I'll be updating this as new info comes to light, but basically this
is a regurgitation of everything we know so far for anyone that happens
to visit the forums for the first time.
WoW TCG FAQ: Rules Questions
Who's making this game anyways?
If you are here, then you know this already, but for the sake of completeness its Upper Deck Entertainment.
What's the gameplay going to be like?
We have two primary
gameplay types. One is a PvP style one on one battle (with allies). Note, that you can play this Horde vs Horde,
Alliance vs. Alliance, or the traditional Alliance vs. Horde. The
other is a group taking on a major raid boss like Onyxia. We also
know the turn will look like:
- Start of turn (maint. phase)
- Action Phase which a player can do any of the following as many time as he/she can:
- Play a card
- Use a power
- Propose a combat between two characters, then resolve it
- Place a resource (the only one that can only be done once)
- End of turn (another maint. phase)
Each player takes their own turn in sequence, meaning the phases
will not be done simultaneously by both players. There are
several ways of interacting with your opponent during his/her turn,
these are in the form of instant abilities (see the Gouge card from the
previews), powers on your cards in play, striking with a ready weapon
while defending and completing missions. Also there is a keyword
power that is present on some heroes and allies that will allow certain
interactions with your opponent's attack like Protector. See the rulebook for more info.
Give me some more details on combat!
Basically,
during your turn you can attack with a ready character by exhausting
it. This character attacks a defender of your choice. If
the attacker is a hero, he must "strike" with a ready weapon by
exhausting it. If you can manage to ready the weapon, you can
strike with that weapon multiple times in the combat, but you can only
attack with one weapon (so if you had a ranged weapon and a melee
weapon, you could not use both in the course of an attack). The
attacker and defender deals combat damage to each other equal to their
ATK value. This damage can be lessened through armor (and
probably other cards as well). Keep in mind that this is all
damage, regardless of type (so spell damage is also reduced by
armor). It is important to note that a hero can still strike with
a ready weapon even if he/she is exhausted, but cannot attack unless
he/she is ready. This strike is normally used in a sort of
counter-strike against an attacking opponent. Allies, since they
do not have equipment, deal their normal ATK value regardless of
whether or not they are ready. Directly from the rulebook:
From the Rulebook:
Snipped from WEAPONS:
Your hero starts the game with no ATK, but while
your hero is in combat, you may strike with a weapon to increase your
hero’s ATK for the combat. You can only strike with one weapon during a
combat, but you can strike with that weapon multiple times if you can
find a way to ready it. If you strike with a weapon multiple times in
the same combat, you add its ATK to your hero’s each time you strike.
Your hero doesn’t have to be attacking to strike
with a weapon. You can also strike with a weapon if your hero is
defending. If you have two weapons (one Melee and one Ranged, for
example), you can strike with one while your hero is attacking. Then,
when your hero is attacked, you can strike with the other weapon.
Even if your hero is exhausted, you can still strike with a weapon.
Snipped from COMBAT
In a basic combat, five things happen in order:
1. Propose: You choose a ready hero or ally
in your party to be the proposed attacker and an opposing hero or ally
to be the proposed defender.
2. Attack: Your proposed attacker exhausts (turns sideways) and attacks.
3. Defend: The proposed defender starts defending.
4. Damage: The attacker and defender deal
combat damage to each other equal to their ATKs. This is the only
damage that counts as combat damage.
5. Conclude: The combat step ends.
With all these characters between Heroes and Allies, won't it be difficult to keep track of everything?UDE
has noted that if you are using dice as counters you'll rarely use more
than 5 or 6 to keep track of the health of your allies.
What's this "flipping" thing that I read about? Is it like the usual "turn 90 degrees" mechanic?
Flipping
is a mechanic for a one-off skill, present on Hero cards. It
represents a power that can only be used once. I suppose there
might be cards that will flip a card back over, but we don't have any
as of release. The turn 90 degrees mechanic is called exhausting a
card and has uses like using an armor piece to prevent some
damage. It could also represent the flipping out of ninjas, but
that's not implemented yet.
