The Year of the Raven is Coming to Hearthstone
Caw Caw! The Hearthstone Zodiac for the new year has been announced!
The Rundown
- Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan, and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan will rotate out with Year of the Raven.
- Ice Block, Coldlight Oracle, and Molten Giant are being added to the Hall of Fame set.
- Molten Giant is going back to 20 mana!
- You will receive free arcane dust for any cards you have that are moving to the Hall of Fame without needing to disenchant the cards.
- Some Daily Quests are becoming easier to complete with reduced requirements.
- Daily Quests that rewarded you with 40 gold will now reward 50 instead.
- In-game Tournaments are coming to Hearthstone. Beta for tournaments to begin around the middle of the year.
- Lunara is being added to the game as the first alternative Druid hero.
- Maiev will no longer be available to collect starting with the first new expansion of the year. If you already own her, she's yours forever.
- A stream will be taking place on March 2 with Ben Brode and Yong Woo for a new year Q&A.
Cards Moving From Classic to Wild
Just like last year, we're seeing some cards moving out of the Classic set and into the Hall of Fame. They will only be playable in the Wild format.
Discuss The Move
Discuss The Move
Discuss The Move
Year of the Raven Video
Announcement Post
Quote from BlizzardEach Hearthstone Year is symbolized by one of the zodiac constellations twinkling in Azeroth’s night sky. The moment when a new constellation comes into alignment heralds the start of the year and a time of jubilation and raucous revelry wherever Hearthstone is played!
This year, we wave farewell to the Year of the Mammoth, and prepare to greet the Year of the Raven!
Set Rotation is Coming
Two years ago, we introduced a New Way to Play, which brought the Standard and Wild game formats to Hearthstone.
In order to keep Hearthstone exciting and accessible as more cards are added, Standard allows players to use the most recently released cards, as well as a core of Basic and Classic cards. Our intention with Standard is to keep the game feeling fresh for all of our players, and to allow newer players to jump into Hearthstone quickly, without the need to collect lots of cards to build a competitive deck. Standard also gives our developers more freedom when designing new cards for the future.
When we release the first new expansion each year, every set that wasn’t released in the same year or the year prior will cycle out and no longer be part of the Standard format.
If you want cards for Wild play or just to fill out your collection, you’ll be able to craft them using Arcane Dust—even cards from Adventures (like One Night in Karazhan) that were previously un-craftable.
While no longer be available for purchase in-game, you can also purchase content that is exclusive to Wild from the online shop.
On Raven’s Wings
Hearthstone’s astrological clock is tick-tocking toward the new Hearthstone Year, and when the next expansion arrives, you’ll also be greeted with an Standard format!
You’ll be able to build Standard decks using the following sets:
- Basic
- Classic
- Journey to Un’Goro
- Knights of the Frozen Throne
- Kobolds & Catacombs
- The first 2018 expansion
Meanwhile, the following sets become exclusive to Wild, along with all previous sets:
- Whispers of the Old Gods
- One Night in Karazhan
- Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
A new Hearthstone Year also means three new expansions! Can you guess what the future holds in store?
Hall of Fame Inductees
To help meet the goal of keeping Hearthstone fresh, certain cards from the Classic set will become exclusive to the Wild format. These cards will be added to the Hall of Fame set. This year, the following cards will be promoted to the Hall of Fame:
Ice Block – This Mage secret is a powerful card, and has been the centerpiece of Standard decks for years. It’s time to make more room for new Mage decks in Standard.
Coldlight Oracle – Coldlight Oracle is becoming exclusive to Wild for several reasons. It offers unusually strong neutral card draw which can be detrimental to class identity. Its “downside” can destroy opponent's cards and prevent opponents from playing the deck they built—which in turn limits some designs related to Battlecry and effects that return a minion to hand.
Taken individually, any one of these reasons might have been enough to prompt a promotion to the Hall of Fame, but when viewed as a whole, we feel that it’s time for Coldlight Oracle to leave Standard play.
Molten Giant – Moving Molten Giant to the Hall of Fame allows us to revert it to its original mana cost, giving players a chance to experiment with decks featuring Molten Giants in the Wild format.
Just like last year, you can keep your copies of these card once they move to the Hall of Fame, and you’ll be granted Arcane Dust as if you had disenchanted them (up to the maximum number that can be used in a deck).
The dust will be automatically awarded once you log-in after the Year of the Raven begins.
Quicker Quests
With the arrival of Hearthstone’s next expansion, quests are about to get better! The requirements for almost every quest will be reduced to make them faster to complete, and all 40 gold quests will now award 50 gold instead. Quests that awarded more than 50 gold will still have the same rewards, but with reduced requirements. Quests that only required a single game to be played, such as Play a Friend, will remain the same.
Here are some examples:
Only the Mighty
OLD: Play 20 minions that cost 5 or more. Reward 40 gold
NEW: Play 12 minions that cost 5 or more. Reward: 50 goldClass Victory
OLD: Win 2 games with one of two Classes. Reward: 40 gold.
NEW: Win 1 game with one of two Classes. Reward: 50 goldClass Mastery
OLD: Play 50 Class cards. Reward: 60 gold
NEW: Play 30 Class cards. Reward: 60 goldWe’re not stopping here—we’ve got our eye on more quests improvements for the future!
