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Hearthstone players will be excited to hear that the next leg of the game will center around the infamous Naxxramas. Curse of Naxxramus will feature 5 wings of the necropolis, with one section opening each week (Arachnid Quarter, Plague Quarter, Military Quarter, Construct Quarter, and Frostwyrm Lair).

To get into the first wing for free, just log on during the launch event coming up next month and begin fighting those undead nasties. The other wings will be 700 gold ($6.99) per wing, or you can purchase them in a bundle for $24.99. The event will include some old fiends from Warcraft: Anub’Rekhan, Grand Widow Faerlina, and Maexxna. Once you beat them all you can challenge yourself with Heroic Mode and gain access to a new card back for your collection.

So start hoarding your gold in Hearthstone as the Undead approach!

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a deceptive game because it can be so easy to get into, but doing well winds up being a bit of a challenge. Well, for those just jumping into the game with its iPad release, here are a few general tips on how to get better at Hearthstone.

If you're serious about becoming a good player, dedicate yourself to doing so. This is not a standard mobile title, this is a Blizzard-made PC game that's available on mobile. Yes, it has an easy learning curve to get into, but there's a steep mountain to climb to be an expert, and part of that is collecting all the great cards that are out there.

So, if you're going to go from newb to even just being respectable at the game, be prepared to dig in. Get ready to lose often, and to spend a lot of time learning how to play well as much as actually trying to play. Remember: you're at a disadvantage because there's plenty of experienced players out there already thanks to the game's PC beta period, even though there are those folks just jumping in as well. Also remember: this is a free-to-play game. You may want to spend money on booster packs if you want to get better cards.

Take advantage of the resources that are out there. The benefit to this being a widely established game is that there are a ton of resources out there already. Use them! If you have a question, Google it - someone's probably answered it! There are sites like the Hearthstone Gamepedia Wiki, Liquidhearth which includes a very handy tier list for the Arena mode and a forum to browse and ask questions in. This guide to the 25 best cards is extremely enlightening because some of them are common. Also, the game is one of the most popular titles on Twitch. Watch and see what people are doing, and learn accordingly!

Don't be afraid to experiment. It can be easy when starting out to stick with the starting class and to just try and build them out. Don't do so - there are nine classes in total, and it's possible that one might be more conducive to your play style than another. So try them out as you unlock them. This is why I say you should be dedicated. You likely won't get to a position where you are at an optimal level for a long time if you're committed to being good.

So always be trying out different things, playing as different classes, trying different strategies, and especially forming different decks. I recommend reviewing a deck often: is a card a good idea to have in a deck? Would a new card be better than one already in the deck you've made that you're comfortable with? You won't know for sure until you try it out for yourself.

Pay attention. Try not to be distracted when you're playing seriously. You want to know at all times what your strategy is going to be, what cards you're going to play - and more importantly, not play, as a powerful ability might be better served for later. Mana amounts are more of a suggestion of what you can do, not what you must do. You have some time to make moves, so take advantage of it!

But the other big reason to pay attention is that decks are only 30 cards. While it's impossible to know what exactly a player has in their deck, if you know they've used something already (especially twice), then you know what they can't do in the future, or can even just have an idea on what they might do, based on their class (this is why you experiment)! Be smart, and you can outwit your opponent.

Play often! You're not going to get better by not playing. Play regularly - practice against the AI, especially when starting out. But try to complete the missions daily if you're a serious player: they're free gold for the taking, and free gold means less real-world money spent on arena entries and booster packs (or just more of them if you're intent on not paying)! And remember: the things you learn will stick more when you play and do them more. Your account will transfer between different platforms, so you can play wherever you so choose.

So get out there, and get Hearthing those stones for great victory!

For a while we just had to sit back while PC gamers got to enjoy it. Then they teased us with a soft launch. Now the wait is finally over - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is available on the US App Store!

This is normally where I'd speak a bit about how neat it looks and how popular it is, but it's freaking Hearthstone. You deserve a medal for sticking around this long rather than going straight to the App Store to download it. But don't worry, I won't keep you.

You can grab Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft for the iPad now, for free.

Despite the fact that Hearthstone seems tailor-made for tablets, there were some challenges in bringing it to the iPad. Namely getting Battle.net to function and needing to tweak the interface a bit. But make it to tablets it did, and it’s coming to the US App Store “Soon™.”

In about a week US iPad players will be able to get their hands on Blizzard’s most desirous card game, but of course there’s more to it than that. Also on the “Soon™” List are Adventures, which are self-contained challenges where players square off against the AI and attempt to defeat special boss characters to win more cards. The first Adventure coming out of the gate (sometime in the hopefully near future, but no specific dates have been given) is the ‘Curse of Naxxramas.’ World of Warcraft players will probably recognize the name, seeing as it’s a fairly well-known raid dungeon.

Last but certainly not least (well, for me anyway) was the news that Hearthstone will also eventually be making its way to the iPhone. It’s going to be separate from the iPad version (so not Universal), but the fact that it’s in the works is enough for me!

Of course if you do have an iPad you can just grab Hearthstone once it releases on the App Store in about a week.

Blizzard's free-to-play online collectible card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, left beta not long ago. Now its mobile days begin, as they have soft-launched their online card-battling game in Canada ahead of its global launch. So I grabbed my deck and chatted up some pandaren for this edition of It Came From Canada!

