PTR The legendary "Hearthstone Tavern" data-mined from 8.2.5

[Sin'dor]

"The one where it truly began.

It's not easy to find. Most visitors can't tell you how they got there. A squad of orcs will say they stumbled in off the streets of Orgrimmar during an unseasonable storm. A caravan of gnome traders might claim they slogged through the Swamp of Sorrows for days before finding the inn in the middle of nowhere.

All around the inn's common room, you will find stories of hard travels, tough fighting, and dangerous adventuring, of digging through snowed-out mountain passes and trudging across unforgiving desert plains.

There is one constant: all found the inn when they needed it most, when they thought they couldn't walk another step or face another day. They discovered the right inn at the right time.

It doesn't matter what faction they represent, what world they hail from, whether they walked into the common room alone or with a group, whether they're unarmed or clad in the finest armor. There to greet them all is innkeeper Stonebrew, the dwarf with a twinkle in his eye and quick hands that can top off a mug and slide it into your grasp before you sit down. If you're looking for a game of Hearthstone, he'll find you an empty seat."

-- The Inkeeper's Tale​

So... the programmer from the WoW.Tools site has been data-mining the 8.2.5 files, and buried among the various new models (like updated Wrathion, updated Zappyboi Zekhan, etc.) is the legendary "First Hearthstone Tavern" from the game's lore!

I realize that many of you probably couldn't care less about some "card game" (after all, it's not like playing it will give you any BiS gear... yet!), but Blizzard™ has put an unreasonable-amount of effort into this building... so I'm thinking they've got "Big Plans" for it.

For those of you in need of a quick "Hearthstone Lore" primer, here are some of the NPCs that will likely be present:

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...and here are the "animated shorts" that take-place within it:

Hearthstone Tavern Shorts

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NOTE: The second-half of the first short is essentially a saccharine Disney™ Musical... so "brace yourself", if necessary.

Now that you're all "up to speed"... here's an actual tour of the data-mined model:

(DISCLAIMER: The model-viewer lacks the game's built-in gamma-correction, so some of you may find the video unwatchably-dark. If you're "one of them", I've included some of my screen-grabs below it for you.)

''Brighter'' Screen-grabs

The tavern's entrance opens directly to the largest room: a kind of "competition area"... including a podium/stage/knifeboard on the left, and a well-stocked bar on the right.

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The second-largest room is some kind of "lounge area", with its front and back halves including all sorts of art and items from the game... and the third-largest room looks like a "deck-building area", being a library packed with books/scrolls/cards.

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My thoughts:

1. This tavern model consists only of an "interior", suggesting that it will be some sort of "instanced" area... likely with multiple entrances (which would fit with the "lore"), or that could be entered at-will (similar to a "scenario").
2. The model includes multiple "closed doors" with nothing currently behind them... so they've allowed themselves room to "expand" the tavern as necessary.
3. Hearthstone™ fans have been clamoring for "games within WoW" since the day it was announced... and given the amount of effort that was put into this model, this looks like a serious step in that direction.
4. The codebases of Hearthstone™ and WoW™ are not even remotely compatible... there is zero chance that Blizzard™ will try to recreate Hearthstone™ using the WoW™ client. That means the only way they can "fulfill the dream" is to have the entire Hearthstone™ client running within it's own WoW™ window, which itself would require overcoming a host of interface/programming/system issues. To say I am "curious" as an understatement!
5. Even if this just ends-up being a place to "hang-out" or perhaps pick-up "Hearthstone-related quests" (remember the Hearthsteed?)... it's still pretty damn cool!

TL;DR: A shockingly-intricate "Hearthstone-playing instance" was found in 8.2.5, possibly heralding an attempt at merging the two games... if you care, then read the rest of the post.

 

[AxiomDK]

Fuckin hype man

 

[Faerondil]

Would be pretty cool even if it didn’t let you play HS within WoW. You could meet other HS players on your server and play them on your second monitor or mobile.