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    StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

    Game » consists of 6 releases. Released Mar 12, 2013

    The second chapter in the StarCraft II trilogy, Heart of the Swarm is a science fiction-themed real-time strategy game for PC and Mac. Players take control of the vicious Zerg faction in an interstellar war against the hard-nosed Terrans and psionic Protoss.

    StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Dated for March 12, 2013

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    patrickklepek

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    Edited By patrickklepek
    No Caption Provided

    Blizzard Entertainment has been as cagey about the release for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm as the company has been about any of its other products, but the expansion now has a date: March 12, 2013.

    It is likely not a coincidence that Activision’s fiscal quarter ends on March 31, 2013.

    Heart of the Swarm will be available for both PC and Mac for $39.99, a lowered price point because it’s not a complete sequel to StarCraft II. Rather than try to jam the full story Blizzard wanted to tell into StarCraft II, it’s expanded the storytelling across this expansion and another one in the future.

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    patrickklepek

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    #1  Edited By patrickklepek
    No Caption Provided

    Blizzard Entertainment has been as cagey about the release for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm as the company has been about any of its other products, but the expansion now has a date: March 12, 2013.

    It is likely not a coincidence that Activision’s fiscal quarter ends on March 31, 2013.

    Heart of the Swarm will be available for both PC and Mac for $39.99, a lowered price point because it’s not a complete sequel to StarCraft II. Rather than try to jam the full story Blizzard wanted to tell into StarCraft II, it’s expanded the storytelling across this expansion and another one in the future.

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    MisterCrow

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    #2  Edited By MisterCrow

    Excited for this! The box / cover art they revealed gives a real big SHODAN vibe (albeit purple).

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    weavminas

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    #3  Edited By weavminas

    Now will it be delayed?

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    ConstantineL

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    #4  Edited By ConstantineL

    I too am excite.

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    DoctorWelch

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    #5  Edited By DoctorWelch

    HYYYYYYYYYYPPPPPPEEEEEE!!!

    Can't wait.

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    Argo15

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    #6  Edited By Argo15

    Cool

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    Solh0und

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    #7  Edited By Solh0und

    I know one person that's probably excited to hear this news....

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    Shaanyboi

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    #8  Edited By Shaanyboi

    Because y'know, a dozen other games aren't already coming out this spring.

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    MildMolasses

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    #9  Edited By MildMolasses

    Great, I was just thinking about how quiet the first quarter of the year is going to be. I'm glad Activision is willing to throw a bone to us and release a high-profile game during the winter months

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    kindgineer

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    #10  Edited By kindgineer

    Sounds great, although farther out than I figured.

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    mrfluke

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    #11  Edited By mrfluke

    @Solh0und said:

    I know one person that's probably excited to hear this news....

    amazing

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    WrathOfBanja

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    #12  Edited By WrathOfBanja

    Meh.

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    guilherme

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    #13  Edited By guilherme

    Just one little thing, it's March 12

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    toowalrus

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    #14  Edited By toowalrus

    Almost 3 years... Wow, I remember hoping for 1-per-year.

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    Lava

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    #15  Edited By Lava

    That's great! March 13th is my birthday! Perfect present!

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    xMEGADETHxSLY

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    #16  Edited By xMEGADETHxSLY

    What is Starcraft

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    FCDRandy

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    #17  Edited By FCDRandy

    This is pretty cool because I'll be spending the first quarter 2013 playing 2012 games and can devote a trillion hours to HOTS in the second.

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    Vexxan

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    #18  Edited By Vexxan

    Finally a date! :)

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    NaDannMaGoGo

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    #19  Edited By NaDannMaGoGo

    @Shaanyboi said:

    Because y'know, a dozen other games aren't already coming out this spring.

    Blizz don't care.

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    chilibean_3

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    #20  Edited By chilibean_3

    Cool. Cool cool cool cool. Now I need to go watch the original trailer real quick. So good.

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    NaDannMaGoGo

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    #21  Edited By NaDannMaGoGo

    @chilibean_3 said:

    Cool. Cool cool cool cool. Now I need to go watch the original trailer real quick. So good.

    The original Sc2 announcement trailer? I recommend watching recordings from the live announcement in Korea, it's great.

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    Benny

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    #22  Edited By Benny

    @mrfluke said:

    @Solh0und said:

    I know one person that's probably excited to hear this news....

    amazing

    Fucking hell. I can't believe I hadn't seen this before, the zoom in on Ryan's face made me cry with laughter.

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    glots

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    #23  Edited By glots

    Finally (or well, four months away, but anyway...) something to play on PC! Besides another Blizzard title, that is...

