Over the course of the Year of the Kraken, we’ve seen the Hearthstone meta game defined and refined by our players. As a result, we’ve seen a wider variety of deck archetypes being discovered than ever before. New strategies and playstyles have evolved over time entirely thanks to our creative and passionate community.
With the introduction of new cards to the Hearthstone card pool comes additional chances to innovate and discover new decks. Sometimes, the introduction of additional cards can also lead to older cards gaining an overall power level boost. In many cases, dusting off old cards can be good for the game, and allow our players to create and expand on new themes, even if they may not have a place in the current meta.
With Keeping Hearthstone Fresh in mind, we have to be acutely aware of the overall power levels of our cards contained within the evergreen Basic and Classic sets. Since these cards do not rotate along with certain expansion or adventure sets each year for our Standard mode players, managing and monitoring their strength is of great importance to the overall health of the game.
In an upcoming update, we will be making changes to a few Basic and Classic cards, along with certain cards that may have felt too oppressive to our players in the current state of the meta game.
Shaman
Shaman has been representing a large population of the total decks played in Hearthstone for the past few months. While we think it’s great for Classes to fluctuate in power level, it’s important that Hearthstone always feels like there are a wide variety of decks to play with and against. We’re happy that Shaman has many deckbuilding options to choose from, but we are taking this opportunity to adjust two of the most widely played and frustrating Shaman cards. In the short-term, we think these adjustments bring Shaman closer to the pack in terms of both population and power level. In the long-term, we think these changes will make playing against Shaman less frustrating and make the deckbuilding decisions for Shaman more interesting.
Rockbiter Weapon
Rockbiter is the culprit of a few mass burst-damage combos in addition to being a reliable early game removal tool. Due to its strength in a variety of circumstances, it’s been one of the most widely played Shaman cards in Hearthstone’s history. Making changes to Basic cards that show up in every deck will help instigate more variety and help the Standard format succeed in the future. We’re preserving some of the synergistic potential of Rockbiter Weapon but decreasing its value as a removal tool by changing the cost of the card from 1 to 2 Mana.
We considered other Shaman cards like Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem, but these are both leaving Standard relatively soon, so we thought it would be better to change Rockbiter and improve the Standard format in a more permanent way.
Tuskarr Totemic
We like that Tuskarr is contributing to totem focused decks, but currently the power level is centered around the possibility of summoning cards like Totem Golem or Mana Tide Totem. This isn’t the most fun type of randomness for a card that is low mana and sees this much play. We want this card to be an option for decks that take advantage of extra totems through cards like Thing From Below or Primal Fusion, but a weaker option for players looking for standalone high power level options on turn three. That said, we are adjusting the battlecry for Tuskarr Totemic to only summon basic totems.
Call of the Wild
Although Call of the Wild is intended to be a powerful late game option, it is over performing at 8 mana. By moving it to 9 mana we intend to tone down its power enough that it won’t be an automatic inclusion in every Hunter deck and overshadow other strategies.
Execute
The Warrior class has access to a large amount of removal spells, and while we want to continue providing Warrior players with powerful removal options, Execute stands out as one that has proven to be too efficient in too many situations. We’re increasing the cost of Execute from 1 to 2 Mana in order to keep the card as an option closer in power level to other existing and future removal tools.
Charge
While we enjoy seeing players explore combo styles of play and will continue to support it in the future, we’ve seen in the past that the ability to give Charge to minions that don’t normally have it has been particularly problematic and also heavily restricts future cards. We’ve redesigned the card Charge in a way that provides opportunities for minion combat, but does not enable strategies that intend to win without allowing opponents to interact.
Abusive Sergeant
Aggressive decks are stronger than we would like right now, and Abusive Sergeant is in virtually all of them. We like that Abusive Sergeant is available to players using minion heavy strategies, but neutral cards in the base set should be narrow enough that they aren’t showing up in such a wide variety of circumstances. We’re changing Abusive Sergeant to be a 1/1 so the battlecry becomes the clear focus, rather than the card being a reasonable turn one option for all aggressive deck types.
Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End
This is the most controversial card we've ever made. Some people LOVE Yogg, and others hate it. We felt like seeing Yogg in tournaments was not where we originally hoped it would end up. Yogg should be for players who want to have a lot of fun, but maybe not the card you see frequently in high-level tournaments. Yogg is relatively weak in power level for nearly every class at every level, but is slightly above average in 2 decks – Tempo Mage and Token Druid. We didn't want to nerf it so much that it couldn't still be a fun card for players who currently love Yogg. Yogg-Saron will now stop casting spells if, during Yogg-Saron’s battlecry, it is destroyed, silenced, transformed, or returned to its owner’s hand. We tried a bunch of things and we think this is a significant enough nerf that it could reduce the amount it gets seen (especially in tournaments), while still maintaining the dream for people who love the card.
In addition to the above changes, we will be addressing the bug where cards with Overload cast by Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End will not cause Overload to the player in a future update.
Thanks for checking out our reasons behind the latest balance changes to Hearthstone. The updated cards will arrive as a part of our 6.1.3 update, which is currently planned to go live before the Last Call events for the Hearthstone Championship Tour.
The Hearthstone World Championship will begin with a group stage throughout Opening Week. Each group will consist of four competitors, one from each of our regions: Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and China. These competitors have qualified through Seasonal Championships from their respective regions, and the groups will be seeded based on the HCT Points total for each participant.
Matches will be played out using the following format:
Each match will be best-of-seven using the Conquest format with one ban. Each player will bring five decks to play with for each match, and they and their opponent will be able to ban one of each other’s decks. Players will then compete with the remaining decks.
The group stage will be double-elimination with two competitors advancing from each group to play in the bracket stage.
The bracket stage will be single-elimination and will be played out at BlizzCon.
Schedule
As previously announced, BlizzCon Opening Week will take place between October 26–30, starting at 9 a.m. PDT each day and encompassing the group stage. Each day will feature four matches, with one match from each group.
Day 1 (October 26) – Match 1
Day 2 (October 27) – Match 2
Day 3 (October 28) – Winners’ Match
Day 4 (October 29) – Elimination Match
Day 5 (October 30) – Decider Match
The bracket stage will take place at BlizzCon on November 4–5 according to the following schedule (the full schedule will be released at a later time):
Day 1 (November 4) – Quarterfinals
Day 2 (November 5) – Semifinals and Grand Finals
Prize Pool
The $1 million Hearthstone World Championship will be divided as follows:
The Hearthstone World Championship will begin with a group stage throughout Opening Week. Each group will consist of four competitors, one from each of our regions: Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and China. These competitors have qualified through Seasonal Championships from their respective regions, and the groups will be seeded based on the HCT Points total for each participant.
Matches will be played out using the following format:
Each match will be best-of-seven using the Conquest format with one ban. Each player will bring five decks to play with for each match, and they and their opponent will be able to ban one of each other’s decks. Players will then compete with the remaining decks.
The group stage will be double-elimination with two competitors advancing from each group to play in the bracket stage.
The bracket stage will be single-elimination and will be played out at BlizzCon.
Schedule
As previously announced, BlizzCon Opening Week will take place between October 26–30, starting at 9 a.m. PDT each day and encompassing the group stage. Each day will feature four matches, with one match from each group.
Day 1 (October 26) – Match 1
Day 2 (October 27) – Match 2
Day 3 (October 28) – Winners’ Match
Day 4 (October 29) – Elimination Match
Day 5 (October 30) – Decider Match
The bracket stage will take place at BlizzCon on November 4–5 according to the following schedule (the full schedule will be released at a later time):
Day 1 (November 4) – Quarterfinals
Day 2 (November 5) – Semifinals and Grand Finals
Prize Pool
The $1 million Hearthstone World Championship will be divided as follows:
In this Hearthstone update, we have added the Welcome Bundle and addressed some bugs!
Read on for details!
General
The Welcome Bundle has arrived! Purchase this one-time only bundle to receive 10 Classic card packs and a random Classic Class Legendary!
Added the new Priest Hero: Tyrande Whisperwind. You will be able to add the new Hero and a new card back to your collection by participating in an upcoming special promotion.
The following card backs have been added:
Tyrande – Acquired via a special promotion
Legion – Acquired by achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Play for September 2016
Pie – Acquired by achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Play for October 2016
A few deck recipes have been updated.
Certain cards will no longer be selectable in the Arena.
