Blizzard has announced a release date for the upcoming Heart of the Swarm expansion for StarCraft 2, putting it at a March 2013 release (thanks Creepy). The expansion will see players taking on a new singleplayer campaign centred around Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of the Blades, as she gathers the Zerg forces for revenge.

Heart of the Swarm features a new campaign continuing the epic story of Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, as she gathers the remnants of the zerg Swarm and plots her revenge against the treacherous dictator of the Koprulu sector, Arcturus Mengsk. It also introduces several new multiplayer units and features that enhance the acclaimed StarCraft II online experience.

With Heart of the Swarm, our goal has been to expand on the multiplayer action and cinematic storytelling of Wings of Liberty,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Combined with features like unranked matchmaking and our new leveling system, this expansion elevates the StarCraft II experience for players of all skill levels.”

Blizzard has also revealed that a new collector's edition will be available for Heart of the Swarm, which includes a digital and physical bonus item. There will also be the opportunity to purchase a Digital Deluxe edition directly from Blizzard, priced at $64.95 AUD. Players who purchase a standard digital edition or a retail copy will also have the chance to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe edition for an extra $20 AUD.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will be available on March 12th, 2013 for PC and Mac.

Just Queen of Blades will do.

Working link: https://www.ebgames.com.au/pc-151145-StarCraft-II-Heart-of-the-Swarm-PC

How long has SC2 been out by the time this expansion hits the shelves?

Am I right in thinking there are more expansions to come after this one too?

Guess it's keeping those pro-gamers busy adjusting to all the changes.

It's $50 from EB, you have to pay more for the extra stuff, whatever that is.

$65 for an expansion?? Not long ago expansions were $50

Inflation...

That's because it IS a game with two expansions, just like SC1 was a game with one expansion, with Brood War adding additional campaign missions and multiplayer units.

The FAQ question above is more relevant to countries like China and Korea - for most of the western world that operates off the box model mentioned (Aus included), you will need WoL to play HotS.

The exception to that is that all features added in HotS (clan support, Golbal Play, etc) will be patched in and available for WoL players as well.

Yeah, I dunno that its a traditional expansion though, people have short memories if they forget the uproar it caused when Blizzard announced they were splitting the game up and doing it in three parts instead of all in one. A traditional expansion to me is like you have the original game which tells its entire story, then the expansion is an extra bit on top, but this is more like the second part of a game that comes in three parts. Like episodic content with a really, really long time between episodes and each episode is huge :P

I pre-ordered two copies from EB Games.....now to work on speeding up time....

Has anyone who ordered from EB got their beta access code? I'm still waiting.....grrrrrr hate false advertising!