The year is 2013. The date? March 22. PAX East's schedule has a panel dedicated for "Blizzard Entertainment Presents" taking place as the show opens at 10 AM Eastern. Fans of the company from around the world are beyond excited about the idea that Blizzard is launching a new game.
Quote From Blizzard We’ve been working on a little something, different from our other games… It’s not a sequel, expansion, or that rumored next-gen MMO, but it’s something we’re excited for you to get your hands on.
Rob Pardo takes the stage, greeting the audience and giving them a rundown of Blizzard's game history. Team 5. 15 Developers, Scrappy, Versatile, Experiment more, Faster development cycles. The cinematic plays and is met with applause.
Old Rexxar and Valeera
The Original Mage Borders
Personally, I prefer these lighter blue borders. Also, that card text...
Lorewalker Who?
Our friend, Lorewalker Cho, had very different art back in the day!
Hearthstone's First Caster
Ben Brode, may he and Second Dinner do wonders!
A Younger Blizzard
Who can you spot from the Hearthstone team in this photo?
What the Press Thought About Hearthstone
Quote From Game Press “More importantly, it won me over on a genre that, 24 hours earlier, I couldn't have cared less about. That doesn't happen every day.”
- EurogamerBased on appearance alone, this game looks close to being ready for release, and the artists should be proud of their handiwork.
- MashThoseButtonsMy favorite aspect of Hearthstone so far are all of the little touches. For example, you can see which cards your opponent is fiddling with during gameplay. The decorative UI fringe has some light interactivity, such as a launchable catapult, to keep you entertained while your opponent takes their sweet time.
- Mobile Nations“So, my first impression after playing? Absolutely positive. Seeing how accessible the game is, I'm most excited to share it with other people. Hearthstone would allow my friends to play something with me without a huge investment of time or demand for skill.”
- WoW Insider “There is playing a card game, and then there is Blizzard's version of that. Everything in the game has an epic feel to it. From ending a deck, to casting spells, the power is in the players hands. Blizzard does spell effects the best and even in a small card game, you feel and see power in every turn. It is what sets them apart from other games.”
- MMORPG “And with the incredible polish of the game’s presentation, and the promise of immediate accessibility to hardcore and casual gamers alike, I fear that no one will be safe from getting sucked into its rich and imaginative world and never wanting to come out.”
- Gamezebo
Watch the Panel
Relive the PAX East panel with a video of the whole reveal!
Comments
Didn't jump on the Hearthtrain until TGT, so it's nice to see what people's initial reactions were! And Brode looks different than what I remember, though maybe that's because I haven't seen him in years.
About Arcane Missiles, the change they did had actual consequences and isn't just there for flavor reasons. With spell damage +1, the current version just deals 4 damage randomly split, while the alpha version would deal 2 damage to a random enemy three times, so a total of 6 damage! This is absolutely OP and I understand why they changed.
Greater Arcane Missiles does have that wording, and you can verify in the game that spell damage does indeed buff each missiles individually.
Were we so young and innocent back then?
I remember the challenge I had completing Heroic Naxx with little to no collection and I had yet to discover dedicated community forums at that point; that was a long solitary journey ^^
I remember finding out about Hearthstone from a Total Biscuit WTF Is? video.
I missed the Open Beta but started playing day of release and aside from a two month break during Gadgetzan I've been playing ever since.
https://youtu.be/A7DAacEZ7zs
That old art for Lorewalker Cho seems more similar to the actual new expansion coming out, Ashes of Outland. Maybe was that this set was postponed so long for some reasons and they've finally decided to put it out now? Or maye it's just the same artist.
Missed lethal in the announcement video lol
This makes me feel nostalgic.
I know Hearthstone has its ups and downs but at least it is a fun ride (well, not so much on Shamanstone or Druidstone). And I'm really interested on the changes to come the next months.
Blizzard, as a company, and HS, as a game, came a long way since 2013. Thanks for reminding me, when did the whole journey start.
Ah, yes. so much experiment, first year it was, but then, only brawls were added and 5 years nothingness. Good to see new developers and actually experimentations with formats and new class and new modes. Still no deckslots:D
Ah yes. Back then when adding deckslots was a request denied due to the possible confusion it generates.
Oh, and I still remember watching the first ever hearthstone "world champion" win. Artosis, little known winner of the first ever blizzcon hearthstone tournament.
Also, I swear the voice acting for Malfurion prior to launch was different to the one we have today.
Good times, good times.
People who got into Hearthstone after March 2016 will really question confusion for the reason there wasn't more deck slots but I point to December 8th, 2014, the day that Goblins vs. Gnomes released. Patch 2.0.0.7234 introduced the option to buy 60 packs for the first time on the 4th. Release day saw tons of people use the new buy 60 pack option to buy....CLASSIC packs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Streamer after streamer would auto-pilot buy classic packs instead of GvG packs & no telling how many non-streamers did the same thing. Blizzard issued lots of refunds that day.
Thus a new meme was born that day of "instructions unclear, bought 60 classic packs instead!"
back then, if im not mistaken, there werent any headers on the UI. Only the pack design was the indication aside from the obvious button.
Blizzard offered refunds, so that's all wells that ends well.
But I dont see what this has anything to do with the deckslots confusion. I still remembered that the statement issued out asks players to keep a list of their decks so they can replace their decks (deck codes werent a thing then, I think).
I always thought that was from Trump (the Hearthstone player) buying the wrong packs.
Trump bought 20 Classic packs instead of GvG packs with gold after he opened his initial 100 GvG packs.
There were streamers who bought the new 60 pack bundles like Reynad. That is where the meme came from.
Did not live that moment, as I learned that hearthstone existed on its second month after launch. Nice to be able to see it at last. I will take a look in a minute