Those who wish to experience later chapters in the StarCraft II story can purchase the additional single-player campaigns, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and Nova Covert Ops, individually ($14.99 USD each) or together in the Campaign Collection ($39.99) through the online Blizzard Shop. For a limited time, players who already own Wings of Liberty (as of October 31st) but have not yet purchased Heart of the Swarm will be able to get the latter campaign free by logging in to the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app and claiming their free Heart of the Swarm gift between November 8 and December 8.
Starcraft 2 Is Now Free To Play!
This is free* with an asterisk, however; only the Wings of Liberty single-player campaign, all of its multiplayer content, and co-op commanders are included in this statement. The other three single-player campaigns have to be purchased separately**, although this comes with a double-asterisk to indicate that those who previously purchased Wings of Liberty can get Heart of the Swarm for free through December 8th.
StarCraft fans now have a free to play version of the popular Blizzard game StarCraft II. Blizzard announced that StarCraft II would go free-to-play back during BlizzCon and as of yesterday that game has debuted at no cost. If you want to get in on the free gaming action, this is how you do it.
After you get the game is downloaded, you are ready for some fun. What you are getting for free is the full Wings of Liberty single-player campaign. The other campaigns (Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and Nova Covert Ops) aren't included. You do have the option to purchase these at $14.99 each or $39.99 for the bundle.
Blizzard also has something for the folks who already own Wings of Liberty, so they don't feel left out. If you already own the game, you can get a digital copy of Heart of the Swarm for free. You must log in between November 8 and December 8 to claim that free campaign.
Players of the free Wings of Liberty game will have access to all multiplayer units in Unranked Multiplayer and Custom Games. You can participate in Ranked multiplayer, with a caveat. You must first complete ten "First Wins of the Day" in unranked or versus AI matches before getting in on Ranked Multiplayer.
The free-to-play game also includes Co-op mode with Co-op commanders Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis being free to as high a rank as you want. The other commanders are only free up to level 5. The original StarCraft game has been free since April if StarCraft II isn't your style.
Big news out of Blizzcon: StarCraft 2, that maddeningly addictive and highly competitive RTS, is going free-to-play. Now you can play the Wings of Liberty Terran campaign without paying a dime, as well as co-op missions and ranked play. People who have already bought Wings of Liberty will get Zerg Campaign Heart of The Swarm for free, and the game transitions over on November 14.
It's a great idea: I'm sure that Wings of Liberty sales have slowed down considerably in the seven years that it's been on the market, and it's very easy to imagine how a free player would become a paying one in no time. For one thing, Wings of Liberty is great, and for me at least it created an insatiable itch that can really only be filled by more StarCraft: luckily there are two more full campaigns that Blizzard can easily sell to those that get sucked in by Jim Raynor and his merry band, and people that spend their time in other modes might decide to pick up some more co-op commanders or skins. "Free-to-Play" in this instance amounts to something like a simple demo, just a much more full-featured one.
Like StarCraft 2, Diablo 3 has been out for a little while, and Like StarCraft 2, it likely isn't putting up the same numbers as it used to despite a longer tail than most games. But it's also grown quite a lot since its initial release and has proven itself quite a bit more durable than people may have expected after a rocky start. Free-to-play, however, could give an entirely new breath of life into the thing. The game already has a demo that allows you to play a portion of Act 1 and level your character up to 13, but something much more robust could get a whole lot of new players on board.
Diablo 3 isn't so neatly portioned off as Starcraft 2, which was to some degree released as three separate games. But it's entirely based around unique characters, and so it's easy to imagine how a free-to-play version could offer you a single character -- the Barbarian, say -- and then let you buy the rest as you see fit. The total price would come out to something a little bit more than it does now, but you could always just upgrade to the standard version for a discount if you decided you wanted the whole stable. And just like now, Reaper of Souls would come at a premium. A free-to-play game is differentiated from a demo by offering a complete experience in and of itself, just one that can be expanded with purchase. The character system allows Diablo 3 to do that handily.