What about draft and other tournament info?
WoW
TCG was designed for drafting by hardcore draft players. So, that
should make it pretty good for drafting. You will make your
selections from your packs and then pick a Hero, any Hero. They
are currently targeting a Best of Three scheme for the matches instead
of the one game format. The first major tourney in the US will be
at GenCon SoCal for those of you who want to jump right into the OP
scene. We'll also be able to experience other wacky formats like
Lazy Peon and Two-Headed Ogre. Check this link out for the
descriptions [link].
When will we see the rules?
We have the rules available online now. Follow this link. We also have an online flash demo here.
Cards! I want demo decks!
We have them now. Over the next few weeks they'll be releasing some "booster" packs as well, but for now, they are at
http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/news/article.aspx?aid=1137Booster packs:
http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/news/article.aspx?aid=1237
How about other languages? Can I get the game in sanskrit?
No
5000 year old dead languages, but German, French and probably Chinese
will make the list. The unofficial word is that German, French
and English cards will be available at Essen.
How many sets a year are going to be released? I can't keep up with 50 sets a year!
Good news then, UDE has said that they will be sticking to a 2-3 set release schedule.
How many classes are going to be represented in the initial set?
All
of them. There will be one Hero card for each class/faction
combo. So, eight classes on Horde side and eight classes on
Alliance side in the Hero card variety.
How many cards are in Heroes of Azeroth?
361, broken down into 16 Heroes, 114 commons, 99 uncommons, 110 rares and 22 epics, with 3 legendary cards thrown into the mix.
How many cards will be in Through the Dark Portal?
319, broken down into 18 Heroes, 120 commons, 85 uncommons, 80 rares and 16 epics, with 3 legendary cards.
How many cards will be in Fires of Outland?Less than 300. No exact numbers have been noted as of yet.
How about rarities?Currently
we are looking at 5 different rarities, each color coded based on how
items are color coded in the WoW MMO. Common is white, uncommon
is green, rare is blue, epic is purple and legendary is orange.
There will be a little over 20 epic cards in the first set and will
include the Thrall card and about 100 rares. The epics are
printed at twice the rarity of a rare so you can expect around 3 epics
per booster box. The Legendary cards are on a slightly different
system. One is about as rare as a rare, so you can expect to see
one in ~4 booster boxes, one is about as rare as an epic so ~1 Case and
one is about twice as rare as an epic so ~2 Cases. Booster packs
are packed out as 1 rare/epic/legendary, 3 uncommons, 10 commons and 1
Hero card.
Will there be a 1st edition and the unlimited version? How about full foil sets?
No
to both. Just one version and there will be no cards will get the
foil treatment in this first set. The first foils we will get to see in
the general public are in the treasure packs in the Raid Decks (foiled
Onyxia Hide Backpack anyone?). Also note that there will be
Legendary cards available with special codes that give you goodies in
the WoW MMO. These codes are like the loot cards, they are
scratch off and use-once. The loot you get is based on the card,
and we have confirmed that one of the items is a turtle mount and will
be featured on the legendary version of the Saltwater Snapjaw
ally. The other two are a baby hippogryph and a tabard. The legendary cards are all alternate versions for
otherwise rare cards and you will not be looking at a 1-per booster box
rarity, probably much more. It has been confirmed (see this thread)
that the Loot cards you get from other regions (i.e. EU for example)
are convertable to other regions (i.e. going from an EU loot card to a
west coast one). The redemption site is http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/promotion.html
How about Loot Cards in Through the Dark Portal?
There are three new loot cards, one for a picnic setup (Rest and Relaxation), one for a non-combat pet monkey (King Mukla) and one for a Magic Imp Ball (Fortune Telling). Remember that there are two versions of each of these cards. See below.
OMG I pulled a Loot card that didn't have a scratch-off!! And it has a Blue rarity symbol!!! WHAT DO I DO???
Guess
what. There are two different versions of each of the Loot cards;
a Legendary version which has a loot code, and one that doesn't that is
the rare version. You have the rare version.
