In today's announcements for BlizzConline, a special pre-show welcome video was uploaded that gives us some clues as to what we can expect from the show. With many, if not all, of the segments of the event being prerecorded, likely due to the logistical nightmare that it would be to doing them live during a pandemic, we can already see some of our Hearthstone favs suited up!
You can watch the video down below, or if you want to cut to the good stuff, scroll a bit further!
Brian Kibler Joins Game Director Ben Lee
A sitdown by the hearth between Hearthstone's Game Director, Ben Lee, and community powerhouse, Brian "Don't Call Me Brian "Brian Kibler" Kibler" Kibler, showcases something very important will be announced. This could be the new game mode or perhaps some of the plans for the new Hearthstone year such as those Classic set revamps we're expecting.
The short clip didn't reveal anything specific about said announcement, but it isn't very often that Blizzard busts out the rustic set so they must mean business.
Liv Breeden and Joe Killion Go Adventuring
If you watch the video, you're already going to be excited when you see Kibler having a sit-down but that is nothing when you compare it to Liv and Joe showing up.
The two are seen very briefly with adventurer looks. The backdrop appears to be Kalimdorish, which would point to the more Southern area - could we be exploring The Barrens? What about Thousand Needles and the Razorfen? We're not going to go into full speculation mode here, we'll reserve the right to cover that more in the future, but it is very interesting too see the two in League of Explorers attire.
The League of Explorers has been a very popular theme in Hearthstone, debuting in the adventure of their namesake back in 2015. We've gone on tour with them into Uldum, twice, had interactions within our Journey to Un'Goro, and fought alongside the gang against the League of E.V.I.L. in Galakrond's Awakening. It's been a while since we've seen what our goofy friends are up to, so it's fitting to start a year off with them.
This could mean we're going to get an expansion announcement during BlizzConline, which will be a lot to take in with the expectation that a new game mode is going to drop the week after the online-only convention and we should get to hear about that classic rework (crosses fingers). At the very least, announcing the new year and a roadmap would not be out of the ordinary for February and would be quite welcome to see what we can expect for the next 12 months.
Year of the Explorers anyone?
What do you think of the two clues? Let us know down below!
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Comments
dear HS team, can we please stop with the joke side of the game and try to add cards and things that does not feel like baby show characters?
its like overused marvel jokes, kinda ruins the fun for me. please just do something epic instead of stupid wacky characters or story, please...
Wrong place. Go on official blizzard forums... Hs team is unlikely to read here, especially 3 days after article release...
Discover into Discover into Discover into Discover into bs answer.
As much as I love the League of Explorer, I dont think it makes the year nearly as mythical as Dragons and Pheonix - I reserve my judgment for reveal day
Hey maybe it is Cavern's of time? It is located in the Tanaris desert
We actually had an Caverns of time event called "Taverns of time" in 2018. But I guess it's okay to revisit that theme 3 years later.
I mean it was arena only event... I want collectible Chromie not draftable Chromie..
That would be cool, and id hope its that over like safari ro whatever people have been speculatin on reddit.
Kibler has been asking for a rotating core set for years, so if they put him next to the game director, it's very likely going to be about the future of Classic.
I don't know if it's intended, but Kibler is slowly transforming into Uther
By the Holy Light!
I love Ben's smile, but I still miss original Ben though.
The attire is likely more to do with the locale than the overall theme of the year.
For some reason I was thinking Silithus? Not sure if the color scheme matches, but what if the next expansion revolves around Silithus and a type of “gold rush” to claim the Azerite emerging after Sargeras stabbed his sword into the world.
EDIT: The more I think about it, the bridge having those little horns where the ropes meet are screaming Tauren expansion. Could they be standing on one of Thunder Bluff’s many rope bridges with the mountains in the background?
Perhaps it’ll be something themed around Tauren tribes and an internal plot by one group to take power?
I dont think it will be explorer league again, they already used it so much it would be boring to see them again. I think they will do a similar think as the lackeys, we got the lackey system all the year with additionnal content on the same mechanic. I'm pretty sure they want to do another connected stuff for this year, so maybe, a long journey that becomes with the 1st expansion and end with the 3rd one?
They use explorer costumes all the time, so I wouldn't expect anything as obvious and pedestrian as "Year of the Explorer." After Kraken, Mammoth, Raven and Dragon, it's just not a very compelling icon. I definitely hope the "Year of" is something more interesting.
"Brian "Don't Call Me Brian "Brian Kibler" Kibler" Kibler" has me crying 😂
The scenery reminds me of Badlands and specifically Uldaman would be a great place for adventures to look for treasures. That was such a cool Classic dungeon. There is also a horde base at Kargath that is located in a canyon.
Can we get a bundle with skins of Reno, Brann and Finley? PLEASE
Based on outfits I guess Barrens/Stonetalon Mountains Safari. We've recently seen race themes, so Thousand Needles seems less probably (there used to be a racing ring on Salt Flats), and the colour scheme doesn't fit Desolace.
On the other hand, we have seen Ironforge cardback and we didn't see much dwarves, so Badlands Safari with Dark Iron Dwarves, Explorer's League and Reliquary is still possible. I believe, however, that they will definitely subvert our expectations and there won't be a fourth Reno, neither third Brann.
Despite the actors looking like they're in the League of Explorers I don't think that means the set will be based around them, or at least not around the 4 league members we all know and love, I'm betting it's just some fun costumes as they "explore" a new area that hasn't been introduced in HS before.
I'm more interested in the background, I see mountains and tall clouds, and a barrier that looks Horde made. Could this next expansion be set in Mulgore and we have a Tauren themed expansion like we had a Troll one for Rastakhan's Rumble?