Blizzard Details Heart of the Swarm Launch Times

[Earnest Cavalli]

Blizzard Details Heart of the Swarm Launch Times

Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft II, goes live in a few hours, and we've got details on exactly when you'll be able to play the thing.

If you run a cursory Google search for when Heart of the Swarm is scheduled to debut, the sources you pull up will likely say that it launches on March 12. While this is true, thanks to the curvature of our planet and the most basic concepts of physics "March 12" isn't chronologically uniform for everyone. I live in the glorious modern Sodom of Portland, Oregon, and while it's 9:30AM here, it's currently 4:30 in the afternoon in London. Not because the British are a race of time wizards, but instead because that's how time zones work. You learn something new every day, huh?

Back on topic: Thanks to these time zones, the Heart of the Swarm launch has to be regionally staggered to offer every player, regardless of their physical location, the opportunity to enjoy the game as soon as his or her peers. Instead of making us (read: me) work out the math for this thing, Blizzard Entertainment has helpfully offered up a full list of when Heart of the Swarm will go live for the world's various locales.

Have a look:

Southeast Asia

Indochina Time (Bangkok) -- 8:01 p.m. March 11

Philippine Time (Manila) -- 9:01 p.m. March 11

Singapore Time -- 9:01 p.m. March 11

Australian Western Time (Perth) -- 9:01 p.m. March 11

Australian Eastern Time (Sydney) -- 12:01 a.m. March 12

New Zealand Standard Time -- 2:01 a.m. March 12


Korea and Taiwan

China Standard Time (Taiwan) -- 1:01 a.m. March 12

Korea Standard Time (Seoul) -- 2:01 a.m. March 12


EU

Moscow Standard Time -- 3:01 a.m. March 12

Eastern European Time (Athens) -- 2:01 a.m. March 12

South African Standard Time -- 1:01 a.m. March 12

Central European Time (Paris) -- 12:01 a.m. March 12

Greenwich Mean Time (London) -- 11:01 p.m. March 11


Americas

Brazil Standard Time (Sao Paulo) -- 4:01 a.m. March 12

Eastern Daylight Saving Time -- 3:01 a.m. March 12

Central Daylight Saving Time -- 2:01 a.m. March 12

Mountain Daylight Saving Time -- 1:01 a.m. March 12

Pacific Daylight Saving Time -- 12:01 a.m. March 12

Hawaii Standard Time -- 9:01 p.m. March 11

Of course, this is all moot if the servers immediately collapse (which they almost certainly will), but let's keep our fingers crossed that Blizzard knows better than EA how to avoid a SimCity-esque catastrophe.

Permalink

 

[XMark]

Yeah, this is going to be a typical always-on DRM launch day overload disaster, but at least they'll probably fix it faster than the SimCity mess, since they've had more experience with this sort of thing.

 

[Legion]

Hmm, well I just cancelled my Amazon delivery because they still hadn't despatched despite me paying for 1st Class, so I couldn't see it arriving on time. I may just buy it from my local supermarket after work tomorrow, or else buy it online before I head off to work.

11pm this evening means I could get it tonight, but for some reason it's slightly more expensive for a download than a retail copy.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

With most of those times being deep in the night, on a weekday, I doubt there will be tens of millions playing right when it launches ( I know I wont as I have an exam tomorrow)
Blizz also has the BNET servers for Starcraft 2 already running and as far as I know there was no overload issue when Starcraft 2 WoL launched a few years ago.

 

[T3hSource]

Ah,now this is smart,aside from the Pacific regions it comes out at night digitally,which is perfect for anyone reasonable.I just want to see the story unfold(probably a train wreck), probably going to watch a walkthrough that would be done by the 2nd-3rd day I presume,now if there were less goddamn let's play commentaries.

 

[Baldr]

There been no Battle.net issues for any World of Warcraft Expansions since the D3 controversy, and most of the SC2 game is loaded on the client side, they are just checking for Authentication tomorrow anyways, so it there is going to be no launch issue.

 

[Kmadden2004]

But wait, it still has an offline mode, like Wings of Liberty, right?

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

With most of those times being deep in the night, on a weekday, I doubt there will be tens of millions playing right when it launches ( I know I wont as I have an exam tomorrow)
Blizz also has the BNET servers for Starcraft 2 already running and as far as I know there was no overload issue when Starcraft 2 WoL launched a few years ago.

You underestimate people's willingness to call in sick to work (if not ask for the day off ahead of time) or skip a day of classes in order to play the hot new release. Ask anyone who's bought a WoW expansion during the midnight release how stable the servers were, despite it being Tuesday night.

 

[SweetShark]

Well, as I said I will wait first for the reviews. If the game is good, I will buy it. If it isn't.......Youtube for me sadly.
But I digress, even the story isn't so good anymore.....

 

[Ferisar]

You underestimate people's willingness to call in sick to work (if not ask for the day off ahead of time) or skip a day of classes in order to play the hot new release. Ask anyone who's bought a WoW expansion during the midnight release how stable the servers were, despite it being Tuesday night.

It's kind of sad that the DIII players just sat around on release day hammering reconnect.

Well ACTUALLY I just went to play something else for an hour and then got my first act completed, merrily going off to bed

OT:
WOO.