What about tradeskills? I want to make my character a Gnomish Mind Control Helm!Tradeskills will be important in future releases. From Jeff who feeds me info:
To
add more detail: Tradeskills will be important starting with set #3.
Things like Arcanite Reaper will be usable by anyone, but things like
Gnomish Mind Control Helm, Glimmering Mithril Insignia, Smoking Heart
of the Mountain will require the appropriate trade skill.
Racials?
Yep, they will be a
part of the game. We have no specifics at this point on how they
are implemented, but racials like Cannibalize will make a show (see
Ophelia Barrow's Power for an example). They will factor heavily
in the upcoming expansion Through the Dark Portal.
Will race and class have an effect on stats and such?
Well,
yeah. Of course a mage is going to have less health than a
warrior. But race will come into play as well. A big beefy
Tauren (no pun intended, I swear) warrior will have more health than a
Gnome warrior, just because one is big and beefy and the other is like
a rabid racoon. Powers on the card will help even out the
difference here though.
What race/class combinations do we know about for Heroes of Azeroth?As
of right now, we know them all. Troll Fire Mage, Tauren Elemental Shammy, Dwarf
Protection Warrior, Dwarf Holy Priest, Human Protection Paladin, Orc
Demonology Warlock, Human Frost Mage, Orc Arms Warrior, Undead Shadow Priest, Gnome
Affliction Warlock, Gnome Assassination Rogue, Troll Beast Mastery Hunter, Undead
Subtlety
Rogue and Night Elf Marksmanship Hunter. Given that all
classes are represented we also have Night Elf Resto Druid and Tauren
Feral Druid.
What race/class combinations do we know about for Through the Dark Portal?
Night Elf Feral Druid, Tauren Balance Druid, Dwarf Beast Mastery Hunter, Orc Survival Hunter, Gnome Arcane Mage, Undead Frost Mage, Dwarf Retribution Paladin, Blood Elf Holy Paladin, Draeni Discipline Priest, Troll Holy Priest, Night Elf Subtlety Rogue, Blood Elf Combat Rogue, Draeni Restoration Shaman, Orc Enhancement Shaman, Human Demonology Warlock, Undead Destruction Warlock, Human Arms Warrior and Tauren Fury Warrior.
I want my rogue's combat dagger rogue spec. Is this going to be in the game?
At
this point, we know that talent specialization will be in the game, and
that they are listed on the Hero cards directly under the race/class
listing. This has a bearing as some cards require a certain spec
to play and will have that noted in bold in the card text (like Shamans
need a certain talent spec in order to wield two-handed weapons).
Will any of the characters from the MMO be in the TCG?
Yes,
in fact, Thrall is confirmed to be in the game. Other, big name
characters will be in the game as well, like Jaina and Magni.
What about the two races in the WoW: Burning Crusade expansion, can we play those?
No,
they will not be available at launch as Hero cards, but they may show
up as ally character cards (see Fianna Spellbinder). Blood Elf
Pallys and Draeni Shammys
will be available in Through the Dark Portal due out early 2007.
Also there is a Blood Elf Mage and a Draeni Pally available currently
as promos packed in the Burning Crusade Collector's Edition.
Say the developers of the videogame nerfs Polymorph. Is this going to cause a sudden change in the card game too?At
this point, the Magic 8 Ball says no. It's been stated in the
interview with Danny Mandel that there will not be drastic changes made
just because something broke in the MMO. Time will tell though.
What's going to be included in the starter pack?
A
33-card pre-constructed deck for one of the nine possible classes, two
booster packs for further customization, three Epic character
cards and a rulebook. The decks are random, so you will not know
what class you get until you crack the pack. Generally only about a
third of the cards in the precon will be class specific, the others
will be usable by any class.
What's going to be in the boosters?
Boosters
will feature 15 cards. 1 rare (which could be of Epic or
Legendary rarity), 1 Hero, 3 Uncommons and 10 Common cards plus a handy
dandy UDE Points card which'll net you 100 points toward some of your
favorite WoW TCG merchandise. Oh yeah, and it has some sort of
Ninja/Pirate game on it. The Legendary card could be replacing
the Hero or Common (possibly other slots as well).
