#23 - The Angry Chicken: “And… We’re LIVE!”

• Garrett • Dills • Jocelyn

Sponsors:

• Doghouse Systems.com

The Angry Chicken is proudly sponsored by Doghouse Systems.com.  If you use the code TAC at checkout, you will get double memory on your next Doghouse System.

Intro:  Welcome to The Angry Chicken!

Thanks to everyone for continuing to support us on Patreon. Go to Patreon.com/TAC.

News

Hearthstone is Live!!!!

Dills calls it....again... and Hearthstone is now out of beta and 100% live. The final patch hit us during maintenance and included the changes to Tinkmaster and Nat Pagle, as well as many bug fixes (buh-bye, dancing minions), new animations for several cards, and achievements.

Several new bugs popped up, but many were fixed quickly later in the week. The disenchant grace period for the changed cards will last until March 25th.

List of achievements:

• http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-discussion/1088-list-of-achievements-and-daily-quests-in

Hearthstone launch announcement:

• http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/13154923/welcome-to-the-hearthstone-launch-3-11-2014

Patch notes:

• http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/13154924/hearthstone-patch-notes-1004944-all-that-glitters-3-11-2014

Side Note: TAC listener Anthony made Reddit front page with bonus star listing! http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/205klj/good_news_everyone_bonus_star_table/

Hearthstone Day Q&A

Friday was Hearthstone Day at Blizzard, and Team 5 was out in full force for a Q&A covering some very exciting topics (unedited from Hearthpwn because it's ALL GOOD.)

Non PC/Mac Releases

• The iPad client is very close to launching, most likely within the next few weeks.
• Phone versions of the game are in very early stages. Release targeted for the second half of this year for phones.
• Your account will be the same across all devices. Same collection, same friends, same wins and losses, same arena run.

Competitive Scene

• We will see spectator mode "relatively quick", but they do not have a set time. The community really wants to see this, so the developers want to make it happen.
• There are some discussions about tournament structures, but everything is still in the early stages.

Game Systems

• The design decision behind which Heroes get added to the game is first by looking for the most iconic characters, and then figuring out which class they can represent. Tyrande could fit Hunter and Priest.
• The decision to change secrets in the latest patch to only trigger on your opponents turn was to let the developers create more fun secrets without having to worry about players triggering their own secrets. It was not done to solve any current balance issues.
• The new card backs for ranked seasons are earned by getting to rank 20. Getting to rank 20 isn't very hard since you can't downrank at the early levels, which keeps them open to everyone provided they play. The card backs are animated!
• There will be additional methods to obtaining card backs outside of ranked play. These will be rolled out within the next month or two.
• Adventure mode will contain bosses which when defeated will give you new cards. Details are still being worked on.

Mechanics that didn't make the cut

• Discard mechanics never made the cut because they give people a negative feeling.
• Critical Strike - When you attack a minion, it has a chance of doing double damage. The team felt they were pushing the RNG too far with it.
• There was a card which would deal 1 damage to you if you hovered over it with your mouse. Ben Brode has been attributed to its creation.
• There was an idea floating around for a card which would flip the gameboard.

Links

• http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/386-top-5-plays-of-the-week-hearthstone-day-dev-q-a
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7WuRAqWAbw

Strategy

Tempo, WTF is it and how old is this?

In music Tempo means the pace, the speed, the BPM, etc.  Fast or slow or medium.  Using words like Adagio, Andante or Allegro.  

In card games:

Tempo is a term used in Magic: The Gathering to indicate the advantage gained when a player is able to play more or stronger cards in a shorter period of time due to efficient resource allocation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_(Magic:_The_Gathering)

Part of the trinity of resources, Tempo, card advantage and life total.

What does this mean in Hearthstone?

Boiled down it means being the guy who is being reacted to.  Using all of your mana to pose questions instead of reacting to them.  Each turn ends with you having creatures on the board and the opposite board empty? You have tempo.  

Aggro decks like the Zoo, Warrior aggro & Rogue aggro thrive on tempo often at the expense of card advantage.

Control decks often don’t gain tempo until later in the game after spending their life for card advantage and then using removal efficiently to exhaust the other decks early advantage.  

Crazy Game Stories

Title

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Emails

sh00t4par

Hi TAC,

I just wanted to write in about the latest meta and how it's just not as much fun as it was. It seems everyone is running the same decks and there are only so many cards. I find it to be a roller coaster ride on the ranked ladders and very dependent on how lucky you are with getting the right cards at the right time. I have been as high as 10 but in the same day have dipped to 20 riding hot and cold streaks.

I just wanted to know if you are having the same experience and like me can't wait for new cards and new decks. Love the show keep up the good work.

Mike

Hi TAC crew,

What do each of you feel is a good mana cost balance for a deck? As in do you have no more than X cards above Y costs?

Do you have any other deck building guidelines you go by?

Erik

Hello,

  I got into the habit of purchasing card packs instead of renewing my wow sub and this past week I received 2 legendaries! However , they were both Hogger, which I already own. Part of me wants to craft Cairne which I can use in multiple decks. But ! The other part of me wants to craft Jaraxus because it is an awesome card!!

  My question is how do you decide between a crafting a card for fun or for competitive use ? I mean I honestly don't play a warlock but that card is just so cool looking.

Love the show !

Outro

Patreon Thanks

TAC is supported by our epic Patrons. You can become a TAC Patron by going to Patreon.com/tac.

• Christian K
• Jamey C
• Brian D
• Robert G
• Shawn P

iTunes Thanks

• Canada - Lokiodin1 - “Great show, love the back and forth. Perfect balance between news and humour. Keep up the amazing work. Especially Jocelyn, a fellow Canuck”
• Trawgy
• T3ch23
• bushwilliams
• Dabunster

The Angry Chicken is a production of Amove.tv and the Frogpants Studios. You can see more about this and all the other A-move shows at Amove.tv. And make sure to check out all the other fine show over at Frogpants.com as well! You can also email the show at TACpodcast@gmail.com or continue the conversation over at forum.Amove.tv.

Catch the live show Monday nights at 10pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/Amovetv. Mobile live stream provided by Alpha Geek Radio. Go to mobile.alphageekradio.com.

Follow the show on Twitter @TACpodcast

Follow Garrett on @GarrettArt

Follow Dills @WillieDills

Follow Jocelyn @GISgamer

Thanks to Brian Griffith, the musician responsible for our intro music. He can be found at briangriffithmusic.com or @briangriffith on twitter.

NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.

Dill’s where else can everyone find you?

The Instance - The World of Warcraft podcast so you don’t have to

TortureCast - A podcast by and for fans of the San Francisco Giants

MGA MedioCast - A podcast about the Mediocre Golf Association

And Joce where can you be found?

The Gamers’ Inn

Don’t forget to check out our sponsors:

Doghouse Systems.com

Our code, TAC, will get you double-memory on your next Doghouse gaming rig.