Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free-to-play collectible card games created by Blizzard Entertainment which is played by two players.
Elemental Tetrad
- The mechanics of the game is to reduce the health points to zero with decks of 30 cards which consist of minions, spells and weapons. The minion can attack each other or the enemy’s hero. The spells cards have diversity effects, from damaging and drawing extra cards to spawn new minions. Once your hero’s health falls to zero, the game is over
- Hearthstone has impressive graphics.
- One of the features of Hearthstone that I was impressed by is their Tutorial Mode.
- It wasn’t only to introduce player to cards and mechanics of the game, it was giving the sense of progression from fighting lesser bosses all the way to Illidan. It gave me a sense of closure, before moving on to the next stage of the game.
- Hearthstone is available for Windows, Macintosh and iPad.I find that the four elements (Mechanics, Aesthetic, Story, and Technology) are working well together , it makes the game pleasant, interesting and challenging for the players.
The 5 lenses
1. The Lens of Fun
The duration of the game ranging from just a few minute or more than 20 minutes. This allow each player to play against variety of enemies. Thus, it doesn’t make a player reach a state of boredom.
There are 9 playeable heroes which user have to strategise differently and we have to choose 30 out of more than 400 cards to bring in the battlefield, this can be quiet rewarding. The competitiveness in Ranked Mode makes the game engaging to the players.
Having a new class could make the game attractive to the players. As there will be new decks of cards to collect and new abilities. Currently, Hearthstone has it’s first game’s expansion, Goblins vs Gnomes. Since then, it has increases my interest in playing the game.
2. The Lens of Surprise
During the battle, the player does not know what card will be drawn form their deck of 30 cards. The card will determine the player’s strategy.The cards in our enemy’s hand is unknown to us. While playing the game, you tend to predict what cards does your opponent has.
3. The Lens of Motivation
Players are motivated to obtain higher rank in the ranked mode. Starting from rank 20, each player needs to obtain 3 stars and they will lose one star everytime they lose a battle. The competitiveness of the game drives the player to play more.
Losing the battle sometimes demotivating the players, especially form rank 20 onwards. You can win 3 times in a row, at the same time you can lose 3 times in a row. Thus, it gave a sense of zero accomplishment to the players.
4. The Lens of Chance
There is randomness in the type of enemy you will play against. A card that will be drawn to your hand during the battle is randomise by the AI. The outcome of the game determine by the correct or incorrect order of the cards.There are different daily quest that player have to fulfil in order to obtain a gold reward.
The long –term success doesn’t fully depends on the chance. The extended knowledge of the game and one’s intelligence are the greatest factor of success.
5. The Lens of Balance
The player will be matched against the opponents who has similar skill/decks and the number of wins.This provides a good balance in the game as it prevents player to battle with a player that has better cards and abilities.Every time the player buy 1 new card pack, there is no factor affecting what cards can a player obtain. Thus, there is fairness in the game itself.
Friend’s Analysis
1.The Lens of Fun
There is a great sense of satisfaction every winning round. The competitiveness increases as there is a sense of accomplishment playing at the ranked mode.Playing against different type of players makes the player feel adventurous as the player needs to adjust their game strategy accordingly.
2.The Lens of Surprise
During the battle, the player constantly thinking of the cards that he/she will obtain. It has always been a surprise for the player every time the new card is drawn to their hand.
3.The Lens of Motivation
The number of wins in the battle encourages the player to keep on playing. The more wins you obtain, the faster you can obtain a higher rank.
4.The Lens of Chance
The cards drawn to their hand is always unpredictable. Thus, player tends to be constantly adopting different strategies to deal more damages.The opponent’s deck affected the approach that a player has.
5.The Lens of Control
The interface is simplistic. Player knows how to put their cards into the board. It is easy to navigate and it is easy to master all the controls in the game.The outcome of the game is determine by the type of cards each player put on the board. It gave sense of control of the game.
Overall game design of hearthstone is simple and easy to grasp for the first time player.
Compare and Contrast
1.The Lens of Fun
Both player find that the satisfaction of winning the battle initiated the fun in the game. The more you win the battle, the more you want to play.
Additionally, by playing multiple games with different types of opponents each time stimulate the player to find more opponents to defeat. This game requires a right strategy with the right order of cards.
2.The Lens of Surprise
As the cards are drawn randomly, both players have to srategise their battle on the spot, with respect to the cards on their hand
3.The Lens of Motivation
The competition between both players and the goal to achieve legendary ranks or even to get a higher rank for every season has make the game attractive for both players.
4.The Lens of Chance
It is random thus it is difficult to predict what is the next movement. Both player experience similar feeling, excitement when the right card is drawn and frustration otherwise.
5.The Lens of Balance Vs Control
The randomness in the game makes the game fair to everyone. The new card pack bought by every player differ in the rarity of the cards.
Additionally, the first time player find it easy to play the game as there is a concise tutorial that have been provided. In this case, the elemental tetrad of the game is well balance and it has increase the pleasure and excitement of the game.
In conclusion, despite playing the same game, different player experience different feeling and emotions. It is interesting to see how a game can affect individual differently.