Patch 19.6 released late last night and with it came some great news regarding older heroes! While this has not been officially confirmed by Blizzard so we don't know when this is happening, new data in the client suggests that Sylvanas Windrunner and the Thunder King are both returning to the store!
Keep in mind that datamined information is subject to change, though we haven't been wrong about shop stuff so far!
The Return of Sylvanas Windrunner
Sylvanas was first obtainable as a Hunter hero back on December 10, 2019. She was available for a little under a month for $10 USD with her removal coming on January 5, 2020. Sylvanas has been and will continue to be one of Warcraft's most popular characters so it makes sense that they're bringing her back to allow newer players or those that missed out the first time to jump on board the undead hype train.
We don't have pricing information on Sylvanas at this time, but we can't imagine she'll be more expensive than her previous iteration provided she isn't included in a bundle with packs. It would be odd to offer a pack bundle for an older hero though, so if we were going to bet, expect her to be solo. With older card backs being obtainable for gold and money, it is also possible we could see the same thing with Sylvanas which would make her much more accessible. Don't quote us on that happening though!
It should also be noted that Sylvanas came with a card back as well, so it's possible that the bundle will also contain the epic Banshee Queen card back.
The Thunder King Charges Back
Emperor Lei Shen, or by his title "The Thunder King" as seen in Hearthstone, was a Shaman hero that was obtainable back in the middle of 2019, when Rise of Shadows was out and about. Lei Shen was a part of special Esports bundle that supported the Masters Tour, providing up to $250,000 additional prizing to the tournaments in that year. The cap was quickly reached and it effectively doubled the amount of money that was available to aspiring Hearthstone pros.
The original bundle came with 10 Rastakhan's Rumble card packs (wow, what a blast to the past) and 10 Rise of Shadows packs alongside the hero himself and an elegant card back. We can't imagine that will be the same deal this time around unless Blizzard is planning on bringing back Rastakhan's Rumble into standard, so expect to see The Thunder King and his card back, Stolen Thunder, make a return together. Like Sylvanas, we also have no clue what the pricing will be.
Are you interested in picking up either of these heroes when they make a return to the shop in the future?
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Comments
patch 20.0 is highly likely to come next Tuesday, and Sylvanas has yet to return to the store. I guess Blizzard finds out how much people want her and decides not to release her in patch 19.6 (so that later she could be put in an expensive bundle with card packs).
Still awaiting that Esports bundle for crowdfunding to show up... hopefully they won't leave us hanging.
As someone who uses Sylvanas as their main Hunter hero, i'm glad that people can now get her again. She has some really pretty animations and some great voicelines. Sylvanas is one of the few rare good hunter skins. Seeing thunder king return is nice for those we don't have him, but as someone who also has thunder king, his voicelines are a bit lackluster so beware of that.
Glad to see them return to the shop though, let's hope this continues and we will see more older skins return in the shop!
Slowly moving toward the few portraits I don't have. I can wait, Blizzard. I can wait.
I'm fine with them being sold again
But it still hurts me that I bought Tyrande Whisperwind And a year after that they distributed Her for free
Ikr, this is bullshit. They promote stuff as 'exclusive' just to make them available again in the near future..
looking forward to adding Sylvanas to my collection, and I hope her card back comes with her, part of the fun of getting these new heroes is getting their specific card backs to add flavor to your decks
I already got both Heroes;
But id like to see old preorder heroes return someday, arleady ddit wiht a cardback (old gods one) so is some presedence for it.
Nice! Sylvanas was one of two heros I was really hoping for to return. I'd like her for my Deathrattle decks. Same goes for Lazul and the Scrying decks. Fingers crossed we'll be able to pay with gold!
You are willing to pay between 2500 gold to 3500 gold For Sylvanas
Because by my calculation this is the price she should have
Interesting, I actually had not thought about the price. But since Darkmoon Races was 2.000 gold or 15 bucks I guess 2.000 would be a decent price for a Hero Portrait. Yeah, I think I'd pay up to 2.500.
I´d definitely get her if she was aviable with gold, but I´m affraid many ppl who bought her with money would be upset, so I don´t see Blizz doing it by now. But who knows.
You've got a point there, but there's also precedent in the Tyrande offer. It was also confirmed that they're thinking about adding older portraits and card backs to the shop after some exclusivity time. That argues for gold payment imho.
I've lost a game (maybe more) because I saw Sylvanas and mulliganned for Rogue...
I like both these characters. I might not pick one up though as I just bought the New Year stuff (can't say no to Lu Bu).
If I do get one it'll probably be The Thunder King. I liked that character and raid a lot. Plus I got Rexar as my lvl 50 skin so I want to fill out my other characters.
I already got both. What I want to see is Nagrand Garrosh skin return to the shop. It came out during the Battlepass brouhaha so I skipped buying until Blizz fixed the BP. Now that the BP is much better, I am amenable to purchasing from Blizzard again.
Unfortunately, you will most likely wait a quite long time for Nipplin'Garrosh.