Blizzard Announces Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Digital Card Game 79
UgLyPuNk writes "Blizzard has revealed its 'something new' at PAX East 2013: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — a 'charming collectible strategy game set in the Warcraft universe.'"
Blizzard says this game is a departure from their normal development process: it was made with a team of just 15, will release this year, and it's free-to-play. Hearthstone is built for Mac OS, Windows, and iPads. There's a deck builder, a match-finder, and AI for those who don't want to play against other people. While it's free to play, and players will earn new packs of cards by playing, there will also be an option to purchase new packs.
yo dawg (Score:5, Funny)
So I heard you like games, so I made a game within a game
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Re:yo dawg (Score:4, Informative)
So I heard you like games, so I made a game within a game
Yo. Other Dawg.
It isn't a game within a game. It's a standalone online CCG.
Competes with WoW's own TCG (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder how Cryptozoic [cryptozoic.com] feels about Blizzard firing off a "digital trading card game" when they already have a "non-digital TCG" [cryptozoic.com] license? There's nothing quite so sucktacular as directly competing with your licensor.
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I think the writing's been on the wall for quite awhile. WoW TCG used to be their sole focus and Bread and Butter. But the past year they've been diversifying, gathering non-Blizzard licenses, and trying to get another franchise off the ground in a very hard way. I wouldn't be surprised if the contract between Crypt and Blizzard comes to an end after the current one expires.
Furthermore, Blizzard has constantly been trying to step into the world of micro-transactions (Attempts at "map selling" in Starcraft a
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I wonder how Cryptozoic [cryptozoic.com] feels about Blizzard firing off a "digital trading card game" when they already have a "non-digital TCG" [cryptozoic.com] license? There's nothing quite so sucktacular as directly competing with your licensor.
Considering the two games are NOTHING alike and one is physical with the other being digital, Id say they don't care. My account was selected for the beta not to long ago, aside from the whole card thing they don't have much in common and play differently.
And competing with themselves? Isnt that as stupid as saying Toyota makes lexus cars and its Toyotas line of cars and saying they compete with themselves? Or Microsoft competing against themselves by still releasing windows 7 and 8? Or parker brothers com
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I think the difference in all of these cases is that your example products are all being sold by the same overall company, while Cryptozoic is different company from Blizzard, so the competition, to the extent that there is any, can and will hurt them.
But I don't actually know anything about Cryptozoic. I'm just basing this entirely on a careful reading of what grandparent post said.
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Because this is so different than Wizards of the Coast having their own online M:TG game?
People that want to play with real cards, will.
People that don't, won't. This is an attempt to get some of those people in, too.
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Wizards of the Coast found that it didn't really have a negative impact at all when they went full steam with Magic: Online. Card sales stayed the same, and the online game is doing very well. Identical rules, cards, and tourny's, although the digital release dates are a few weeks behind the physical release dates.
TLDR: I don't think this will impact card sales any, especially since the games aren't even using the same rules.
The addiction continues (Score:5, Funny)
I'm waiting for the Warcraft-branded groceries myself. The soda is not a great diet on its own, I need food! From Pandaria!
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Warcraft: The Flamethrower.
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everyone is angry when blizzard doesn't let people buy digital bits and a black market developes around buying and selling weapons and gold, because blizzard isn't catering to what they want.
and then people are equally angry when blizzard gives them what they want and provides an avenue for them to buy/sell their weapons and gold
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[citation]?
Since in my mind, the money would be tax free until you cash out. From my understanding you have:
1. The D3 received account. This contains all profits from auctions and can be used to buy stuff on the D3 auction house or cash out on paypal (after fees).
2. The Battle.net Balance. You can deposit real money into this account, transfer money from the D3 received account, and spend it on various digital Blizzard stuff (excluding wow time) including the D3 AH. You can't cash out this account, and you
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As soon as the company making the game get their share from selling and buying gold and items for real money, selling and buying gold and items for real money will become a necessity to win a game. Simply because now it is in the game maker's interest that you sell and buy money and items.
