While the most significant announcements of this BlizzCon 2019 are undoubtedly the future releases of Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, the new features on Hearthstone are clearly not to be overlooked. Indeed, if the whole community was expecting the announcement of the third and last extension of the Year of the Dragon, this was not the case with the new game mode, Battlegrounds. We were there and were able to test all of this, and this is what came out of it.
Descent of Dragons
Finally dragons! To end up beautifully the Year of the Dragon that will have seen some great innovations arrive in Hearthstone, Blizzard "finally" justified the naming of the narrative arc and opened the cage to unleash their dragons. While there were only a few of them on the first two expansions combined (Rise of Shadows and Saviors of Uldum), the cards revealed at BlizzCon almost all have an interaction with the dragons or Galakrond. This one, which is not well known outside the World of Warcraft community, is finally the best addition to end up this year with style. To put it in context, it is simply the largest proto-drake that has ever walked the ground and sky of the Warcraft universe, and ended up dying in Northrend, in the heart of the Dragonblight Zone (Wrath of the Lich King). To make it short, even Deathwing is not big enough to fight against him...
Let's come back to the expansion itself: dragons.
Also, a new keyword: Invoke. We fear one thing only after having been able to play a few games: the balancing of these Invoke effects, but also of the aspects of Galakrond according to the classes — especially with that of the Priest who seems particularly powerful in the Control versions. In comparison, the Warlock seems rather weak and much too random. Playing a card at (7) to potentially summon 1/1 or 2/2, in the worst cases, could almost be punished instantly if the opposing deck is a bit fast. On the other hand, the Galakrond Rogue version promises very beautiful things.
As for the other cards already revealed, there are many dragon synergies, but also a new form of each existing dragon: Nozdormu, Ysera, Malygos, Death Wing. Others are expected to arrive in the upcoming weeks. Big change also on the side of the classes who will be able to claim to play these Dragon synergies. The Priest and the Warrior will no longer be the only ones to play with Dragons.
They will have quite a journey to dethrone the Evolve Quest Shaman, but let's say that the competition should be a little tougher. Overall, we're pretty happy about it since it's crystal clear that new archetypes are all the game needs, especially nowadays.
Hearthstone: Battlegrounds
A card game? An auto-battler? It is difficult to really answer the question, but it is easy to list the arguments that confirm that this new mode meets the requirements of both types of games.
- Several players compete in different rounds in 1v1 mini-fights
- Cards and units are purchased between two rounds of combat
- Units are placed in the same round
- After a fight, the player who lost the round suffers damage proportional to the units that remain standing on the opposing side
- Players are eliminated 1 by 1 after their health points reach 0
- The last standing player wins the game
If the announcement of a new game mode in Hearthstone is a blessing for the community that already plays it, it is very complicated to be able to anticipate whether players outside this license will be interested in Battlegrounds.
Gameplay? Oh, really? Or just luck?
As for pure gameplay, this mode is quite interesting. On the other hand, there are two elements that may seem contradictory if we want to try to predict the success of this mode: it seems much more accessible than a TFT or Dota Underlords: there are far fewer synergies to learn, fewer item recipes to know by heart to be competitive. At the same time, the game seems clearly made for players used to Hearthstone.
Indeed, with the exception of a few cards that will be exclusive to this mode and that should be released occasionally, all the others come from the original game, and keep the same text. If it is certainly not the most complicated texts that are currently present on the beta and the pool of cards is still quite small, we will have to see how these data evolve to know if the average player, who only wants to relax in public transport, can enjoy it. The first games may be a little rough, while you master the different cards and all their texts.
On the other hand, to return to the first argument, Battlegrounds should succeed in reaching a more "casual" audience than its competitors do: no recipes to know by heart to optimize each character (and to take a minimum amount of pleasure in the game), far fewer synergies available at the moment (Murlocs, Beasts, Demons, Mecas, divine Shields), and therefore less "stress" to find the cards to make them work.
There will also be no notion of economy management, since your gold coins will, like your mana on the basic game, grow until round 10. The only thing you need to know is to add the prices of your cards to that of your heroic power if necessary. Apart from that.... simplicity is the watchword.
An auto-battler with some new concepts
Once this is set aside, we really return to the very fundamentals of auto-battlers:
- A primordial placement (since the minions will attack in a precise order, from left to right), to which we must add the possible effects of Deathrattles that will cast themselves as the battle progresses.
- You will also have to make intelligent use of your minions with Taunt since they will attract the first enemy attacks on them.
Random attacks, unit purchases, but synergies to be played according to the heroic power of your champion: no doubt, the notion of auto-battler is very present, especially after having observed the evolution of your creatures when you gather 3 identical ones (we suspected it a little, anyway).
On the other hand, the effect is to generate a card, which is a priori quite powerful, in your hand. Finally, you will need to raise your level Tavern, not your hero this time, to generate more powerful units, but also more damage to your opponents.
What's next for Battlegrounds?
The developers have not yet mentioned this possibility, but the game itself seems to show that it could happen: a ladder of Battlegrounds (which should be implemented alongside the official release of the mode) with an opening on the competitive?
Indeed, at the end of each game, your ranking is displayed, as well as your MMR. From there, we can imagine competitions dedicated only to this game mode... but it is yet another story, which should only find its answer in the success (or not) of the mode.
We had the opportunity to ask many questions to the Hearthstone team members, and the future still seems unclear: will there be more exclusive cards? Will there be rotations at the same time as the Basic Game Standard? Expansions, new champions? Questions that remain pending for the moment...
The latest expansion of the Year of the Dragon will finally bring its share of... dragons, and especially for all classes. The lore and narrative arc that was chosen by the Hearthstone team are difficult to criticize since they are in line with what has been done so far and which is totally innovative. On the Battlegrounds side, one could have imagined a closer version of TFT and Dota Underlords "branded" Blizzard, with heroes and champions from all license horizons, a little like Heroes of the Storm. Sylvanas would have had synergies with Hanzo, or Le Boucher with Garrosh for example. But that's not the case, at least for now, and this Hearthstone mode has the ability to delight fans of the genre, while not discouraging newcomers. Now all you have to do is throw yourself on the beta to test all this!
A new game mode called Battlegrounds will soon be available on Hearthstone. It was unveiled on November 1 at BlizzCon 2019 and will be available on November 5 in early access!
