The patch also adds a ton of achievements and a World of Warcraft mount prize

Mar 12, 2014 18:46 GMT  ·  By

Hearthstone is officially out and it's full of life, not to mention completely free to play, for collectible card game enthusiasts and noobs alike.

But that's not all, as the latest patch, the one that sealed the deal for Hearthstone's testers, also made some interesting reveals. It looks like Hearthstone is shaping up to become Blizzard's fourth pillar of competitive action, following World of Warcraft's brutal arenas and Starcraft 2's ranked play ladder.

The third pillar is Diablo 3, which will most likely also feature competitive seasons once it gets its ladder installed.

So, on to the Hearthstone schedule; the seasons currently listed in the client are the following:

First Test Season - Test season 1 in closed/open beta Second Test Season - Test season 2 in closed/open beta Third Test Season - Test season 3 in closed/open beta Fourth Test Season - Test season 4 in pre-iPad release April Season 2014 - 1st real season May Season 2014 - 2nd season June Season 2014 - 3rd season

Which sounds pretty legit, as four test seasons did indeed roll out during the game's rather lengthy testing period, which means that we can expect to see the game's proper first season of online play's ribbon cutting ceremony sometime next month, with a ranked ladder reset to follow every four weeks.

Also, it's certainly good to know that Hearthstone's mobile version is still something that pops up in the company's timeline. Blizzard's team started internal testing for the iPad port in October last year, but the company said that the game would not feature cross platform play on its launch day.

It's always nice to know that you can kick noob derriere while riding the bus, and we can only hope that Blizzard makes it a reality sooner, as the team reported that PC vs iPad matches have already taken place inside their studio.

What's even nicer is knowing that for those interested in competitive cutthroat play, there's going to be a real option, with regular ranked tournaments being officially organized and allowing players to show their skill. The game's already been a hit on Twitch, showing that it can steadily attract spectators, so we can only imagine what will happen once tournaments go live.

The 130 mb patch made available for download in North America has also introduced some new card backs and achievements, and players of Blizzard's massively multiplayer online role-playing game can earn a special reward on their third win, an in-game mount which they can claim by logging into World of Warcraft.