Blizzard just announced a new feature to open (pre-order) packs along with removing Fireside Gatherings completely from existence.
Quote from BlizzardWe’re making some changes to the current expansion Pre-Release Weekend and Fireside Gatherings system ahead of our next expansion announcement, reveal period, and launch.
A Found Farewell to Fireside Gatherings
First, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the Fireside Gatherings program as we re-align our focus towards features and programs that can serve more of our players throughout the world.
As part of this shift, the Fireside Gatherings website, servers, and in-game buttons will be shut down and removed before the next expansion. Some of these changes have already gone into effect; others are scheduled over the next few patches. As of today, the public Fireside Gatherings website has been shut down. This means you will no longer be able to create public or private Fireside Gatherings, and there are no Fireside Gathering Pre-Release Weekend plans for future expansions.
A Happy Hello to Mass Pack Opening!
For many years, we’ve noticed that the most common Fireside Gathering functionality was creating private events to open packs early during Pre-Release Weekend. Players primarily wanted to get their pack opening done early so they could jump right in and start playing the new expansion as soon as it unlocked. We’re happy to share we’ll be adding a new feature that will let everyone get into the action faster and with less friction than ever before: Mass Pack Opening!
If you have 5 or more of the same type of pack, you’ll be able to open up to 40 of them at once! That means it’ll take just a few clicks to crack open all the packs you get from pre-purchase or any other large bundles.
To access Mass Pack Opening, grab a pack from your stack and hold the pack over the stack. It will charge up with energy and start adding packs to your opening. Once you’ve gathered all the packs you want, move over to the pack-opening area and release your stack of packs.
Voila! The interface will then show you some highlights from your packs, which you can reveal one by one or all at the same time, and then it will give you a full summary of all the cards opened in that pack stack. All the cards will be in your Collection, like normal, for browsing and deckbuilding once your packs are all open.
Mass Pack Opening has been a much-requested feature for a while now, and we’re happy we’ll be able to deliver it to our players before the next expansion. Players who just want to open all their Pre-Purchase packs right away will be able to do so in a fraction of the time! And players who like opening each pack individually and savoring their loot can still do that, too.
What About Community Events?
We know that for some players Fireside Gatherings were more about engaging with Hearthstone community than they were about opening packs. We’re very excited to be returning to BlizzCon this year, as the ultimate in-person celebration of Blizzard games and community! Hearthstone is cooking up some particularly fun stuff for BlizzCon that you won’t want to miss.
We are also exploring options for new community-building events that are more digital-focused, like our recent Community Day activation. Additionally, we’re continuing to expand our Creator Program and using that program to support those creators who are growing the community. Our digital communities are passionate and extend much further than our ability to meet up in person—we’re always looking for better ways to serve those global audiences.
What About Fireside Brawls?
The special Fireside Gathering Tavern Brawls will no longer be accessible through Fireside Gatherings, but may be folded into our regular Tavern Brawl schedule—for example, we’ve recently been doing the Deck Recipe Brawl around each expansion launch. We’re still exploring what we want to do in this space and we’re interested in hearing from you.
What About Playing with Friends?
You can always challenge a friend through the Friends List. You will also still be able to find “Nearby Players” when you and other players are on the same network (and the network and your devices have that capability), and you’ve all turned on “Enable nearby friends” in the in-game Privacy Settings. These tools will remain the best bet for people interested in putting on their own events and playing with other people.
And What About Nemsy and the Fireside Card Back?
Ah, yes, Nemsy. The original Nemsy Necrofizzle is one of the more iconic and sought-after skins in the game. She was originally earned by participating in a Fireside Brawl at a qualifying Fireside Gathering. For years, we’ve heard concerns from players who were unable to obtain Nemsy because of the physical requirements involved in earning her.
As part of this change, we’re planning on adding a way for players to get the Nemsy Necrofizzle hero portrait and the Fireside Gatherings card back in-game. We’ll share more details once they’re ready.
To all our Innkeepers, fans, friends and family who ever hosted or attended a Fireside Gathering, we thank you! You will always be an important part of Heathstone’s history and community. We look forward to seeing you all in the Tavern.
Yay. Something what should be in game from beginning. We are happy as hell. I mean, nope. You lazy fu**s
I don’t know why it took almost a decade to implement mass pack opening. Shadowverse had this since it came out. Finally I don’t have to click for over an hour straight to open the 320+ packs I get for each expansion.
Fond*
Finally, and it only took 9 years of people asking for the feature!
Throwing accusations without proof makes people never take you seriously
You are the Joker of this forum for sure
More like a clown, not Joker.
An entire circus.
To be honest I only join a firesite gathering once for the skin. This was very complicated, as it was new at this time and didn‘t worked that good. Especially here in Germany where W-lan and Hotspots in puplic not that good and many.
I was never interesting in open my packs earlier. If I open them I wanna play them in wild game mode, which isn‘t possible at firesite.
