This article is part of our Changes to the Meta series.
Much to the fear of all Hearthstone players, all signs pointed towards a Pirate expansion coming into BlizzCon this year. Blizzard was dropping hints using sacks of gold, treasure maps, and even teased the new Pirate-looking legendary card. Instead of an expansion about those who goes after the treasure, the expansion focuses on those who defend the buried treasure deep below the surface, Kobolds.We learned that Kobolds & Catacombs is the next expansion coming to Hearthstone in December. Along with the expansion comes the most complex and in-depth single player experience to Hearthstone to date, Dungeons Runs. Arena gets some love too, as the format gets some brand new cards of their own that are not playable in any other format.
New cards to play with
We had 14 new cards revealed to us live at Blizzcon, some brand new mechanics coming along with it.
New Mechanic:Recruit. This mechanic takes a minion straight from your deck and onto the board, identical to Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound. The mechanic is not too strong on its own, but can shine in some strategic deck building.
Warrior: Recruit Your Party
Neutral: Guild Recruiter
Legendary Weapons for everyone! All classes are receiving new weapons, yes even the classes that have never had a weapon before now gets something to hold, but not necessarily attack with.
Mage: Aluneth
Priest: Dragon Soul
Spellstones function similarly to Quests, as you can build your deck around the card for some strong endgame tools as they upgrade as you fulfill a requirement. We have only seen two, but can expect some crazy stuff to come out of these stones.
Druid: Lesser Jasper Spellstone
Upgrades twice into its final form
Shaman: Lesser Sapphire Spellstone
Upgrades twice into its final form
Upgrades twice into its final form
Unidentified Objects have multiple options of effects, but you don't know what it is until you draw the card in game. This is a strong type of card due to the immense flexiblity, but we will have to see the different buff options for each class before we can come to any conclusion:
Priest: Unidentified Elixir
Oh, you wanted more cards? Well here you go.
Hunter: Crushing Walls
Hunter: Wandering Monster
Paladin: Drygulch Jailor
Rogue: Kobold Illusionist
Warlock: Rin, the First Discipline
Neutral: Marin the Fox
Neutral: Carnivorous Cube
Dungeon Runs, the newest single-player content
A change up from the typical adventures that are released with expansions, Dungeon Runs are a refreshing change that should be incredibly challenging and rewarding. A Dungeon Run is a challenge of defeating 8 consecutive AI bosses, each with their own unique skills and tricks. You start with a deck of just 15 cards to start, and as you defeat each boss you gain cards and 'treasures' to help fill out and buff your deck. There are 48 different bosses you can go against Being able to play the Dungeon live at Blizzcon, I am confident it is going to be the best single player content Hearthstone has ever seen. I was able to play just the first three bosses of the Dungeon Runs, so it was very easy and simple. However, a true Dungeon Run will progress in difficulty greatly after each boss, making the final bosses tall tasks for even the pros. And if you lose even once, you go home with nothing. Blizzard has shown in Heroic Adventures that they can make AI battle difficult for all skills levels, and we expect the win-or-go home aspect of Dungeon Runs to even get the palms sweaty of the Legend grinders.
New cards coming to arena
Used to being neglected by each Hearthstone expansion, Blizzard surprised everybody when they announced they were releasing new Arena-only cards. Even more surprising, they were letting the fans at Blizzcon choose the cards! Yes you heard that right. They presented three card options for each class, and whatever card got the loudest response from the crowd was chosen by Ben Brode himself to be added to arena. These cards are much too powerful to be in constructed, but brings a nice little spice to Arena. They will be released in an upcoming patch and will be around for a limited time.
Hunter: Deadeye
Mage: Polymorph: ???
Warrior: Blazing Longsword
Paladin: Hand of Salvation
Priest: Generous Spirit
Rogue: Smoke Bomb
Shaman: Crackling Doom
Druid: Nature's Champion
Warlock: Bottled Madness
Wrap Up In typical Blizzard fashion, there is no release date for the new expansion yet, but it will be out at some point in December. They will start revealing more cards on November 20th, but they are letting us get some new action in earlier than ever. Blizzard gave the legendary card Marin the Fox to all players starting this past Monday for immediate play. It's another card with tons of variation and options to break out of Marin's chest. Log in right now and pick yours up! Get your hands on some treasure!
