The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Hearthstone- Blizzard Free to Play CCG. Beta Sign-ups open!
Darkewolfe
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Sign up for beta here.
Video explanation of THINGS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vF_PdZybRJE#!
BOSTON--Today during a presentation titled Blizzard Presents at PAX East, World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment announced HearthStone, a free-to-play strategy game.
Explaining the game, a Blizzard representative said, "We wanted to do something a little different." The game, described as "really small," was built by a team of 15 developers.
That's it so far. I've heard someone reference CCG, and someone else reference a strategy game. Obviously we have folks at PAX right now who will hopefully provide some info. Shall we begin speculating?
Links:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/22/4135120/blizzard-hearthstone-heroes-of-warcraft-pax-east-2013
http://uk.gamespot.com/events/pax-east-2013/story.html?sid=6405772
Some minor details:
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will launch on Windows and Mac, and it will be available later on iPad. (No Android? BOOOOOO)
You can disenchant cards you don't need for components, then possibly craft cards you need?
Livecasting support built in-game.
No in-game trading, no selling of cards.
Some images of in-game stuff:
Some Twitch stream recordings:
http://www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone/b/422596394 (July maybe?)
http://www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone/c/2639827 (August)
Video explanation of THINGS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vF_PdZybRJE#!
Also maybe for the OP an assortment of random facts you don't learn in the tutorial:
- Max handsize is 10 cards. Any card over that is discarded instead of drawn.
- You can't have more than 7 minions out.
- If you draw from an empty deck you get progressively more damage instead: 1 damage/card the first time, 2 damage/card the second and so on.
- If multiple things happen at the same time (e.g. trigger at the end of the turn) they happen in the order their respective cards have been played.
- There are hidden quests/achievements that award gold, notably: 100g for beating all Expert AIs, 100g for playing every class to level 10 and 300g for 100 wins total.
- The Shaman hero power always calls one of the 4 totems that isn't out yet. If you get a totem bounced to your hand, you can play a second one, though.
- The hunter spell Animal Companion just calls a random of the 3 possible minions.
- The Warlock spell Sense Demons gives you 1/1 imps for 1 mana if you don't have (any more) demons in your deck.
- Stealth overrides Taunt, not the other way around.
- Stealth is only for the enemy, you can buff your stealthed minions.
- Priest: Shadowform refreshes your hero power, so you can use it twice in a turn.
- Druid: Wild Growth at 10 mana crystals awards you a spell "Excess Mana" which draws a card for 0.
A list of all of the hidden quests.
Here, I made a Google spreadsheet: PA Forums Hearthstone Players List.
Since everyone (with the link) can edit, I will periodically make a copy onto the second protected sheet and use that as abackup in case something blows up.
BOSTON--Today during a presentation titled Blizzard Presents at PAX East, World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment announced HearthStone, a free-to-play strategy game.
Explaining the game, a Blizzard representative said, "We wanted to do something a little different." The game, described as "really small," was built by a team of 15 developers.
That's it so far. I've heard someone reference CCG, and someone else reference a strategy game. Obviously we have folks at PAX right now who will hopefully provide some info. Shall we begin speculating?
Blizzard's next game is HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play strategy title that is an online collectible card game, the studio announced today during its PAX East panel.
"We wanted to do something a little bit different, just within the studio," said a Blizzard representative during the panel. The team developing the game has 15 developers, and Blizzard characterized it as "scrappy and versatile."
After showing the game's intro cinematic, the studio explained its design philosophy for HearthStone.
"We really wanted to bring in a lot of the charm of the Warcraft universe," said Blizzard. The studio also wanted to simplify the genre and make the game's rules easy to understand so players can jump in without having to know too much.
HearthStone will launch with over 300 different cards; packs will come with five cards each, and players will be able to earn or buy packs. Blizzard hasn't yet decided how much it will charge for packs, but is expecting to set pricing "somewhere around a dollar."
Blizzard highlighted the act of opening a digital pack, saying the developers have spent "quite a bit of time" on the process to make sure it's as exciting for players as opening a pack of physical cards. For example, rare cards will glow, and each one explodes with a flourish when you flip it over.
Players will also be able to craft their own cards, combining the powers of multiple cards to form new ones. It's a major part of building up a deck, another element that Blizzard worked on for a while. The interface will suggest cards from your collection to you, and provide tools that evaluate a collection to help players figure out the best cards to choose. It can automatically create a basic deck for you that's based on the available cards, too.
HearthStone is "focused primarily on one-on-one [play]." Matchmaking will be handled through Battle.net, and winning online duels will boost your in-game medal ranking. The game will also support Shoutcasting.