So I‘m always patient and open my packs with launch. Don‘t know if I wanna use the mass opening which is a good idea per se. But I don‘t like how the cards you got showed up in the list. I would prefer if you could see them as same animation like pack opening just the non excess cards.
"We're interested in hearing from you"
Okay well people have been spamming ideas to replace or upgrade Fireside and Tavern Brawl for years now and so far this is all they have to show for it.
Wow finally. Even so, I'm not a fan of the text summary of what you opened, I'm sure there must be a better way to summarize what you got more visually.
What about the way to buy the full collection of a set like in mini sets? You can pay over 165€ per season (50€ and 80€ pre purchase, 20€ battle pass, 15€ mindset) and you can also don’t have all cards. Free to play players don‘t have any chances to get an full collection
If you are paying this amount of money every expansion and don't have every card you are doing something terribly wrong. My last 5 purchases with money are titans, festival and sunken city passes, sunken city preorder and onyxias lair mini set. All 5 standard minisets (and path of arthas) purchased with gold and I am currently at 109/147 expansion only standard legendaries with 32k dust.
Well, you can have all those full sets for free if you no-life the game, but not if you play for 30 minutes per day. Having a life doesn't mean you are doing something wrong, quite the opposite. And I personally think that 100 dollars per expansion is ridiculously expensive, even if it gives you the full set.
You have no clue what you are talking about. Playing 10 hours a day will make a miniscule difference than just completing your quests.
Also it's hilarious to me you say you play just 30 minutes a day, yet you are on a very niche site specifically about this game and replying on comments. You are either lying or just a buffoon. Either way, I can't take you seriously.
Huh? I can get the OP is complaining on a non-issue, but saying if they only play for 30 minutes, they're either lying or just a buffoon for being on this site replying to comments
I haven't taken Hearthstone seriously for awhile now, and maybe play 10-20 minutes a day. Am I a liar or a buffoon because I use this site and reply to comments? I can't take you seriously
Oh wait, nm. You only been on this site for 2 months. Lurk more my friend, you're new here :)
First of all hearthstone is a game. And games are not supposed to be taken seriously.
Why do you play 10 mins a day? It can't be due to time constraints because you wouldn't be on hearthpwn. You don't enjoy it anymore and play just to complete your quests? Why you need to complete your quests if you don't enjoy it?
This is like someone wanting to quit smoking but saying he'll have a cigarette or two when he is outside.
Mass pack opening - thank you!
Well, so much for my hope that HS might become more social... (at least optionally)
They instead could've expended that Fireside Gathering system to the digital realm where at any time and place in the world you might be able to join a given Fireside Gathering with unique Brawls and who knows what you could all do with that. But no, they just outright removed it to "re-align our focus towards features and programs that can serve more of our players throughout the world."
What does that even mean? I guess it means that most people don't like or even hate playing this game in a social setting, having a nice fun time with another player playing this game.
I suppose they really try to appeal to this audience. You know, there are decks called "solitaire decks" because there's not much interaction and the player is just trying to pull something off by themselves; pretty much neglecting the other player most of the time. In my quest to find new friends to play with I came across some of them. It seems it is really fun for them getting lucky drawing the right cards and then in like 10% of games or so they can pull off something absolutely disgusting that basically just wins them the game right on the spot. Often just cheating out huge stats on the board or alternatively some damage from hand OTK or something along those lines.
Is this what Hearthstone has become? Is this what they want to "realign their focus towards"?
Recently I also noticed that when sharing decks it doesn't share the Hero anymore. I suppose it was a bug. But that was so cool. Getting to let others play with cool Heroes or being able to play yourself with one you don't have. Now I'm even less inclined to get new Heroes basically because I can't even share them this way anymore. As if it isn't bad enough already that most are unavailable because of exclusivity.
But I guess this might be exactly what they want to "realign their focus towards". And I certainly don't like this direction...
Ever since they introduced the rewards track it feels like it just goes downhill. So much focus on like exclusive stuff to show off and more decks than ever that just "win or lose by turn 4" or are just super polarizing as in depending on the matchup it's either "stomp or get stomped". Where are games that are actually fun because it feels fair; where everyone tries their best with a lot of back and forth? Almost nowhere to be found except in friendly matches with the right people; with the right decks.
This game could be so much better in so many aspects but time and again they seem to almost always do the worst thing. The worst thing that doesn't kill the game. But indeed what makes them the most money I suppose. You can't really argue against it and that a lot of people don't care about this "social interaction" or like "having fun playing a fair game" etc. But I at least think they could do a little better also caring for that audience even if it might be small. I've met enough people like me to say that I'm not the only one. But yes, probably a small minority.
But what do they do? Remove the one feature that if properly adjusted would be the best to make this a more social game you can just play for fun with friends? ... I don't even know what to say anymore. It's just... so sad. I mean, maybe they have something else planned regarding the "social aspect", but this feature was always something that they would just need to fully "digitize" and it would be absolutely incredible. And now they just butchered it. ...
At least they didn't remove the option to play against friends. And I really hope they don't plan on removing the deck sharing feature. So I can at least still have fun with friends if I find them.