But Battlegrounds economy left me a little concerned for the long-term strategy - as did the potential balancing nightmare that is the random hero selection at the start of each game.Īs someone who hasn’t invested time in Hearthstone in years, Battlegrounds is the first offering in a long time that’s peaked my interest. On one hand, it’s actively fun to create powerful builds, and it’s unique - something that’s nice to see in a genre that’s ballooned rapidly in less than a year. Of all the demos at BlizzCon, Battlegrounds was the one I couldn’t wrap my head around. It’s a mode less about hunting the shop for duplicates, and more about pairing cards together in the most broken way possible. With every turn, I watched my cards get stronger through passive bonuses or my own devilish plays. In my matches, I never used the same hero twice, and never had a remotely similar board. The way Hearthstone effects like Taunt or Battlecry play into the match allows for a lot of build synergy. The good news is most of those alterations are fun and interesting. It embraces the genre in a lot of key places, but spins out to something completely different in others. In that way, Hearthstone Battlegrounds seems a bit at odds with itself. The economy is simpler, but it doesn’t promote that deep, decision-based gameplay many players come to the genre for. And whether I spent it all or spent nothing the round before, I still end up with 10 gold the next round. Instead of allowing players to amass a ton of gold, players can hold a max of 10 pieces each round - starting at round seven or so. Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds economy is one of the changes I’m not sold on, however. And every unit - regardless of how good it is - costs three gold. With each new level, the shopkeeper will offer more cards or higher level cards for me to buy. But instead of upgrading the number of units I can put out at once, I can instead invest in the shopkeeper. The buying phase is similar to other auto battlers. The winner adds up their cards, and deals damage to the loser. Then it starts with the leftmost minion again, until one side has no cards left. Our units take turns attacking random enemies until each minion is gone. My cards attack left to right, as do my opponent’s. It’s certainly less interesting to watch, but the battle does play out a bit more mathematically. Instead of living pieces hopping around a board, punching each other like in Star Wars, I have cards in a straight line. In combat, my units work more logically than other auto battlers. Another let me spend one of my precious gold pieces to enrage one of my minions, giving it bonus attack power the next round. Naturally, I spent the game replacing units rather than investing in them. One character I played buffed minions in the shop if I sold a minion off my board first. This is my hero for the entire game, and their special ability could alter my playstyle completely. My match starts with me selecting a hero from a group of three. The result is the weirdest auto battler we’ve seen yet - in a good way, probably. While much of Battlegrounds has features that auto battler players have grown to love, it maintains a surprising amount of Hearthstone as well. Battlegrounds is Blizzard’s take on the auto battler genre - games like DOTA Auto Chess, Underlords, and Teamfight Tactics. During the opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2019, Blizzard announced a new mode for Hearthstone called Battlegrounds.
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