Hearthstone is the most popular online multiplayer CCG (collectible card game) in the world. Developed by Blizzard, even if it started off as a love child project from a small team of their best developers, it’s proved hugely successful.
Hearthstone has many great features, including game spectating. If you want to learn how to watch a friend play in Hearthstone, you’re in the right place. Read on for more background information about the spectator mode, a detailed guide with steps, as well as the necessary requirements for this option to work.
Spectator Mode in Hearthstone Explained
Spectator mode in Hearthstone isn’t a new feature. In existence since late 2014, it was introduced to the game with the Goblins vs Gnomes expansion. Still, many people are confused and don’t know how to use the spectator mode, especially newer players.
If you ever used spectator mode in other games, we totally get why you’re confused. For example, on Steam, you can watch games directly from your Steam launcher. You just click on your friend’s name to choose to watch them.
For some reason, in Hearthstone you can’t watch your friends play directly via the Blizzard Battle.net app. So, you can’t play a different game or be on your Blizzard app while spectating friends in Hearthstone.
You have to be in-game, and your friend has to be online to start spectating. You also need to update the Blizzard Battle.net app and Hearthstone to the latest available update. We suggest you use this link for all official Blizzard games and apps download.
It’s worth mentioning that Hearthstone works on Windows and Mac computers, but also on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. You can use the spectator mode feature on all of the mentioned devices.
How to Use Spectator Mode in Hearthstone
Spectator mode in Hearthstone is actually really easy to use. All you need is the latest version of the Blizzard app installed, alongside the latest version of Hearthstone. Of course, you need an internet connection because this is an online game.
We suggest having a connection speed of at least 10 Mbps for smooth gameplay and spectating. If you have all of the above, follow the steps to start spectating your friends in Hearthstone:
- Launch the Blizzard Battle.net app on a supported device.
- Start Hearthstone.
- Click on the friends menu at the bottom-left corner of your screen.
- Find a friend that you want to spectate. If they’re in Hearthstone and have the spectator mode enabled, you’ll see an eye icon next to their username. Click on that icon and then click Spectate to enter spectator mode.
After a brief loading screen, you’ll join your friend’s game as a spectator.
Important Note: Your friend has to enable spectator mode for their games on their profile, otherwise you won’t be able to spectate on them. This option is really easy to find. Here’s a quick guide:
- Launch the Battle.net app.
- Start Hearthstone.
- In the bottom-right corner of your screen, click on the gear icon (game menu).
- Then click on Options.
- Make sure Allow friends to spectate my games is enabled (tick the checkbox next to it).
What You Can and Can’t Do While Spectating
Now you know how to enter spectator mode, but you should also know what it allows you to do. If your friend is in a match, you can’t interact with the match in any way. However, you can view everything that’s going on, including your friend’s hand, the history of plays, and the remaining health of your friend and the opponent.
You can’t see your opponent’s hand. Basically, you’re only able to see your friend’s point of view. The only thing you can interact with is the map like you normally can in Hearthstone. This means that you can click on objects to trigger their animations, but this is for fun only and has no impact on the match itself.
You can also magnify the cards from your friend’s hand, and see when they’re doing likewise.
The spectator can also see what cards the opponent is currently highlighting. Only the players can emote, you can’t do that as a spectator.
Only ten players can spectate at the same time. The player in question will be able to see the whole list of his current spectators. The players can also kick out unwanted spectators from their matches, and can disable spectator mode whenever they please.
In this case, they can invite players who want to view their match. When a match finishes in spectator mode, you, the spectator, will still remain in it. You’ll be able to see what your friend is doing, e.g. opening card packs, or searching for a new game.
You’ll enter that game as soon as your friend joins it – after the loading screen, of course at the time, you can only spectate matches. If you can’t spectate on deckbuilding, card opening, and other screens.
Watch and Learn
Sometimes, watching others play Hearthstone is equally fun as playing yourself. Now you know all about the Hearthstone spectator mode, how it works, what you can and can’t do, and hopefully, everything is much clearer to you.
You can spectate any kind of game mode in Hearthstone, whether it’s casual, ranked, arena, or the newest addition to the game: battlegrounds mode. Spectating is seamless and smooth if you have a decent internet connection.
Hearthstone even has an incentive for spectating games: an in-game quest that gives you gold when you watch your friends play. If you’d like to add something to the discussion, use the comments section below.
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