Hearthstone

Staying with my current theme I'll be talking about another card game this week. Hearthstone from Blizzard Entertainment. Hearthstone will be a collectable card game (CCG) based around the World of Warcraft (WOW) universe. I have mixed feelings about this game so I'm going to list my pros and cons.

Pro
It's Blizzard and WOW. Blizzard produces great games. Hearthstone will link to your battle.net account so you can play with people you're currently playing with. Nothing official but Hearthstone could overlap with WOW. It would be great if I could get stuff (XP, valor, pets, mounts) for WOW while playing Hearthstone. This could become a con if you can only get things in WOW by playing Hearthstone. Then the game could become a chore.

Con
Another card game. I'm already playing Magic: The Gathering (MTG) and have backed Hex: Shards of Fate on Kickstarter and impatiently waiting for that. Who has the time for all these games? From what I've seen matches will be quick so I'm sure I'll find some time.

Pro
It's a casual game. It looks pretty easy to learn and get into quickly. MTG and Hex are complex and intimidating if you're not familiar with TCGs. I can see playing this with younger family members and my girlfriend. You can play while waiting for the bus, on a break at work, or whenever you have some free time.

Con
There's a WOW trading card game (TCG). I don't know anyone who plays it. Will anyone play this? I think because it's linked to Battle.net and digital it will attract more players who wouldn't play a physical TCG.

Pro
Free to play. I happily give Blizzard a lot of my money. The fact that I can play without paying any additional cash will be awesome. Hex has the potential to get expensive. There will be booster packs available to buy but that will be optional. You'll be able to by packs using in game gold by winning matches. Cards you own can be disenchanted into dust that can be used to craft cards you need.

Con
Potential conflict of interest. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, and I'm not sure why this bothers me but it does. Cryptozoic the company making Hex also makes the WOW TCG. How come they're not doing Hearthstone? Why does Hex exist? I assume that Cryptozoic wanted to do a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) TCG and Blizzard didn't wan't another MMO competing with WOW so Cryptozoic went to do there own thing.

Pro
Hearthstone will be a gateway drug. Because it's free and simple to learn Hearthstone will attract new players to TCGs. Since it's in the WOW universe it could also attract new players to WOW. Anything that brings in new players and grows the community is a good thing.

Overall I think the pros will outweigh the cons. I can't wait to try this out when the beta is released sometime this summer. You can sign up for it at Battle.net and should definitely check it out once it's out. If you agree, disagree or feel like I left anything out feel free to leave a comment.