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Hearthstone expansion now live
Blizzard's first Hearthstone expansion is now live. Goblins vs. Gnomes boasts 120 new cards and "throws a big wrench into the way Hearthstone works," according to CEO Mike Morhaime. Logging into the game between now and December 19th will net you three free expansion card packs. You can obtain additional packs for either 100 in-game gold or real money. [Source: Blizzard press release]
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft arrives on iPad with zero compromises
When new games make the trip from PC to mobile it's usually a dumbed-down affair, but Blizzard's fantastic Warcraft-inspired collectable card game is anything but dumb in its iPad debut. In short, it's just as addictive, gorgeous, and slick as the version we played many months ago on Mac. You begin a game of Hearthstone by choosing a hero. This choice will dictate your overall strategy, letting you rely on your character's magic, weapons, or loyal minions to take out your adversary. Early on, your matches are chosen for you, sending you through a lengthy tutorial and story mode that pits you against many different styles of opponent. Matches play out on a single screen where your cards go up against those of your foe. Your hero has a set amount of life, and the cards your opponents play against you can harm either your hero or the minion cards you have previously played, depending on their strategy and any "Taunt" cards you have on the board (which must be attacked first). You'll grasp the rules and play style after just a game or two, but your long-term strategy will be ever evolving. At the heart of the strategy is your deck of cards, which can be customized to suit your battle plan. You can unlock card packs either by purchasing them or by earning gold through battle victories. A good strategy matched with a solid deck is crucial to besting the real-world opponents you will be matched with in the Arena mode, and you'll see an endless number of play styles as you gain experience. Hearthstone on iPad is just as good, if not better than its PC counterpart, and if you're an iPad owner who is already in love with the desktop version, you're going to adore it on a touchscreen. Dragging and dropping your cards onto the play field feels even better with your finger than it does with a mouse, and even novice players will have a blast. Hearthstone is free on the App Store and even if you don't want to toss in a few bucks for additional card packs, there's still dozens of hours of good fun to be had. Give it a shot, and you won't be disappointed.
Call in sick to work, because Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft just launched for OS X
Blizzard's Warcraft-inspired collectable card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, is now available for anyone and everyone with a capable Mac running OS X 10.8 or newer. The game -- which has been in closed beta for a number of months -- has seen a meteoric rise in popularity since its debut, and as a player myself I can tell you that it's definitely worth checking out. The game is free to play, with additional card packs available for purchase in-game. You can also earn game currency by besting opponents online, which you can then also spend on upgrading your card collection. Head over to the official Hearthstone homepage to download the game and give it a go. Blizzard is also planning a release for Hearthstone on iPad which should take place later this year.
Blizzard adjusting Rogues in upcoming Hearthstone patch
Hearthstone's upcoming patch is detailed in a new blog post on the game's official website. The update "covers a wealth of bug fixes and quality of life improvements," according to Blizzard. There's also a blurb about class balance, with particular attention paid to Rogues, who will be "adjusted to bring them more in line with the other classes." Crafting, golden cards, and social improvements make the cut too, but you'll need to click through to the links below for all the details.
Zeriyah spills the beans on Hearthstone's Arena
If you weren't around last week to catch the livestream of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft's latest feature -- The Arena -- fear not. Not only is the livestream recording embedded above for your viewing pleasure, but Blizzard Community Manager Zeriyah has written a lengthy blog piece on just exactly what the Arena feature entails for Blizzard's Online Collectible Card Game. To sum up Zeriyah's post, which can be found after the break it all its glory, the Arena is a place where you can build a pre-made deck, based around a choice of three of the nine available heroes. You'll then be given 30 sets of 3 cards, and pick one from each, making up a 30-card deck. There's no need to have any of the cards already, it could be anything. Winning rewards you with a key, and every time you win your key gets better, up to three losses. After three losses, that deck is done, and you start again. So if you win nine times, and then lose three times, you'll get the best possible rewards from your key. This is a paid access area, so you have to pay to get in there with either real-world money or in-game gold, but as Zeriyah clarifies, if you win enough to get a Diamond key, you'll be back in for nothing. And yes, it used to be called the Forge! Hit the break for Zeriyah's full post.
Wowhead launches Hearthstone section
Our friends at Wowhead seem to have caught Hearthstone fever -- and, really, who can blame them? In addition to the site's very handy WoW data, they've added a new Hearthstone section that has a database of cards for you to search. Obviously, no one has access to a Hearthstone client, so Wowhead is pulling this info from datamining -- which means it's incomplete and may contain errors. And, of course, with the game not even in beta yet, everything you see now is still subject to change; maybe even a lot of change. However, with a database of just over 500 cards already on the site, it's a pretty impressive collection and a great way to get an early look at the game. The Hearthstone section lets you search for cards and, when you've found one you're interested in, displays card artwork (and the artist), type, quality, class, set, casting cost, special abilities, and health and attack for cards that have it. And, like the rest of Wowhead, each card has its own comments section -- though we haven't run into any cards with comments so far. So while we continue to wait for our beta keys (they're in the mail, right, Blizzard?), we'll be sure to be prepared by checking out all of the cards on Wowhead.
