Among the blizzcon benefits there were two beta keys. One for Warcraft 3: Reforged and the other for early access to the new battleground mode in Hearthstone. Now I like free stuff so I downloaded and installed both games. I do own the original Warcraft 3 but I didn’t get on with the main game at all, in fact I got it purely to play a user-created tower defense game made from gems. However I thought the ‘reforged’ part might mean the campaign would be cool – it’s not, at least not for me. In fact I’m struggling to see where the ‘reforged’ aspect comes in because it looks basically the same. Anyway I uninstalled it because it’s really not for me.

Hearthstone battlegrounds on the other hand…

I did play Hearthstone when it first launched. I can’t remember why I quit exactly but I think it was because the games took too long, it was slow and I the whole ‘building a deck’ thing was a mystery to me. When I first reinstalled Hearthstone I ran a normal match (mostly because the game prompted me to) and it was as slow and boring as I remembered.

Hearthstone battlegrounds on the other hand…

The play is a lot faster, in fact sometimes too fast as I’m still thinking. It’s not dependant on any cards you own so you don’t get smashed because you are new and don’t have a deck, all cards come from the tavern. The intro tutorial was too easy as I won and thought I understood, my first real game when I came last proved I didn’t understand anything. I then lost again and again and fed up I quit. But that wasn’t the end of the story! BlizzardWatch did an information post about the new battleground mode and I commented with my disenchantment and got a couple of replies with advice. I figured I would give the game another shot. Verdict? It’s weirdly addictive.

I still haven’t won but I have come in the top 4 a couple of times. I still get smashed pretty much every game BUT I’m not getting smashed every single round anymore, I’m winning some rounds now. I still don’t quite understand what I’m doing wrong (aka why I’m never ever winning) but I’m not losing so badly anymore that it’s demoralising and not any fun.

Weirdly addictive. It’s fast-paced enough that I curse when I lose and instantly want to queue for another one. Each game probably takes at least 15 minutes though, but the gameplay means it doesn’t feel like that. I swear at this point I’m just wanting to obsessively queue to see if I can win just once – just once! I had hopes the last game as I was doing ok but then by the end, there’s so many cards on the board that one lost round = lost game and that’s what happened.

TLDR: Still don’t like Hearthstone (still don’t understand it) and the amount of money for card decks is obscene so no way I want to get into it. But the battlegrounds doesn’t require cards, it’s separate and that does get my thumbs up. Now if only I could just win one game!