Exactly How the Upcoming Legendary Drop Changes Will Work
We're getting closer to the next Hearthstone expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and with the launch of the expansion we're going to have some very welcome changes to how Legendary cards will be dropping from card packs. Due to some confusion out there about exactly how this will work, and a recent update on it from Daxxarri, it seems like a good time to go over it.
How Legendary Drops Will Work
The following will only be true AFTER the Knights of the Frozen Throne patch goes live. This will happen sometime in August.
You will no longer receive duplicate Legendary cards.
- If a specific Legendary is in your collection, it will not drop again from packs until you've acquired all the legendaries from that same set.
- Golden cards and Normal cards are considered the same for the purposes of this feature.
- Disenchanting a Legendary removes it from your collection which allows it to once again be found in packs. Ew.
- No longer do we need to feel bad about crafting a Legendary and then immediately after opening it up from a pack. Woot!
You will receive a guaranteed Legendary within the first 10 card packs opened of a new set.
- This will remain the case long after an expansion has come out. Great for new players or players who have been absent from the game.
- Players who have opened 1 or more packs from a specific set prior to the change going live will not receive this bonus for that set.
Completing the Frozen Throne Prologue gets you a Death Knight Legendary.
- Upon completion of the Prologue, you will receive a random Death Knight Legendary card.
- This Legendary uses the same no dupes rule that is described above.
- We don't know if future expansions will do something similar through their mission content, but it would be cool.
The Starter Pack Legendary follows the non-dupe rule too!
- The Classic Legendary card you get from the starter pack won't be a duplicate.
- If you own all the Classic class legendaries though, you will get a dupe.
- This is sourced from Yong Woo on twitter.
Our Recommendations
- Don't open any card packs you obtain from now until the expansion. This is because before the expansion goes live, you're still able to obtain duplicate legendaries and that would be sad.
- Hit up the weekly brawl to get that classic pack. It will help put a dent into that pity timer!
- Save your gold. If you aren't already saving your gold, it's not too late to start. A few Icecrown packs will be good to go.
- When the Frost Festival begins, play arena! You're going to get a free run each week during the Frost Festival. This will give you Un'Goro packs and an Icecrown pack.
- Use Amazon Coins to Save on Card Packs! You can buy packs at a discount with the currency provided you have an Android device that can launch Hearthstone.
Recent Updates
Quote from DaxxarriUnfortunately, no. If you've opened any packs of a set before the change goes live, you won't receive a Legendary in your first 10 packs.
However, you will get that legendary for any new sets that come out, and for any sets that you never acquired any packs for.
You are right... There is no single new info in an article. But they need to post something while there are no news right? :D
It's definitely worth it to re-iterate what has been said before because it's an important topic that many may have missed. Believe me, I still see people surprised that KoFT is an expansion and not an adventure, even on this site, which is in a way for the more invested HS player. Lots of casuals and semi-casuals play the game who might not read all the news, it's good to spread the word around as much as possible.
Okay, me am stupid, but could somebody explain me what the heck does this mean?
So if I've opened even just 1 pack before the KFT expansion goes live I won't get "guaranteed" legendary? If so, starting from what time I should not open packs? I've opened one 3 days ago, does it count? Or, if I refer to point 2 above, starting from time when this article was posted?
I'm really confused about these news and can't understand if I get the "guaranteed" legendary or not. Thanks in advance.
Referring to two different changes.
The first bullet refers to a Legendary in your first 10 packs, which for most people will only apply to the new expansion but could apply to other expansions if they have completely skipped them before the expansion comes out.
The second bullet refers to the no-duplicate system. If you get a Legendary from a pack before the expansion comes out it could be a dupe, so wait to open them.
If, for example, you haven't opened any Ungoro packs yet because you took a brake from the game, in the first 10 you'll get a guaranteed legendary. This rule apply for every specific set. Realistically, for you, it will apply only in KFT.
The "don't open any packs until the expansion goes live" is because you can still get duplicate legendaries between now and then.
The "if you've opened one pack from a set, the guaranteed legendary in the first 10 packs doesn't work" is all-time, so if you've ever opened a pack of Un'Goro or classic, you are out of the pool for the guaranteed legendary. (but see my previous point.. don't let this encourage you to open your packs before the expansion drops)
Also - just so you're aware, Hearthpwn is a news agency that reports on Hearthstone, but is not a Blizzard official communication. If you have any really specific questions you can direct them to Blizzard support.
So does this mean that if someone had a collection with all the Legendary cards, would it be wise to say disenchant one of the normal Legendary cards, in the hope that they could get golden Legendary instead?
Because if you had all the Legendary cards that would mean if you were to open other packs, you would never be able to get another Legendary card... if I'm not mistaken by how this works.
You'll still get Legendary cards, but it would be wise to DE one of your normal Legendary cards whenever you have the full set. This would guarantee that the next time you get a golden Legendary, it won't be a dupe of a golden Legendary you already have.
it's not that clear for me, here is what I understood I should do:
-never open packs until the expansion goes live, and by live is not the same as the new patch installation
-I should collect the classic packs from the upcoming brawls but never open them
-when KotFT goes live I "should' open KotFT pakcs before the classic packs to get the new expansion's legendaries
and another Q: I opened the pack from the brawl last week, it should not affect new 1st 10 pack legendary rule, right?
I know I seem paranoid but I'm F2P and this is a big deal for me :)
To clarify:
- yes, 'live' is when you are allowed to open the KFR packs. The reason to not open other packs until then is you would still risk getting a duplicate legendary.
- no, the order in which you open the packs is not relevant because each series maintains its own 'pity timer'
- and no, since you opened the classic pack, the 1st 10 will not apply to classic packs. This isn't really a screw up as it is highly unlikely that a player has never opened a single classic pack (although it is technically possible)
You'll only get 1st 10 pack legendary on the new expansion unless there is another expansion that you've never opened a pack for.
I'm not sure if the non-duplicate rule applies when the patch or the expansion goes live, but after then you should be free to open any packs and don't have to open KFT packs first.
Any pack you open now is worth 10-20% less in terms of dust than one you open after the expansion, because the guarantee of a novel (to you) legendary is worth something in all cases.
On the other hand, since you'll only accumulate something like six packs between now and then, you'd only be wasting about a dollar if you just opened them if you got them. So its not a big deal either way.
Thanks Hpwn! helps a lot of confused people!
people are still confused about the set rotations, will keep this page as reference for people who aren't as updated as frequent forum dwellers.
i honestly cannot remember if I ever purchased a gvg pack. Is there any way to check on that?
Also, if I earned one from an arena game, does that count, or am I still ok, since I didn't actually purchase the pack?
Check your wild collection for GvG cards, if you have a bunch of random commons and rares from GvG then you probably opened some GvG packs. If you have disenchanted all of your wild cards then I don't think there is anyway to know for sure (unless you can check your credit card purchase history, assuming you are still using the same card you would've used to buy GvG packs).
You will get duplicates/dust :D