Hearthstone.

[LoLSmurfin]

All right, folks, I'm back with another suggestion that I've considered making for a while. My little mod title suggestion ended up fizzling out a bit into discussion, but a lot of useful things got said and done, so I'm happy with that and ready to make another one.

After seeing so much posted lately about the decline of RuneScape - and Sythe as a result (most notably in Dialatic's feedback thread here) - the big thing I took out of those discussions was that Sythe needs to do some branching out so its market section is a bit less one-dimensional. Even R2P himself agreed to that.

Enter Hearthstone.

PC gaming giant Blizzard has done it again, hyping up another huge game that's sure to be a massive hit with PC gamers. But what's special about Hearthstone?

It's free. Completely, absolutely, 100% free to play...Like League of Legends, which is becoming (if it's not already) the biggest PC game of all time, and Riot Games makes upward of $200M annually from their "free" game - source.

What does Hearthstone have going for it to even compare to LoL, you may ask, other than being F2P and being backed by a successful gaming giant?

In-game buyables. The only money LoL makes from its players is on skins/rune pages/XP boosts/etc. - things that don't even aid gameplay. Hearthstone's only P2P option is buying cards to make new decks. It's a pay-to-win, bigtime, which means a massive potential blackmarket for accounts and cards, plus maybe even rank boosting like the LoL market has.

Because the game's still in closed beta and its only market is for keys/accounts with keys, this doesn't quite apply yet, but it could as soon as Blizzcon on the 7th-8th of November this year.


Put simply/tl;dr,

Sythe should get a Hearthstone market (account sales/purchases/trading section; possibly another section for purchases of specific cards - a player-to-player trading system has been rumored to be a possibility, but that may or may not happen - and a Hearthstone discussion forum some time in the near future. The discussion may even be a good place for multiple sections (strategy/guides, gameplay) as well. The game's going to explode (even the beta already has), and this is one we can see coming from a mile away. Let's hop in our bomb shelter, shall we?


Shoutout to Mafiaclan, who reminded me that I'm not alone in thinking this is a good suggestion - his post here.

 

Beta forums:

Could be worth adding. Especially since it's a Blizzard game - at least most people already accustomed to them will at least check the game out for the first while.



I think we should at least try it and if it dies down it's easily moved on. But saying "it might die down" doesn't really do anything productive other than halt any potential activity before we even get it.

 

[Heads447]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to try. I've seen various positive reviews on the beta version and think that Hearthstone will be an instant success. However, just like Diablo 3, I just don’t know how long players will be captivated by the game...

 

[LoLSmurfin]

However, just like Diablo 3, I just don’t know how long players will be captivated by the game...

Agreed, I gave that some thought before throwing this suggestion out here.

But I believe it has a lot more potential than D3 because it's going to be competitive, just like League and Starcraft. An opportunity for infinite advancement (and bragging rights, plus a competitive scene) is the sort of quality long-running, well-played games thrive on.

 

[Galaxy]

Agreed, I gave that some thought before throwing this suggestion out here.

But I believe it has a lot more potential than D3 because it's going to be competitive, just like League and Starcraft. An opportunity for infinite advancement (and bragging rights, plus a competitive scene) is the sort of quality long-running, well-played games thrive on.

This ^^^^ I believe it'll definitely grow into a very competitive game!

 

Definitely give this a go. If we leave it too late then other forums may take up majority of the market. If it fails, so be it. Support.

 

[Delta Squad]

i'd support it, it's a game a couple of my friends already have beta access to and i plan on playing it myself.

 

stick it on the front page (under discussion where LoL is) for the hype and not just the market - if activity and visitors aren't retained then merge everything with gaming general - IMO

we need to start doing this for new games

 

[Mafiaclan]

^ Agreed and Support.

We need to start dipping in to these new markets and give it a go right from the start. Gamers are looking for sub-forums dedicated to the games they want to play, not to have to use a general discussion forum, unorganized and littered with other game discussions.

If the sub-forum flops after a month, then someone can simply remove it. But if we aren't willing to jump in at the ground level when a game is in its infancy, interested users pinging google for forums which offer sections for their game of choice will simply go elsewhere.

 

[Ziggily]

I agree with the suggestions above. This is not a game that I am particularly interested in, but getting the game some exposure early could really help out the forums incredibly.

Worth a shot so I support

 

[S]

Wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.

I don't really know anything about this game, the only reason I've heard of it is due to LoL streamers playing it during queue times.

Worst case scenario the section is deleted due to inactivity.

 

No objections here

 

[Mafiaclan]

I'm extremely involved in this game, and right now there is only a market for beta keys. Upon launch, whether they decide to open up player-owned cards to trade will determine the direction of the market.

However, discussion about Hearthstone deck builds, strategy and meta game are all really potent and besides the official Battle.net forums (which no one with a brain uses, much like the League of Legends official forums), there are hardly any hubs for Hearthstone discussion.

 

[Dave]

Let's make it happen, I'll throw up a SL poll in a sec

 

[Add My Msn]

Support, most of the pro league of legends players play and advertise this game, it will surely be a success.

 

[Dave]

Poll is still in voting, should have an answer soon.

Just a heads up, if it passes, it will have it's own discussion section under LoL and then when/if there is a market we'll find a place for it.

 

[Dave]

n4n0 has created the section, does anyone have any ideas for the stickies? please PM me asap and I will create them.

 

[Dave]

http://www.sythe.org/hearthstone/

 

[Dave]

Bumping, still need sticky ideas / some topics to be made for discussion.

You requested it guys, let's make it happen

 

Sounds like a great way to expand the community. We need to start the market right when it comes out to be the first and maximize the amount of people that join sythe