Blizzard showed off a warlock-druid battle to demonstrate the basic progression of a duel. Card animations are an important part of the experience — when you attack, your card will jump across the board's center line and literally whack the enemy card you're attacking, and every move is accompanied by some sort of flourish, like a glow or sparkle animation.
Links:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/22/4135120/blizzard-hearthstone-heroes-of-warcraft-pax-east-2013
http://uk.gamespot.com/events/pax-east-2013/story.html?sid=6405772
Some minor details:
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will launch on Windows and Mac, and it will be available later on iPad. (No Android? BOOOOOO)
You can disenchant cards you don't need for components, then possibly craft cards you need?
Livecasting support built in-game.
No in-game trading, no selling of cards.
Some images of in-game stuff:
Some Twitch stream recordings:
http://www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone/b/422596394 (July maybe?)
http://www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone/c/2639827 (August)
What is this I don't even.
Darkewolfe on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
All the obscene profitability and artificial obsolescence of a CCG without any of that messy printing of real paper into a shape.
This game was an inevitability.
This looks better than MTG online. I can't wait to try this.
If this is Rage of Bahamut style integration of cards, they can count me right the fuck out. I'm hoping for something richer than that.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Not to mention, when I was a kid playing Magic, WoTC never sent me free cards just for playing their game, or automatically matched me up with fair opponents anywhere in the world.
Yeah, looks like they cut out anything they might have to pay Wizards a fee for due to stupid patents, and made it so that I can actually play it instead of buying cards and letting them sit around except for possibly a draft event at GenCon.
I think I'm in. I like the disenchanting/crafting system, where you can de cards you don't need to produce arcade dust to craft ones you actually do need.
Also holy crap I was cracking up at the Jaraxus bit during the game they played.
The draft/Forge mode looks fun, too. For those who didn't see the video, you get a choice of 3 heroes, and then does a quasi-draft to build a deck where you pick cards out of a choice of three-card sets.
Wonder if we're going to eventually see a Raid/Dungeon mode.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Also, iOS but no Android? Booooo.
Hard to say what they will do, but it sure would be a perfect opportunity for them to leverage the RMAH infrastructure they have for Diablo into another natural fit.
Either way, the only time I ever sold back Magic cards was liquidating cards I bought in prerelease tournaments that I dabbled in long after my true interest in the game had faded. I have to believe that the overhwelming majority of people who play CCGs either throw their old cards away, keep them in a shoebox somewhere, or bring them into a hobby store and get offered $15 for the entire lot. I'm not exactly heartbroken at the prospect of possibly not being able to resell cards.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
I think presentation and polish are two big things they'd be bringing, since I can't think of any that are anywhere near what they were showing today.
Wouldn't be surprised if we see some sort of WoW tie-in too for active subscribers. Toss them some free packs every month, or a discount on packs?
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
And easy access is a big positive too.
Rare Hearthstone cards will unlock unique WoW mounts.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Or when they run out of content for paid expansions. Which, the common theory is that there are 2 more full paid expansions, one which raises the level cap to 95, and one to 100.
Or was that another MMO, I can't remember. All I do remember if that Blizzard have been outrageously exaggerating their subscriber figures for years.
Chinese supposedly pay by the hour. For locally not insane prices. Blizzard "exaggerating" numbers isn't even close to companies like Jagex and Riot for their shit. I think the only company that inflate their numbers less than Blizzard is Valve.
It supports it by allowing you to scrap old cards to build shiny new ones.
What happened to that Blizz IP MOBA thing they showed once?
Just noticed who the Paladin hero is.
yeeeeeeeeeees
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Blizzard DOTA is now called Blizzard All Stars, is a custom map for SC2. It'll probably be fun, I doubt it'll be as deep as DOTA/DOTA2. No idea when it's coming out though
Are you talking about Blizzard All-Stars? (Formerly known as Blizzard DotA before the lawsuit with Valve).
They are still making Blizzard All-Stars, and it will be going into beta this summer most likely. They said they wanted to get HotS out the door before they started pushing their MOBA.
That's my point though, this allows them to test their hand at F2P models. It may actually be worthwhile. That's the scary thing. But anyway, I'm just now realizing my whole idea (or posting it here) may derail this thread from the actual thing it's about. I'm just pulling things out of my ass here.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Titan will have been in development for years now. Years and years. I doubt that they don't already have all that locked in, especially if they're building server infrastructure and all that jazz.
Like MtGO and DotP are any different :P
The fact that Blizzard said they have this 15 man dev team for the purpose of creating smaller scale games. I'm not too interested in playing a digital CCG. But man... the idea of Blizzard getting into the portable market and iOS is something that has me frothing with excitement.
Anyway, I'm actually a little bit enthusiastic about this. I used to play a lot of Magic back in the day, so every once in a while I get an itch for a decent deck-building game that doesn't cost huge amounts of money to play and usually come up empty.