Love TCGs and this looks to be the closest to F2P we've ever seen for one.
Main points that are available right now:
1.) Beta set to start in Summer 2013, with official release later in the year. 2.) At release will be available on PC, Mac, and iPad 3.) Game will use a 1v1 matchmaking system (hopefully akin to SC with leagues and ladders) 4.) You will be able to purchase packs or earn them slowly through playing. The price that they are mentioning right now would be $1 for 5 cards. Hopefully the rate at earning them by playing will be high enough that with enough effort will not make the game pay to win. 5.) Game will have card crafting - You can disenchant cards you don't need or are duplicates in order to craft other cards that you need.
Here's another video they made for it:
Official Website is www.playhearthstone.com You can opt-in to the Hearthstone beta through your battle.net account.
I'm really excited about this game. For the most part online TCGs have usually just been a cash grab (like most TCGs). There are a few online TCGs that have been free to play but then severely limit you so that you have to pay for boosters. Hopefully this game will be more in the vein of something like League of Legends' system, where purchases can make things convenient but if you spend enough time you can unlock things and eventually come out even.
Would be interested to know what other's reactions are.
Oooh, just found a full game played between a Druid and Warlock
I like Magic: The Gathering, but it's too expensive. This is F2P, so I'll certainly check it out. I hope you earn new cards at a reasonable rate without paying. I also hope you'll be able to trade cards with other players or even play for ante. My main concerns are the art and sound style that make you feel like a 7 year old, and the small set size of only 300 cards, which might hamper variety and deck building.
This seems quite nice for tablets but i don't have one and don't want to get one. But I would definitely get and play if they had this for smartphones.
I would definetly try this out but my only concern is the fake f2p.I mean what if some1 spends lets say 100 bucks straight,will he be the nonplus ultra gamer? that doesnt sound fair to me. I have always hated this type of concept.I dont mind spending money on a free to play game,but only if it gives u skins or visual upgrades,exactly like LOL.If they somehow manage to balance these things out,then im all in for this :D
I am however skeptical on how they intend on monetizing this. If it was similar to LoL where it rotated on free decks (that are all equal) and you had to pay money to permanently own one I would be cool with that.
The most exciting aspect of this game, and the one that completely removes the pay2win frustrations, is the free matchmaking draft system. I love the idea of competitive drafting in TCGs but damn if I'm going to spend 8bucks a draft to sit at my computer.
I'm most excited for this stuff. :D I didn't have any expectations from their announcement at PAX (didn't even care tbh), so this was a very nice surprise!
As far as people worrying about pay to play... one of the modes is called The Forge. It's a mode where you basically do a draft. They have you choose a hero and then give you 3 choices of a card, and you select one to go in your deck. You continue doing that until you fill up your deck and then play someone who picked their deck the same way. Obviously this mode is somewhat random, but no complaint can be made for card availability.
A couple other things I've to report. Booster packs will be the same whether earned through playing or paying, so there won't be any cards that you have to pay to get. Also, cards will be able to be "disenchanted" into dust (currency) and then used to craft other cards you may be missing.
All in all, I think some people are presuming it will be bad for people who don't pay, but I guess we'll just have to see. In LoL you can purchase a character that lowbies won't have access to that might outperform them. Considering the low card count and the way this game is played in general, I don't think there are going to be as many "I win" or mandatory cards as there are in some versions of MtG.
On March 24 2013 20:28 MrSandman wrote: I'm somewhat annoyed they're advertising it on the front page of btnet when it will be a long time before we can play it
Yeah I got super hyped and then I'm like... summer? #blueballs
It actually looks fun, and I love MTG etc, so I will definitely try this out. The basic premise of F2P card collecting game works fine, as is shown by shadow era, and the production value Blizzard can bring gives this a lot of potential.
Are there any videos with high quality image (direct feed would be best) and developer commentary to explain the rules? I think there was something during the stream but not sure if that's available anywhere.
Looking at a video above this seems kinda interesting even though I have pretty much no interest in the WoW lore. Granted, there's at least a lot of stuff I know from Wc3 in there. I may check it out at least.
Gotta say that match lookes more fun than I thought it would. But like man overs I would have to be sure that it wont turn into some fake form of Pay to win.
It has a sort of MMR system for matchmaking. Pay to Win might work for the first 2-3 games when you pump $$$ into the game immediately. After a few games, you should be matched with player of similar MMR.... unless you're really bad at the game that you lose even if your fighting with money
Its interesting to see a "TCG" game like Hearthstone for apps. I have friends who, literally, spend hundreds on online card apps like Rage of Ragnorak and other stuff like that. It honestly always mystified me. But maybe this game will help shed some light on why they would spend that much money. Cause I am very interested to play this :D
EPT
I got super hyped and then I'm like... summer? #blueballs 
