Fireside Gathering
- The in-game information in this article is kept purely for historical purposes.
Fireside Gatherings were real-world gatherings of people to play Hearthstone in mostly public places. They were intended to be an opportunity for Hearthstone players to meet, mingle and form real-life friendships, as well as enjoy playing the game face-to-face with opponents in either casual or tournament format.
Gatherings could be of any size, and may feature multiple player pools (such as a "novice pool" and an "expert pool") or even mini-tournaments, but were intended to be open to players of all skill levels. With suggested locations of coffee shops, book stores and college dorms, Fireside Gatherings were mostly intended for users of tablets and laptops, although any computer on the same network could be considered part of the event.
Blizzard actively encouraged players to organise their own gatherings on an ongoing basis, as well as periodically suggested events specifically themed around upcoming content releases, as with the One Night in Karazhan Release Party. Blizzard provided prospective innkeepers with information and resources, and provided players with listings of gatherings, available on the official Fireside Gatherings website (No longer active as of 2023, now redirects to the blog post announcing its removal).
The Fireside Gathering concept was debuted by Blizzard on April 17th 2014 to celebrate the launch of Hearthstone on iPad.[1] As of June 2016 Blizzard were actively working on promoting Fireside Gatherings and making it easier to find people to play Hearthstone with in real life.[2] On April 4, 2017, new functionality for Fireside Gatherings was added with Patch 8.0.0.18336.
In Patch 27.6.0.187190 on October 17, 2023, Fireside Gatherings were discontinued, and all data associated with them was removed from the game.[3]
Fireside Brawls[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Fireside Brawl
Fireside Brawls were special Tavern Brawls that were only played at Fireside Gatherings. Each month revealed a different Fireside Brawl to try. Players at the Fireside Gathering played with each other in these special Tavern Brawls.
Tavern Hero Tournaments[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Tavern Hero Tournaments
Tavern Hero Tournaments were special Blizzard-sanctioned Hearthstone tournaments at Fireside Gatherings, taking place in select locations across the Americas. Winners from Tavern Hero Tournaments were named "Tavern Heroes" and were invited to compete in the next upcoming Season Playoffs for the Hearthstone World Championship Tour.
Notes[edit | edit source]
The Launch card back was created to reward players participating in Fireside Gatherings, although it can be earned without attending one. The card back is awarded by completing the "Fireside Friends" quest, which requires playing three matches against other players on a subnet, with at least three players in total on that subnet.
At the time of the initial announcement, 10 Fireside Gatherings were planned, all in the US, for April 26th 2014. By the end of April 26th, nearly 80 Gatherings had been added to the LiquidHearth and official site event listings. While predominately taking place in the US, nearly 20 other countries also had Gatherings planned, from Asia and Europe to South America. Around 40 of these were scheduled to take place on April 26th, with most of the others spread out across the next week. In addition to these online listings, it is likely many other Gatherings took place, either advertised locally, or online through individual websites. Since any real-world gathering of Hearthstone players is considered a Fireside Gathering, a far larger number of less organised Gatherings may also have taken place, with little or no advertising.
Since then, Blizzard had continued to regularly encourage the organisation of Fireside Gatherings. This had led to a large convergence of Gatherings around specific dates, as well as a smattering of events on an ongoing basis.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
A Fireside Gathering in Stockholm, Sweden
A Fireside Gathering hosted by Insert Coin in Łódź, Poland
A Fireside Gathering hosted at the Gnet internet cafe in Athens, Greece
A special Fireside Gathering in Sydney, Australia in August 2016, including an appearance from Ben Brode to reveal cards for the upcoming One Night in Karazhan
Fireside Gathering old logo
Patch changes[edit | edit source]
Patch 27.6.0.187190 (2023-10-17): Removed.
Patch 8.0.0.18336 (2017-04-04): Added functionality to support the upcoming Fireside Gatherings Tavern closed beta test.
Patch 1.0.0.5170 (2014-04-10): Added.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Zeriyah (2014-04-17). Introducing Fireside Gatherings! - Battle.net forums. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
- ↑ IGN - BLIZZARD ON THE STATE OF HEARTHSTONE. (2016-06-10).
- ↑ Blizzard Entertainment (2023-09-06). Introducing Mass Pack Opening: The New Way to Open Your Pre-Purchase Bundles.
External links[edit | edit source]
- Official Fireside Gatherings website (Deprecated as of 2023)
- Official Fireside Gatherings resources (Deprecated as of 2023)
- LiquidHearth - Fireside Gatherings event list (Deprecated as of 2019)
- Pull Up a Chair: Introducing Fireside Gatherings (Official announcement blog) (2014-04-17)