The year of the Mammoth is coming to an end. It’s time to open a new chapter in Hearthstone! This will be called “Year of the Raven” and will feature a new Druid hero along with a tournament mode. Additionally, Ice Block and other cards will be moving to the Hall of Fame. You can read more about it here!
As with the Year of the Mammoth, the Year of the Raven will also include three new expansions, but will cause three existing ones to disappear into the wild. The cards from the expansions that will transition to wild mode are:
- The Whispering Woods
- The Streets of Gadgetzan
- A Night in Karazhan
These 3 cards are moving to the Hall of Fame in Hearthstone
But that’s not all; as part of the restructuring and for balancing reasons, classic cards will occasionally only be playable in wild mode and become so-called “timeless classics”. Soon, the cards “Ice Block”, “Deeplight Oracle”, and “Melted Giant” will be affected. These cards will move to the Hall of Fame and will essentially be removed from standard play. Many will surely mourn the Ice Block.
Improved Quests in Hearthstone bring more Gold
For the Year of the Raven, quests are supposed to become more attractive. The rewards for the “40 Gold” quests will be increased: instead of 40, there will soon be 50 Gold. The requirements for completing them will also be reduced: instead of playing 50 class cards for “Master Class”, only 30 will be necessary.
Further improvements for the quests are already in planning, but have not been revealed in detail yet. Overall, players will be able to complete quests significantly faster and achieve wealth more quickly. If one can save, that is.
Tournaments are coming to Hearthstone
Currently, a feature is being worked on that will allow players to host a Hearthstone tournament at home or during a Fireside Gathering. Players will be able to invite friends and family and hold tournaments.
Administrative tasks will be simplified by the client and made possible. The client itself will, however, take on some responsibilities:
- It will handle matchmaking.
- It will check the decks, thereby ensuring that no one exchanges cards unfairly.
The start of the tournament beta is aimed for the middle of this year. The developers hope to receive a lot of feedback to continually improve the tournament and integrate features that players are genuinely interested in and that will help them.
New Hero in Hearthstone: Welcome Lunara!
Some may recognize the name: Lunara is the eldest daughter of the demigod Cenarius. However, while her peaceful sisters stand more for the beauty of nature, Lunara takes more after her father.
She is a fighter, a prime example of the proverbial cruelty of nature. As a defender and fighter, she will surely fit well into the ranks of other Hearthstone heroes.
Getting her is quite simple: One must win 10 Hearthstone matches in ranked or casual mode of the standard format after the release of the next expansion. Voilà, she lands in the home collection!
Little known, but more in the FAQ soon?
Names or even just the themes of the upcoming expansions have yet to be revealed by Brode.
However, on March 2nd at 8:00 PM CET, there will be a live FAQ on the official Hearthstone stream on Twitch.tv, where Game Director Ben Brode and Lead Producer Yong Woo will answer questions.
The Year of the Raven and the changes presented here will begin with the release of the next expansion.
Do you have wishes regarding the next expansions? What themes would you find cool?
