Blizzard Entertainment is revealing their new Warcraft Mobile this afternoon and we're going to be recapping it! At first glance, this game looks a lot like Supercell's Clash Royale.
You can watch the reveal live on Blizzard's website, or read on below for our recap of the announcement. You can view the official site here and pre-register on Google Play here. The App Store doesn't have pre-registrations yet.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble Developer Overview
Warcraft Arclight Rumble Cinematic
Official Site
Quote From Blizzard DELIGHT IN THE ARCLIGHT
Warcraft® Arclight Rumble™ is a mobile action strategy game set within the Warcraft universe where collectible Minis come to life to battle in frantic melee skirmishes. Play in multiple modes, including the single player campaign, going head-to-head in epic PvP battles, playing co-op, and more. Experience the true meaning of joyful chaos!
Action Strategy Gameplay
Warcraft Arclight Rumble brings you frantic mobile action strategy combined with meaningful progression and customization.
PvE and PvP
Play through epically challenging campaign maps, dungeons, and raids. Battle with your friends in co-op or against them in PvP and revel in the mayhem.
Assemble your Team
Collect over 65 Warcraft Minis and build multiple armies—good strategy is the key to victory!
THE ARCLIGHT RUMBLE EXPERIENCE
Throughout Azeroth people can’t get enough of this mysterious new machine. A new strategic sensation has swept the land, leaving joyful chaos in its wake.
POCKET-SIZED LEADERS
Leaders possess special abilities that allow them to turn the tide of battle. As the backbone of any successful army, playing to their strengths will be important. Experiment with different Leaders to adjust your strategy or replay maps for additional rewards.
Alliance
Alliance Leaders support defense, healing, and stealth tactics, as well as heavy use of Spells. Tirion Fordring, Maiev Shadowsong, and Jaina Proudmoore devote their skills to the Alliance.
Horde
Horde Leaders like Grommash Hellscream, Sneed, and Cairne Bloodhoof encourage building momentum through earning additional gold, fast attacking Troops, and enemy control with area of effect stuns.
Beast
Beast Leaders like Charlga Razorflank can disable enemy defenses, helping your numerous bestial allies stampede and overwhelm them quickly. Others like Hogger are right at home with a flurry of fast troops swarming your enemies.
Blackrock
Blackrock Leaders, including Rend Blackhand and General Drakkisath, reward you for playing heavy-hitting flying Troops and searing elemental magic users to burn opponents to a crisp.
Undead
Undead Leaders use powerful necromancy on the battlefield. As Bloodmage Thalnos uses Spells, he grows stronger with every cast. Baron Rivendare can summon endless armies of the dead to haunt the battlefield.
LEVELING UP
Whether you’re powering up Minis, unlocking new ways to play, or just on a quest to build the perfect army, there’s always a reason for one more round of Warcraft Arclight Rumble.
Collect Warcraft Minis
Collect more than 65 unique Warcraft Minis, including Leaders & Spells. Each Mini has unique abilities you’ll use to counter enemy Troops—mix and match Minis to form your strategy.
Level Up Your Army
After each battle, you'll gain experience and level up your Minis. Level up to unlock the ability to use game-changing talents!
Unlock New Challenges
Multiple modes include Conquest, Dungeons, Raids, Co-Op and PVP. Replay maps with new combinations of Leaders and Minis for additional rewards.
Screenshots
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Comments
This could be fun. But the only thing I kept thinking about during the reveal is about the aggresive monetization and loads of grinding this game will have. I am afraid this will go the same way as mercinaries… I would love to have a new game but after all bliz has done lately, this will likely not be it…ill see…
Honestly, from what I heard the monetization doesn't sound that bad. especially compared to clash royale. There are no Lootboxes, everything can be earned with free ingame currencies, there are no time limitations, and in the 1v1 pvp everything will be normalized.
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I may be in the minority, but I don't mind Clash Royale's monetization. It's a $5/month pass, the same price as Hearthstone's Tavern Pass, except that you can choose to buy it in smaller increments. And unlike Hearthstone, I don't feel like I need to pay any more for progression or cosmetics once I've bought the pass. Most Clash Royale knock-offs are a lot more obnoxious when it comes to bugging you to buy stuff.
I don't see enough about the monetization in this game to make a judgement call yet. I do think it's interesting that this early marketing is focusing more on the single player experience rather than PVP. I'm willing to pay a (small) ongoing amount for a PVP game that has continued support and an evolving meta, but I want my single player games to just give me a full experience with a set price.
The main things I dislike about Clash Royals monetization is how ridicously hard it is to max out a deck, only for it to get nerfed later(even if it makes sense balance wise). The rewards for winning being gated and limited behind a hours long wait time doesn't help either. Needing gold to upgrade anything in addition to multiple copies of the card also actively discourages me from trying out new decks (even if I got enough copies to upgrade the cards), because it would actively hinder my progression on the one I already have.
I think the main problem I have is that the card level matter too much. Not being able to kill a unit purely because its one level higher than my spell just feels terrible. Two or more levels higher and my chance of winning decrease by a lot. This goes especially for the tower levels.
