Year of the Dragon - Goodbye Genn & Baku, New Solo Content, Arena Draft Pools, Smarter Deck Builder
Hearthstone is getting huge updates this year! Say goodbye to the Odd and Even mechanic as it gets vaulted to Wild and more!
- Nine cards are being hall of famed. Most cards are Even/Odd themed.
- New paid Single player content. 5 chapters (1 for free). Earn packs and more.
- Arena is getting rotating draft pool. Once or twice per expansion they'll switch the sets up.
- Every expansion will have a pre-release Fireside Gathering.
- You will be able to reroll Legendary quests into a normal one.
- You can now choose a Random card back! Single card back no more.
- A smarter deck builder is coming. Details will come at a later date.
- Arena wins now count towards golden heroes.
- Free Packs! Login between March 25 and April 2 to get free packs. One per day.
Expansion Spoiler
Hall of Fame Cards
If you craft these cards now, you will get your dust refunded once Year of the Dragon begins AND you will keep the cards.
Smarter Deck Builder
Regis Killbin talks about the deck builder in more detail in his dedicated Year of the Dragon video. Regis was present at the Hearthstone Community Summit that took place early this week.
- If you have an empty deck, clicking complete deck will give you the best deck for the cards in your collection, by winrate.
- If you have a partially completed deck, it will add cards to your deck that have high winrates win your already chosen cards.
- Everything is based on real, internal Hearthstone data.
Zayle, Shadow Cloak
A new card will be rewarded from the first PVE adventure. He works a bit like Whizbang the Wonderful
Quote from PCGamerPS, if you're wondering what Zayle, Shadow Cloak is (see the image listing all the PvE content), it's the new Whizbang the Wonderful. You'll earn a golden copy of Zayle for owning all five wings, and he'll enable you to play with five new deck recipes. And because Zayle is golden, so will all the cards in those decks be. Again, great for new players, or those who love a bit of bling.
Reveal Video
Kiwii Recaps
Blog Post
Quote from BlizzardIt’s that time of the year again, when the great Hearthstone clock in the sky ticks one more tock forward. Get ready to welcome the brand-new Hearthstone year—the Year of the Dragon!
Hearthstone in the Year of the Raven
Before we jump into what’s new, here’s a brief look back at the Year of the Raven.
One thing we did was refine the experience for new players just starting out in Hearthstone, with the goal of providing a better learning curve. We added 25 additional ranks to help players learn the ropes of the game and improve matchmaking.
We also made more Ranked ladder improvements, most recently to adjust Ranked Play and reduce the number of stars required to advance in many of the ranks. This was in response to feedback from the community—we always take that to heart, so thank you for your passion and commitment to the game. You’re always welcome to pull up a chair by the hearth and let us know what you think.
As we move from the Year of the Raven to the Year of the Dragon, overall we want to be more flexible when it comes to making changes to the game that we think will lead to a better experience. After Rastakhan’s Rumble debuted, we released balance updates twice in two months, hopefully making for better and more interesting games for all of you. We want to keep doing this as and when needed. We will also do our best to communicate with you ahead of our upcoming changes and give you a heads up that they’re coming whenever possible.
In the Year of the Dragon
Welcome to the Hall of Fame!
At the start of each Hearthstone year, we take the opportunity to reevaluate the Basic and Classic sets. As Hearthstone has evolved and we’ve better defined and distinguished the classes, several cards from those sets stand out as pushing classes in a different direction than the rest of their tools. These cards are moved to the Hall of Fame each year in order to allow the unique class identities, including their strengths and weaknesses, to shine.
This year, nine cards are moving to the Hall of Fame.
Naturalize
Druids have always had excellent flexibility and a number of different tools when it comes to generating mana, cards, and minions, but have long struggled to remove their opponent’s large minions. Naturalize effectively nullifies that weakness, giving Druids a powerful option in matchups where card advantage doesn’t matter. Moving it into the Hall of Fame enforces the Druid’s weakness in removing large minions, maintaining its class identity.
Doomguard
As masters of Demons, Warlocks have long been a powerful board-control class. While we like that minion combat is as much a part of the Warlock’s identity as destructive magic, we want to acknowledge and embrace the class’s weaknesses when they lose control of the board. To that end, we want to limit the amount of damage a Warlock can deal from their hand. As a powerful Charge minion, Doomguard pushes against the Warlock class identity, so we are moving it into the Hall of Fame.
Divine Favor
Over the past several years, we’ve seen a number of strong, aggressive Paladin decks. While we like Paladin’s identity as a minion-summoning and minion-buffing class with a fair amount of resource generation, card draw doesn’t also need to be one of the Paladin’s strengths. Divine Favor is one of the most cost-effective draw spells in the game, so to better emphasize other classes’ strengths and to provide better control over the power level of future aggressive Paladin decks, we are moving Divine Favor to the Hall of Fame.
