no decks or knowledge of the cards.
The solution to this problem was addressed by putting class cards behind a barrier that makes you play every each hero. The strategy the developers took is an effective way to learn all the classes while unlocking new cards. Rachel took this approach and unlocked all the class cards while leveling all heroes to ten.
With the basic strategy and tips learned from the tutorial, Rachel started playing casual mode with a basic Mage deck.
Here are some observations from Rachel’s early games:
- Creatures without Charge are unable to attack the turn that they are played. A creature like Wolfrider
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is able to attack the turn it is summoned because it has charge. - The attack stat is the left most number in the bottom right of the card and the defense is the right number. The mana cost is the number on the upper left of a card.
- Another keyword, Windfury, allows a minion to attack twice in a turn. Thrallmar Farseer
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is an example of a creature with Windfury. - Taunt is a creature that has to be destroyed before being able to attack the opponents hero unless the Taunt creature is under the effects of Stealth. Ironfur Grizzly
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was a common Taunt creature that played in early games by Rachel. - The end turn button and its two different meanings. When the button is green, it means that there is nothing the player can still do in a turn. When the button is yellow, there are still moves that the player can make. The end turn button is something that a new player might not recognize or understand right away because it is not common knowledge.
What is a Mulligan?
Mulligan is a term used in card games and golf that essentially lets the player have a second chance at drawing their opening hand. Using a Mulligan in golf is essentially the same as it awards the player and extra stroke that is not counted on a scorecard. In Hearthstone, each player is allowed to select any number of cards in their opening hand, put them back in the deck and then draw that many cards. The player has the option to keep their original hand and forego any changes. There is only one Mulligan allowed each game so there is a lot of strategy that goes into picking which cards to keep or redraw.
The Coin
The Coin is also a card that is confusing to newer players because the game does not go into detail about the different ways it can be used. The player going second in a game is given the The Coin
and an extra card. The Coin card is meant to make up for going second so there is not a huge disadvantage. Other forms of balance were tested by Blizzard during development, such as the second player starting with 35 health or getting a 1/1 zero mana creature in their starting hand. Cards like Cutpurse
and Tomb Pillager
award Coin cards as part of their effects.
Going Face or Trading
A decision that plagues even the most experienced of players, choosing whether or not to go face is a complicated question that changes depending on the scenario. Even the most hardcore face decks like Face Hunter still had to make consider clearing opponents minions before going face in some situations.
As a new player, Rachel did not always know whether to go face with creatures or to clear her opponents board. Hearthstone does not go into detail in the tutorials about the trading or face scenario so it is especially difficult for new players to know what to do. Through playing a lot of games, Rachel was able to pick up on what to do in certain situations, like not letting a Knife Juggler
stay on the field long enough to make a substantial impact. Other times there are situations where you want to go face to put pressure on your opponent. Aggro Shaman is an example of a deck that can split going face and trading in the beginning to set up a finishing turn with Rockbiter Weapon
and Doomhammer
.
With all of that in mind, there are obvious situations where going face is not an option, such as if the opponent has a unstealthed Taunt minion in play. There are plenty of guides out there that go into greater detail about trading and going face, but this is mainly just a brief overview of what a player can expect when just starting out in the game.
Counting for Lethal
To go along with deciding whether to go face or trading minions into your opponents creatures, making sure to always count for lethal will make that situation more clear. One of the first things I told Rachel to do when playing the game is to count the damage that she had on the board each turn. Once the later turns are reached, checking each turn to see if you have lethal will help prevent situations where you miss it and lose a chance at the win. The more practice at counting lethal you do, the better change that you will be able to identify trickier lethal setups that you would not see as a new player.
Where Rachel Ended Up
After playing casual mode for a while and building up her collection by completing quests and buying packs, Rachel ventured into ranked mode. Modifying the basic Mage deck made Rachel competitive in the early ranks. The card packs that Rachel opened helped her accumulate a hefty amount of Paladin cards, which allowed her to make an aggressive deck similar to Warlock Zoo. The quick pace of the Paladin deck made the quick games even faster and Rachel eventually ended up at rank 18. She scored her very first card back because she made it past rank 20 in ranked mode.
Suggestions for Blizzard
After playing abundantly for a few weeks, Rachel came up with some ideas that could make the new player experience more enticing and fun.
- Creating a rank from 26-30 comprised solely of newer players that face off against each other. Having the extra ranks would also prevent seasoned players from dropping their ranks to farm for the 500 ranked wins and would keep the new players completely separate.
- Creating a quest that would have a free arena ticket as the reward. The idea for this reward has come of many times before and hopefully Blizzard will make this a reality one day. Arena is a great way for new players to play new classes and use cards they might not own.
- Blizzard has done a great job with giving away free content in the last couple of releases, but giving out more free content is always a surefire way to get people to come back to the game. The Curse of Naxxramas adventure provided the first wing to all players for free which allowed all players access to some powerful cards like Haunted Creeper
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and Nerubian Egg![]()
. There was a prologue in the new One Night in Karazhan that was free and rewarded players with a couple new cards, and Whispers of the Old Gods came with C'Thun![]()
and opportunities to get 13 free packs. Hopefully this trend of free content will continue as Blizzard rolls out new releases. - Continue with the promotions that earn players the free hero portraits. The Lady Liadrin portrait is easily attainable for players that get to level 20 in World of Warcraft which is free with a starter account. The Morgl the Oracle hero portrait is a way to get new players to play Hearthstone and level up their accounts. Both hero portraits are free and do not need a lot of time to acquire.
- Along with funny descriptions for each card, a small snippet about where the creatures are found in World of Warcraft (if applicable) would be cool to learn about. A large number of creatures from Hearthstone have rich lore in World of Warcraft, such as the story of Sylvanas Windrunner
![]()
.
Funny Observations
Rachel pointed out some things in the game that made her laugh so I thought I would share them as this article comes to a close.
- The dwarvish voices from cards like Stormpike Commando
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and Ironforge Rifleman![]()
. - The interactive game boards are a great way to keep the player paying attention to the game and not alt-tabbing to a different page or application.
- “Do they want Taz’Dingo (Sen'jin Shieldmasta
![]()
) to die first because he is so ugly?” - Rachel watched some streams and decided her favorite streamer is Reynad. Endless laughter comes from his computerized donation compilations.
Closing Thoughts
After the few weeks of intense playing, Rachel took a break from Hearthstone for a while and then returned when Whispers of the Old Gods came out. During that time Rachel said that she did not miss the game but knew she would play again sometime. The games are short enough that when Rachel has free time it is the perfect thing to play. The potentially short games are a great appeal to gamers that do not have a lot of time on their hands.
The game is also most accessible to new players with the Standard mode because it restricts the cards that can be played due to sets being rotated out. Fewer cards available is helpful for new players because it allows them to catch up to more veteran players quicker than having to complete a whole collection to be competitive in Wild mode.
New players looking to get into Hearthstone would benefit from starting now as there will be a content drought once One Night in Karazhan is fully released. The next card expansion most likely will be revealed at Blizzcon in November, with a release date sometime after the convention. The release date being a few months away would give new players to build up a gold stash and card collection while learning the meta when it settles soon.
I hope this guide has been a help to those that are new players to the game and looking to get better. While I do not go into great detail on some things, I thought a brief overview of different mechanics and rules would benefit those that are not ready to get fully invested into the game. The fun factor of learning from a new player like Rachel and following her journey is nice to get perspective of what you can expect early on in your Hearthstone career.
Thank you for reading and feel free to leave comments and tell me what you thought of the article. Happy Hearthstone to you all!
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