In all honesty, it's up there with Magic among the best TCGs.
I don't always love it, I feel it has balance problems; but in all honesty Magic has even worse ones.
The truly great TCG that rewards skill over luck and overpowered cards hasn't been made yet; but Hearthstone is a good time still.
As a sign of good faith, whatever else our differences - it's easiest to start as a Hunter, Mage, or Paladin, all of whom have basic card bases which can compete even with the more vicious decks. In particular the Hunter ability and basic set will get you a lot of rush victories very easily; if you craft some Explosive Traps and Freezing Traps very cheaply and play a lot of Charge creatures like Wolfrider and Deathrattle creatures like Harvest Golem, you have the base of a deck that's cheap to get started with and which can easily get you up to rank 15 or so.
Also, questing for free gold and playing at least one Tavern Brawl a week for a free pack is crucial unless you're just going to drop hundreds on cards right away...this pack was a Tavern Brawl pack.