Update 3:43 PM EDT: It looks like if you haven't logged in since last season and were at least rank 20, you'll get a ranked chest for July.
Update 2:38 PM EDT: Official patch notes are now live. check them out below.
Update 2:00 PM EDT: The latest patch can be be downloaded on the Battle.net launcher.
Official Patch Notes
The official patch notes are now live. Read below.
Quote from BlizzardThis patch prepares the grounds for the arrival of Hearthstone’s second exciting expansion: The Grand Tournament!When The Grand Tournament goes live later this month, you’ll be able to arm yourself with 132 all-new cards, recruit chivalrous knights of all shapes and sizes, and have a whole lot of festive fun! This patch also begins tracking your highest earned rank in Ranked Play mode, and you’ll be rewarded with a Highest Rank Bonus at the end of the season. Remember, The Grand Tournament pre-purchase bundle remains available until the expansion goes live.
We’re also adding a new card back and fixing some bugs. The full patch notes are below!
General
- The following card back has been added:
- Tournament Grounds – Acquired by reaching Rank 20 or higher in Ranked Play mode during the month of August.
- New quests added, including one to win games in Tavern Brawl mode!
- Tavern Brawl victories now count towards earning the Heroes of the Storm mount award.
- A bonus chest will be granted at the end of each season based on the highest ranked reached in Ranked Play mode.
- Various audio, graphical, and UI issues have been resolved.
New Card Back: Power Core
We first heard about this card back on the OGN HS Masters livestream on August 11th. The Power Core card back is a new card back coming soon for participating in and watching Hearthstone tournaments. More details will follow at a future date.
Quote from BlizzardIf participating in or watching Hearthstone tournaments really spark your interests, then we have an electrifying new card back for you—introducing the super-charged Power Core card back!
Bursting with the energy of competitive Hearthstone play, the Power Core card back will be available to players who participate in or attend select Hearthstone eSports tournaments around the world. Keep an eye out for upcoming Hearthstone blogs and announcements that feature officially sanctioned Hearthstone eSports events—you never know when the opportunity to get your hands on the Power Core card back may strike. How you acquire this card back may change from event to event, so don’t stay static!
Stay tuned for more details on how you can add this flashy new card back to your collection!
The Grand Tournament Datamined
Last night, The Grand Tournament patch hit Blizzard's CDN and we documented all the changes. Animated cards, gameboard, new sounds, new dailies, and card flavor text are just some of the things that were included in last night's patch. Check it out!
July Ranked Chests
If you haven't logged in to the game since last season, and were at least rank 20, you should go ahead and login for a nice surprise. Below is a screenshot from /u/32JC showcasing a July ranked rewards chest - Shieldbearer's Footlocker (Rank 16 through 20). Rewards will vary.
If the game is based entirely on RNG that means that trump, forsen and life coach and every other legend player reached legend because of RNG and not skill...
Agreed, but honestly, it's not 100% unfair, I can tell some pro players that are better then anothers.
And that guy above:
Pepole that complain on the internet are always so well informed...
I think of it more like poker. There's an element of randomness, but you can usually play the odds or even manipulate them slightly by doing things in the right order.
It's a little less RNG then poker because there's the Deckbuilding Skill, but what you said makes sense.
Wonder if this is the final patch before TGT? It seams odd that no changes what so ever wasn't made to the Patron Warrior(Frothing Berserker or Warsong).
I'm not surprised. They didn't change Undertaker until it remained dominant after the release of GVG. They've made it clear they prefer to see meta changes be caused by new cards when possible rather than by nerfs. I would expect that if Patron Warrior remains the top deck we'll see a nerf around the end of September or early October
That would be really bad. There is no play around those empty board OTK's(40dmg+). Not even 2-3 taunts. So no matter what the meta is, it'll still be broken.
That's why I find it odd not to change it now, since Blizzard has changed past OTK decks and mentioned over and over again that they don't want that in the game.
Such a weird situation if nothing get's changed about that.
*oh noes i've upset some patron players :D
TGT pack opening animation
http://i.imgur.com/nMQKUsH.gifv
Looks cool,but in my opinion the GvG pack animation is better;yes a bit too long for some players.
Change the date of your PC to aug 24.
Nice, how did you open them?
I had rank 20 on America servers and got:
Does anyone know when this goes live?
The patch is live, but TGT starts on 24th this month.
Also, I really hope that obtaining the new card back will be as easy as logging into twitch during some sort of a big competition and typing "E-Sports 4Head" when some ridiculous RNG occurs.
Pretty sure rewarding a July Chest to people that were inactive was a mistake from Blizzard's part that they didn't foresee while implementing the feature, since it is now live and replaced the old reward style. Hopefully they won't take it away from the lucky ones and they'll get to enjoy a bunch of golden cards! That being said, I wouldn't mind some myself :p
Good patch, I really like the insta-concede feature.
You mean you don't have to watch your opponent play all his stuff, but instantly leave the game? That's really neat, it bothered me for a while now that you queued in actions were executed before you could leave the game.
No chesterino
T_T I want a july chest.