

Before long, my husband finds me playing Hearthstone with the same expression that a dog confronted with a piece of citrus has. That’s why they’re going, “Wow!” And sure enough, they pull some card that counteracts everything I’ve achieved. In Hearthstone, however, people use “Wow!” as a tool of psychological torment.Įvery time someone hits their “Wow!” emote after I play a combo I feel good about, my primal lizard brain suddenly ignites with shrieking fury. Each hero only has a few voice lines that can be prompted with commands, like “Wow!” “Thanks!” or “Well met!” That feature of its design is well-intentioned, and if someone said, “Wow!” to me as I went about my daily life, I would say, “Thank you!”

In theory, it should not be possible to be rude in Hearthstone. My laissez-faire attitude doesn’t extend to the game itself. Secret Paladin and Jade Druid? Yes! Murloc shaman? Seems fine. I, on the other hand, am an innocent babe swaddled in the woods, and I cobble together whatever decks I find satisfying to use against other players. The Standard mode regularly rotates, with Blizzard removing old cards from play for a “better” metagame. I don’t spend a lot of money on Hearthstone, and I dabble nearly exclusively in the Wild format of the game. But I was a grown-ass woman when Hearthstone came out. I hadn’t been allowed to collect Pokémon cards as a kid, as my parents felt like it enabled capitalist fads. I had never played a collectible card game before Hearthstone, not even Magic: The Gathering.

I’m sure part of this is due to deep personal growth, but a larger part of it is thanks to the game’s single-player adventures. However, recently, I’ve made my peace with the game. There’s one exception to this rule, and it’s Blizzard Entertainment’s collectible card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.įor a long time, my relationship with Hearthstone was marked with constant, low-level irritation that would spike into indignant rage.

I have always been able to face most of life’s worries, big and small, with a smile and a cheerful attitude. When my internet goes down, so long as I’m not working, I go and read a book. I once allowed a freelance invoice to sit unpaid for eight months. I like to consider myself a calm and collected person.
