Fireside Gatherings 2019 - Real Life Rewards, Fireside Home, Tavern vs Tavern
Fireside Gatherings are getting some new features and a boost for 2019! Read on to find out more.
- Care packages Blizzard sends out to some gatherings will be themed around expansions.
- There will be exclusive items available through Fireside Gatherings, though some may become available later on.
- Pre-release events will continue.
- Fireside Home is essentially what Unlisted Fireside gatherings are. They'll have "frequent reminders" throughout the year on how you can enjoy them.
- Tavern vs Tavern returns for 2019! More details will be provided in the second half of 2019
- Blizzard continues their partnerships with the Microsoft Store and Tespa.
Blog Post
Quote from BlizzardWe’ve been a little silent on the Fireside Gathering front recently, but that’s because we’ve been hard at work getting it ready for a big year! If you’ve never attended one before, Fireside Gatherings are a great opportunity to get together with friends old and new to play Hearthstone.
A key focus for us in the Year of the Dragon is to communicate with you ahead of big upcoming changes. We also want to be more flexible when it comes to about making changes that we think will lead to better experiences. So without further ado, here’s what’s in store for Fireside Gatherings this year!
Real Life Rewards
We’re telling a big story in Hearthstone this year, and Fireside Gatherings will be a substantial part of that through campaigns timed to coincide with expansion launches. We typically send out care packages for Fireside Gathering campaigns, full of cuddly plushies and other goodies you can find on the Blizzard Gear store.
This year, we want to treat you to care packages themed around expansions. The items in these packages be available in limited quantities, but they’ll be available to taverns worldwide. Some of them will be Fireside Gatherings timed-exclusives, meaning you can only get them at Fireside Gatherings. (These exclusives may become available through other methods at a later date, though; we’d like everyone to have a chance to get a hold of them!) We know that many of you have enjoyed the Gear Store goodies, so let us know what you think of the new care packages as they start to go out. o go out.
Pre-Release events—which are typically held on weekends, and allow you to open your packs and play with new cards ahead of an expansion’s launch date—will also continue in the Year of the Dragon. If you haven’t been able to attend one yet, remember that you can now also host your very own Pre-Release event from the comfort of your own home.
Which brings us to…
Fireside Home
While public Fireside Gatherings are still a great way to play, we’ve found that the more informal, friendly atmosphere of a smaller event can be welcoming to players just picking up Hearthstone. They can also be a great playground for the budding innkeeper, who might want to figure out their routine before going big. And best of all, you’ll be able to bring all that Hearthstone fun (not to mention your friends!) into the comfort of your own home.
We debuted unlisted Fireside Gatherings last year, but want even more people to be able to enjoy this feature. We’ll have more frequent reminders on how you can best enjoy your Fireside at Home this year. Here’s a little reminder to get you started:
- A Fireside Home will be able to receive Nemsy Necrofizzle if they fulfill all hosting prerequisites. This means having an established Tavern! Learn more about how to establish your tavern here.
- Fireside Home events will be eligible for the Fireside Gatherings card back.
- You can create a Fireside Home event and host it in the same day.
- Fireside Home events will have access to the same Fireside Brawls as public Fireside Gatherings, and that includes Pre-Release features!
- A Fireside Home will 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 and find it in the client as well.
Tavern vs. Tavern
They came, they saw, they conquered. In 2017, we held a Tavern vs. Tavern competition for North America. The team from The Cave walked away the winners. This year, it could be your tavern!
We’ll be hosting a wider Tavern vs. Tavern tournament this time around that’ll allow for participation from around the world. It’ll kick off later in the year, so look for more details (including the full ruleset) in the second half of 2019.
North America Partnerships
In North America, we’ll be partnering with Tespa and Microsoft Stores to bring the Fireside Gathering experience to a whole new group of players.
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Stores offer a curated selection of PCs, gaming consoles, tools, and software, all over the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. And now, they’ll also be hosting regular Fireside Gatherings! The Microsoft Store Fireside Gatherings program kicked off with the Rise of Shadows Pre-Release, and participating stores will continue to run monthly Fireside Gatherings the first Wednesday of each month, from 5:30pm – 9:00pm in their local timezones.
You can pre-register for the festivities and get exact event dates and times here. NNote that registration does not guarantee a seat at the table—it’s first come, first served, so be sure to arrive early to ensure your spot. Participating in a Microsoft Fireside Gathering may even win you Classic Card Packs or Microsoft Store Gift Cards!
Tespa
We’re teaming up with our friends at Tespa to provide an array of heart-filled, Hearthstoney experiences, starting with the Tespa Rise of Shadows campaign. There will be more fun to come when the Fall academic year begins, so keep your eyes open! If you’re a student and you want to learn more about Tespa, find a chapter near you.
if you pay attention, you will see that every comment posted over 20 minutes ago has at least one downvote.
coincidence? I think YES!!!
there is no guy going around downvoting all the comments, that seems pointless
Tournament mode died for this
tournament mode died because it was impossible.
no it wasn't, blizzard is just lazy
blizzard is not lazy, they are just careful to not make mistakes.
if blizzard just prints the first dumb idea that comes into their head in order to give us content faster, then it would all suck, and we would call them bad designers.
but if blizzard moves slowly, and waits to give us the best content, then they are called lazy because we waited to long, and it did not meet our insane expectations.
designing games is hard, especially for such a large audience.
How about some Fireside Mode that is plug-and-play in real life Pubs acting as Innkeeper, for ANY players, including new ones?
A Sandbox where you can access to more cards than you own, possibly with premade decks, and spend some time with your friends around the table, in a Pub.
Anyone could download the App and start playing right away. Some may actually keep playing on their own after that evening in the Pub...
Real life rewards, Fireside Home and Tavern vs Tavern all sound great, but ... What about tournament mode? When is Grand Master format kicking in? And many more questions left unanswered ... Or will that all be covered in the upcoming announcement of the announcement for adventure mode that was announced last week and scheduled for may 9th ?
They already said that they canceled Tournament mode because it wasn't feasible or interesting at all. The community doesn't know what it wants, so there's no good way to make a Tournament mode.
tournament mode died for this
They really want to make this a thing huh? How about changing in game economy system just like they promised few months ago?
I don't remember this promises, care to share a link? And even if they did promise changes, "a few month" is a very short time in Blizzard terms. The Soon™ meme exists for a reason.
Can we get some new features in game? Maybe new game mode, achievements and such? Most people do not care for Fireside Gathering.