New Classic Cards Coming to Hearthstone, Tournaments On Hold, Halloween, New Welcome Bundle, New Paladin Hero
Hearthstone is getting some big updates soon! Check out everything that is coming in the coming months including new classic cards!
- Blizzard is currently happy with the meta. They are keeping their eyes on Giggling Inventor
- Mages, Warlocks, and Rogues are getting new classic cards to fill in holes. These are brand new cards.
- New ranks are being added for new players only. New players will start at rank 50.
- Tournament Mode has been put on hold.
- Fireside Gatherings will have more brawls to choose from.
- The Welcome Bundle is returning but instead of giving class legendaries, it includes one of six classic dragon legendaries.
- If you previously purchased the welcome bundle, you can buy it again.
- Hallow's End returns October 17th with Dual Class Arena like last year.
- A new Paladin Hero will be available through a special deal, arriving during Hallow's End. The hero is "Sir Annoy-O".
- According to art on the press site, it looks like you may get Sir Annoy-O with a special purchase of 20 Witchwood packs. Not confirmed.
This is one time where you really don't want to skip the annnoucement post, so read that down below.
New Cards
Four new cards are being added to the Classic set in a future update. We've got dedicated discussion threads for each one.
Discuss this Card
Discuss this Card
Discuss this Card
Discuss this Card
Blog Post
Quote from DaxxarriWelcome to Hearthstone’s first In the Works update. Here we’re giving you a brief look at what’s coming in the next few months for Hearthstone—game updates and events, esports, and more!
There’s a lot to talk about, so read on to find out what’s in store.
Game Updates
The State of the MetaWe’ve seen the meta-game start to stabilize in the wake of The Boomsday Project’s release. Decks like Odd Warrior, Odd Paladin, Token Druid, Tempo Mage, Taunt Druid, Zoo Warlock, Quest Rogue, Secret Hunter, Even Paladin, Deathrattle Hunter, and Even Warlock, have all been top performers.
While those decks stand out from the pack slightly, there are effective decks from every class. Evolve Shaman and Combo Priest have both seen success, for example.
Overall we’re happy with the excellent diversity of decks we’re seeing at all levels of Ranked Play.
Cards to WatchGiggling Inventor is hugely popular and shows up in a lot of decks. We intended for Giggling Inventor to be powerful because we’ve found that having powerful neutral Taunt minions tends to make games more interesting. We’ve seen that with cards like Sludge Belcher and Tar Creeper in the past. Cards that fulfill this role need to be strong to get that job done, but there’s a line where they might be too good.
We aren’t planning any changes to Giggling Inventor for now, but we’re keeping an eye on it in the meantime. We’d like to know what you think.
Wild BalanceThere’s been an ongoing discussion within the team regarding how Wild should play. Right now, Wild feels somewhat like Standard but with an elevated power level and a vast library of cards. Should Wild live up to its name more, where we allow really crazy and powerful combos to happen, even in the early game? Generally, it’s harder for any one strategy to be dominant in Wild since everything is so powerful and everyone has access to so many tools, but do we want those strategies to exist? We know that there are players who would prefer to have a mode that offers that kind of gameplay.
There’s also the point to consider that the reason to have multiple modes in Hearthstone is for them to play differently, so there are downsides to trying to put the reins on Wild too much. But we also recognize that there might be decks like Naga Sea Witch that become too prevalent and simply aren’t fun to play against.
We’d love to hear your opinions about what you want from Wild. What do you think of how it is now, and what’s the role you see for it in the future of Hearthstone?
New Classic CardsIf you’ve been playing Hearthstone for a while, then you already know that with each new Hearthstone year, we’ve chosen certain cards to rotate out of the Standard format. Some of those cards have been part of the Classic format, which is usually an evergreen part of the Standard format.
A few of the cards that left Standard were Class cards, but we want each Class to have a roughly equal number of cards available in the Classic set. To accomplish that, we’re adding four all-new cards to fill the gap.
Here are the new Class cards being added to the Classic set. You’ll be able to craft them or open them in Classic card packs next month:
When designing these cards we are thinking about new players’ first experiences playing Hearthstone. They should be relatively straightforward while still creating some exciting moments. They also give players a chance to see and play with cards that they don't own. At the same time it’s important that they aren’t so powerful that they limit future design or cause problems (since they’ll be in Standard for longer than 2 years.)
Looking forward, we expect more cards to join the Hall of Fame. There are also still some gaps in Classic where neutral Legendary cards joined the Hall of Fame, so we’re considering adding some new cards to the Classic set in the future.
New Player Experience ImprovementsEven at Rank 25, competition in the Tavern can be fierce, especially if you’ve never played Hearthstone before. We’d like to ease new players into the fray a little more gently, so we’re taking some steps toward improving the new player experience. Here’s what newcomers to the Hearthstone tavern can expect to find:
New players will start at Rank 50. Ranks 50 through 26 will be for new players only, and just like ranks 25 through 20, you can’t lose Stars while ranking up. Once a player achieves Rank 25, they’ll never drop below that rank again. We hope this gives players who are new to Hearthstone a little more time to get used to the Tavern, and we’ll also be giving them a few free gifts along the way to help them get up to speed. If you’re an experienced player making an additional account, there will be an option to skip the New Player Experience (and some loot, so consider carefully!) so you can get back into the competition faster. There are a few more details that we’ll provide in the future, but that’s the gist of it!
In-game Tournaments UpdateEarlier this year we talked about adding a new feature to Hearthstone that would make it easier to organize tournaments for Fireside Gatherings and private events. The team has been working on this feature for some time, and it was originally slated to arrive this year. Unfortunately, In-game Tournaments are now on hold, so we wanted to take this opportunity to explain why.
We have a lot of plans to improve many features of Hearthstone, including its social experience, and In-game Tournaments are an important part of that. Tournaments can serve many different audiences, but the implementation we’d arrived at catered to a very specific audience of players. Instead of broadening Hearthstone with an exciting new way to play, it felt “tacked on”, and wasn’t integrating well into the larger Hearthstone experience.
Ultimately, we were forced to conclude that we needed to think about how and where we want to improve Hearthstone’s overall social experience before we can tackle adding a satisfying and robust implementation of In-game Tournaments that all players can enjoy. As developers, sometimes we have to make the difficult decision to step away from a design that isn’t working. We no longer felt that the end result would deliver on everyone’s expectations or the high standards we have for Hearthstone.
As a result, while we want to revisit In-Game Tournaments at a later date, the feature is on hold for the foreseeable future.
Fireside GatheringsIf you’ve never attended a Fireside Gathering, or organized one of your own, you’re missing one of the most fun ways to enjoy Hearthstone with friends! They’re more fun than ever—including private events in your own home—so drop by the Fireside Gatherings site and check it out.
Innkeepers are soon going to have even more options to spice up their events. It was already possible to experience Fireside Brawls (Tavern Brawls that can only be experienced at Fireside Gatherings), and now they’ll have a whole menu of Brawls to choose from to offer their attendees. In addition to the rotating monthly Fireside Brawl, Innkeepers will be able to select one additional Fireside Brawl from a curated library of brawls that their patrons will have access to during their Fireside Gathering.
EsportsThe 2018 HCT Fall Championship is coming mid-October! Watch it live on stream or live in-person at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles.
It’s going to be a thrilling event to witness, and if you can be there live, it gets even better! You’ll get to meet Hearthstone developers, enjoy pick-up tournaments on-site, snap up cool stuff like Hearthstone and Blizzard Arena merchandise and earn the Thrill of Victory card back just for attending!
You can get your tickets here. Get them fast before they sell out as seating is limited!
Welcome Bundle’s Roaring ReturnOkay, it never left, but it IS getting a majestic make-over. It will still offer 10 Classic card packs at a very low price (great time to try to pick up those new Classic Class cards!), but instead of a random Class Legendary card, it will now include one of six Legendary dragons from the Classic set: Alexstrasza, Deathwing, Malygos, Nozdormu, Onyxia, or Ysera!
There’s even better news! What could be better than dragons, you ask? Even if you’ve purchased the Welcome Bundle before, you’ll be able to grab this one too!
Upcoming Game Events
Hallow’s End
The Headless Horseman returns for another spooktacular Hallow’s End event starting October 17! Just like last year, the Tavern will be decked out in horrific fashion, the dual Class Arena returns, and you’ll face the Headless Horseman in the Tavern Brawl. In the spirit of the season, we’re tossing a few more treats in the bag this year, and we’ll let you know all about them as the Headless Horseman’s return draws nigh.
Hallow’s End also marks the arrival of a friendly new Paladin Hero who will be available for purchase as a part of a special deal!
And that’s what’s In the Works for Hearthstone! Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to hearing what you think, so let us know on social media, or in the comments below.
State of the Meta - They're right. It's pretty excellent. Honestly, probably the best it's ever been. Part of that is because it was in a real terrible place for the entire life-cycle of Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. It's probably the best it's been since between Old Gods and Karazhan.
Cards to Watch - They should nerf Giggling by 1 mana. I think control decks would still run it then, but aggressive decks would probably cut it. I also think they should finally, finally, finally nerf Quest Rogue into affecting cards in board, hand, and deck instead of being a persistent aura that affects bounced cards, generated cards, and is silence-proof. The other super-high power-level cards (i.e. Keleseth, Baku, Cube) are actually keeping each other in check. Cards like these are a greater threat to future design space than they are to the current meta.
Wild Balance - They need a better game mode or modes. I rarely play wild, and the idea of encountering problematic cards that I hated when they were in rotation isn't appealing. I like that Hysteria and other pros have a sandbox to come up with insane combos with all cards, but it's just not that fun of a competitive environment. Restrictions and limits actually help. I wish they came up with more interesting ways to utilize your old cards, or had weekly challenges, like only using cards from GvG and Classic for a week.
Tournament Mode on Hold - Meh. I think there are more interesting modes that they could come up with. They should build in support for competitive events, streaming, spectating, etc. but I don't see that as a new competitive game mode all that much different than ladder. I wish Tavern Brawl was consistently good, and other game modes existed.
Everything else - Great stuff! New cards!
Wild should be filtered by a yearly basis. If people want to play the game like it was back in the old gods meta, they should be able to, I certainly would in comparison to the mess it is today. That actually helps returning players because they can play where they stopped at, that way their decks aren't outdated and they can farm resources to jump right back on the current mode, whatever it might be.
"Wild" as it is just a lazy hole they made on the ground to dump everything they don't want inside the house.
Wild isn’t that bad atm. The only problem with it is the ridiculous Druid Combo’s since Juicy Psychmelon came out. However they aren’t impossible to beat. So there really isn’t anything wrong...
These new cards are absolutely terrible... not even worth crafting when they get added to the card pack pool
Why would you craft commons that you’re just gonna open from the free tavern brawl packs and never use anyways?
Sorry, 1 is epic. Still, why would you craft them. You will eventually open and it will be just as useful when it’s opened as if you were to craft it.
If they were any good it would be completely worth crafting them to have the cards immediately.
Otherwise the average player who only opens Classic packs from quests and tavern brawl gets one maybe two of the new cards every 5 or so packs at a guess
WELL MET!
WELL MET!
WELL MET!
Too many people complain about the new cards' quality disregarding the fact a lot of Classic and Basic cards are supposed to be simplistic so that new players have an easier time learning the game. The power level is supposed to be lower than that of cards which will eventually rotate out. Their design is supposed to be effortless. The fact they are associated with random effects sucks but it's supposedly better for newbies as they will get to see more cards. Ignore the fact that they're the ones which replace that high-end stuff like Ice Block and many others. (That said, I still can't wait for my Arena opponents to get 'random' Pyroblasts off the new Mage spell which would probably prove the point that the cards are not as harmless as they seem.)
And the devs even explained the whole thing right after the images of those cards. Did you read that?
We are also getting new evergreen Legendaries in the future... Now these could be egregious because of their rarity. But not some easy-going Commons, come on...
P.S. Peerc rewop.
All this cool stuff, but still no tournament mode. Instead it's on hold. What?!
they can't sell the tournament mode
I am dissapointed Tournament mode is on hold. I think the reasons given suck. Its probably more because Blizzard thinks they wont make as much money cuz people will be playing tourneys all the time and not buying packs for ladder or whatever. I was really looking forward to it. Bummer
Got all the dragons, so at best would be 1000 dust + a legendary to disenchant for 5 euros. Thanks, I'll pass.
Giggling inventor is prevalent enough to make people tech specifically against it with cards like blood knight and mossy horror (though mossy is also good in the meta because of plague and token druid in general). Seems a bit OP and meta-warping to me. Not horrifyingly so, but I wouldn't mind a nerf.
That Jaina with witch hat means that all the heroes will wear them for the event? would be sick actually
If last year's event is anything to go by, all 9 basic heroes will "wear" Hallow's End costumes during the event. You can find the images of the heroes in our news post from last year: https://www.hearthpwn.com/news/3426-hearthstone-patch-9-2-trigger-changes-synergy.
Why is Paladin is getting another skin?
Were is the replacement cards for the neutral cards that was sent to HOF.
2 rare,1 epic,2 legendary (excluding the card you couldn't get in boosters)
Expansion cards have always been a powercreep version of Classic cards.
Really nice update blizz! Keep pushing you are doing a great job with this game.