Blizzard said that the company won’t wipe accounts again during the beta phase for “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.”
Player accounts were wiped after the closed beta ended weeks ago to balance out the game. Some cards were either too weak or too powerful, according to Cinema Blend, which said that Blizzard wanted more balance and to give players the chance to reorganize their decks.
Cinema Blend reported that the company confirmed there will be no more wipes.
A Blizzard community manager said, “We have been very clear on our stance on wipes of Hearthstone cards/data, and we have continued to state repeatedly in blog content that we have no plans for any future wipes. We will not be doing any account-specific card wipes.”
The developers are still in the process of making balance changes but will use targeted refunds rather than wiping accounts.
The “Hearthstone” open beta launched in January and the official launch will come later in the year.
“Hearthstone” will likely make a good deal of money for Activision, the company behind Blizzard’s titles, reports have said.
“2014 is likely to be a record-setter,” a R.W. Baird analyst wrote in an Activision note, Venture Beat reported . “We continue to view Activision’s second half of 2014 as potentially the largest in the company’s history.”
“Also important, Activision is beginning to push more aggressively into mobile and free-to-play,” the analyst wrote. “[It is] leveraging core franchises with Blizzard’s upcoming Hearthstone [Heroes of Warcraft] title and the likely second-half release of Call of Duty Online in China.”
Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz predicted that “Hearthstone” and “Heroes of the Storm” will generate $100 million.
“We believe Activision Blizzard is the best-managed company in the video game sector,” he wrote in a note to investors. “We also believe that Blizzard is the single best, most consistent content-creation asset in our coverage universe. We also expect current cornerstone franchises Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Skylanders to continue generating strong revenue and operating profits for the next several years.”