The core gameplay of Hearthstone has players using an increasing supply of mana to play cards they've drawn: most are creatures that can be put into the arena, and only played on the next turn, though some have instant effects such as attacking immediately. Players also have hero attacks that cost mana but can be used to attack the other player or their creatures, with the ultimate goal being to take the opponent's hero down to zero health. Players can battle online with others via Battle.net, take on computer opponents in Practice Mode, and spend their winnings (or currency purchased via in-app purchases) on cards to outfit their deck. It's fast-paced, but easy to get into.

The game is simple enough that anyone can get into it after the first six tutorial missions, which cover the gamut of battling. Of course, this is where the game shows its origins as a non-mobile title: the tutorials take about 20 minutes or so to get through them before players can even battle online. In a mobile-first world this would likely be a lot shorter, but the slow pace does a great job at getting players to know how to play the game.

After the tutorial is finished players must register for a Battle.net account in order to play online, with this account usable cross-platform. Deck creation isn't explicitly covered, but it's possible to just go out with a default deck. Custom decks can be created as well, and there's a handy guided tutorial for creating a well-balanced deck, where the game recommends three cards of a kind - so players can choose and understand how to build a deck, versus the game just automatically making one.

Once into the online battles, the process is similar to the tutorial missions, except slower. Some players online can be slow to decide their moves, though there's only so much time that a player has before the game passes it along. Note that unlike mobile-designed titles like Ascension, players must stay in the battle; there's no jumping to other games.

And really, that will be the interesting thing to see as Hearthstone nears its global release. This is a game that isn't necessarily unfriendly to mobile, but many of the patterns that have defined mobile card battlers are clearly defied here. And the longer pacing could lead to more drop-outs during matches, which would not be ideal for the PC userbase. But still, this is Hearthstone on an iPad and that should excite many people.

Hearthstone, a collectible strategy card game set in the World of Warcraft universe, has been generating quite a bit of buzz lately - and rightly so it seems. Pretty much every single person who plays it says it's awesome. It's certainly something worth getting excited about for iPad owners, but what about those of us who only have iPhones? Turns out we're in luck.

Pocket Gamer reports that Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will, in fact, be coming to the iPhone sometime in 2014. The announcement was made recently at BlizzCon, and will no doubt make many a tabletless iOS user squeal with glee. Of course it's also been stated that the iPad version will be ready sooner, so iPhone users will have to wait a little bit longer, but "later" is a whole lot better than "never."

The development continues to progress for HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft and new details have been released on some of the features that will be available in the game.

Gold is the currency that players will earn by completing quests, which will give them the opportunity to purchase card packs or entry into the Forge. Players will also earn experience, whether they win or lose, and leveling up as a specific class will earn them basic class-specific cards, though sharp looking golden versions can be earned eventually.

New cards and card updates have also been shared over on HearthStone's official blog site, along with the addition of new card frames that helps make each class stand out.

Card Updates:

- Vaporize now triggers when an enemy minion attacks your hero.
- Illidan Stormrage redesigned—you may want to grab some fire resistance gear for this change. For 6 mana, Illidan is a 7/6 minion that has the ability: “Whenever you play a card, summon a 2/1 Flame of Azzinoth.”
- Onyxia has a new power: “Battlecry: Summon 1/1 Whelps until your side of the battlefield is full.” Many whelps! Handle it!
- Mind Vision now costs 1 mana and copies a card from your opponent’s hand.
- Mind Control Tech has lost his mind and has built a new, more polished one. His new power reads: “Battlecry: If your opponent has 4 or more minions, gain control of one at random.

Last week, Blizzard also released a new gameplay trailer of a Fireside Duel between two Blizzard employees. Check out this Druid vs Rouge trailer!

Blizzard Entertainment has announced Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft for the iPad, a free-to-play card vs card strategy game. Hearthstone is said to be simple but engaging as you collect and build your own deck of cards based around one of nine Warcraft character classes. You will duel it out in either practice mode to fine tune your skills or in two competitive game modes through battle.net, all while collecting hundreds of cards by either winning duels or purchasing new card packs. Cards possess a wide range of spells, weapons and characters giving you limitless possibilities and the ability to create your perfect deck of strategy.

“We’ve always loved collectible card games at Blizzard, so it’s been exciting to bring everything we love about the genre to life in Hearthstone,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re putting a lot of focus into creating a fun new game that’s easy to pick up and play, but also has a lot of depth. We can’t wait to share it with everyone.”

There seems to be a possibility that an iOS version of World of Warcraft may be coming in the future. This information comes out of an interview with Senior WoW Developer, John Lagrave, at Blizzard.

It’s by no means a done deal, says Lagrave, speaking to Eurogamer,

"Here's your platform, you've got to put an interface, what do you do? So yes we have [looked into mobile] and we always are. Maybe we'll stumble on the great way to put WoW on the phone - maybe we won't, but we're certainly looking into it.”

As we’ve all come to expect from Blizzard, they won’t release an iOS port until they’re confident it meets the same quality and upholds their reputation,

"We won't do it until we think it's decent...When we have an epiphany, everyone will know...but for now, no epiphany!”

There are Blizzard apps currently on the App Store, one specifically for World of Warcraft. The World of Warcraft Mobile Armory allows players to access stats, calculate talents, access the Auction House, and more. Blizzard also has a mobile authenticator app to help protect accounts.

Is World of Warcraft what Blizzard should really be focusing on for an iOS port? There are plenty of great RTS games on the App Store, but imagine a Starcraft or Warcraft port to iOS.