Epic character cards?
Just
means oversized in this instance. Epic will also refer to an
item's quality (as in extremely good) in the videogame WoW. The
oversized character cards are on durable card stock. There will
also be regular sized versions of those Heroes for those who don't want
to carry the big ones around. It has been stated that there will
be one regular sized Hero card per booster pack. Of note, there
is an epic rarity in play as well.
Random starters?
When you buy a starter, it's a crapshoot. You won't know ahead of
time what class is in it. However, it is important to note that all
Mage decks will have the same Hero and the same preconstructed 33-card
portion of the deck. You do get two extra boosters which provides a
certain degree of randomness. The three oversized hero cards are also
completely random.
What's the difference between Allies and Heroes?
Heroes
are characters that refer to your actual in game presence, your avatar
so to speak. There are character cards in the game that are not
Heroes and represent the characters you can have in your party called
Allies. Allies are weaker characters, between 1-8 health (most
have 1-4), while the Heroes we have are from 25 - 30. You
can have an unlimited number of allies in play. Allies also have
an indicator for what type of damage they do as the background for
their attack number. Allies also come in an instant variety
meaning that you can play them during your opponent's turn (just like
instant abilities).
Is this game going to be the kind that you have to have all the rares to be competitive?
Doesn't
look like it. UDE has stated that power will be distributed over
all rarities, so chances are that you can get by without having all the
rares of a set.
How about other deck construction news?
Constructed
deck limit will be minimum 60 cards. We also know that there will be a
4-per card rule for most cards and an unlimited card trait that'll
allow you to pack as many of these suckers as you can handle. An
example is the Ironforge Guard. You also will not be able to mix
and match Alliance-only and Horde-only cards in a deck. Draft and Sealed formats have a 30 card minimum limit.
How is the raid gameplay going to be presented?
Soon after release we will see the release of the Onyxia's Lair
Raid Deck Expansion. You and some of your friends will go head to
head with a raid deck included in each raid pack. Also included
will be a treasure pack featuring loot from the encounter and a rules
supplement. Look for the Molten Core Raid deck coming soon.
I keep hearing about Resource cards. What are they?
Resource
cards will provide resource points that you can later use toward
merchandise through a redemption program. Rewards can include
gaming supplies, loot cards, original art, on up to possibly motorcyles
and cars. These will be packaged in each booster pack.
Think of them as Kool-Aid points for gaming. Important
Note: They are now called UDE Points cards. The redemption
site is http://www.ude.com/points.
What are loot cards?
Loot
cards are going to be ultra-rare inserts into packs and will feature a
scratch off code that you can redeem in the WoW videogame for cosmetic
upgrades. There will be 3 different loot cards available with the
first set. See the legendary rarity discussion above.
Can
a loot card from another region (i.e. EU, US, etc) be redeemed on a
different server? For example can an EU code be redeemed for a US
server?
Yes. This has been confirmed by Jeff Donais.
How about some more Loot and Points redemption information?
For
the UDE Points redemption, we have four wallpapers right now as well as
three in-game items. Check out all the info from Jeff Donais's
post: [
post]
What about the art for the game? Any artist announcements?
We
have seen art from Gabe of Penny Arcade fame, Dan Scott, Mike Sutfin,
Doug Alexander, Greg Staples, Jeremy Mohler, Matt Dixon, Mauro
Cascioli, Boris Vallejo, Alex Horley, Ariel Olivetti, E. M. Gist, Glenn
Rane, Joe Jusko and Samwise. Also tabbed for art are Todd
McFarlane, Dave Dorman, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley. Rebecca Guay,
Ladronn, Arthur Suydam and Justin Thavirat. Check out the art gallery.
Check out UDEck covers here.
What does the cards look like?
We now have seen the front for several kinds of cards. Check out weapons, armor, abilities and Heroes. We have also seen the back. Here's the back. We also know some information about the colorings of the cards from Jeff:
Good question. Here's your answer:
Quests have an orange card frame.
