New Blizzard game!

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free to play digital trading card game from the beloved makers of World of Warcraft.  You can sign up for beta access here with your Battle.net account!

 

What can I play it on?

Hearthstone will initially be available for Windows and Macintosh, with a version for iPad coming later.

 

What can I expect?

The initial launch will contain 300 cards. You can then earn or buy booster packs that contain five cards.  Anything you buy in the beta will be credited back to your live version of the game in the form of an unopened pack. There is also Card crafting which will allow you to consolidate duplicate cards. This will help your deck-building building and take the sting out of buying duplicate cards.

 

What do I think?

The idea of having a Blizzard game on my iPad is giving me the nerd chills.  My only concern is the possible online only requirement.  I am a bit nervous as I have an iPad 2 that likes to drop wifi.  The idea of a Freemium WoW game is interesting.  The words on the interwebs is the booster packs will cost about a dollar each.  1 dollar for 5 cards does seem a bit pricey  but then again knowing how ungodly expensive physical trading cards go for this does seem like a steal.

The best thing I can think of about the idea of a digi trading card game from Blizzard is that I know it will be around in 5-10 years from now.  No throwing my money in to the digital ether with blind hope.  Another upside to this is that you no longer have to find space for a massive card collection.  Just like my Kindle Paperwhite, this is really going to help keep the clutter down in my already cramped Manhattan apartment.

I wonder if we can digitally trade and or wager cards?  I would love to be able to boost my friends Hearthstone decks and beg the same for mine.  Right now I feel bad about those small trading card game shops.  The economy has been tough enough, but a new digital threat is coming soon.  Will the allure of in-store competitions and the social atmosphere be able to help them stay afloat?  Or has Blizzard helped kill/evolve the genre they love so much?  Only time will tell, but I’m off to the card shop in Chinatown to get my TCG fix tonight!

I’m curious if the iPad version will  have in app purchases in the app or will I have to get out of it and have to go to battle.net to buy things like Amazon.com’s Kindle App.  I’d be much more prone to buy things if I could just do it all in app on my iPad.

Here is hoping this goes smoother than Cataclysm and Diablo 3.

Find out more about Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft here!