Hi folks,

I've been playing Hex since Alpha and as of the first draft of this guide, have logged more than a couple of thousand hours in this game.

If you'd like to get the most from this guide and have just started playing Hex, check out Dinotropia's guide first to get the lay of the land.

Finished with Dino's guide? Cool. Now, based on the current state of the game, where AZ1 is the only Adventure Zone published and the Arena is your most time-efficient form of gold farming, you can follow this set of steps to start milking the F2P elements of Hex:

1. Jump into the Campaign section and create a new character
   
2. Pick whatever race/class combo you want – they're all great fun! 2 things to consider:
   
3. Clerics and Warriors are easier to play in the campaign than Mages
   
4. Orc and Dwarf based decks are the most efficient at clearing the Arena quickly when running F2P
   
5. Play the campaign until you clear both the "Bridge" quests – this will give you the race-specific cards that can be earned from AZ1 and they're pretty powerful
   
6. Repeat these steps till you've assembled a full playset (4 copies each) of the race-specific cards

As a side-note, I strongly recommend trying to finish the Campaign at least once because some of the cards that you get from the later dungeons are just plain OP. The encounters are more difficult and it could take you more time, but man, some of them are worth it.

Now, you can fine-tune your deck and take it into the "Arena" section of the game where you pit your deck against a series of AI opponents.

At the start, it might take a while to get your first complete clear, but be persistent.

Don't be afraid to modify your decks by asking around for spare cards or shopping on the Auction House with the gold you earn from your Campaign/Arena runs

Once you are able to consistently clear the Arena, you should find that you earn about 7000 gold per run and that it takes you about 45 minutes.

At the current exchange rate, you will find that people are willing to buy your gold at the rate of 115 gold for 1 platinum.

That works out to 60 platinum per run. At that rate 12 runs will net you 700 plat. Why is that a milestone number? Read on to find out.

NB - Why do people buy gold?

One of the really cool things about Hex is, in addition to getting all the cards you open in a pack, you also get a "Chest" of loot that has a random rarity. The rarity levels are Common, Uncommon, Rare and Legendary.

You can go ahead and open the chests to get cards and equipment based on the loot table for the chest.

However, and here's the awesome part, you can also take a chance at using the chest and an amount of gold proportionate to its rarity to spin "The Wheels of Fate" to win additional loot items. These can include packs, mercenaries, sleeves, gold, stardust and other stuff - IN ADDITION to also being able to then open the chest for what it would have originally given you!

Watch this video from MSB for an overview if you'd like more info on the Wheels of Fate (it's a bit old, but as always, he does a cracking job explaining all the details. Great resource for new Hex players)

1. Build a deck using powerful cards from the Campaign
   
2. Use the deck to clear Arena runs consistently
   
3. Each Arena run nets you about 7000 gold in 45 minutes
   
4. Gold sells currently at 115 gold for 1 platinum
   
5. 12 Arena runs will net you 700 plat at that rate

700 plat is the magic number that all F2P players should strive towards because that lets you buy 3 booster packs from the store and covers the 100 plat entry fee for Draft tournaments.

Here's why I think buying from the store is better than buying from the Auction House.

1. It takes an extra 2 Arena runs to get enough gold to give you the extra plat needed
   
2. New packs generated in the game give you a 2% chance of spawning a PRIMAL PACK
   
3. These are shiny, gold-foiled version of normal packs that contains 2 Legendaries and 13 Rares
   
4. Selling Primal Packs on the AH nets you up to 2000 plat in the first two months after a new Set release or between 1100-1500 plat after that period
   
5. If you're the gambling sorts, opening the Primal Pack could give you a card that's worth a LOT more

Draft tournaments are the next step that will super-charge your free platinum empire-building efforts. Here's why – YOU GET TO KEEP ALL THE CARDS YOU DRAFT! And, a single match win will net you additional packs that all have a chance of spawning... yup, a Primal Pack.

Before your first draft, go watch some of the Twitch streamers play draft to familiarise yourself with the rhythms of the format and to get an idea of what cards work well together.

Done? Ok. Now here's what you do, once you're comfortable with the idea and format. To get the best return for your hard-earned packs/plat the first time around, jump into a "Normal" draft.

Normal drafts are Swiss format - i.e you get to play all your opponents once and at the end of the tournament, you get 1 pack for each win. This gives you the maximum play time for your investment.

Once you get comfortable with the format, figure out what what deck archetypes you like and get a few wins under your belt, jump into Competitive Draft. This is a great format if you're confident in your abilities and want to maximise the investment on your time. Because it is a "knockout" system, if you lose a match, you exit the tournament. Conversely, if you win a single match, you get 2 packs instead of just 1.

I'd rather just have a fixed time commitment instead – play for 90 minutes and at the end you'll either have 3 packs worth of cards (from your draft) or an additional 2 packs. Then move on.

In terms of building your plat empire, here's how you go.

1. Take the 3 packs and 100 plat entry fee
   
2. Play Competitive Drafts
   
3. Aim for a minimum of 1 win to get you the 2 extra packs
   
4. Sell cards that you draft on the Auction House or in the Trade channel of chat
   
5. Use the proceeds to reduce the time it takes to earn your next tournament entry
   -Either by improving your gold-farming deck or
   -Putting plat towards your tournament entry pool of 700 plat
   
6. Farm gold, sell for plat, play tournaments, rinse and repeat
   
   There it is. You've now got the information you need to play this game completely free and accumulate actual value over time. The way I look at it, you can either spend money or spend time, depending on your preference. At the end of the day, Hex caters to all.
   
   Have a blast out there, and don't be afraid to say hi and make friends in the community.
   
   You can find me on twitter.com/chocmaw if you want to chat about the game.
   
   Happy Hexing!
   
   PS - thanks for the feedback below and taking the time to help make the guide better.