Free-to-play isn't necessarily the future of all games, despite occasional scattered prognostications. But games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 represent great opportunities to use the model in unexpected ways by bringing more people into the fold and letting them buy at their own pace, and natural divisions within the games make the transition easy to imagine. If StarCraft 2's tranistion goes over well, I imagine we'll be seeing Diablo 3 in short order. That would leave Overwatch as Blizzard's only traditional box.
At BlizzCon 2017, Blizzard said that the first campaign, Wings of Liberty, would be free but users will have to pay for the next two campaigns - Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void - or just the last one if players already own the first two. We asked if Blizzard had plans to make Legacy of the Void free.
One more concern some have raised about going free-to-play is that an influx of new players will be at a distinct disadvantage compared to more experienced Starcraft gamers. This could also lead to a lowering of the overall quality of the fanbase.
That's a possibility and that's an exciting possibility," says Reed. "When a new player comes in, they're not expected to be at that high level, the community is really excited about it right now so bringing in new players, it's a great way for them to foster those players, help the new generation come in and learn how to play the game."
Speaking of being a large game, it was recently shared by gaming critic John Bain (also known as Total Biscuit) that StarCraft 2 has a monthly active user base of around 1.8 to two million players. It's a sizeable number, and we asked Reed if it was the case. His response was non-committal.
You also get access to all multiplayer units in the Unranked Multiplayer and Custom game modes. You can access the Ranked Multiplayer ladder by completing 10 "First Wins of the Day" in Unranked Multiplayer or Versus AI modes.
Meanwhile, you can play co-op mode, with free co-op commanders up to level 5 -- and that includes Terran commander combo Mira Han and Matt Horner, who are debuting today as part of the free-to-play launch.
Don't be surprised if you have a little difficulty getting connected at first, or if the software produces a few strange error messages -- both of which happened to me along the way. Because this is the first day of free-to-play, site traffic is sure to be heavy.
Blizzard has announced that it's making StarCraft 2: Whispers of Oblivion, the three-mission campaign that bridges the gap between Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void expansions, is available now for all to play.
This is bold. The part I already knew: you can now play any of StarCraft 2's three races in multiplayer for free. The part I didn't expect: you can also play any of the user-created custom maps and modes available in StarCraft Arcade for free, too. That's a huge amount of free game, and a huge boon for the mod community.
Mod tools might be my favourite thing about PC games. They benefit everyone: players get new experiences to play, extending the life of their games for free; developers future-proof their games by surrounding them with a lusty pool of new content; and budding young developers get the resources they need to enter the industry, and to have an impact upon it even before they have.
This also means that the only parts of StarCraft 2 you pay for are the campaign and ranked multiplayer. The free parts will act as a good advert for buying the rest, especially if you're enjoying the multiplayer, but really it means there's enough to it that you can pretend StarCraft is a wholly-free standalone game.
StarCraft II is going free-to-play. As announced at BlizzCon 2017, Blizzard Entertainment is making portions of the game free-to-play in the hopes of drawing in a new generation of players. Players who can then spend money buying the not free-to-play portions of StarCraft II, obviously.
Free-to-play games are big business. By inviting everyone to play for free, publishers build huge fan bases which don't mind spending cash on other game-related items. League of Legends and Dota 2 both make oodles of cash, which is why other developers are keen to jump on board.
Starting from November 14, 2017, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty will be completely free to play. Gamers will be able to play the entire Wings of Liberty campaign for free, and if they already own that title, they'll be given Heart of the Swarm instead so that they don't feel left out.
In addition to the Wings of Liberty campaign, all co-op commanders will now be available for free up to level 5. And ranked online multiplayer games will also be thrown in for free, with the caveat being players have to unlock ranked matches by achieving 10 First Wins of the Day first.
That leaves three other single-player campaigns -- Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and Nova Covert Ops -- available to purchase for cold, hard cash. And at $14.99 each this is where Blizzard is hoping to claw back some of the cash it will lose making other elements free-to-play. 2ff7e9595c
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