Probably going to play at least a bit of it at midnight. Not sure exactly how much, but it's gonna happen. Yay for sleeping during the day!

Well, as I said I will wait first for the reviews. If the game is good, I will buy it. If it isn't.......Youtube for me sadly.
But I digress, even the story isn't so good anymore.....

I fail to see your digression /winkyface
[Obligatory Comment About How the Story Wasn't Ever That Good and We Were All Just Young(er)]

 

[Eric the Orange]

Yeah, this is going to be a typical always-on DRM launch day overload disaster, but at least they'll probably fix it faster than the SimCity mess, since they've had more experience with this sort of thing.

Well the single player portion has an offline mode. So maybe the people who only play multiplayer will be muffed, but I only play the single player missions so it wont be any trouble for me.

 

[tangoprime]

Well at least downloading it won't be an issue. I just started the launcher and it's patching for the expansion now.

 

[SweetShark]

Well, as I said I will wait first for the reviews. If the game is good, I will buy it. If it isn't.......Youtube for me sadly.
But I digress, even the story isn't so good anymore.....

I fail to see your digression /winkyface
[Obligatory Comment About How the Story Wasn't Ever That Good and We Were All Just Young(er)]

I really liked the epic feeling the first Starcraft. Even if the story wasn't something revolutionary, it had many unique moments like the birth of Kerrigan or the sacrifice of Tassadar at the end....

But from the Starcraft 2: WOL......nothing.....
Seriously, nothing epic happened in this game....
Plus some of the "revealed" we learned, are..........sudden and obscure.

 

[saintdane05]

Well, as I said I will wait first for the reviews. If the game is good, I will buy it. If it isn't.......Youtube for me sadly.
But I digress, even the story isn't so good anymore.....

I fail to see your digression /winkyface
[Obligatory Comment About How the Story Wasn't Ever That Good and We Were All Just Young(er)]

I really liked the epic feeling the first Starcraft. Even if the story wasn't something revolutionary, it had many unique moments like the birth of Kerrigan or the sacrifice of Tassadar at the end....

But from the Starcraft 2: WOL......nothing.....
Seriously, nothing epic happened in this game....
Plus some of the "revealed" we learned, are..........sudden and obscure.

Except the invasion of Char.
And the Dark Voice.
And The Prophecy

 

[BanicRhys]

Well, as I said I will wait first for the reviews. If the game is good, I will buy it. If it isn't.......Youtube for me sadly.
But I digress, even the story isn't so good anymore.....

I fail to see your digression /winkyface
[Obligatory Comment About How the Story Wasn't Ever That Good and We Were All Just Young(er)]

I really liked the epic feeling the first Starcraft. Even if the story wasn't something revolutionary, it had many unique moments like the birth of Kerrigan or the sacrifice of Tassadar at the end....

Nothing screams epic like setting a rally point at the end of the map and spamming marines/dragoons/hydras until everything's dead. Not to mention the fact that two zerglings could barely fit on a bridge 10 metres wide at the same time.

Say what you want about WoL, but at least you had to make use of almost all of the units at some point or another beyond the mission that introduces them.

 

[SweetShark]

Well, as I said I will wait first for the reviews. If the game is good, I will buy it. If it isn't.......Youtube for me sadly.
But I digress, even the story isn't so good anymore.....

I fail to see your digression /winkyface
[Obligatory Comment About How the Story Wasn't Ever That Good and We Were All Just Young(er)]

I really liked the epic feeling the first Starcraft. Even if the story wasn't something revolutionary, it had many unique moments like the birth of Kerrigan or the sacrifice of Tassadar at the end....

But from the Starcraft 2: WOL......nothing.....
Seriously, nothing epic happened in this game....
Plus some of the "revealed" we learned, are..........sudden and obscure.

Except the invasion of Char.
And the Dark Voice.
And The Prophecy

Spoiler

-The Overmind from a respectful "villain", become a "pure soul" trying to find a solution to defeat the real treat.
-Kerrigan in reality was the solution to defeat the Dark Voice. -10 point of Kerrigan being an evil b*tch, which I loved btw.
-The solution to save Kerrigan was an ancient artifact........that it....a f*cking pull-from-the-*ss-to-the-last-moment artifact!
-The Zergs/Protoss Hybrids. I will admit, they are cool, but story wise is weak reason to be a major part of the story. It would made more sense if the Dark Voice had a new kind of "creations" that doesn't hold the characteristic of neither from Zergs and neither from Protoss.

So, yeah, I have my own personal opinion why i don't like the new direction of the new Starcraft games. However as I said, i will give it a change because maybe the writers have something good to show us in the future.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I just want to play the single player campaign, hope I won't have to deal with too much connection issues

EDIT: Aaaand as of 1:45 am, as I play the single player campaign of WoL... BattleNet crashes.

A shining example of things to come.

 

[Ferisar]

I really liked the epic feeling the first Starcraft. Even if the story wasn't something revolutionary, it had many unique moments like the birth of Kerrigan or the sacrifice of Tassadar at the end....

But from the Starcraft 2: WOL......nothing.....
Seriously, nothing epic happened in this game....
Plus some of the "revealed" we learned, are..........sudden and obscure.

I respectfully disagree and remain within my opinion of my being an impressionable youngun who thought that "da protoos were coorest becurz dey glow funni"
Paraphrasing of course.

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