![]() ![]() ![]() It’s nice to have a playground for Warcraft lore, especially one that’s detached from the increasingly complex and elaborate main plot of World of Warcraft. (If I want Sylvanas, the Lich King, and Diablo, plus a whole bunch of packs full of random shards for a killer starter team, that’ll run me $130.) Before I even load up the game, Blizzard reminds me through the client that I could spend $50 on a bundle of random shard packs, headlined by either the Lich King or Diablo. Mercenaries has a solid loop with that sticky one-more-turn draw, but I’m wary of the monetization model just overhead. And starting the game on a clean account feels very different than doing it after dropping $50 a strong roster will smooth the path ahead very nicely. It’s a reminder that no matter how happy I am with my personal progress, there are tons of fantastic, top-tier characters I don’t own. Sometimes I’m bopping along, having a great time, and then I crack open a reward pack and the game showers me with shards for a bunch of characters I don’t own. These copious awards are actually the most annoying part of Mercenaries. No matter what I do, I get some kind of reward - a piece of treasure that buffs my current run, a new character, some random shards for characters I don’t own but might in future. Failure doesn’t apply any lasting or meaningful penalty. Each bounty requires me to pick a path littered with individual encounters - would I rather fight a band of enemy heroes for some extra experience, or mow through an easy Fighter mission? Will the branch ahead lead to a spirit healer that lets me resurrect a fallen hero, or should I choose a random boon to all Casters? Every run is short and self-contained. ![]() Once I find my feet and go through the game mode’s tutorial, I start hitting up bounties. There’s enough strategy to keep things interesting: Do I nerf an enemy’s attack power and do a little damage, or focus heals on my tank in an attempt to keep my squishy casters alive? I’m never overwhelmed or frustrated. ![]() Each ability is ranked by speed, and we make all of our decisions at once and then watch things manually play out. I choose my abilities, the enemy chooses theirs. Rokara, for instance, synergizes with other orcs, so I shelf her early on Meanwhile, Milhouse Manastorm’s arcane powers are so strong that I begin hunting down other arcane heroes like the Blink Fox so I can beat up monsters and other players alike.Ĭombat is pretty simple. I build a party of six heroes, with only three on the board at any one time.Įach hero has a set of unique abilities, so as I acquire new ones through gacha mechanics and in-game rewards, I mix and match based on who I like and who I don’t care for. They’re divided into a holy trinity, with a rock-paper-scissors logic to them: Casters, Protectors, and Fighters. The canon is entirely out the window, here, and I can go ahead and build a squad out of any collection of action figures I both like and happen to acquire. In Hearthstone’s Mercenaries mode, I am able to collect a variety of heroes from the entire span of Warcraft’s vast history. Players build up a team of mercenaries, equip them with gear and level up their abilities, then use them to brawl with a series of baddies. The game’s newest mode, Mercenaries, moves even further away from the game’s core formula in order to offer a nimble and engaging turn-based RPG. Sometimes that’s something as elaborate as single-player adventures or experimental like the eight player auto chess mode Battlegrounds. Hearthstone has slowly been branching out over the years, moving away from just supporting the standard competitive format of the card game. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |