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!
They didnt want Hamuul due to all the cairne stuff
"all the cairne stuff" - What does that mean?
Yeah I pushed for that one myself, but we may still see him later. Paladins have 3x heros... so he'd make a good third one
That also was a great way to introduce a tauren as a playable hero :(
Second thought: i guess we didn't have a driad hero either :thinking:
I just silently hope, they are gonna revive warrior/shaman decks next year, and bring us control rogue as an option.
there is a good control rogue deck
A tauren.
I have been hoping for Hamuul Runetotem as an alternate druid hero. Oh well... :(
Ok this may be a hunch but i think the first expension is based on emerald dream ,also we may see some implementations from this site were the cards were taken down https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/179015-expansion-life-in-the-emerald-dream-100-completed
RIP Exodia Mage I guess?
Now this makes me glad i did not craft Kingsbane & Valeera the Hollow recently. Was really curious to play the Mill Rogue but was afrait a change would kill the deck.
This change likely doesn't even revive Handlock in Wild, honestly. The only decks Molten Giant is currently utilized in are Giant decks in Wild. Currently the best iteration is Giantlock, which has endless early game removal to stay alive through aggro onslaughts, whereas other iterations struggle to interact with the board early since they either don't have the cards available to do so or they need to implement draw mechanics.
Will Handlock see play? Of course. Given that Cubelock struggles with Giantlock, I'll be surprised if a slower Warlock variant finds a way to contend with it.
Ben Brode has corrected his sentence about dust : you will get the CRAFTING value, not the Disenchanting value. Enjoy your free dust ;)
Is it best to DE the standard versions now then and craft gold? It said value upto maximum of 2 cards yeh?
If you have enough to craft the golden version, definitely worth doing it
it depends.
if you only wish to have those in golden than do it.
if you want to maximize the dust value than it doesnt matter.
if you have all the hof'd cards youll get 1800 dust for them.
if you have all of them and will craft them golden, and than de them - youll still get 1800 dust.
lets take one card for example:
you have two regular ice blocks. you also craft them in golden and it cost you 3200 dust. youll get 3200 dust back than your balance is zero. de the two golden and youll get 800 back. or - just do nothing and still get 800 back for the rotation of the regular ones.
if you dont want to save those cards for wild (which isnt so recommended) than the same is true. it doesnt matter if you de them now or after the rotation. youll get the same value.
to sum up: if you dont have all the cards yet than craft them all golden. if you do have them - better do nothing.
"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). "
This does not mention full dust value. It says as if you had disenchanted. So surely that would mean that for an epic you'd only get 100dust? When the nerfs came in for raza etc, they specifically mentioned that you'd be able to disenchant for full value?
Reluctant to craft goldens in the hope of getting net return.. Can anyone confirm in some other way that we will be getting full dust value?
That is a very important point. Somebody should ask about that at the Q&A session on Friday!!
Otherwise I foresee many people quite angry when they don't get the full dust value of their (created on purpose) golden Molten Giant...
"As if you disenchanted them" in this context, of cards being moved to Hall of fame and all these cards are giving full dust if disenchanted.
Same as last year...
You'd get 3200 dust for a golden Sylvanas, as well for golden Ragnaros... The Drake gave back 800 dust each...
This time around, you'll get 800 dust for each golden oracle, and 1600 for each golden block and giant.