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Blizzard announces HearthStone at PAX East 2013 live blog

adam holisky
Editor
Updated ·6 min read
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Blizzard's something at PAX East 2013 live blog

We don't have any idea what it's going to be (besides something new), but Blizzard is going to be announcing it at PAX East today. We'll keep run a live blog of the announcement right here! Expect more throughout the day.

The live blog will begin in your timezone at:

  • 10:00 a.m. EDT

  • 9:00 a.m. CDT

  • 8:00 a.m. MDT

  • 7:00 a.m. PDT

  • 2:00 p.m. London


9:38AM That's it for the presentation! Thanks for joining us. We'll get screenshots and everything else up soon.


9:36AM They just showed the iPad interface. Go play Duels of the Plainswalker if you want a feel for it. Looked *a lot* like it.


9:35AM There are normal and expert AIs to play again.


9:33AM You'll play as one of nine heroes in the Warcraft universe.


9:33AM They're now showing a little making of video with lots of Blizzard personalities talking about it. Neat to see them, but nothing major.


9:30AM Pardo jokes: "Big experiment for Blizzard, to see if they can announce a game and release it in the same year"


9:30AM Windows version and iPad version playable today.


9:30AM Playable on the PAX show floor today.


9:30AM Beta this summer, release this year.


9:30AM "Released not Blizzard soon, but IRL soon"


9:29AM HearthStone is already playable internally on the iPad.


9:29AM Pardo says "iPad shortly thereafter."


9:29AM HearthStone will launch on Windows and Mac.


9:28AM The druid keeps healing himself in the demo game they're showing. "Typical."


9:26AM Found the answer -- iPad version is coming soon (tm).


9:25AM We've pinged Blizzard to see if they have any comment.


9:25AM Lots of questions about HearthStone being on the iPad. We don't know yet... it sure would fit perfectly though.


9:23AM The animation is a bit better than what's on Duels of the Plainswalker. More Warcraft-style. Look and feel is miles ahead of MTG: Online (not that it's hard to do that).


9:22AM Anyone who plays MT:G will immediately get this.


9:22AM "Demon has taunt right now, so he (the druid) can't attack anybody but that demon right now."


9:21AM Card just played has AoE damage.


9:20AM Looks like a pretty standard play field, discard pile, health (30), mana.


9:18AM Looks like 4 cards in your hand to start off with...


9:18AM They're now giving a demonstration of the game being shoutcasted, a warlock vs. a druid. Very much SC2 style. Very much.


9:17AM Shoutcasted games.


9:17AM "Game built as fun, casual but deeply strategic game."


9:16AM Duel online to boost your medal ranking. Each week you earn medals in the game, and as you get medals, that's how you get booster packs.


9:16AM Uses Battle.net match making


9:16AM Focused on 1v1 play


9:16AM You start deck building by picking your character (rogue), then picking rogue cards. As you go through the class specific cards, the game will pop up and give you suggestions. You can have the game fill out the rest of the cards at any time.


9:14AM You can also just let the game itself create the deck for you.


9:13AM Tutorial mode will help you build the right deck, suggest cards.


9:13AM There is a full featured deck builder, easy to create your own decks.


9:12AM With crafting you can disenchant the cards you're not interested in. You get arcane dust in return. Take that arcane dust and craft the exact card you want.


9:11AM You play the game as a hero (like a mage).


9:11AM Card Crafting is going to be something.


9:11AM You will be able to make use of duplicate cards.


9:11AM Blizz wants to capture the exciting of opening a physical pack. They have some great 3D animation when opening up a pack, much more interesting than just seeing cards displayed in order on a screen like in current digital CCGs.


9:09AM There will be different rarities of cards. Common, rare, epics, and legendary cards.


9:09AM Blizz hasn't decided the exact amount of money per pack. They're thinking around $1 right now, but haven't fined tune it. Will be doing so in the alpha and beta.


9:08AM Over 300 cards in the game, 5 per pack, can earn and buy packs, many types of cards.


9:08AM If you're already used to playing a mage, then in this game you'll intuitively understand how to play HearthStone as a mage.


9:07AM Board will be animated. 3D, no flat board.


9:07AM They want to make it more fun than existing card games online, more specialfxs, more exciting gameplay.


9:06AM They want to do with HearthStone as they did with WoW -- make it accessible and make it fun.


9:06AM They want to make it fast to jump in, manage rule complexity, make pack opening awesome, and keep it exciting to watch.


9:05AM Blizz is doing this because of their love of CCG games like Magic: The Gathering. They're making it accessible, and not just for the hard core CCG players.


9:04AM Online CCG. It's free to play.


9:04AM HearthStone. Heroes of Warcraft. A Collectable strategy game set in the Warcraft universe.


9:03AM Looks like... could it be...


9:03AM There are Warcraft characters in the game's new presentation.


9:03AM Cards have just flashed on the screen.


9:02AM New team is 15 developers, experiment more, faster development cycle.


9:01AM This is an entirely new team at Blizzard for this game.


9:01AM WoW has 135 developers now, up from an original 60.


9:00AM Pardo is up giving the announcement now.


8:48AM People are filling in. We should get started here in about 15 minutes. Thanks for joining us! The stream above should work, but if it doesn't (as these popular stream are often wont to do), we've got people on the ground as well.


8:20 AM Zarhym tweets that the line to the announcement was filled by 9 a.m. Sorry to all those that are trying to get in!

Blizzards something something something live blog