If you accept a Friendly Challenge while editing a deck, your deck-building progress will now be saved.
Resolved an issue that could cause gameplay to slow down after using the new Adventure restart feature.
Golden C’Thun and Mounted Raptor can now be crafted or disenchanted.
Medivh’s Valet can now be properly crafted or disenchanted.
[Tablet] Resolved an issue that could prevent the on-screen keyboard from opening.
Krizgut, our goblin inventory manager, has managed to secure a special deal for new and old players alike in our next content update: the new Welcome Bundle!
For $4.99 USD, the Welcome Bundle contains:
10 Classic Hearthstone packs!
One random class Legendary card from the Classic set!*
If you’re new to Hearthstone and wondering where to begin, the Welcome Bundle will set you well on your way to building a Classic deck recipe or creating an exciting new deck of your own. You’ll unwrap one of nine Classic class Legendaries, such as the mystical Mage card Archmage Antonidas, or the relentless Warrior card Grommash Hellscream!
If you’re a veteran player looking to add more Classic cards to your collection, the Welcome Bundle is an incredible deal for the price!
Welcome Bundles are available just once per account, for as long as Krizgut can keep the ethereal portal open! Grab yours soon and find out which Legendary is waiting for you!
*Legendary cards included in the Welcome Bundle are not golden.
The final rankings from Standard Ranked Play Season 29: An Intriguing Invitation for the Americas region are in! These players have gone the extra mile and worked their way up the current ladder system to become some of the top ranked Hearthstone competitors.
There’s been a lot of internal and public discussion regarding the state of Arena recently. Today, I’d like to share what the Hearthstone team’s goals are for Arena and shed some additional light on where our overall focus is for the future.
Hearthstone has four major game modes right now: Constructed, Arena, Solo Adventures, and Tavern Brawl. One goal we have for Arena is that we want it to feel meaningfully different from any other way you might play Hearthstone. I think we’re hitting that goal now, but it’s important for us to keep that in mind when thinking about future changes. Variety among all game modes is important to us, but an equally important goal is to have a wide range of experiences within each game mode.
This is an area where we feel Arena has some room for improvement. When you first enter Arena and are offered the choice of three different classes, our goal is that you can look at those choices and choose any class without feeling disadvantaged because of their difference in power level.
Most of the feedback we’ve received on Arena is centered around class balance. For the last few content releases, Mage and Rogue have bounced back and forth as the top two most played and most powerful classes. Paladin has been in a tier by itself below Mage and Rogue, while the last six classes have done some shifting around in a tier below these three.
So what are some ways we can address Arena balance? Tools that we have available immediately involve removing cards from Arena completely—C'Thun-synergy cards and Purify are examples of this. We’d like to avoid removing strong spells and weapons from the Arena, because they add to a lot of the unpredictability and excitement surrounding the possibilities outside the current board state. We’d also like to avoid removing iconic cards, since they are generally versatile and familiar tools to veteran and new Arena players alike. Additionally, we can remove lower-performing cards in order to make room for a class’ more commonly utilized cards to show up more often in your Arena draft.
With those things in mind, we will be removing the following cards from the Arena draft in an upcoming patch:
Mage
Forgotten Torch
Snowchugger
Faceless Summoner
Rogue
Goblin Auto Barber
Undercity Valiant
Paladin
- No changes
Shaman
Vitality Totem
Dust Devil
Totemic Might
Ancestral Healing
Dunemaul Shaman
Windspeaker
Warlock
Anima Golem
Sacrificial Pact
Curse of Rafaam
Sense Demons
Void Crusher
Reliquary Seeker
Succubus
Druid
Savagery
Poison Seeds
Soul of the Forest
Mark of Nature
Tree of Life
Astral Communion
Warrior
Warsong Commander
Bolster
Charge
Bouncing Blade
Axe Flinger
Rampage
Ogre Warmaul
Hunter
Starving Buzzard
Call Pet
Timber Wolf
Cobra Shot
Lock and Load
Dart Trap
Snipe
Priest
Mind Blast
Shadowbomber
Lightwell
Power Word: Glory
Confuse
Convert
Inner Fire
We're looking to develop additional solutions to balance Arena as well, such as the ability to adjust the rate that individual cards show up in your draft depending on a designer input value. If we pursue that route, there is still the matter of deciding on the best way to go about using that tool to achieve balance for each of the nine classes and still have Arena feel fun and different each run.