THAT is what people are pissed about with those "real money auction" crap. As long as some black market dealer is buying and selling gold, it may actually work in the interest of the player because the game company making
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PC game company releases CCG (Score:1)
I would really like to see an article someplace regarding the trend of releasing CCGs for these game properties. Sony for example had an entire studio devoted to CCGs about its games (Sony Denver closed in 2011 when Sony hit the skids, unfortunately -- so much for game development in Colorado), and when I was involved with Lego Universe they had a CCG in the works before the game even came out.
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That's cute coming from someone posting via a Facebook account. Perhaps le reddit would be more to your liking.
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You, on the other hand, won't even post the name behind your snippy comments so you're not worth 30 seconds of consideration. Seems like it's a wash.
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Sounds like a real busy day indeed!
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They've jumped the shark so many times they must be in orbit.
And that isn't to say they haven't actually jumped the shark, it's that, like reality TV and fast food, they keep figuring out ways of turning their games to shit and make more money doing it.
Backwards compatible with Magic: The Gathering? (Score:5, Funny)
Cause I still got a shitload of those cards to unload, man.
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Look. Nobody wants your Pearled Unicorns.
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Drift on over to DeviantArt.... There you will find Princess Twilight Sparkle, Planeswalker. She"s an Alicorn, close enough...
Consider MPL:FIM Is owned by e same corporate masters as WotC M:tG we Ned to make this HAPPEN!
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Backward compatibility?
Isn't that a little like asking your toaster to be backward compatible with your blender? They are totally different franchises.
Mmmmmm....toasted smoothie.....
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Maybe, but that blended waffles sure are kinda ... well, I may think otherwise once I'm old and lost all my teeth...
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You want a game to succeed with a small dev team? The roguelike random levels element is IN. Just combine it with existing game models and profit:
Contra + roguelike = profit
Tetris + roguelike = profit
Super Mario Bros + roguelike = profit
Your favorite FPS + roguelike = profit
DDR + roguelike = wtf (maybe profit)
PS I did see a draft gameplay for Blizzards TCG which is similar to the way roguelikes work.
A departure of their usual style (Score:1)
Of taking forever to develop a game and then ruining it with always-on DRM?
Yes, that is a dramatic departure from the usual.
I guess you can't blame a company for learning from their mistakes and trying something new. Personally I think the game is a cop-out though.
Genius (Score:2)
Step one: Make digital card game.
Step two: Print cards and sell them.
Step three: Profit more from WOW.
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They got it backwards then. They've had a printed card game for years.
I think I'll... (Score:2)
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Perhaps this was the Linux compatible game they were making for 2013? (I'm a Linux user OK) =p
F2P (Score:2, Insightful)
Recently, I've tried Simraceway and I don't see how spending hundreds of dollars on cars is better than ~$20 for Gran Turismo. A more well known example, FarmVille eventually only benefited kids with their pare
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IIRC there is also "gold ammo", and unless that changed considerably it meant that you got actual shells instead of the usual air gun pellets that you could get for creds.
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Fantastic! (Score:4, Insightful)
Nice one (Score:1)
So the usual F2P/P2W ploy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Lemme guess: You get a pack of "starter pack" cards for free that makes you pretty much a target dummy for anyone who actually shelled out some dough and bought enough "booster packs" to actually create a deck that can win?
I.e. how it works in traditional TCGs, just that they did away with the costly process of printing cards?
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The question is whether or not practice will match theory.
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You can also earn booster packs through normal game play without paying.
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nope.
The game matches you with people with decks of similar strength and you earn boosters by winning. Buying the boosters ($1 per pack of 5 with one guaranteed rare or better as of right now) just gets you there faster.
Also the other staple of physical ccgs, buying boosters filled with crap you don't need for a shot at a rare you can use, is updated with a crafting system - cards you don't need can be broken down into dust to be crafted into specific rares etc you actually want.
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