Blizzard's Free-to-Play 'Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft' Launches on Mac

Blizzard Entertainment's digital card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has publicly launched on the Mac after a brief public beta period. The free-to-play collectible card game is set in the Warcraft universe, allowing players to compete with Magic-style decks in one-on-one fights via Battle.Net -- Blizzard's online gaming platform -- or against the computer.

Though it's only launching on Mac and PC today, Blizzard has promised iPhone and iPad versions of the game as well.

The Hearthstone beta is complete and we wanted to take a moment to thank all of our participants for their incredibly valuable feedback and support. If you haven’t had the chance to jump into the game, now is the perfect time to check out the fast-paced strategy card game that’s fun for everyone. If you’re new to Hearthstone, getting started is simple: Just visit playhearthstone.com and click on the “Play Free Now” button. Once your download is finished, fire it up and click on the Hearthstone icon. Install Hearthstone, then hit the “Play” button and you’ll be on your way.

As soon as you jump in you’ll challenge iconic Warcraft characters, including the ferocious Hogger, the mischievous Millhouse Manastorm, and the wise Lorewalker Cho. As you progress through these introductory missions, you’ll hone your card-slinging skills in preparation for a climactic battle against Illidan Stormrage! You are not prepared . . . for this much fun!

System requirements are fairly generous, requiring an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, although Blizzard recommends an Intel Core i3 or better, along with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M or ATI Radeon HD 5670 or better graphics card.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free download from Blizzard's website.

Top Rated Comments

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Dookieman

67 months ago

It's launched on OS X and Windows. And in the future Blizzard will put out iOS and Android clients of the app so it'll be tablet playable too. Blizzard has not promise iPhone and iPad. They just said iOS and Android so far. After playing the game I don't think it'll get an iPhone release, only iPad.

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Freemium. But you can play 100% free without buying any card packs (you can earn them) and without buying arena entries (you can earn those too). The game is more pay to grind less.

They have stated an iPhone version will also be released, in addition to iPad.

Rating: 2 Votes

tmpkn

67 months ago

This game is a natural for an iPad.

Rating: 1 Votes

DCstewieG

67 months ago

Will this run on my 2012 Mac mini?

No problem. It ran fine for me on a white MacBook with the 9400m.

Rating: 1 Votes

outphase

67 months ago

FTP or IAP?

It's a CCG where you can either earn card packs slowly over time or buy them with real money.

Rating: 1 Votes

bpcookson

67 months ago

I've been playing the beta casually and I've got to say its a good deal of fun. You can definitely play for free, but it is very tempting to spend cash on card packs to get into the game quicker. That being said, you're given a reasonably large number of "basic" cards for free and can earn more class specific basic cards by practicing with a given class.

It's already been said that a card pack has 5 cards, and these are considered "expert" cards. Each one has a rarity denoted by the color of the gem in the center of the card: common, rare, epic, or legendary. Those basic cards I mentioned earlier have no center gem. A pack costs 100 gold or you can get 2 packs for $2.99 (real cash). The guy who said you can buy a pack for $1.99 is wrong; that price point is reserved for a single entry into the Arena... but I'm not going to get into Arena here. You can look it up.

There are three primary means of accruing gold:
1. You get 10 gold for every 3 wins against a real person.
2. You are given a single random quest every day that will award either 40, 60, or 100 gold upon completion, depending on the quest.
3. There are hidden quests, sort of like achievements, that award as much as 300 gold when completed.

Grinding can be slow but it's enjoyable and you're learning along the way. That being said, I've spent some real cash. :D

Rating: 1 Votes

Oppressed

67 months ago

I'm an experienced player that has been playing the beta since September so if you are looking for a friend add Oppressed#1555 to your friends list.

To answer some questions so far in the thread. This is F2P with IAP. Packs of 5 cards are 1.99 or less, but the same packs of cards can be earned just by playing the game naturally. You should on average earn a pack of cards every two days with a casual amount of play time.

Also you can be the best at this game (legend rank) without spending a penny. Many streamers on twitch.tv demonstrated this.

Lastly this WILL come to the iPad later this year. This has already been announced, and your game will transfer over from the Mac version.

Feel free to add me in game and I'll try to answer your questions.

Rating: 1 Votes

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