Drafting by card rarity is another discussion that we’ve been hearing a lot. If it’s a matter of balance, we’re fairly confident the ability to adjust the “weights” of cards available can solve that.
We think Arena is a fun environment that could use some overall balance tuning. We hope the above changes will help to address that, and we will be monitoring the Arena closely to see the impact of these changes. We also need your feedback to help us ensure that the Arena remains enjoyable for years to come, so let us know your thoughts!
With BlizzCon just around the corner, three players hope to secure their spot at the Hearthstone World Championship by winning one of the Hearthstone Championship Tour’s Summer Championships! Across three consecutive weekends in September, we will host the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific Summer Championships, all taking place at the Hollywood Riviera Studios in Torrance, California. Each weekend, the eight qualifying players from their respective region’s Preliminary event will be flown in to battle it out and stake their claim as that region’s Summer Champion. The winners will also earn a spot at this year’s Hearthstone World Championship at BlizzCon, as well as a share of each Championship’s $100,000 USD prize pool!
The Summer Championships are an ideal time to host an exciting Fireside Gathering viewing party. Not an Innkeeper? No worries, just head on over to the official Fireside Gatherings site to find an event near you, or better yet, learn how to host your own Summer Championship viewing party! Join some fellow gamers to watch the heated competition and perhaps partake in some friendly brawls yourself!
The Participants
Here are the participants for each region’s Championship:
For each Championship, the players will face off in a best-of-seven single-elimination bracket using the Conquest match format with a ban. The winner will claim the Summer Championship title, the $25,000 first place prize, and their spot at the 2016 Hearthstone World Championship.
Don’t miss any of the action! Join in on the conversation by tweeting @PlayHearthstone with the #HCT hashtag.
The September Ranked Play Season is now live – and we’re unveiling a new card back you can add to your collection!
The demons of the Burning Legion have made their mark on Hearthstone with the delightfully infernal Legion card back! Add this beauti-fel card back to your collection by playing Hearthstone during the month of September.
These card backs replace the art decorating the reverse side of your cards and are a great way to show off your Hearthstone accomplishments. Add the Legion card back to your collection by hitting Rank 20 in either Standard or Wild Ranked Play modes. You’ll receive the Legion card back at the end of September’s Ranked Play Season in your Ranked Play reward chest.
You earn Ranked Play reward chests based on your highest earned rank over the course of a Ranked Play season. Reward chests may contain seasonal card backs, Arcane Dust, and golden cards, and can be obtained by playing in either Standard or Wild Ranked Play modes. You’ll be awarded one chest per Ranked Play season based on your highest rank between the two modes.
Don’t forget—the further you move up the Ranked Play ladder, the more bonus stars you’ll receive next season. In Ranked Play, you’ll receive bonus stars based on your performance from the previous season—one bonus star per rank you attained. Please note that even if bonus stars from the previous season get you directly to Rank 20 or above, you still have to log in at least once each Ranked Season to qualify for the card back reward.
Go and show everyone that you ARE prepared in September’s Ranked Play Season, The Burning Legion!
It’s time to get this party started! The free Prologue mission and The Parlor, the first wing of Hearthstone’s newest Adventure: One Night in Karazhan, are now LIVE!
Note: In order to access One Night in Karazhan once it goes live in your region, please restart your Hearthstone client.
The magus Medivh is hosting the party of the millennium in the magical, magnificent tower of Karazhan. A shindig sure to go down in legend has just begun, but before you dance the night away with Azeroth’s most glamorous people, you’ll first meet up with Medivh in the free Prologue mission. Better yet, you’ll pick up two copies each of Enchanted Raven and Firelands Portal just for stopping by.
Stick around for the party proper and boogie through all four wings of Karazhan: The Parlor, The Opera, The Menagerie, and The Spire. Get on up the whole tower, and then get down with all nine Class challenges, and you’ll pick up 43 more dazzling new cards as party favors!
If you purchase the whole Adventure in the first week, you’ll also add the sparkling* new Karazhan Nights cardback to your collection.
