Hearthstone beta

The Hearthstone beta was the beta test phase in the development of Hearthstone, following the alpha test. The beta test began in its closed phase in the Americas region on August 16th 2013, and in the Europe region on September 4th 2013. The game entered its open beta phase on January 21st 2014. The beta phase ended with the full release of Hearthstone on March 11th 2014.

The beta was available to players in North America, Australia/New Zealand, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Europe, Korea and Taiwan, with a separate beta test planned for China. The game's beta was available only on Windows and OS X operating systems.

Closed beta
Hearthstone's closed beta test began in the Americas region on 16th August 2013, and in the Europe region on September 4th 2013. As of November 8th 2013, over 1 million players had been invited to the closed beta. The closed beta ended with the beginning of the open beta phase in January 2014.

Beta wipe
Blizzard announced at the start of the beta that there would be a wipe partway through this phase. On September 26th, they announced that the wipe would be taking place during maintenance on October 2nd in preparation for Patch 1.0.0.3890, resetting all Hearthstone account information and card collections, and later stated that there would be no further wipes.

Open beta
Hearthstone's open beta test began in the Americas region on 21st January 2014, and in the Europe region on 22nd January 2014. By 23rd January 2014 the game was also live in the Taiwan/Korea and China regions, making the game available for all players worldwide.

The open beta ended with the full release of Hearthstone on March 11th 2014.

Beta patches
Following is a full list of all patches during the game's beta phase. The final beta patch, Patch 1.0.0.4944 was followed within a few hours by the full release of Hearthstone.

Open beta

 * Patch 1.0.0.4944 - 11th March 2014
 * A large patch, featuring two card changes, numerous bug fixes, a change to the secret mechanic, changes to the Ranked play season reset, and the addition of golden heroes, card backs and the reconnection feature.

Closed beta

 * Patch 1.0.0.4482 - 17th January 2014
 * A small patch, featuring bug fixes and two Korean language card description changes.
 * Patch 1.0.0.4458 - 16th January 2014
 * A small patch, featuring changes to ten cards.
 * Patch 1.0.0.4243 - 18th December 2013
 * A small patch, featuring changes to three mage cards, and one bug fix.
 * Patch 1.0.0.4217 - 10th December 2013
 * A large patch, featuring a complete reworking of the Ranked Play mode, several card changes, some changes to Arena, some new social features, and numerous bug fixes.
 * Patch 1.0.0.3937 - 17th October 2013
 * A small patch, featuring one card change.
 * Patch 1.0.0.3890 - 2nd October 2013
 * A large patch, featuring numerous changes to game systems, individual cards and non-gameplay elements. This patch was immediately preceded by a complete wipe of all Hearthstone account information and card collections.
 * Patch 1.0.0.3749 - 30th August 2013
 * A small patch, mostly focusing on preparing for the EU region, in which the beta was not yet available.

Announcements

 * 22nd January 2014 - Hearthstone Open Beta is Here!
 * 21st January 2014 - Hearthstone™ Open Beta is Here!
 * 19th December 2013 - Hearthstone™ Update—Open Beta
 * 4th September 2013 - Closed Beta Test Begins! (EU)
 * 16th August 2013 - Hearthstone Closed Beta Test Begins!