Equipment (armor, weapons, items) have a greyish/metallic card frame.
Abilities have a purple card frame.
Alliance heroes and allies have a blue/black card frame.
Horde heroes and allies have a red/black card frame.
Neutral heroes and allies have a yellow/black card frame.
In future sets, Locations will have a green card frame.
Take Care,
Jeff
This isn't going to be one of those "funky shaped cards" card games is it?
Nope, it has been confirmed that the cards will be of normal sized stock (i.e. VS, Magic, L5R, LotR sized).
Is the game engine going to be different from the two UDE engines currently out there (VS and Quickstrike)?
Yes.
If the card back wasn't a clue, WoW TCG will not be using either of the
engines. The only thing that'll be the same is that the WoW TCG
will be using the same UDEck box that Quickstrike currently uses.
What's the resource engine going to be like?
Similar to VS, but different. To quote Jeff Donais:
Obviously since this is a "2nd Generation" trading card game, we have avoid "mana screw" and the problems that come with it.
The resource system is very simple: Once per turn you may place a card face down in your resource row.
Once a card is placed in your resource row, it becomes a resource
permanently and can never be flipped face up. This is different than
Vs. System, since you will never have to refer back to those cards like
you would in Vs. System, which makes the game much quicker.
Quests are the only cards that you can play face up
in your resource row. Each quest have an objective to complete the
quest and a reward for completing the quest. Once the quest is
completed, it is flipped face down like the other resource cards.
Some quests are super simple, some are a littler more complicated,
although none take more than a turn to complete in the first set,
except Tooga's Quest.
You turn resources (or quests) sideways to exhaust them and pay for
things like allies, ability costs, weapon swing costs, etc. At the
start of your turn, you turn your cards vertical again to ready them,
just like most TCGs.
Simple, elegant and not too complicated.
Hope you like it, we thought long and hard about what would be best and most fun.
- Jeff
As far as quests go, they are very simple. You pay a cost, you
complete the quest, get the reward. Some quests can be done at
any time, some quests can only be done on your turn. There will
be Alliance-only, Horde-only and neutral quests. You can fail a
quest, but you can re-attempt it if you have another copy.
What about judging? How can I get to be a judge for this super game?
The Certification page for
UDE's OP has an online Judge test for Level 1 WoW Judges available now.
When can we expect the release?Heroes
of Azeroth, Onxyia's Lair Raid Deck, Through the Dark Portal and Molten Core Raid Deck are available now. Fires of Outland will be arriving August 22, 2007 with Sneak Previews the weekend of August 11th.
What is currently sanctioned constructed legal?Heroes of Azeroth, Through the Dark Portal, Onyxia's Lair Treasure Packs, Molten Core Treasure Packs, and Burning Crusade Collector's Edition cards. Fires of Outland will be constructed legal September 7th. Magtheridon's Lair treasure pack cards will be constructed legal October 26th.
Mailing List: Send an email to wowtcglist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Player Database: [forum post]
Loot Card Redemptions: http://www.ude.com/loot
You will need to see Landro Longshot in Booty Bay once you've gotten a new code.
UDE Points Redemptions: http://www.ude.com/points
A Demo Video: http://gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=22083&mode=thread&order=0HoA Spoiler Lists: http://wow.tcgplayer.com/db/Cards.asp?SetName=Heroes%20of%20Azeroth&Spoiler=1
http://wowtcgdb.com/set-hoa.aspx
TtDP Spoiler List:
http://wowtcgdb.com/set-tdp.aspx
Some real good links for everyone:
Official WoW TCG Homepage
Official WoW Homepage
WoW @ TCGPlayer.com - check out my articles!
WoWCards.org - run by forum favorite Killian
WarcraftCCG.com - run by forum fave Darksbane
BlizzPlanet - site for all things WoW
TCGMaster.de - A German fan site
WarcraftTCG.de - another German fan site
WoWRealms.com - a part of the RealmWorx group
WoWTCGDB.com - a fantastic online databse