Last Week on Massively: PAX East, Elder Scrolls Online, and more
Sometimes, you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around -- past, present and future. Hands-on with Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft You've read WoW Insider's first impressions of Hearthstone, now check out what Massively had to say! Accessibility seems to be the name of the game for Hearthstone as it is with all Blizzard titles. Hands-on with The Elder Scrolls Online Massively was recently given the opportunity to tackle the upcoming MMO The Elder Scrolls Online hands-on. Check out their first impressions of the classes, gameplay, and more! New video explains exactly what WildStar is WildStar is an upcoming MMO, we know that, but what is it all about? Check out this fun video from Carbine Studios that provides all you need to know. Diablo III console video sizzles, Blizzard hints at other platforms At PAX East, Blizzard Entertainment released a new trailer for the upcoming console release of Diablo III. They've also revealed the console release may not necessarily be a Sony exclusive. Massively's week in review Don't let WoW Insider do all of the talking when it comes to Massively's best content of the week. The Massively staff themselves have picked out what they think is the best content their site has to offer in their own weekly roundup.
First impressions of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Yesterday at PAX East 2013, Blizzard unveiled their first free-to-play game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The upcoming title is a digital, collectible card game akin to Magic: The Gathering Online, but designed to be easy to learn and accessible to a larger audience. The game is currently being demonstrated on the showroom floor at PAX, and I was able to play it a couple of times. When starting my first game, I expected to find Hearthstone confusing because I've never played Magic: The Gathering or any other strategy card game (e.g. Pokémon TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh!) before. I am familiar with some of the terminology of MTG, having spent most of my life around hardcore players, but I don't really know the rules or how the game is played. This unfamiliarity didn't seem to get in the way of Hearthstone, though. Within two turns I understood my resource system, and how to play and use cards. By the fifth turn I felt like I understood all the basic mechanics of combat. Then, by the time my seventh turn came around, I was cursing paladins for being overpowered and itching to play another game.
PAX 2013: Hands-on with Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a brand-spankin'-new online collectible card game from Blizzard, announced just yesterday here at PAX East 2013. And since I love you guys soooo much, I took the time to stand in line to take a look for myself. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that I flock to CCGs like a moth to flame. No sirree. Of course, this isn't your traditional MMO, so it's difficult to write a traditional review, especially considering I was able to play only a single match (which I won by a landslide, thank you very much), so instead I'm just going to give y'all a rundown of how the game plays and let you draw your own conclusions. Shuffle your cards, cut your decks, and read on for the skinny on Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
Blizzard reveals Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, coming to iPad and PC
Blizzard Entertainment has revealed a brand-new game coming to the iPad and PC at PAX East this weekend, and all I can say is that it's about time. Blizzard is by far my favorite game developer, and I've been disappointed that as great as their games are, the company has never once made a solid entry into the iOS space: they've released an app to support World of Warcraft, but not once a real game meant for iOS directly. Until now. Hearthstone is a collectible card game based on various Warcraft characters and abilities, and as you can see in the screenshot above, it looks pretty darn gorgeous. Blizzard already has a very popular paper CCG, but this seems different even from that game, though you still collect cards and use them in play to cast spells, summon characters and use weapons all brought directly from the Warcraft universe. The game will be free to play, with extra card packs and cards available via in-app purchase. Blizzard says the game is coming first in a beta for PC and Mac later on this year, but the iPad version is what we'll really be waiting for. It's long past time that this legendary game developer made a mark on the iOS platform, and I have an inkling that if this game is as successful as you might expect, we'll see some more iOS development from Blizzard in the future. First things first, though -- hopefully we'll get our hands on Hearthstone soon.
Blizzard registers Project Blackstone domain, no clue what it is
An interesting little bit of domain activity has been detected from Blizzard the last few days. Recently they have registered the projectblackstone.com domain -- which sounds like a great name for a new game. They've also registered warcraftbattles.com and heroesofwarcraft.com. While it's a bit much to say anything definitive about domain registering activity, it does raise an eyebrow. We know that there is a large team, filled with some amazing people, working hard on Titan. Could Project Blackstone be Titan? Speculation is interesting here; although we really have no idea. What we do know is that we'll be keeping a close eye out on these domains, and you should too... Something might pop up suddenly one day that we all will want to know a whole lot more about. We've reached out to Blizzard to see if they have any comment on these domains, but we're not expecting anything noteworthy.
Blizzard files complaint over Heroes of Warcraft domain name
Blizzard is playing the domain name game of late, according to a blurb at Fusible. The website reports that the gaming juggernaut has "made a number of domain acquisitions," including StarCraft.com and WarcraftBattles.com, over the past year. The company has also filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum in order to expedite a transfer of control for the HeroesofWarcraft.com domain name from a private owner. It's unclear what Blizz intends to do with the name, though it did register HeroesofWarcraft.co.uk in September.