The pass might be a good deal, but the things it provides feels extremely unfair for players who don't purchase it. It more than doubles the gameplay relevant rewards, shortens the time gates (by isntantly starting the next timer, even if you aren't logged in) and guarantees that you complete every challange, destroying the whole purpose of it.
The monetization things I heard about Warcraft Rumble just sound like a straight improvement to me:
Those are all good concerns about Clash Royale. My experience is that the game worked out well for me. (I'm absolutely not telling anyone they're wrong not to like it, though! Everyone's opinions are valid, especially the opinions that keep you away from F2P games 😄.) At least at my skill level while buying the pass, my progression through the ranks was pretty much perfect with my rise in skill and my opponents' ranks. I never had a time when I really felt frustrated by the cost or grind ahead of me. In contrast, it was so frustrating when I started playing Hearthstone, bought a $50 expansion deal, and then realized I was unable to build a single competitive deck. Today, I can afford to max out several new cards per month as I experiment with new decks, which also compares favorably to how often I can experiment in Hearthstone.
On the negative side, Clash Royale does demand more time from you than Hearthstone does to earn your rewards. And I do prefer the CCG model of progression (where you either have a card or you don't) to the Clash Royale model (where you have the card but should work to make it even stronger).
I guess my main point, though, is that the Clash Royale model for games isn't automatically predatory. And while Blizzard may not be as good as they used to be, their games generally aren't predatory. I agree with your points about how their monetization sounds like an improvement. (Other than the focus on PVE. I'm probably not going to stay interested unless PVP is a focus. But that's just me.)
Is this an out of date april fools joke?
It looks like garbage, Clash Royale rip-off
I wish they did something serious/dark with the Warcraft universe instead of this bullshit for kids.
Also, this is what Mercenaries was supposed to be, but they didn't finish it in time so we got the half-ass version of it in HS. Basically, they tested the market with an early version of this mobile game, to see how many people would pay for it.
I for one am not gonna try this, no matter what they give me for free. I'm sick and tired of these ripoffs. It screams "heavy grinding" from a mile away from its description.
Maybe put your mobile team to work on something else, Blizzard.
Do you have played Clash Royale?
In high ranks you lose because the cards from enemy are more leveled than yours
A huge warning signal is that there was no word about the monetization. Blizzard usually does not mention it if it it obvious that it is a rip off.
I have read somewhere that you can use real money to level up your heroes and such faster. So it is pay to win obviously. This is the first game of Blizzard where someone who has no skill but pays will be able to reach higher than someone who has skill but is free to play.
its only a little mobile game, its not startctaft 3 you are losing notting if is pay to win, anyway hearthstone at beginning was very very pay to win compared to the actual state and do legends without paying real money was kinda impossible
we are losing something though. every time blizzard caves to activision and chooses to release something based on profitability as opposed to it actually being a good game/idea (e.g. mercenaries was a very obvious attempt at making a "gacha game" since games like genshin are so profitable, rumble is obviously attempting to emulate clash since that game is enormously profitable) they lose a little bit of themselves in a way. this used to be one of the only AAA game companies dedicated entirely to the games they make, not the money they make, and seeing them make such an obvious turn in how they operate is saddening to say the least.
i really doubt diablo 4 is going to be pay to win, or an ipotetic starcraft 3, warcraft 4 ecc. its not necessary bad if they want to enter in this kind of market
i know its very poor and sad model of business, but mobile games are all like those, its useless to remember when blizz was indipendent "little" company, she was acquired by another bigger and then acquired again by abother even bigger we can't expect something different when the money rules the world, better to be optimistic then bandage your head before breaking it.
blizzard wasnt independent or "little", they were a major corporation making millions of dollars with multiple IP's that was still nonetheless dedicated moreso to making quality products than they were to giving shareholders wealth. they were the only company in this capitalist hellhole making big money that still gave a shit about the games they make. if we just let corporations do whatever they want and never hold them accountable because "money rules the world" then these problems only get worse. the individual consumer has such a minuscule voice already in a system run by corporations, why try to quiet it any further? just because blizzard will never be the company i fell in love with a decade ago doesnt mean we should just let it be ruined by corporate greed without a single complaint.
Just like with Diablo Immortal, Lost Ark and this game I wouldn't even care that much about p2w, as long as the huge pve focus of the game is perfectly enjoyable without feeling pressured into spending money.
Does one have to pay up front for the game? No? Then it doesn't hurt to give it a try. Same thing with Diablo Immortal, although that game will have a PC option too.
Honestly, this is even more underwhelming than diablo immortal, which at very least resembles somewhat like a game blizzard would release. This game on the other hand looks like something I'd see from youtube ads.
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Well, i hate it. It looks generic as hell, only thing that it has it the blizzard characters. It's cartoony time waster for phone, so it will be their most profitable game in a year, cause kids. Probably unpopular opinion but i'd for at least one serious warcraft spinoff. Not cartoony fun non stop. Everything new warcraft related feels like a parody of what the world once was (including WoW itself)
Now compare the Developer overview of this game to the first overview we got for Mercenaries... I'd say this one is a huge improvement. I know it's completely different teams, but lets just assume Blizzard are learning from their mistakes.