In-game Tournaments
We’re working on a feature that will help you run a Hearthstone tournament from your own home or Fireside Gathering! You’ll be able to create a custom tournament and invite your friends--all from within the Hearthstone game client. To start, the feature will include matchmaking and checking decks, but we’ll continue to add new features and functionality over time.
We’re planning to launch in-game tournaments as a beta around the middle of this year, but that's just the beginning. There's a lot of potential to explore as we expand on this very early version of in-game tournaments, and your feedback will help us shape them over the course of the coming year and beyond.
New Druid Hero: Lunara
Lunara is the eldest daughter of the demi-god Cenarius. While her sisters, the dryads, embody peace and the serene beauty of nature, Lunara’s apple didn’t fall far from her father’s tree—she’s a relentless defender of the wilderness and immortal proof that nature is red in claw and thorn.
When your dad is a demi-god, and your grandparents are the goddess of the Moon and a god of the Wild, you’ve got a reputation to uphold. Lunara is more than up to the task.
Win 10 games of Hearthstone in Standard Ranked or Casual mode after the next expansion officially launches to add this ferocious champion of the wild to your Collection.
Last chance for Maiev! With the launch of the first new expansion of 2018, you will no longer be able to acquire the quest to obtain Maiev Shadowsong. If you’ve been away, be sure to obtain Maiev before the next expansion arrives so you don’t miss your chance!
Fireside Gathering Fun
If you’re not familiar with Fireside Gatherings, they’re a great way to get out and meet people just as passionate about Hearthstone as you are! Fireside Gatherings mean a lot to us, and we’re working on even more features to support them during the Year of the Raven!
Raven’s Watch
Want to know more about the Year of the Raven? Ask your questions in the comments, then tune into the official Hearthstone Twitch.tv stream on March 2 at 11:00 am PST to join Game Director Ben Brode and Lead Producer Yong Woo for a Q&A session about the new Hearthstone Year!
Thanks for joining us! We’re excited to share a new Hearthstone year with you, and we’ll see you in the Tavern!
Wouldn't it have made more sense to make Lunara, defender of the WILD, a gift for playing WILD? :thinking emoji:
so i can craft 2 golden giants for free if i don't have normal copyes?
I'm waiting for the Year of the Sabertooth, aka Year of the swswswswswswsw
Well, I'm really glad for an alternate Druid skin... but the art looks really weird. Her hand is just... a weird white patch, and she looks like she's high or something. I'm sure there's better Lunara art out there somewhere...
Nevertheless, I'm still hyped as hell xD. I have a feeling this is gonna be a good year.
Maybe it's a placeholder, the new year doesn't start for another month :)
either ulduar or emerald nightmare for the first one, 2nd one probably to do with the consortium, and the third one seems troll or furbolg themed.
Expansion 1 placeholder above looks like its gonna be druid based so maybe the emerald nightmare type theme? (new druid hero is a dead giveaway as well as the roots surrounding the orb)
Expansion 2 placeholder above looks like its gonna be about casters and arcane powers. The ring in the middle reminds me of the etherals portals in Netherstorm (Burning Crusade zone in WoW) and Mac'Aree on Argus (Legion Zone).
Expansion 3: For some reason this reminds me of Helya in WoW in Halls of Valor and the Vrykul in the Tideskorn Harbor and the whole Helheim area in general.
So when is the release date???
early april
Looks like the next expansion is the Emerald dream!
1. Like the cards that are moving to wild, shocked that leeroy and gadetzan are in that list but w.e
2.That Druid hero art work looks terrible, Was hoping for newer artwork past 500 wins
3. Good improvement on quest but not nearly enough to keep up with this expensive game.
4. Tournament mode finally YES....
No one plays leeroy and gadgetzan.
Leeroy is played in a lot of agro decks all the time. But I dont think that it is so needed to go wild, but if it go I will agree with such decision. Gadgetzan on other hand is really rarely used. It is very good and interesting technical cards which open posibilities for a lot of decks, but it is neither meta defining, nor too anoying, so I dont think that it should go to HoF. Actually we shouldn't forget, that they don't want just to send all cards to hof, but sending cards to HoF , means that more new decks will appear, which is standard main idea... to be fresb]h.
Big fan of the quicker and more profitable quests. Think this is a really good move given that 3 yearly expansions are hard to keep up with!
Kinda hoped to see Auctioneer up there, I guess Blizzard doesn´t believe it limits design of rogue cards this exp.
Can someone remind me how the dust refund works? Basically, do gold cards count towards the two? Or are they counted separately?
Ex 1: I have 2 normal versions and 1 gold version.
Ex 2: I have 2 normal versions and 2 gold versions.
Ex 3: I have 2 gold versions and 1 normal version.
Ex 4: I have 1 normal version and 1 gold version.
You get the max full crafting cost of dust for 2 cards if you have more than 2. That means this:
Ex 1: You get 2000 dust (1600+400) it the example card is Ice Block or Molten Giant because they are epic. You will get 900 dust (800+100) if it is Coldlight Oracle due to it being rare.
Ex 2: You get 3200 dust (1600+1600) for epics, and 1600 dust (800+800) for rares.tournament mode...
Tournament mode?
*TOURNAMENT MODE!*
Expac 1: The Dread Wastes Expac (You can see Sha corruption)
Expac 2: The Netherstorm (You can see some of the ethereal tech around the rim)
Expac 3: Nordrassil (You can see a tree outline!!!)