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    ptys

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    #24  Edited By ptys

    This is news... I thought it was already out?!

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    dirtydata

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    #25  Edited By dirtydata

    Very excited!

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    baldgye

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    #26  Edited By baldgye

    sad that they put a date on this already, the balace and design idea's behind the core game are so fucked atm... its bearly diffrent to WoL and the new units ad almost nothing unless your zerg...

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    Falk

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    #27  Edited By Falk

    Didn't they originally plan for 18 months between each expansion? Blizzard time in full effect i guess.

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    baldgye

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    #28  Edited By baldgye

    @Falk said:

    Didn't they originally plan for 18 months between each expansion? Blizzard time in full effect i guess.

    if they had done that, they would have fucked with the sc2 scene so lol

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    robs_knob

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    #29  Edited By robs_knob

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    infestedandy

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    #30  Edited By infestedandy

    From a long-time fan and player of SC this is going to sound largely angry at Activision-Blizzard, but that's because it is.

    It's taken almost three years for HOTS to come out since Wings of Liberty hit. THREE YEARS. We're getting some extra units, probably some new maps and the expanded story (which is the big focus), but is that all worth $40? The story was extremely lackluster in WOL and, unless I'm completely taken off-guard here, HOTS will be just as brief and slightly more interesting at most. They've taken out a lot of the new units and extra content for 'balancing issues' and I just don't know anymore. I'm thankful it's less than a full priced title, but if you already purchased WOL then why do we need to pay another $40 for essentially the single-player content?

    For the people who bought into SCII when it first came out, couldn't Acti-Blizz have thrown a big digital discount out way for the expansion? Am I asking too much? I'm hopeful HOTS will bring SCII back, but I have this feeling that it just won't happen.

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    zeox

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    #31  Edited By zeox

    @ptys: the beta is out and has been for a couple of months now

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    zeforgotten

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    #32  Edited By zeforgotten

    Woah, Blizzard. 
    What are you guys up to in your office, being all "hey we have a release date"  
    Something seems fishy. 
     
    I'm excited though to play something else than just the HotS multiplayer

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    Shotgunblast97

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    #33  Edited By Shotgunblast97

    Does anyone know if they might release a bundle pack for Starcraft 2 and heart of the swarm.

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    d0m3l

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    #34  Edited By d0m3l

    Preordered :) One of those few times when #TakeMyMoneyBlizz worked ;)

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    MDFetterman

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    #35  Edited By MDFetterman

    Can't wait... could just be a coincidence compared to the original SC, but it really does seem like they're releasing expansions in the same exact order as the original non-expanded campaign story (Terran, Zerg, then Protoss)

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    TheSouthernDandy

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    #36  Edited By TheSouthernDandy

    2 and a half years for an expansion? Thats a little fast don't you think Blizzard?

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    Vinyl

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    #37  Edited By Vinyl

    @ptys: Naw man, maybe you just heard that the beta was live?

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    BinaryDragon

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    #38  Edited By BinaryDragon

    MARCH 12th?!!!! That's my bloody birthday!

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    KinjiroSSD

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    #39  Edited By KinjiroSSD

    I think having the worst SC2 unit, the Battlecruiser, as a image for HOTS news must be intentional...

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    Forum_User

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    #40  Edited By Forum_User

    Guess I know what I'll be playing in May.

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    StarvingGamer

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    #41  Edited By StarvingGamer

    @infestedandy: Well, unless you felt like Brood War was also way overpriced, I don't really think you have a leg to stand on here.

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    CJduke

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    #42  Edited By CJduke

    @infestedandy said:

    From a long-time fan and player of SC this is going to sound largely angry at Activision-Blizzard, but that's because it is.

    It's taken almost three years for HOTS to come out since Wings of Liberty hit. THREE YEARS. We're getting some extra units, probably some new maps and the expanded story (which is the big focus), but is that all worth $40? The story was extremely lackluster in WOL and, unless I'm completely taken off-guard here, HOTS will be just as brief and slightly more interesting at most. They've taken out a lot of the new units and extra content for 'balancing issues' and I just don't know anymore. I'm thankful it's less than a full priced title, but if you already purchased WOL then why do we need to pay another $40 for essentially the single-player content?

    For the people who bought into SCII when it first came out, couldn't Acti-Blizz have thrown a big digital discount out way for the expansion? Am I asking too much? I'm hopeful HOTS will bring SCII back, but I have this feeling that it just won't happen.

