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!
Also a few questions I've been wondering about: When you make the tournaments with your friends can you actually make prizes achievable through these tournaments? Like in the arena for example. Also, can you make some kind of bundle that players can buy and this bundle would contain all previous cardbacks that were in pre-purchase packs?
I'm really excited about a new Druid character. But I'm mad that we are going to lose whispers of the old gods and Karazhan with the new coming year of the raven. I had an amazing Y'shaaraj deck that got me to rank 2. Sadly all that will go away and standard will whisper to me and corrupt me to play wild forever. BTW the best-animated hearthstone video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXyf8jCDV4Q
Trust me I've never seen a better hearthstone video. I've been watching this every day since the day it came out and I can't stop. LMAO
Hopefully Raven is better than Kraken
I’ve never liked that 3 expansions are rotated out when 1 enters. I get the whole year idea but realistically, we lose 390+ cards and gain 130 or so all at once
since old gods we've had 671 cards not counting adventure cards, and we are losing 264 cards not counting the adventure cards. We will gain another 130+ when those cards leave. after two years you'll still be up around 537+ cards with the new expansion coming out.
As a new player I like it a lot, it's an equalizer, finally, I won't have to deal these decks that are worth a fortune.
i like't
I hope that Lunara's threaten emote is just her laughter from Heroes of the Storm.
PTSD intensifies.
I've been saving my dust for this moment.
I disenchanted my Molten Giants for full dust back when they were nerfed... Now I'll spend 7,200 dust (2 Golden Giants for 3200, 2 Golden Ice Blocks for 3200, and two Golden Coldlights for 800), then after the new year I'll DE my regular Ice Blocks and Cold Lights, keeping the Golden version of everything, and end up with 7,440 extra dust to use when the new set launches! For those who don't care about Golden cards, you could follow the same plan but DE your Gold versions for even more dust!
This is a pretty sweet deal for anyone who has planned for it and banked their dust. Basically gives you free golden versions of all three of these cards, or a lot of extra dust if you don't want them. :-)
Did anyone else get spooked by LUNARA ?
I'm gonna stay with Malf I think.
I admit she looks a bit too eager, like a serial killer or something, but I am still gonna use her cus I am sick of Malf after using him since Nax.
Make Molten Giant unplayable? OK. Make him same as 3 years ago so he can be played again? Great! BUT throw him from standard. Combo!
Throw away Ice Barrier from standard - damn just delete mage from the game ok? It wasn't imbalanced card that cannot be beaten so why?
lol
You might want to read the article again buddy.
What does real soon mean?!?!
After the announcement of the new Hearthstone year, the new expansion announcement is close by, by 1-2 weeks.
Class Mastery
OLD: Play 50 Class cards. Reward: 60 gold
NEW: Play 30 Class cards. Reward: 60 gold
It was painful to play 50 cards with a class that i don’t like.
No adventures again? bye bye
I wouldn't hold my breath. Blizzard said after Karazhan they weren't doing adventures anymore. Releasing such a small amount of cards didn't do much to shake up the game so they decided to make only expansions.