In this Hearthstone update we’re rolling out the red carpet for the arrival of Hearthstone’s newest adventure: One Night in Karazhan later this week! Prepare yourself to play the free Prologue mission, then party your way through Medivh’s magnificent tower to earn a total of 45 groovy new Hearthstone cards! This update also adds a luxurious new Karazhan game board, several new card backs and Tavern Brawls, and fixes some bugs.
Read on for details!
One Night in Karazhan: A Hearthstone Adventure
Let’s celebrate! Grab a drink, get your boogie on, and get ready for One Night in Karazhan! This all-new adventure will be available on August 11 and includes:
A free Prologue mission for you to explore which unlocks two brand new cards.
Journey up four unforgettable wings of the Karazhan tower fighting twelve funky bosses and completing nine new class challenges.
Completing One Night in Karazhan will unlock 45 all-new Hearthstone cards for your collection.
The grooviest new game board you’ve seen arrives to let you strut your card-playing stuff.
Will you survive the challenging Heroic mode for each wing?
The following card backs have been added:
Medivh’s Invitation – Acquired from achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Play for August 2016.
Karazhan Nights – Acquired by purchasing all wings of One Night in Karazhan within one week of launch.
The Blue Portal – Acquired from completing One Night in Karazhan in Heroic mode.
Faceless Manipulator now properly transforms into a golden copy of a golden minion.
Fjola Lightbane no longer leaves a Divine Shield behind when transformed.
Fixed a crash that would occur when you drew and played a minion very quickly at the start of your turn.
[Phone] Your gold amount now properly shows when you access the Shop from the Open Packs screen.
Fixed various audio, graphical, gameplay, AI and UI issues.
The final rankings from Standard Ranked Play Season 28: Tanned Tinyfins for the Americas region are in! These players have gone the extra mile and worked their way up the current ladder system to become some of the top ranked Hearthstone competitors.
Welcome party goers! We know Medivh isn’t the only one who can host an amazing event, so we want to help you host your own celebrations. So strap on your dancing shoes, dust off that sequined shirt and crank your music up to 11! One Night in Karazhan Release Parties are about to begin!
Take on the role of hosting your very own One Night in Karazhan Release Party and you could be passing out party favors like a boss with your very own support package full of awesome Hearthstone party favors!
Find a Participating Fireside Gathering There will be parties all across the globe, so finding one close to you should be easier than ever! You can visit FiresideGatherings.com for a listing, and search for local celebrations near you. Keep an eye on the Battle.net launcher when you play Hearthstone; you’ll get prompted to ‘Find a Fireside Gathering near you’ if one is available in your area.
Host a Fireside Gathering Being a host isn’t just limited to Guardians! Becoming an Innkeeper is getting easier all the time. Just head over to FiresideGatherings.com and submit your event details. We’ll review your event and let you know if it’s been approved.
You can plan your Karazhan Release Party to occur anytime between August 12th and September 4th, but in order to receive party favors, be sure to register your event before August 26th.
There are a few requirements for becoming a host:
You must be 18 years of age or older
Your Fireside Gathering must be open to the public, in a public space like a café, restaurant, bar, meeting hall, etc. Even a public park, if there is wifi!
Your event will need to be scheduled at FiresideGatherings.com so your guests can see the invite.
Shhhh! You could be as boisterous as you liked in the Menagerie, but now we’re about to enter the Spire. There really shouldn’t be guests up here, so we must keep it down. The top floors of Karazhan serve as Medivh’s chambers, housing an extensive private library of the rarest magical tomes, an advanced arcane laboratory, and of course, his private living quarters. Now, let’s have a quick look around, shall we?
The Boss Don’t let that door slam! I feel just like a young man of fifty again, sneaking about like this. Mind you, we should be able to stroll about the library and peruse the tomes at our leisure, but the ghost of Medivh’s father has taken up residence. Nielas isn’t so bad when Medivh is around to keep him sensible, but when the Master is out? Pff. Let us simply say that death has not improved his disposition. In fact, he turns into one the ghastliest geists I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet. When the singers were warming up earlier, he kept banging his staff on the floor of the library and yelling at us to “keep down that racket.” He once told me to get off of his lawn. Me, Moroes! And Karazhan doesn’t even have a lawn!