    I don't understand where you are coming from. WoL's campaign was "brief"? It had 29 missions, and took a fair amount of time to beat and every mission was quite varied. It was easily as long as most single player campaigns, if not longer and they said HOTS will be about the same length so I'm not getting the "brief" part. "They've taken out A LOT of the new units." Really? I'm pretty sure they have only taken out 1 since the beta has started, the other units were taken out for good reasons. They weren't good units. Not to mention they have changed the entire UI of the game, they are adding in an unranked ladder for practice, they are putting in the clan system, they are making replay viewing better and more accessible, and they are adding in new content like the leveling system to keep casual players interested. They are also going to be putting in a system to restart a game that lost its connection through replays so tournaments aren't ruined by bad connection games. And they are even making their own Blizzard All Stars DOTA mod for it. And most of this content is already usable in the beta. As for complaining about it taking 3 years, it won't be three years until July, and you do realize that people actually wanted time to play WoL and figure out the multiplayer right? How is a 2-3 year span too long of a time, especially considering it is not easy to just add new units to the game and build a whole new single player campaign.

    I also don't know what you mean about "bring SC 2 back." The competitive scene is as great as ever, with GSL, IPL, MLG, WCS and NASL all taking place during the end of this year. The game's are of the highest quality and the competition is top notch now that the brood war players are also play SC 2. We just got to see Flash come to the USA and take third place in an MLG. What more do you want? If you are referring to viewers dropping during certain tournaments and less people overall playing, that is always going to happen. Games like LoL are easier to get into and are free so Starcraft will never compete with them. I just don't see where your complaints are coming from or how you think that HOTS is not worth $40. Hell they could charge $50 for it as far as I'm concerned.

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    baldgye

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    #43  Edited By baldgye

    @infestedandy said:

    From a long-time fan and player of SC this is going to sound largely angry at Activision-Blizzard, but that's because it is.

    It's taken almost three years for HOTS to come out since Wings of Liberty hit. THREE YEARS. We're getting some extra units, probably some new maps and the expanded story (which is the big focus), but is that all worth $40? The story was extremely lackluster in WOL and, unless I'm completely taken off-guard here, HOTS will be just as brief and slightly more interesting at most. They've taken out a lot of the new units and extra content for 'balancing issues' and I just don't know anymore. I'm thankful it's less than a full priced title, but if you already purchased WOL then why do we need to pay another $40 for essentially the single-player content?

    For the people who bought into SCII when it first came out, couldn't Acti-Blizz have thrown a big digital discount out way for the expansion? Am I asking too much? I'm hopeful HOTS will bring SCII back, but I have this feeling that it just won't happen.

    You don't at all sound like a 'fan' just some crybaby who played sc and bw when it came out.

    And I don't understand why you think three years is too long either, WoL needed that to establish its self and give its self a meta game that didn't revolve around cheese and 2base all in's... WoL is a mature game with mostly good balance... if HotS came out after a year or two Sc2 would be in a much worse position.

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    torus

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    #44  Edited By torus

    I remember being excited about this, two or three years ago. I played hundreds of hours of Starcraft II. I'll be honest. After what Diablo 3 turned out to be, and the amount of time since the previous SC2... the fact that this is 40 dollars is almost insulting. I know people will buy it, but I won't be one of them.

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    Falk

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    #45  Edited By Falk

    @CJduke said:

    They are also going to be putting in a system to restart a game that lost its connection through replays so tournaments aren't ruined by bad connection games.

    There really is no good excuse for not having LAN play at this point, at least for the bigger blizzard supported events.

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    baldgye

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    #46  Edited By baldgye

    @torus said:

    I remember being excited about this, two or three years ago. I played hundreds of hours of Starcraft II. I'll be honest. After what Diablo 3 turned out to be, and the amount of time since the previous SC2... the fact that this is 40 dollars is almost insulting. I know people will buy it, but I won't be one of them.

    time is important how?

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    Evercaptor

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    #47  Edited By Evercaptor

    Blizzard have yet to make a game I want to play but I hope y'all have fun with it.

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    swabbleflange

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    #48  Edited By swabbleflange

    @Shaanyboi said:

    Because y'know, a dozen other games aren't already coming out this spring.

    This is the only one I'll be buying.

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    FiestaUnicorn

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    #49  Edited By FiestaUnicorn

    @TheSouthernDandy said:

    2 and a half years for an expansion? Thats a little fast don't you think Blizzard?

    They work according to Valve time.

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    Ben_H

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    #50  Edited By Ben_H
    @Shotgunblast97 said:
    Does anyone know if they might release a bundle pack for Starcraft 2 and heart of the swarm.
    From my understanding, the expansion is stand-alone, but if you want the campaign from the first game then yes you will have to get both. If you just want multiplayer, just get the expansion.

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