A new Hearthstone patch hit during the madness of yesterday's expansion reveal - Saviors of Uldum. Here's everything you need to know about the patch with the official notes being available here.

Uldum Pre-Order Available In Client

The patch brings us the pre-order for Saviors of Uldum in-game.

  • For $49.99 USD you get 50 Saviors of Uldum packs, the Elise's Journal card back, and one random Golden Legendary from the set.
  • For $79.99 USD you get 80 Saviors of Uldum packs, the card back, Golden Legendary, and the new Druid Hero - Elise Starseeker!

Fire Festival

The Fire Festival is going to return this year and with it we're getting some quests and a special tavern brawl / adventure hybrid called Blackrock Crash.

  • There is a chain of 7 quests that rewards 7 Card Packs and 400 Gold.
  • Rakanishu appears to be involved with this year's festivities.
  • The cosmetic fireworks are returning!

Here are all the datamined Fire Festival quests as they are given to you. Keep in mind datamined information can sometimes not be entirely accurate.

Quote From Out of Cards

  • Welcome to the Fire Festival! - Play 3 Games.
    • Rewards: 200 Gold
  • Happy Fire Festival! - Play 30 Cards.
    • Rewards: 1 Witchwood Pack
  • Happy Fire Festival! - Play the Tavern Brawl 3 Times.
    • Rewards: 1 Rise of Shadows Pack
  • Happy Fire Festival! - Play 5 Mechs.
    • Rewards: 1 Boomsday Pack
  • Happy Fire Festival! - Draw 50 cards.
    • Rewards: 1 Rise of Shadows Pack + 1 Rastakhan's Rumble Pack
  • Happy Fire Festival! - Take 25 turns.
    • Rewards: 1 Rise of Shadows Pack + 1 Boomsday Pack
  • Happy Fire Festival! - Play 3 games.
    • Rewards: 200 Gold

Card Art Censorship

UPDATE: Hearthstone's Dave Kosak talked about the art change with PC Gamer.

Quote From Dave Kosak

We went back and really just brought everything up to our standards.

It wasn't because we were looking at ratings, or international [regulations], or anything like that. We really just wanted our artists to feel good about everything in the set.

[We] wouldn't print those same cards today.

Following the Jaina art change earlier this year which changed her outfit to include a camisole, another round of card art changes have come to Hearthstone. This art update further reduces sexuality of some of the art pieces, completely changing the characters in some cases, and removes blood from some cards.

Sexuality Focused Changes

  • Succubus renamed to Felstalker, a completely different character.
  • Mistress of Pain renamed to Queen of Pain. Less leg showing, no longer looks seductive.
  • Windfury Harpy is now more covered up, different pose.
  • Secretkeeper now has a frontal post, no more behind.

Blood / Gore Focused Changes

  • Eviscerate no longer shows blood, uses old art. (Especially noticeable on golden version)
  • Bite new art, higher detail. No longer biting into anything, just showcasing sharp teeth.
  • Deadly Shot is now a ballista shooting an arrow.
  • Headcrack showcases a slingshot with a ball on fire instead of a character being smacked in the head.

How do you feel about the changes? Are there any cards you think could be next?
Here they are in a gallery format with the new art on the left and old art on the right.

Quote From Fluxflashor

We're no longer being factual, this is an opinion. You've been warned.

I suspect all the changes are due to Chinese regulations being slapped onto gaming. Blizzard is being forced to make changes to the game so they can continue to publish Hearthstone in the East. What I fail to understand though is why they can't pull a The Skeleton Knight and have different artwork depending on where you're playing the game. This is done heavily in World of Warcraft which censors almost all the skeletons in China while everyone outside of the country gets Undead in all their glory.

If China isn't the reason for the changes, it would be nice for some transparency from Blizzard letting us know why they're taking the time to go back and update old art.


Undead in World of Warcraft, World vs China (Source)

The Skeleton Knight Card Image
The Skeleton Knight in Hearthstone, World vs China (Source)

Succubus I understand more than the others that received changes, even if it doesn't sit well with me since they still are everywhere in World of Warcraft, you just can't really localize a seductress. Which actually asks the question, why is this stuff okay in World of Warcraft but not Hearthstone?

On a positive note, the new art does look quite good on Secretkeeper, Windfury Harpy, and Queen of Pain. They look like cards that will kick some serious ass and they're much more detailed.

Card Changes - Consistency Update

Quote From Blizzard

Pilfer: We’ve updated the card text and functionality for Pilfer to match the recent changes to other “Burgle” cards currently available in Standard.

  • Old Text: Add a random card to your hand (from your opponent's class).
  • Updated Text: Add a random card from another class to your hand.

Multi-Target Cards
We’ve updated the following multi-target cards to function even if there is only one viable target on the board. These cards will now also properly trigger when played by random effects such as [Hearthstone Card (Yogg'Saron, Hope's End) Not Found].

Dark Bargain
Cleave
Multi-Shot
Forked Lightning

Tavern Brawls Now Active All Week

Quote From Blizzard

Downtime for Tavern Brawls has been reduced to 1 hour per week. Tavern Brawls will now begin every week on Wednesday at 9:00 AM PDT and end the following Wednesday at 8:00 AM PDT  (times and dates will vary by region).