After doing the starter games with Jaina, he was at new player rank 40 and being put against players who had clearly been through a few games - they had several cards from expansions and a couple of (bad) legendaries in their decks.
So, to avoid him getting too frustrated I took the Ipad off him and set him doing Illidan's missions, then assembled a basic Demon Hunter deck using all of the free cards, expecting that this would be good enough to get through the new player ranks.
After a couple of games so still at new player rank 40-39. we started being paired against players with complete standard decks - Evolve Shaman, Aggro Demon Hunter, Soul Demon Hunter. WTF. Bear in mind that apart from demon hunter and opening a couple of packs, the account has pretty much zero collection - i.e. not even unlocked basic cards on the non-DH classes.
Has anyone else tried messing with new accounts recently? Have I "ruined" the account by unlocking Illidan and consigned it to playing fully fledged players even though it's still on the starter ranks?
u haven't ruined anything, that's the regular experience a new player gets regardless of unlocking illidan or not. i tried to do an alt account some months back just to get the gala rogue free deck (f2p here, wanted to have fun by rng'ing the sh1t out of my games back in AoO) and didn't unlock DH at all, wanted to play rogue and lvl it up all the way (the free deck u get after ranking up the newbies ranks). gave up around lvl 20 or so cuz of the terrible grind and matchmaking (i was getting paired with full meta decks more often than with newbie decks). at 1 point i unlocked DH cuz it's starter's package is way better than anything else in the classic/basic set but in the end the meta decks and that looong a$$ grind was to much for me and i gave up.
so in short, the new player experience is horrific at best for this game...
If the overwhelming volume of available games is really against players with complete decks, then something has to change. I'd even advocate them running bots to soak up games against inexperienced/bad players at the bottom of ladder or on the starter ranks.
I have a hunch that the real situation isn't actually as bleak, and that they're doing something (whether winrate, IP checking, behavior checking) to identify experienced players starting or handholding new accounts and then treating them as fully fledged players, no matter how minimal the collection on the account.
If the overwhelming volume of available games is really against players with complete decks, then something has to change. I'd even advocate them running bots to soak up games against inexperienced/bad players at the bottom of ladder or on the starter ranks.
I have a hunch that the real situation isn't actually as bleak, and that they're doing something (whether winrate, IP checking, behavior checking) to identify experienced players starting or handholding new accounts and then treating them as fully fledged players, no matter how minimal the collection on the account.
dude, instead of telling us ur hunches, wouldnt it be better if u'd share ur own experience with us? it takes nothing but time and the will to do it to test the new player experience for yourself...but no, u're just gonna serve us ur hunch like some truth that u already know cuz of ur infallible gut..
anyways, we all know this game is unfriendly (to say the least lol) with new players...
How long did the matchmaker need to find an opponent each time?
One possible explanation would be that there are not enough new players to match up against, so the opponent pool keeps getting expanded until eventually you get matched up against regular rank 25 players.
It is sad to hear this. My new player experience didnt start to stink until i got to lvl 18 or so. Meaning i got to play the game for a long time before i started feeling outmatched by better decks/collections.
New player will just quit playing if it is as you claim. Getting your ass handed to you by a net deck full of legendaries isnt any fun when you are running basic cards.
I played alot of arena when i was a new player, You can basicly go infinite there if you are good so its the best to build a collection of Cards. I never spend any real money on this game and can craft any card i want now.
It's a bit of a grind that's for sure but I did the full new player experience on an alt server and it took a while but other than demon hunter decks I didn't encounter a crazy amount of full decks.
It's probably a fairly good thing that a 5 year old can't waltz through the entire thing with zero collection in all fairness.
You've played the game so you understand the whole rank system and you see the newbie ranks as a simple inconvenience to get to the 'real' game. When I was a new player I had zero concept of the ranks, legend etc and probably stunk around the low levels for longer than I care to believe. It didn't matter though, I was a new player and wasn't on a race to legend so the experience wasn't the same.
Clearly, as existing players, that will be a tedious time. As I said, you know better. But plenty of new players will just be treating that as the game, for a time at least, so I don't think it necessarily feels as bad as it does for those of us going through our second time.
You absolutely can play out of that in a few days with purely free cards. It's a drag but it certainly isn't difficult.
Why get your son hooked on a crack game is the more important question. Is he suicidal.
Solution to problem: Increase your son's allowance so he can buy decent cards you cheap ass. And save some money in a fund cus he's gonna need therapy to wean him of an addictive game. I think stupid runs in the family so this might be perfect for you both.
If your the son reading this then strangle your father with the tablet when hes sleeping.
Go back to LoL you toxic POS. We don't want you in Hearthstone.
I had another account, in which I last played HS years ago. I relogged to get a free deck, when blizzard first announced they will be giving free decks to new players and long time returning players. After I log in, I realized I had to go through 50 beginner ranks to get the said free deck. after 1 or 2 games, same thing happened, it was like playing on high ladder ranks, full of meta decks, and only thing I had was 2-3 packs + basic set (not even all cards since you have to unlock them by levelling). Then I gave up after playing about 10 games. no matter if you cant lose stars or not, it is super unfair and ultra boring to try to win against meta decks as a new player.
