Patch 8.4: The Caverns Below has Been Nerfed! Frozen Throne Preorder, New Brawls

The Caverns Below has been nerfed! Frozen Throne Pre-order is now in-client!

A new patch has hit the Hearthstone servers. Goodbye Quest Rogue and hello Frozen Throne (pre-orders)!

It's important to note that this patch does not implement the previously announced Legendary changes. Don't open those card packs yet, you need to wait for the expansion to launch.

New Brawl Card

A new brawl card has been added. Perhaps this is for this week's brawl as things cool down with Midsummer?

  • Ragnaros? - Can't Attack. Deathrattle: Whoever kills this deals 4 damage to their opponent.
  • His client name is "TB_Frost_Rag"

Frost Festival Brawl

To counter the Fire Festival brawl, it looks like we're getting a Frost Festival one with similar, sparkly effects. Are fireworks still fireworks if they're made of ice? Frostworks sounds off.

      

Quote from HearthPwn

  • GLUE_FROST_FESTIVAL_FREE_ARENA_WIN_HEADLINE - HAVE A WIN ON ME
  • GLUE_FROST_FESTIVAL_FREE_ARENA_WIN_DESC - Ahune is granting a free win for new runs started during the Frost Festival! Would Ragnaros do that? Nope.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_Arena_01 - ARENA MATCHES ARE A MAINSTAY OF THE FROST FESTIVAL. HAPPY DRAFTING, FOOL!
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_Arena_02 - CELEBRATE MY FROST FESTIVAL BY PLAYING ARENA! ENJOY, FOOL!
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_01 - THE FIRE FESTIVAL IS OVER. IT IS AHUNE'S TURN.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_02 - MY FROST FESTIVAL IS WAY BETTER THAN RAGNAROS' LAME FIRE FESTIVAL.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_03 - PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY MY FROST BRAWL? IT IS MUCH COOOLER THAN RAGNAROS'S BRAWL!
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_04 - ARE YOU ENJOYING FROST FESTIVAL? BE SURE TO TELL RAGNAROS HOW COOL IT IS.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_06 - ENJOY YOURSELF, FOOL.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_07 - ARE YOU HAVING FUN? HAVE MORE FUN!
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_09 - THE WORLD IS GROWING COLDER...
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireFestival_10 - A CHILL WIND BLOWS THROUGH AZEROTH.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireQuests_01 - PERFORM THIS TASK. AND ENJOY YOURSELF!
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireQuests_03 - PERHAPS YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THIS....
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireQuests_04 - DID RAGNAROS GIVE YOU FROZEN THRONE PACKS? HUH. I DIDN'T THINK SO.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireQuests_05 - HERE! A GIFT FROM MY BENEFACTOR.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireQuests_09 - PACKS ARE THE BEST QUEST REWARD.
  • VO_Ahune_Male_Elemental_FireQuests_11 - A CHALLENGE WORTHY OF MY FROST FESTIVAL!

New Brawl Chalkboards

Three new chalkboards have been added.

  • Ahune seems to be an announcer.
  • Elementals and Dinosaurs?
  • Jaina and Malfurion in a boxing ring and are high-fiving. What?

    

Other Interesting Images

There's two other images that were added that are crazy interesting. I've also included the new card pack for those who wanted it.

  • WOW-008_S - It's a card image but not sure for what. That's definitely a Human cathedral in the background.
  • TheBox_Table_Frost - Some frosty bits for the upcoming brawl. Simply... cool.
  • Pack_ICC - For art people!
  • FrostFestival_FreeArenaWin_Plaque - Free Arena Wins? Pretty sure this is just going to show your opponent in Brawl how many times you've won, but that's a crazy name.
  • Season_Page_R-Filigree_02 - Can't figure out where this is, but.. Season pages? I'm interested.
  • ICEIcon - Another piece for artsy people.

    

    

The Caverns Below? Fill em in I say!

The Caverns Below has been nerfed. It now requires 5 minions of the same name to be played. You can discenchant this card for full dust value like I just did up until the 24th of July. BEAUTIFUL DUST!

Frozen Throne Preorder is Now In-Client!

Nice music in the client. I really miss Icecrown Citadel in World of Warcraft. Those were the days.

Elemental Tags Added

Some cards that didn't have Elemental tags now do!

Arena Balance Statement

Blizzard has finally made it clear what the current arena rates are!

Quote from Blizzard

  • Note: Neutral cards form the basis for draft appearance rates.
  • On average, Arena runs consist of 60% Common, 28% Rare, 10% Epic, and about 2% Legendary cards.
  • Class minions are +100% more common than neutral cards.
  • Class Spells and Weapons are +175% more common than neutral cards.
  • Journey to Un'Goro cards receive an additional +50% increase in their appearance rate.
  • The following cards are unavailable in arena
    • Jungle Giants, The Marsh Queen, Open the Waygate, The Last Kaleidosaur, Awaken the Makers, The Caverns Below, Unite the Murlocs, Lakkari Sacrifice, Fire Plume’s Heart, Klaxxi Amber Weaver, Dark Arakkoa, Cult Sorcerer, Hooded Acolyte, Twilight Darkmender, Blade of C’Thun, Usher of Souls, Ancient Shieldbearer, Twilight Geomancer, Disciple of C’Thun, Twilight Elder, C’Thun’s Chosen, Crazed Worshipper, Skeram Cultist, Twin Emperor Vek’lor, Doomcaller, C’Thun, Dust Devil, Totemic Might, Ancestral Healing, Windspeaker, Sacrificial Pact, Sense Demons, Void Crusher, Succubus, Savagery, Soul of the Forest, Mark of Nature, Warsong Commander, Rampage, Starving Buzzard, Timber Wolf, Snipe, Mind Blast, Lightwell, Purify and Inner Fire.
  • Flamestrike, Abyssal Enforcer, and Vicious Fledgling will appear in drafts 50% less often.
  • Popular cards had small drop rate changes to address class balance concerns. (Note - These changes range from 1-5%. They are small enough that they are unlikely to be noticed during an individual draft, but should have enough cumulative impact to help improve class balance.)
  • We’re working to improve the Arena experience, and your feedback is always appreciated!

Patch Notes

The full patch notes, minus the arena "changes" which are covered above can be found below.

Quote from Blizzard

  • Pre-purchase for Knights of the Frozen Throne, Hearthstone’s latest expansion, is now available from both the in-game Shop and online! You can pre-purchase 50 card packs and get the Frostmourne card back for $49.99 USD.
  • Pre-purchased card packs and the Frostmourne card back will now appear in-game. Knights of the Frozen Throne card packs can be opened when the expansion is released in August.
  • Balance Update
    • The Caverns Below now reads: Quest: Play five minions with the same name. Reward: Crystal Core.
    • The Caverns Below is uniquely powerful versus several slower, control-oriented decks and is played often enough to push those decks out of play. While deck diversity in Ranked Play is good, a change to The Caverns Below was still warranted to help keep that trend going into the future.
    • The Caverns Below can now be disenchanted for full Arcane Dust value until July 24 PDT.
  • The following minions are now Elementals:
    • Jade Spirit, Djinni of Zephyrs, Flame of Azzinoth, Mana Geode, and Hallazeal, the Ascended.
  • Added the following card backs:
    • Frostmourne – Acquired from the Knights of the Frozen Throne pre-purchase bundle.
    • HearthS’mores – Acquired from achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Play, July 2017.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Hearthstone to freeze when closing.
  • Fixed some visual issues associated with Deck Importing.

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