Baku the Mooneater and Genn Greymane
Baku and Genn are powerful cards that have promoted new strategies since their introduction in the metagame. Those strategies have been more prevalent than we’d intended in Standard, and we felt that they might end up overshadowing what we’re going to introduce in the Year of the Dragon. In order for set rotation to breathe new life into Standard and maintain overall health of the ladder, we are rotating Baku and Genn into the Hall of Fame a year earlier than normal.
As they were complementary to the Even-Odd mechanic that Baku and Genn introduced, Gloom Stag, Black Cat, Glitter Moth, and Murkspark Eel will also join the Hall of Fame.
Just like last year, you will be able to keep your copies of these card once they move to the Hall of Fame, and you’ll also be granted the full Arcane Dust value for each card (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 Dragon begins.
The Evolving Single-Player Experience
We’re taking a new approach to Solo Adventures in the Year of the Dragon, and the result is something bigger, deeper, and much more ambitious than anything we’ve ever done.
We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback on our Dungeon Run–style missions, so you’ll be pleased to know that we’re using that as a framework for what’s coming this year. Expect a more robust level of customization, including the ability to unlock multiple starting decks and Hero Powers per class, and a non-combat tavern encounter where you’ll have the opportunity to fine-tune your deck.
The first Solo Adventure in the Year of the Dragon launches about a month after the first expansion of the year, kicking off with a free chapter. You’ll get to master the new systems and mechanics from the perspective of a mysterious (yet familiar) new Mage character.
Players who want to dive even deeper into the story can unlock additional chapters as they’re released for 700 gold each, or purchase the entire experience for $19.99. Each additional chapter comes with two all-new characters to play, each with three Hero Powers and four starting decks to unlock, usable against dozens of new bosses across multiple game modes. After completing each chapter, you’ll earn three card packs from the new expansion, and for completing all five chapters, you’ll get a card back and a Golden Classic pack.
Here’s what awaits you:
We’re beyond excited to show you what we’ve been scheming on behind the scenes for the Year of the Dragon. This highly replayable Solo Adventure will unlock over the course of four weeks beginning in May. We look forward to sharing more details closer to release.
The Arena Experience
We’re always looking for ways to enhance all of our game modes, including modes like the Arena. In the Year of the Dragon, we’ll be updating the Arena draft pool by rotating out sets and adding new ones twice every expansion to keep things fresh. With the first rotation, the Arena draft pool will contain the following sets: Basic, Classic, Curse of Naxxramas, Whispers of the Old Gods, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, The Witchwood, and the first expansion of this year.
Fireside Gathering Fun
For those of you who have experienced first-hand the community that’s built up around Fireside Gatherings these past years, you’ll be pleased to know that we plan for the Pre-Release period to be a fixture of our expansions moving forward. You’ll be able to open your packs ahead of an expansion’s launch and play with them at public Pre-Release parties. If smaller, more intimate gatherings are more your speed, you’ll be able to enjoy Pre-Release with friends at home via an unlisted Fireside Gathering, complete with the perks available at public Pre-Release parties.
If you're new to Pre-Release parties and Fireside Gatherings, visit FiresideGatherings.com to take your first step towards visiting the tavern in real life!
…And More
One of the things we’ve always tried to do in Hearthstone is listen to player feedback, and we’re committed to keep improving the experience for all Hearthstone players. Here are some more new changes coming to Hearthstone based on your feedback that we hope you’ll enjoy.
Rerolling Legendary quests
If you’ve always struggled to complete specific quests that come with in-game events, you’ll be pleased to know that all Legendary quests will get the reroll arrow this year, so you can pick the quests you want to play! Rerolling a legendary quest will work like any ordinary quest reroll and consume your reroll for the day. We will no longer have any Legendary quests that can’t be rerolled, and Legendary quests given on the first day of an expansion will expire with the launch of the next one.
Random card back option
We’ll be adding a new card back option to the gallery—the Random option, located in the first slot next to the Classic card back. When you choose this, a random card back will be selected from your collection at the beginning of each match.
Smarter deck builder
Deck-building is an essential part of Hearthstone, but it isn’t always the simplest. Sometimes you just like a specific combo, while other times you want to play a specific theme in your deck. This year, we’re sending the deck completer back to school to become a bit smarter. We’ll have more details to share on this at a later date, but expect the deck helper to better take your current card collection into consideration when filling out incomplete decks.
More ways towards your Golden Hero
Winning a game in an Arena run will now count towards the total win count of the Hero you chose to play, making it easier for you to get to those coveted 500 wins.
The Mammoth Sunset
Finally, as we bid farewell to the sets rotating out of Standard, we thought it would be fitting to give them a truly Mammoth sunset. Logging into the game between midnight on March 25, 2019 and midnight of April 2, 2019 will reward you with one pack each from the Journey to Un’Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds & Catacombs expansions.
During this time, you’ll also be able to bid the year goodbye in a new Tavern Brawl: Brawl Block – Year of the Mammoth. This constructed Brawl will only allow cards from Journey to Un’Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds & Catacombs, and will award the usual Classic pack with your first win.
What Do You Think?