This makes HS doomed to die, when the current playerbase gets bored. No new players allowed. No way. Only thing that can be done is starting as a whale and spending much money, which is not logical since it is an old game and the fact that crazy amount of money is required to carry a new player into the game.
Created a new account for my 5yo son yesterday.
After doing the starter games with Jaina, he was at new player rank 40 and being put against players who had clearly been through a few games - they had several cards from expansions and a couple of (bad) legendaries in their decks.
So, to avoid him getting too frustrated I took the Ipad off him and set him doing Illidan's missions, then assembled a basic Demon Hunter deck using all of the free cards, expecting that this would be good enough to get through the new player ranks.
After a couple of games so still at new player rank 40-39. we started being paired against players with complete standard decks - Evolve Shaman, Aggro Demon Hunter, Soul Demon Hunter. WTF. Bear in mind that apart from demon hunter and opening a couple of packs, the account has pretty much zero collection - i.e. not even unlocked basic cards on the non-DH classes.
Has anyone else tried messing with new accounts recently? Have I "ruined" the account by unlocking Illidan and consigned it to playing fully fledged players even though it's still on the starter ranks?
u haven't ruined anything, that's the regular experience a new player gets regardless of unlocking illidan or not. i tried to do an alt account some months back just to get the gala rogue free deck (f2p here, wanted to have fun by rng'ing the sh1t out of my games back in AoO) and didn't unlock DH at all, wanted to play rogue and lvl it up all the way (the free deck u get after ranking up the newbies ranks). gave up around lvl 20 or so cuz of the terrible grind and matchmaking (i was getting paired with full meta decks more often than with newbie decks). at 1 point i unlocked DH cuz it's starter's package is way better than anything else in the classic/basic set but in the end the meta decks and that looong a$$ grind was to much for me and i gave up.
so in short, the new player experience is horrific at best for this game...
New player experience? Not even who plays for years can stay behind the game.. Just try others games.
If the overwhelming volume of available games is really against players with complete decks, then something has to change. I'd even advocate them running bots to soak up games against inexperienced/bad players at the bottom of ladder or on the starter ranks.
I have a hunch that the real situation isn't actually as bleak, and that they're doing something (whether winrate, IP checking, behavior checking) to identify experienced players starting or handholding new accounts and then treating them as fully fledged players, no matter how minimal the collection on the account.
dude, instead of telling us ur hunches, wouldnt it be better if u'd share ur own experience with us? it takes nothing but time and the will to do it to test the new player experience for yourself...but no, u're just gonna serve us ur hunch like some truth that u already know cuz of ur infallible gut..
anyways, we all know this game is unfriendly (to say the least lol) with new players...
How long did the matchmaker need to find an opponent each time?
One possible explanation would be that there are not enough new players to match up against, so the opponent pool keeps getting expanded until eventually you get matched up against regular rank 25 players.
It is sad to hear this. My new player experience didnt start to stink until i got to lvl 18 or so. Meaning i got to play the game for a long time before i started feeling outmatched by better decks/collections.
New player will just quit playing if it is as you claim. Getting your ass handed to you by a net deck full of legendaries isnt any fun when you are running basic cards.
Galavant Animation
I played alot of arena when i was a new player, You can basicly go infinite there if you are good so its the best to build a collection of Cards. I never spend any real money on this game and can craft any card i want now.
It's a bit of a grind that's for sure but I did the full new player experience on an alt server and it took a while but other than demon hunter decks I didn't encounter a crazy amount of full decks.
It's probably a fairly good thing that a 5 year old can't waltz through the entire thing with zero collection in all fairness.
You've played the game so you understand the whole rank system and you see the newbie ranks as a simple inconvenience to get to the 'real' game. When I was a new player I had zero concept of the ranks, legend etc and probably stunk around the low levels for longer than I care to believe. It didn't matter though, I was a new player and wasn't on a race to legend so the experience wasn't the same.
Clearly, as existing players, that will be a tedious time. As I said, you know better. But plenty of new players will just be treating that as the game, for a time at least, so I don't think it necessarily feels as bad as it does for those of us going through our second time.
You absolutely can play out of that in a few days with purely free cards. It's a drag but it certainly isn't difficult.
dont play this game if you are new, you will thank me later
Raise your kid right don't let him suffer from this game.
Go back to LoL you toxic POS. We don't want you in Hearthstone.
I had another account, in which I last played HS years ago. I relogged to get a free deck, when blizzard first announced they will be giving free decks to new players and long time returning players. After I log in, I realized I had to go through 50 beginner ranks to get the said free deck. after 1 or 2 games, same thing happened, it was like playing on high ladder ranks, full of meta decks, and only thing I had was 2-3 packs + basic set (not even all cards since you have to unlock them by levelling).
Then I gave up after playing about 10 games. no matter if you cant lose stars or not, it is super unfair and ultra boring to try to win against meta decks as a new player.
This makes HS doomed to die, when the current playerbase gets bored. No new players allowed. No way. Only thing that can be done is starting as a whale and spending much money, which is not logical since it is an old game and the fact that crazy amount of money is required to carry a new player into the game.
5 year old? At that age, most kids can't even understand the concepts of numbers over 10, even though they can count them. Forget about probability.
You should not expect your kid to really enjoy this kind of game until at least 8, realistically 10+.
About new player experience, yes, it is rough, has been so for a long time, and should be worked on a lot.
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide