Goblins vs Gnomes, the expansion for Hearthstone has gone live today. It was announced on Twitter that as part of the opening day festivities that all users could log in to claim three free packs to get you started.

[Americas] Goblins vs Gnomes is now LIVE! Log in & get your 3 free packs! http://t.co/2oC7yL8n5p #GvG pic.twitter.com/cUXpYfzv1A

— BlizzardCS (@BlizzardCS) December 8, 2014

Of course, this was also met with server overload, which I thought was only an issue with MMOs. Apparently not.

We’re looking into BNet login issues, folks. This is impacting all games at this time. Thank you for the reports. — BlizzardCS (@BlizzardCS) December 8, 2014

I had something snarky to say as well:

@mevsmyselfandi I noticed that too, it’s hilarious and sad at the same time.

— Void (@grnmushroom) December 9, 2014

Snark aside, it really is sad that all of these developers can’t seem to anticipate the amount of people who play their games anymore. I remember when games launched and things were smooth (particularly when they weren’t MMOs). Even some MMO launches were smoother than the expansions and games we’ve seen have issues this year. DDoS attacks aside, it seems like devs aren’t using their money to properly set these network systems up. But what do I know?

Of course, this also means that the packs are on sale in the in-game store as well as being live in the Arena, where you can use all of the cards. This was part of the promotion leading up to the release, along with a free Arena ticket to check them out. When I did so, I didn’t do well, going 1-3 with a Hunter. I did see some of the new cards, but didn’t get many that were much good. Plus, not knowing all that you will go up against is a major disadvantage. I’d wait for more Arena runs til you knew more about the whole of the card set. But that’s me.

I had no trouble logging in, but that was a while after the above stuff was mentioned on Twitter. Of course, I was met with the 3 free packs, as promised:

Opening my packs, I saw some that I can use, and some I probably won’t touch. Here’s what I got out of the freebie packs:

With these initial offerings, I instantly saw use with the Healbot, and that found a place in my Zoo deck. Having that large of a heal is indispensable. I can see it fitting in other decks that lack heals as well. Otherwise, I’m seeing the weapons for hunter I might use, along with some pirate themed cards that make me want to re-make my Rogue Pirate deck. The big 7/4 pirate and the cannons look to fit in well with the other pirate cards from previous sets, and the Rogue class card is also decent. Don’t really car about the other class cards as I don’t really play those classes.

I had some gold on my account already, and a few dailies racked up, so I cleared those out and had enough to buy 5 more packs. Here’s the result of that:

A couple of better offerings in these packs, namely the Paladin epic weapon that isn’t half bad, a couple of decent Paladin cards, another healbot and Pirate, and a couple of Warlock class cards. I don’t see enough here to really modify my Hunter much or my Warlock, but the Paladin and Rogue decks I have might be more viable with some of the extra cards from these packs. Basically, it’s pretty meh for right now, but over time I may come to build up enough of the new cards to find some new deck comps. I do have quite a bit of dust on my account too, so I might use that to get others I might want.

Overall I can see where this set will add some new dynamics to the game, but I agree with some of the naysayers like SynCaine that the random effects on these cards makes for less skill and more luck in matches. We’ll see how bad that gets as time goes on.

#hearthstone #goblinsvsgnomes #expansion