Uh oh, I think I hear him drifting this way! Quickly, into the laboratory!
Let’s All Chant Oh, splendid! Netherspite is away preparing the arrival portals for tonight’s guests. Netherspite is Medivh’s laboratory assistant and portal master. He also happens to be a dragon, and very serious about his experiments. In addition to his considerable knowledge of all things arcane, Medivh is something of a master of portal arcanology. I’m assuming that arcanology is a word. Regardless, from this very chamber, you can access realms and regions beyond imagination! The possibilities are endless, but we really shouldn’t touch anything. Especially that! Hands off! You do want to be able to enjoy the party later with all of your limbs and senses intact, yes? I think it’s time we returned to the Parlor now.
Well, that was exhilarating! And we’ve gotten away with it scot-free! I’m sure that Master Medivh will be arriving at any moment to get this party started! Despite your inconveniently early arrival, you’ve all been such good sports about everything that I’ve grown a bit attached. Alas, I really must go to make some additional preparations, but I trust you can occupy yourselves before the celebration commences? Wonderful, I very much look forward to partying hard with you all!
Ah, I did ask you to consult your invitations, didn’t I? I believe so, but you had better make sure just in case.
You will find our next stop to be truly thrilling. Karazhan plays proud host to the world’s only privately run arcane zoo, featuring exotic—and dangerous—creatures from all manner of places, times, and dimensions. The Master spared no expense.
Right through this archway, please. Ah, here we are: The Menagerie! I will now allow the Curator to show you a few of our special exhibits while I attend to some matters of importance. Please be nice to the Curator. And please don’t touch anything! There will be ample opportunity for you to make a mess at the celebration later tonight.
Love Machine
Hello. This Curator is programmed for complete Menagerie management. It is this Curator’s duty to ensure the safety and well-being of all creatures within the Menagerie. The Menagerie spans an area greater than the geometric volume of this tower, and contains a constantly variable number of exhibits. Due to a large number of exhibits and extra-dimensional spaces, this Curator employs the services of several less advanced assistants to ensure 100% containment.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your enjoyment? Please repeat your response. Thank you. This Curator will attempt to elevate your level of enjoyment with a tour of the Menagerie. As we tour the Menagerie, please comply with all gallery protocols to ensure that no creatures go free or come to harm. Menagerie Tour Program version 4.7.7 is now online.
It’s Raining Meat
Many creatures in the Menagerie generate values for excitement greatly exceeding zero. Your tour coincides with this large predator’s feeding time. This Curator will now provide it with the large quantity of food it requires. Warning: Please step out of the meat splash zone. Oh, no. You have failed to exit the splash zone. Please allow this Curator to hand you a towel.
You are experiencing elevated blood pressure and adrenaline levels. Diagnosis: Excitement! This Curator is glad you are having a good time!
Le Imp?
This portion of the Menagerie is empty and awaiting new exhibits. We will pass through this gallery into a region with populated exhibits. Please repeat your query? Your query cannot be processed. Error: the Imp you have indicated is not allowed in the Menagerie, therefore it does not exist. The displays are guaranteed to be safe. Please move along. Menagerie Tour Program is shutting down.
Moroes has returned. This Curator will now escort you out of the Menagerie.
Are you satisfied with your tour?
Oh, your tour was cut short? You say the Curator was acting strangely? Well, the Master is clearly too occupied to renew its enchantments right now. I’m quite sure it will be fine, though I do admit that the Menagerie is not to my taste. I’ve often warned the Master against maintaining extra-dimensional spaces and extremely large, voracious creatures. He claims that they’re important to his research and that the Curator has everything totally under control. Hrmph. Under control indeed! I say that Imps, ah, find a way.
Well, we’re all the way up here, so I don’t see the harm in giving you a quick peek at the Spire. It will be a nice treat for you, since party guests will not be allowed to enter it tonight.
Well, that was exhilarating! And we’ve gotten away with it scot-free! I’m sure that Master Medivh will be arriving at any moment to get this party started! Despite your inconveniently early arrival, you’ve all been such good sports about everything that I’ve grown a bit attached. Alas, I really must go to make some additional preparations, but I trust you can occupy yourselves before the celebration commences? Wonderful, I very much look forward to partying hard with you all!
