Apps and Resources I Use to Make My Life in Hearthstone Easier – Part II: Guides, Meta Reports and More
by OtakuMZ - 8 years ago show comments
Disclosure: The websites and apps I recommend in this article are the ones I prefer. I do not get paid by any of the developers or companies behind these for promoting them and to my best knowledge so does neither anyone on the blizzpro team. I share my thoughts just because I am passionate for the game and I want to give something back to the community. It took me quite a while to find some of the sites I highlight and I want to make it easier for others to get to the desired information. If I missed your favorite application or resource I appreciate any comment below or a message @OtakuMZ1978.
I started yesterday with part I of this mini series. We continue today where we left off yesterday. Enjoy!
II. Card Browsers
Searchstone.io (Web)
There are multitudes of web sites that allow you to browse cards in addition to your in-game colletion manager. Formerly, when researching my next infographic, I used either the in-game card browser or either HearthPwn http://www.hearthpwn.com/ or HearthHead. Both sides also provide news around hearthstone as well as a lot of other things. After the release of Searchstone I completely switched over. For me, it is the optimal card browser. It is fast and simple – the way I like effective tools. Especially for people like me, that are not native English Speakers, but normally get their information almost exclusively from English content, the site has build in translation that facilitates search for card in a huge way.
Kevin Granger, the developer of this site, was also kind enough to do a short interview with us which you can read here.
III. Deck Lists and Guides
The same that is true for card browser applies to deck lists.
On this site you will find the most recent decks made by professional players and that were recently used in tournaments. They also got a huge collection of community tailored decks and provide weekly overviews over the actual meta decks that are “en vogue” as well as a featurette about the most interesting community decks.
In my opinion, this site – of course besides our own 😉 – is one of the best sites if you are looking for in depth deck guides that go beyond generic meta deck listings. The authors are on point and always provide something outside of the ordinary on top of the usual. They also provide creative a excellent original content not found anywhere else.
This is most likely the number one site regarding guides. Everyone can post a guide here and there are a multitude of guides available. There is a voting system in place that helps you to find the decks that are well received by the community. Overall it is a good resource but sometimes finding the difference between good and bad decks becomes difficult. They also provide guides for the latest adventures and tavern brawls as well as news coverage. Other original content is scarce.
IV. Meta Reports
Meta reports provide information what are the strongest decks in the game at the moment. They will give you a good impression what you are most likely to encounter when either playing on the ladder or when going to a tournament. You can then decide if you like to play the best decks or if you want to try and counter them on that basis.
TempoStorm.com Weekly Meta Report
This site provides the no. 1 meta report for some time now. I especially like the section that provides tech choices depending on the matchup. The information is on point and updated on a weekly basis. If you read this article, you probably know it already. If not, press the link quickly!
Priviously, before the Old Gods expansion, this site provided the “Midweek Meta Report” by our BlizzPro team member Kevin “Odinn” Hovdestad (@lackofrealism). The new installation is called “Attack the Meta” This site is also good if you are looking for decks, news and guides.
Vicious Syndicate Data Reaper Report (Weekly)
This is a newer kind of meta report which is very interesting. The data provided is collected by a program called Track-o-Bot [Link, image] which are happily invited to use and share data. Information provides includes deck archetype frequency (overall and by rank), class frequencies, win rates and power rankings. Most noteworthy is the matchup chart . A list of links to popular decks and recent variations round up the report. Well done!
ManaCrystals Standard Deck Rankings
This meta report, I only discovered recently but it looks very solid. The authors provide a more frequently updated ranking of Standard legendary decks and links to guides of a vast number of variations to each archetype based on popular players or community brews. A list of Wild decks are found too to round things up. The site provides a lot more which I still have to discover.
V. Video Content and Streaming
Most of you do know this, I am sure. Anyway, the services mentioned here are essential to learning Hearthstone. Therefore I will take the time and list them for all that lived under a rock for the most time :-D.
Watch streamers and learn the game. This is the most known (and renown) stremign service. Filter by game and language. I learned playing A LOT about hearthstone here and in my opinion this is the way to go. Also most tournaments can be watched here either via the officioal paly
You find a lot of fun stuff here Also most streamers upload highlight games or educational content. Just search for your favorite streamer or any other topic. If you missed a tournament, e.g. #HGC you will most likely find the VODs (video on demand) here.
Outro
Alright, I hope there was something for everyone. As you see, there is a vast variety of resources at your disposal outside of the actual game client which is worth checking out if you want to extend your knowledge of the game. Once more, if I missed your favorite application or resource I appreciate any comment below or a message @OtakuMZ1978.
Also, feel free to check out a recent interview / Before I end, I transcribed a short interview with Kevin Granger, the developer of Searchstone.
Good luck and have fun!
There’s also the meta snapshot at http://www.hearthscry.com. It needs more contributors before the live snapshot is really useful, but it has some interesting stats around card
performance.
Thanks for the comment! I will look into it and maybe add it to the list.