The new Mercenaries mode in Hearthstone is quite complicated, but also very extensive. It’s basically a whole new game.
Hearthstone has announced a new game mode that is primarily aimed at fans of “rogue-like” games. The “Mercenaries” game mode appears to be quite complex at first glance and differs drastically from the usual Hearthstone experience. It is fundamentally a whole new game – and requires entirely new card packs.
What is this mode about? Basically, the Mercenaries mode has little to do with the original concept of Hearthstone. So say goodbye to your collection or the usual flow of a match.
Instead of playing with a full deck, you play with a selection of 6 Mercenaries, of which you can have 3 on the battlefield at a time. Mercenaries have attack power and health points, and can also be equipped with gear and use various abilities.
How does a turn play out? The interesting thing about the Mercenaries mode is that all actions from both sides are selected simultaneously. There is a “planning phase” where both you and your opponent (whether it’s PvE or PvP) choose everything your Mercenaries will do in the upcoming turn. This can be a simple attack or the use of an ability.
The order in which the attacks are resolved depends on the “speed” value of each action. Small, simpler abilities have a speed of 1-5 and act relatively early. Large, devastating spells take more time and are used later, having a speed of 6, 7, or even higher.
This leads to many tactical considerations. Because if your spell-casting Mercenary gets killed before it can use its big attack, it will obviously have no effect.
Thus, the mode is very strategic – but also a bit chaotic, as you never see ahead of time what attacks the enemy has selected.
What is the deal with the Mercenaries? Mercenaries are various “heroes”. At the start of the mode, there should be 50 different ones. 8 can be unlocked by players for free through the intro experience, while more Mercenaries can be earned or purchased directly in the shop.
Each Mercenary belongs to one of three “classes”:
- Fighters are green and use strong abilities to deal damage. Their damage against spellcasters is doubled.
- Spellcasters are blue. They use powerful spells, including strong healing. They have less attack power but deal double damage to protectors.
- Protectors are basically tanks and marked in red. They spread buff effects and taunt enemies to absorb damage. Their damage against fighters is doubled.
All Mercenaries have different abilities and gear that can be earned and upgraded during the adventures. Additionally, Mercenaries have a permanent level – your team will thus become stronger over the weeks and months.
Where does the mode take place? The Mercenaries mode doesn’t just get a new menu item, but a whole new graphical interface – a complete Mercenary camp. There, you will find various buildings, such as the tavern or the shop, which you can build and expand over time. This is done with gold.
The buildings then give you access to more and more features – such as PvP or stronger missions, where even better gear awaits.
Diablo joins as a new Mercenary: The announcement that Diablo will also participate in the Mercenaries mode was quite unexpected. He actually comes from a completely different franchise, so he has little place in Hearthstone – but when it comes to demons, Mercenaries, and chaos, the red villain must not be missing.
The community is confused and has hardly understood anything
If you take a look at the Hearthstone subreddit and various forums, there is almost everywhere a lack of clarity and confusion. The big gameplay reveal stream was well received by only a few people and was completely overloaded.
James Corbett summarizes it this way:
It seems like [the stream] was made and accepted by people who have been playing this game mode extensively for the last few months and are immersed in it.
It completely went over our heads. We were just trying to learn the alphabet, and they gave us Shakespeare.
There is still time until launch, hopefully this will be clarified through more communication.
A lot of Hearthstone fans in the community share this opinion. Some even felt reminded of the presentation of the card game Artifact. Stanob writes:
This reminded me of the first stream for Valve’s Artifact. It was the first time the public got to see gameplay and how the game works, and a lot of people were really hyped for the game. Then the introductory stream was led by people who had played the game for months and jumped straight into deep strategies when 99% of the audience had absolutely no idea how the game actually works or what the individual cards do.
The only thing that was obvious to all players was: You can pre-order it and already throw a lot of money into the mode, even though it will be released on October 12, 2021. In total, there are 3 different pre-order packages, each costing €50 or €30. If you buy all 3 packages, you have to put down a whopping €130 on the virtual table.
What do you think of the presentation and the game mode? Are you also confused? Or did you understand everything immediately? What’s your opinion on the new mode?