We’re excited for the Year of the Dragon, but we’re even more excited to share this ongoing journey with you, our awesome community. We want to hear what you think about everything we’ve just shared.
You’ll have an opportunity to do exactly that when you join us for a live AMA on Reddit on Thursday, March 7 at 1:00 p.m. PST. We hope to see you there!
Hence why it's termed Wild format. It is what it is.
Uh these cards barely register in Wild. There are much more powerful decks in the wild format. that being said a new format between wild and standard would be welcome.
This is huge! Thanks Blizz ^_^
How to simplify hearthstone and make it accessible to 8 years old kids! This oversimplification in games is shit
Meh. It pretty much just makes netdecking quicker and easier. It's not like those kids weren't going to netdeck anyway.
How does it affect anything tho? People just wanna complain about everyting!
Deck builder is shit! It gives you only bad cards and you end up with unplayable deck!
Deck builder is shit! It gives you only good cards and you end up with the best deckalways!
SHIT! SHIT I SAY!
I actually kind of agree here and I guess the down-votes are for your tone, but you're right! The main problem with Hearthstone is netdecking and this is just literally making that even easier! Goodbye creativity, here is your insta-meta deck....
Do previous arena wins count for golden heroes? Or is it from now on?
It'd be a 'from now on'. There's no way that they'll query their DBs enough to pull that kind of data on a historical basis for every account.
Ummm... since you can see your total arena wins in the client i'm sure they also track your class. so the data is already there and available
Hopefully they can count all of our previous wins then.
Point taken. That was a bit of a silly answer on my part.
On the Classic set HoF cards; I'm not in love with these changes, but I do understand them. My concern is like that of my favourite streamer, Brian Kibler, that Classic is just slowly being nerfed into the ground. I agree with him that a rotating Core set would be both good to keep the game fresh and still anchor the heart of Hearthstone.
On the Year of the Raven adds to HoF: Necessary. I don't like that it is, but it is necessary. Genn and Baku just cause the games to play out too similarly. If a key piece of your game plan is to mash the same button you have available every game, then every game feels same-y, and that's ultimately not fun to play, or play against.
On DRAGONS!: I was hoping that they'd get back to some of the more lore heavy settings on Azeroth instead of continuing down the campy, almost silly road. Fun sets are fine. But I think many of us can agree that sets like KotFT felt better than TBP, and not just for power reasons. I thought Boomsday was flavourful as hell, but it was just a bad set.
On the solo content: I hope for a minor change. Adventures that reward a static card set to the player base, a la Blackrock Mountain, Naxxramas et al are better for the game as a whole. By putting up strong cards that are fairly accessible to everyone, regardless of dust, it makes a big difference in how that year plays. I know that it's an unrealistic hope, but there it is.
And finally, on Fireside Gatherings: To keep it brief - I'll believe it when I see it. Support for the FSGs has been appallingly bad. I hope to be proven wrong and that this is the year where Blizzard actually makes them feel like they matter again.
On set predictions; Dalaran / Shattrath, Serpentshrine Cavern / Naga / Well of Eternity?, Bronze Dragonflight / Caverns of Time
I'm always happy to see new changes to my favourite game. I decided to cover this info in the form of video with few bonus informations for people that are new to hearthstone. I'm mostly hyped for Hall of Fame and adventure mode. Imo it was necessary to deal with baku and genn because it makes card pool waaay smaller (good that we get dust back so we don't have to riot on reddit etc.) and characters from Warcraft made adventures very exciting to play. Cheers!
If the current arena wins count towards the golden heroes - I just got all of them I think.
Bli$$ard greed knows no bounds in the year of Kraken.
Bli$$ard greed knows no bounds in the year of Mammoth.
Bli$$ard greed knows no bounds in the year of Raven.
Guess what? Bli$$ard greed knows no bounds in the year of Dragon. 3 more paid adventures along with 3 expansions a year. Not to mention that adventures gonna be released A MONTH after the expansion release. So, people buy the packs for the expansion and then, in order to play the adventure they are obliged to pay more (gold or bucks) to get access to the content and useless (cause they already bought the packs at the beginning of the expansion to play ranked and craft meta decks) packs.
Bravo! "We are listening to the community". LUL The vast majority of the community said that the game is too expensive. "Cool, let's implement more paid content throughout the year". Greedy assholes.
BOO! This content that you can pay in-game gold for is too expensive! BOO! It won't cost me real money but I'm going to complain anyway! BOOOOOO!!!
BOO! So, where are you going to get the gold if you purchased packs for the expansion with it?? BOOOOOOO!!! LUL Such stupid fanboys here OMG
Oh, you're from NA, never mind then. NA LUL
LUL. "My region is better than yours! That's why I can say these things!".
If you bothered to read up or watch the video, you'll get 3 packs for finishing each wing. Your "loss" is 4 packs per wing, which is not small. But then again, oh wait, it's PvE content wherein you literally lose out on nothing for not doing it.
That we can do math and assess that you're not obliged to do anything doesn't make us fanboys. That you cannot draw these conclusions from direct, obvious evidence, is well.. kind of sad.