With this update, we are equipping ourselves to enter the Battlegrounds and look to the sky as Descent of Dragons is coming! Hearthstone's brand new expansion scheduled for December 10!
The next extension is already available in pre-order, and you can find all the information in the article below!
New game mode: Battlegrounds
Hearthstone: Battlegrounds is a brand new 8-player game mode where battles are automatic. Play as one of 24 heroes from the Hearthstone universe, create a formidable set full of minions, and engage in a series of breathtaking duels until the winner is crowned!
Battelgrounds is available for one week's early access for players who have pre-ordered Descent of Dragons or purchased a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, as well as for convention visitors. On November 12, 10 AM PDT, the mode will go into open beta and everyone will be able to visit Bob's tavern!
Minimum specs
Due to the nature of its 8-player games, with countless simultaneous attacks, effects, and animations, Hearthstone: Battlegrounds is currently only compatible with mobile devices with more than 2GB of RAM. This means that older smartphones may not be able to run it. At the end of the beta, Blizzard will optimize the experience so that players using older devices can participate in this new game mode.
Legendary quests at launch
To celebrate the release of the all-new Battlegrounds game mode, you can complete an unprecedented set of legendary* quests with extraordinary rewards! They will be available on the dates and times indicated below, but anyone who connects before the release of L'Envol des Dragons can access them.
- November 12 — 10 AM PDT: Battlemaster – Play two games of Battlegrounds to earn a Descent of Dragons, Saviors of Uldum, and Rise of Shadows card pack
- November 13 — 10 AM PDT: Into the Fray – Play three games in any mode (including Battlegrounds) to earn a Descent of Dragons, Saviors of Uldum, and Rise of Shadows card pack
- November 14 — 10 AM PDT: A Worthy Opponent – Play two games in Play mode (Standard, Wild, or Casual) to earn a Descent of Dragons, Saviors of Uldum, and Rise of Shadows card pack
*Important note: Legendary quests will replace normal quests if your journal is full, so we advise you to make room before the event!
BlizzCon and Connection Rewards
BlizzCon visitors and virtual ticket holders will receive a gold version of the legendary neutral Sathrovarr Dragons Take Flight card and the Blizzard 2019 Events card back.
Daily Quest Changes
Blizzard cut some of the less popular daily quests (such as quest requiring you to play Divine Shield Minions, Overload Cards, Secrets, 50 Murlocs, etc) and tuned down some quest requirements to make quests generally easier to complete.
Daily quests have also been split into two buckets: Easy (50g) and Slightly More Difficult (60g). Rerolling a Slightly More Difficult (60g) quest (like Play 10 Beasts) will always give you an Easy (50g) quest, so you can get Easy quest every day if you’d like.
They also added some new daily quests!
Warcraft Anniversary Event
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise, players who log into Hearthstone any time between November 13 10:00 AM PDT and November 27 10:00 AM PDT will receive awesome Warcraft themed rewards. Stay tuned for more details soon!
New Card Backs
- Cake of the Dead: Acquired by winning 5 games in ranked mode, November 2019.
- Blizzard Events 2019: Acquired by participating in Blizzard events during 2019.
- The Shattering: Acquired by pre-purchasing Descent of Dragons.
- Hellfire Peninsula: Acquired by winning 5 games in ranked mode, December 2019.
Game Improvements and Bug Fixes
Smart Deck Builder
The smart deck builder now considers historical data rather than the just the current meta, though the current meta has a higher priority. For example, putting Lakkari Sacrifice into an unfinished deck will most likely lead the autocompleter to create to a quest discard warlock instead of an existing meta Warlock deck, such as zoo Warlock.
Streamer Mode
We’ve added the ability to censor your Battletag (and your opponent's Battletag) both in matches and at the top of your friends list. This new feature can be enabled by holding Ctrl + Shift + S (or Command + Shift + S on MACs).
Miscellaneous
- As mentioned in our “Behind the Tavern Doors” blog, we’ve added alternate search terms for some hard-to-type cards such as E.M.P. Operative, Dyn-o-matic, Zephrys the Great, and SN1P-SN4P. We’ve also added a few common misspellings and simplified versions of leetspeak card names (found on some Mech minions). For example, searching “snip” or “snap” will now show you SN1P-SN4P. We will continue to add terms as needed for future cards with difficult names.
- The quest lines for new Hearthstone players has been updated to create a better experience with significantly more rewards.Quest cards will
- now display the Quest Reward when selected in the Collection Manager.
- New card icons will now be cleared after viewing the page with the new card shown. You will no longer need to click or hover over the card.