According to Blizzard, we're going to see yet another new game mode in the third phase of the Year of the Phoenix.
The third phase will also include additional updates to the second phase's new game mode, Hearthstone Duels. Year of the Phoenix has been an incredible year so far, it's going to be very interesting to have two new modes coming at us this year.
Quote From Blizzard Madness at the Darkmoon Faire marks the final phase of the Year of the Phoenix. In Phase 3, you can expect several major updates, including balance patches, new Battlegrounds Heroes and minions, a seasonal event, and what was previously spell-locked—updates for Duels, a Mini-Set of 35 cards set for release before the next expansion, and another new game mode! We’ll have more details to share on these developments in the new year!
Learn more about Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Madness at the Darkmoon Faire to learn more about the new expansion and to see all the revealed cards!
Support Out of Cards - Get Premium
Love what we're doing? Support the site for $2 a month to remove ads and get some site cosmetics! Discounts are available if you subscribe for multiple months at once!
Get Cheaper Hearthstone Packs with Amazon Coins
Learn more about how you can save money on Hearthstone packs for the new expansion with our guide on Amazon Coins!
Comments
I'd say, expect the new Mini Set to be released in Jan-Feb, then the New Game Mode will be announced/released in March. (Or they do one big announcement of the two during BlizzCon online in Feb, yea, they'll probably do that... :D)
Hearthstone new years always start in April!
Mid-expansion mini set. Ugh. Reminds me of Shadowverse.
I'd be truly excited about it if one thing changed - no legendaries. If the goal is to shake up the meta, they can do that without releasing any new legendaries. Keep it cheap and keep it fun!
Since that-exciting-news had not been announced at first and looking at the new Duels Mode, I have the feeling the end of year game mode is actually the one that is in development for several months now, and that Duels is just a rushed (but nevertheless fun) mode made at haste to make up for the "true" new game mode not being ready yet.
Yup they literally fused few stuff they already had in game and called it a new mode. I'm not gonna complain tho, as long as we get that new new game mode
On second note, they could've make this Heroic Duels type thing in the previous Masquerade Event. Making both Casual and Heroic Brawliseum instead of 1000 gold only Heroic Brawliseum. But no, they decide they wanna do it in the new mode. #facepalm again
Please say they've taken the low-hanging fruit and gone for Wild with a set rotation (once a month, or maybe even less ideally). They asked about whether people would be interested in it earlier in the year, it's super easy to do, and will make thousands of cards have a chance at being relevant again.
Come one Blizz, I know doing the easy and obvious thing that is guaranteed make the players happy doesn't always come naturally to you *cough* rogue hero portraits *cough*, but you can do it this time surely?
are those 35 cards free?
and I'm still confused about the expansion, does it start at Nov-12 along with new progression system?
I thought next expansion is not until December?
and if not, why update the system in november? I thought each progress reset every 4 months?
Clearly, i missed a lot. #facepalm
In the reveal they said that the new 35 cards would be found in card packs for the current expansion midway through the expansion.
For some reason, Darkmoon Faire is being released 2-3 weeks earlier than the usual final expansion of the year.
The expansion launches nov 17 we get the pre patch nov 12.
And the 35 cards are not something we get, they are added to the newest expansions card pool.
Got to say I'm not very excited about the idea of a mid-expansion change to the card pack pool. I guess we'll see how it works out. Maybe it will end up feeling more interesting than the current "hoard gold for a whole expansion then drop it all on new packs on day 1, then hoard for four more months."
I wasn't at first but if you consider the no dupes rule it's not that bad because you're going to be pulling all the new rares and possibly epics straight away with your new packs. So you could save up some gold once you get all the rares and epics and just go off when the mini set is released.