There have been a number of card games out before and even Blizzard had their own CCG in the World of Warcraft universe. But, as many of these games tend to be, they were not as accessible to a larger audience. Whenever you tried to show them to one of your friends, the amount of rules and technicalities scared them away. With Hearthstone all of that changed.
Since Blizzard said from the start that this would be a free to play game, people were intrigued about the idea. But what made Blizzard so different from all the other CCGs out there and how can one explain these large number of players logging into the tavern every day?
Blizzard did not need to create a new universe for Hearthstone. With the well established Warcraft universe at hand, millions of people had an instant connection with the game. Finally you were able to go into battle with the mighty shaman Thrall, Uther the paladin, archmage Jaina and the others. On top of that, the release was not only planned for PC and Mac but Blizzard announced plans for an iPad build as well. In a world where technology is that important, Hearthstone connected all of us.
Take a seat!
With Hearthstone still under development, Blizzard took the liberty to host the Inkeeper's Invitational at Blizzcon 2013. With personalities such as Kripparrian, Trump and Artosis attending, the stage was set for an awesome event. While Artosis won in the end this events finals with 3-2 against Krip, Hearthstone was the real winner. Even if people didn't give competitive Hearthstone much credit at the time, the scene kept on growing.
More than 100k vievers over the streams and all the people attending Blizzcon were able to see the true potential of the game. Even if the release had to wait until March 2014, a scene for the game already existed and for a time the phrase Hearthstone beta key was the most important thing to talk about. Still in beta, Hearthstone built up a community of millions of players arround the globe. Series such as the IHearthU King of the Hill which started in 2013 and the ESGN Fight Night in early 2014 further set the stage for competitive Hearthstone and helped build many of the pro player stories we follow today.
Growing time
The release gave everyone access and as players were now able to play the game at their own pace, tournaments and streams popped up left and right. Through a variety of showmatches weekly tournaments like the ZOTACs and GosuCups, Hearthstone grew big enough to become a participant in the Dreamhack series as well as the IEM tournaments. Asia and especially China became a center of attention for Hearthstone with ongoing tournament series and prize money ranging up to five digit sums. Unlike a lot of other games that require hardcore dedication, Hearthstone's simplicity attracted waves of followers and around 60,000 can be seen watching the game on Twitch on a normal day.
The development of the competitive scene went hand in hand with the evolution of the game itself. The Blizzard balance team wrestled with the innovation of the players and new metagames and decks were invented on a fairly regular basis. The flavors of the month swayed from aggro to control, from Frost Mage to Hunter, from Miracle Rogue to Handlock, from Zoo to Ramp Druids. Meanwhile, the players who kept winning despite these rapid shifts and prevailed through their ingenuity and dedication to the game, became the faces of Hearthstone as we know them today.
This upbeat tempo of the game kept Hearthstone fresh and multi-faced even in its periods of stagnation towards the end of the vanilla era. Despite the dominant decks being figured out and the games becoming sort of repetitive, the allure, simplicity and stream-friendly nature of Hearthstone kept attracting more people. A new milestone was in sight.
Even Malygos had his time of glory
20 Million
Hearthstone was not bound to the few pro players and their tournaments. Everyone was able to take a seat at a Hearthstone table and with adjustments made by Blizzard like the observer mode it became easier to share the game with your friends. With the release of Curse of Naxxramas in July 2014, players got the first single player expansion and a lot more fun cards to experiment with such as the Undertaker, Sludge Belcher or the Nerubian Egg. While the first expansion was still not in sight, the scene of Hearthstone kept on growing.
Day after day, more people joined Hearthstone to hunt for gold, arena wins and ladder ranking. In September 2014 after the game was released for the iPad, Blizzard announced the fact that over 20 million players had joined the fun and they gave a special thank you to the Hearthstone community. In one swipe, people were able to take their Hearthstone game to the coffee shop, to the train and everywhere else.
Cheers indeed
At the Blizzcon World championship 2014, players were finally able to fight for the official title of world best Hearthstone player. Again culminating at Blizzcon, it was James “Firebat” Kostesich who prevailed in the end over Wang "Tiddler Celestial" Xieyu to become the 2014 Hearthstone world champion.
But tournaments and new patches were not the only thing that kept us going. Blizzard also revealed two very important things at Blizzcon 2014.
1) The first expansion named Goblins vs Gnomes was just at our doorstep and would be released on the 9th/10th of December!
2) Hearthstone would also become available for Android devices on the 15th of December.
Now at the beginning of 2015, the game is hotter than ever and with the announcement for the Hearthstone Worldchampionship 2015, we are all ready for all the action! As there are now more than 25 million players active in Hearthstone and the rumour for a new expansion in april is still in the air, one can see we have only just begun.
