Hearthstone Battlegrounds has moved out of the closed beta, and it is now live for the public to test out.
In the open beta for Hearthstone Battlegrounds, you can get three free packs. However, you need to first complete two matches before you can get the freebies. Unlike those who got early access to play the game, the open beta promises fewer bugs and glitches.
Blizzard has released patch 15.6.2 to fix the bugs. The patch also worked to boost the performance of devices for better gameplay experience. The devices with less than 2GB of RAM will stand to benefit most from the patch. However, it is recommended that you use a more powerful device so you won’t suffer lag issues.
Meanwhile, in the patch notes, community manager Kurt Ocher gave updates on what they’ve been doing to improve the game.
He said they found some balancing issues during the initial testing process. So they made some tweaks in time of the Hearthstone Battlegrounds open beta. Among the balance changes include the Hero Powers, Minions (Mama Bear and Kangor), King Mukla, Bananarama, and Jaraxxus.
He also promised that they would release updates and patches every month until the game is stable enough.
The open beta is crucial to determine player feedback. The Hearthstone Battlegrounds is the platform for the designers to determine if an auto battler format will work. Designer Dean Ayala said they went into the game an old tech. The game was primarily designed for a one-on-one battle.
Now, they had to surmount some challenges so they could invite more players to make the battles more fun. While the Battlegrounds was initially meant for eight players, they want to “future-proof” the game. That means, laying the foundations for when they needed to add 12 players or 15 players down the road.
In an interview with Gamasutra, Ayala said they are not concerned about the bottom line right now. Their main goal is to get people trying out Hearthstone Battlegrounds, and so it should be “super fun” to play.
Melissa Corning echoed Ayala’s sentiments. She said all their patches and updates are geared to make the game better and super fun. They are not interested in the monetization aspect in the next few months. She said that the future of Hearthstone Battlegrounds would hinge solely on the interest of the players. If they end up not liking it, Blizzard will likely pull the plug on future developments.
