Blizzard Entertainment’s foray into digital collectible-card games seems to be off to a good start. The Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft beta is currently underway, and already it’s consistently one of the most-watched game on popular live-streaming network Twitch.
Like all CCGs Hearthstone features in-game purchases where players can nab booster packs full of random cards. Similar to GamesBeat’s experiment with the random multiplayer packs in Mass Effect 3, we wanted to see what happened when we bought the biggest bundle of booster packs on offer ($50 for 40 packs). Would it be worth it?
Each booster pack comes with five cards, with at least one guaranteed to be of Rare quality or higher. There are also Golden, Epic, and Legendary cards to be found. In the gallery below, you can see the contents of all 40 of our packs:
For the full effect, you can also check out the video of the whole thing below, complete with the Dwarven announcer’s excitable “Epic” and “LEGENDARY!” shouts whenever said cards are uncovered.
Overall, $50 got us a nice collection of expert cards to start building our collection, but since they are spread across, and exclusive to, several different World of Warcraft classes (for instance, Mages can’t use Paladin cards and vice versa), it’s entirely possible to go through 40 packs and not have anything you wanted for your preferred character.
That’s where disenchanting comes into play. Any unwanted cards or extras (you can only have two of each, normally) can be disenchanted for arcane dust, which is then used to purchase others in the game. Of course, you sell cards for less than you buy them, but this gives you a bit of flexibility in adding specific ones that you didn’t get from the boosters.
Don’t get too attached to the cards you unlock during the closed beta. Blizzard is planning to wipe all accounts before the game launches publicly, but anyone who paid real money in-game will be credited with the corresponding amount of gold. Beta testers who make in-game purchases will also receive unique golden cards as a reward for “helping Blizzard test out the store.”
If you’re in the beta, let us know what you think in the comments below. What kind of luck have you had in your booster packs so far, and what custom decks are you using?