Ok so while i was absent Blizzard, those cheeky swines dropped a absolute bomb! So after my initial puzzling about what the hell Hearthstone is, after watching the trailer video (which was very cool) i have to confess i am now eagerly anticipating its release. On a side note i like many others was expecting the announcement to be the Blizz All-Stars or even failing that maybe just maybe (fingers crossed one day) a Pet battle app. For Anyone out there that thought this would be Titan, you may slap yourselves. Why would Blizz announce a Titan at Pax East, when they have Blizzconn in November. Anyways after the break i shall share my thoughts, hopes and feelings on Hearthstone.
So a trading card game that is played online....... OMG pay dirt! The initial flaw with most trading card games or even tabletop games i simply the need for you the player to know other people that play who live near you. Boom Hearthstone shoots this out of the water with the existing battlenet system you have no need to know anyone that you are playing, also you have the ability to play anyone, anywhere at anytime. This is a massive game changer it takes Hearthstone from the level of a small niche game to potentially huge global game that requires very little to get into aside from having a Internet connection.
Ok here is a small hope that i have for Hearthstone, as it will be over Battlenet and its free2play, though i assume that top up cards/decks will cost money. (not certain on how this will work yet) I would like to see two features integrated, firstly a kind of reward system for existing game subscriptions to WoW. With Hearthstone being based in the WoW universe i see no reason why you couldn't be rewarded with free cards or something similar. Maybe one pack per month or one uber card per month or something along these lines. Also i would like direct integration Battlenet's wallet system. With a AH style both real money and a direct card for card trade system, providing you with the ways and mean of getting cards you need and getting rid of cards you don't.
Finally while the announcement took me by surprise, it does make a lot of sense when you break it down. TCGs are fairly firmly set in the fantasy genre, it is a logical step to try to integrate a WoW TCG with WoW and tap into the existing market of players. Also Blizzard employ and use a lot of very good artists that create a wealth of pictures and images that are very very cool. Hearthstone allows Blizzard to show off all this and possibly attract new players into there franchises. Finally TCG games are fairly simple to create and run business wise there not a massive amount of investment (ish) but the potential to be a massive (magic the gathering).
So there we go i am excited for
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=29089 Please. Then i think Blizzard are going to be onto a another massive game as well as a large share of all my money. :)
Hearthstone, if it brings loot cards or other wow related goodies
Peace out y'all :)
I don't think we're going to see trading at all, and I don't think we're going to see free cards for having a WoW subscription either. I could certainly see special cards offered when you buy a WoW/SC/Diablo collector's edition or something, but even that might be stretching it a bit.
ReplyDeleteAcquiring new cards will come from a couple of different sources. First, you can buy boosters with real money (announcement at Pax said it would be $1 USD for a 5-card booster, but that they might change that). Second, as you play the game you build up a kind of currency that can be used to buy boosters instead of using real money. Boosters give random cards, so that's just quantity of cards not specific cards.
Then, there's the disenchant mechanic where you destroy cards in your collection that you don't need/want in order to get Arcane Dust. Arcane Dust can then be used to create specific cards that you want. The amount of dust needed is most likely going to be based on the card's rarity, though they may take other things into consideration as well where a card like Deathwing might require more dust than another rare just because Deathwing is such a powerful card. They didn't go into details on how much dust you get per card or how much it takes to make the new ones. In the example they showed, he destroyed 3 cards that gave 100 dust each (he had 1350 to start with, so some cards either give or require less than 100 dust) and then spent 1600 dust to make Deathwing.
Remember, they didn't call this a TCG (trading card game), they called it a CCG (collectible card game) and CSG (collectible strategy game). Everything I saw in the Pax presentation seemed to suggest to me that the only peer to peer interaction in this game is playing other people, things like trading and selling cards might come in the future but I don't think they're scheduled for launch as they didn't even mention the trading aspect at all.
Wow Biggest comment i have had ever! I dunno i doubt if trading will be in at launch though i could see it being added at a later point simply because while the forge system and crafting of new cards is awesome eventually you will reach a point were there is nothing for you to craft or that you want to craft. Bu then again i guess they copuld just add new cards. Yeah i think i got a bit carried away with the whole tcg thing and overlooked the strategy part. secretly i hope its half as addictive as pokemon tcg was when i was a wee nipper. Thanks for the feedbakc and useful info it is always nice to have responses :) Now if Blizz would just give me Beta access i can go plow some more of my life into one of there games.
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