The term of the last few weeks has been “social distancing,” and gaming companies are finding creative ways to help everyone do that. With so many public events and conferences shut down, pretty much everything gaming related has had to move fully online. Heck, after the dangerous and outright ghoulish resistance that GameStop put up to closing their stores, even they closed their doors.
Blizzard has a new Hearthstone expansion coming out in early April title Ashes of Outland. Fans of the Warcraft series will recognize plenty of figures in the new Outland-themed cards, including the Lord of the Black Temple himself, Illidan Stormrage. While Blizzard has canceled any of the in-person events that may have accompanied the release, they had a few words for how they intend to do an online format.
“Players can register their own one-person event to enjoy opening Ashes of Outland card packs the weekend of April 3-6. Over the next week, we’ll be implementing this transition of currently scheduled events to private status. Thank you all, innkeepers and patrons, for understanding.”
Introducing Hearthstone’s first new class since launch: the Demon Hunter!
😈 https://t.co/zQQVT0bx8M pic.twitter.com/4NpnWoCPXF
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 17, 2020
These private fireside gatherings will be eligible to receive Nemsy Necrofizzle if they fulfill all of the hosting prerequisites, like having an established Tavern. They’ll also be eligible for the Fireside Gatherings card back and allow event listing creation the day that the private event is meant to be hosted. These fireside gatherings will have the same Fireside brawls as public Fireside Gatherings and be visible on the website only to the innkeeper hosting it. The fireside gathering itself will be visible in the game client, and attendees will be able to search it out as well.
The fireside gatherings won’t be visible on the Tavern or any of the other event pages Blizzard may implement, nor will they show up if you search for it on the upcoming events. They will be entirely private, but will not count towards any Tavern or Innkeeper progression you may be working towards.
If you hold one of these private pre-release events, you’ll have the chance to get a few packs of Ashes of Outland card to pad your collection out before the launch of the expansion itself on April 7th. They’ll be active from April 3rd at 10 AM PT through April 6th at 10 AM PT.
All in all, it’s a fantastic effort to keep some level of hype continuing for a pre-release effort in lieu of any physical events. If you intend to charge through the Dark Portal when the event begins, make sure you get your hands on a few pre-release packs!
