Next month, Hearthstone will see the next expansion “Goblins vs. Gnomes.” Blizzard revealed some details over the weekend.
The cards introduced at Blizzcon provide just a small glimpse of what is to come in “Goblins vs. Gnomes” for Hearthstone. During a panel, they presented two class cards and answered numerous fan questions on Twitter. It’s time for a closer look.
Yes, new class cards are coming: Priest and Warrior already known
Let’s start with the two already known class cards.
The class card for Warrior is quite wild. It is a 3-mana spell that hops randomly across the board and deals 1 damage to a minion until one dies.
The Priest receives a 5-mana creature with 5/5 stats, which as a Battlecry grants 5 health to a “Mech”.
Speaking of Mechs: This is a new category, similar to the beasts or pirates. Some cards already in the game will become Mechs with this expansion, including the popular Harvest Golem.
Speaking of randomness – it shouldn’t be that bad
“Random” was the keyword that appeared in almost all the cards seen so far. However, Ben Brode, Senior Game Designer at Hearthstone, reassures players who believe that strategy will disappear from the game. Although he himself is a fan of randomness: It does the game a lot of good.
@thethirk randomness does a lot of good for the game! That said there are tons of cards that are not random yet to be announced. Good mix.
— Ben Brode (@bdbrode) November 8, 2014
However, “Goblins vs. Gnomes” will not be that random. Not all cards have been revealed yet. Many others will launch without randomness. Additionally, many tactical plays can often eliminate random elements. As an example, he mentioned the popular 5-mana creature “Panicked Kodo”. It randomly selects a target. However, it is usually played in a way that it only has 1 target to choose from. Thus, randomness will disappear from Hearthstone as a result of strategy.
New game mechanics come to Hearthstone with Gnomes vs Goblins
Some of the now-known cards have sparked speculation. Especially “Sneed’s Old Shredder,” a 5/7 creature for 8 mana that summons a random legendary minion upon deathrattle. Brode says when Kel’Thuzad is called, the old shredder is also brought back to life, and the game continues from there. The shredder can only summon “collectible” legendaries, from Nat Pagle to Ragnaros.
The fact that they are reacting to trends in the current meta, proves Blizzard once again. With the “Clockwork Giant,” a sort of inverted mountain giant, they aim to make things a bit harder for Handlocks and other “hand variants.” The 8/8 card becomes cheaper the more cards the opponent holds in hand.
Also, with minions like Blingtron 3000 (summons a weapon for both players) gives an interesting opportunity for counter-play. Four other trends in game mechanics that can be recognized are:
- Two-in-one cards: where a Mech summons a random creature upon death.
- Stackable buff effects like Mukla’s Bananas, which might make the tiny difference.
- Explosive minions like the ticking sheep or Boombots – it seems the designers liked the two exploding tanks from Naxxramas.
- And numerous cards that benefit when a Mech is on the board. According to Brode, they do not want to encourage a “swarm” effect with Mechs like with Murlocs. Usually, only one Mech is enough to boost another card.
What card packs are available in the Arena? Is Hearthstone free-to-play?
For all skeptics who thought Blizzard wanted to turn the new card packs into a Pay2Win scenario and cash in: They can rest easy. The new packs still cost 100 gold – but you can also get them with real money.
In the Arena, the new “Goblins vs. Gnomes” card packs will replace the current packs as rewards. The “old” classic packs will no longer be available through the Arena starting in December, although individual cards from them may still be obtained as random Arena rewards.
