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Blizzard Announces Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Digital Card Game
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.
So I heard you like games, so I made a game within a game
I wonder how Cryptozoic feels about Blizzard firing off a "digital trading card game" when they already have a "non-digital TCG" license? There's nothing quite so sucktacular as directly competing with your licensor.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I'm waiting for the Warcraft-branded groceries myself. The soda is not a great diet on its own, I need food! From Pandaria!
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.
Cause I still got a shitload of those cards to unload, man.
Your political party doesn't care about your rights and only represents corporate interests.
It IS, in fact, news for nerds. You will notice it is posted in the "games" category, which you are welcome to ignore if it takes up too much of your important time.
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
Step one: Make digital card game.
Step two: Print cards and sell them.
Step three: Profit more from WOW.
... pass.
I was worried until I saw that it would be free-to-play. Now I'm really worried. In my experiences, the F2P model never improved the experience of those who would have normally paid for it. I do understand that the F2P model is more profitable, but, in my opinion, it ruins the game. More of a risk.
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 parents credit cards and no concept of the value of a dollar.
If we colonize Mars, it won't be the World Wide Web anymore. UWW?
That's cute coming from someone posting via a Facebook account. Perhaps le reddit would be more to your liking.
I'll never play this, but I'm sure some people will enjoy it very much. I continue to wait for Titan.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
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.
Sarcasm. Embrace it.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
Could actually be interesting. No Blizzard release should be take lightly. Maybe this will contribute to the Blizzard lore in a meaningful way, which would always be welcome.
When Dice took over, they added an option to use FB credentials during the act of creating an account. Had I known the 30 seconds of typing I was saving would forever brand me with an azure f, I'd have skipped it. It saved me time, that's all.
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.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
[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 have a limit of around 250 USD for each currency type. Basically its like Microsoft or Nintendo points, except that they keep track of the actual money you put in.
Now there is a limit to how much you can have in your account at once before you have to cash out. However, you can't sell any one item on the D3 Auction house for more than 250 USD. Unless these kids have their own paypal account, I really doubt they would be subject to the taxes.
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 the game has no interest that this black market dealer makes money. They will go out of their way to ensure that you do NOT need to buy and sell your gold. Once they get a cut, it flips around.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
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.
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?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Sorry sweetie. I don't swing that way.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
It's not a trading card game (TCG), it's a collectors card game (CCG). You're not allowed to trade your cards with other players.
Your busy day that involves: facebook.
Sounds like a real busy day indeed!
this. it is why they never cracked down on people trading gold for things that cost real life money (time cards, mounts, pets [before they started marketing the ones to be ah friendly]) because it all gets funneled directly to them anyways, but try and sell that same gold for straight up cash and all of a sudden it becomes a no-no.
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