On Warcraft: Arclight Rumble

Well, Blizzard has now officially announced the mobile game set in the Warcraft universe after keeping it so close to their collective chest before the reveal stream they held on May 3rd. I’ve chosen to write this as an editorial rather than a standard news piece because I’ve got some thoughts on it that I want to express. Without further ado, then, let’s dive into Blizzard’s newest venture.

The mobile title in question is known as Warcraft: Arclight Rumble, as I’m sure you know by now. In a blog post following the aforementioned announcement stream, Blizzard shared some details about what Arclight Rumble is and how its gameplay will function. The game appears to be based at least somewhat on the popular mobile title Clash of Clans, which I’ve never played. As such, I’m afraid I can’t really speculate more thoroughly on this point.

Arclight Rumble centers around players collecting what Blizzard calls “minis,” of which it has been confirmed that there will be 60 at launch. By collecting these minis, you can put them in groups to form “armies,” each containing at least one leader, troops of various types, and powerful spells which may or may not be based on your chosen leader and troop varieties. The two examples of leaders Blizzard provides are Archmage Jaina Proudmoore and former chieftain of the Warsong clan, Grommash Hellscream, rather than his more controversial son.

There will purportedly be expansive single-player elements, scenarios that require cooperation between multiple players, and good old-fashioned player-versus-player combat within Arclight Rumble. To briefly zero in on one of these aspects, Blizzard states that the game will feature a single-player campaign consisting of about seventy missions that serve to test the strength of your assembled armies and your skill at commanding them.

Blizzard went on to explain that players will have the option of joining one of five so-called “Families” within the game, somewhat similar to certain factions in World of Warcraft. These “Families” are as follows: the Alliance, the Horde, the Blackrock clan, the Undead, and the Beasts (for some reason). I’m not quite sure about this yet, but based on the brief descriptions of each of these groups, it sounds to me as though which one you choose may determine (at least in part) which Minis you can access at the start.

As you might expect, each of these Families has its own unique strategies when in battle. To quote Blizzard directly, “the noble Alliance is overflowing with defensive units and spells, the proud Horde is great for overpowering your enemies, the hardened Blackrock will sear a hole in your enemy’s defenses, the Undead deliver a skele-ton of troops to the battlefield, [and] a stampede (literally) of Beasts from the plains and jungles of Azeroth overwhelm your foe.”

Aside from that tidbit about the Alliance, those descriptions don’t really tell me much about how each family differentiates itself from the other four, strategically speaking. Honestly, the main thing they really indicate to me is that Blizzard loves their cringe-worthy puns, but I know that’s neither here nor there. Even so, I’ll probably end up enlisting with the Alliance once the game is out, if for no other reason than in order to reflect my faction preference in World of Warcraft.

Now, if you’re anything like me, the prospect of Blizzard making a mobile game like this may make you a bit uneasy due to the possibility that the finished product could nickel-and-dime its players to a particularly egregious degree. However, according to Wowhead, a high-ranking Blizzard representative has confirmed that Warcraft: Arclight Rumble will contain no loot boxes, gacha elements, or NFTs. This statement apparently directly contradicts an indication on the game’s Google Play Store page that it could end up including loot box-style mechanics.

While I think this is most assuredly a good thing, I’m extremely hesitant to award Blizzard any goodwill points for it. I say that because this move strikes me as just a sensible thing to do that avoids upsetting most rational portions of the game’s potential player base. The way I see it, Blizzard has enough massive cash cows whose udders probably won’t run dry anytime soon, so it has no justifiable reason to engage in those sorts of widely frowned-upon monetization efforts.

For a few last notes, Warcraft: Arclight Rumble is expected to release sometime in 2022. It’ll be a mobile-exclusive title, as Blizzard has outright said they have no current plans for a PC release. They’ve also publicized the game’s minimum technical requirements to run on various mobile devices, which you can see in the written version of its gameplay overview that I’ve linked below.

I’ve essentially said my piece about Warcraft: Arclight Rumble for now. However, here are a few additional resources if you’d like to learn more about the game. Firstly, here is a link to where Android users can pre-register for its beta via Battle.net. Strangely, iOS users can’t yet do that at the time of writing, but I’m sure they’ll be able to in the near future. Secondly, here’s a written version of Arclight Rumble’s gameplay overview. Lastly, you can check out a “developer overview” video below.