Update: The stream is taking place half an hour earlier than originally announced. 9:30 AM Pacific (12:30 Eastern, 18:30 CEST)
We've got some amazing news coming out of the Hearthstone team today. We've got a teaser and a date!
Hearthstone's next expansion, which is Alliance-themed in contrast to the Horde-themed Forged in the Barrens set, will be revealed this week on July 1 at 9:30 AM Pacific. That's only a few days away and reveals should also start this month.
The spoiler shows Alliance Footmen lined up in different formations. Could Stormwind be heavily involved? As usual, stay tuned to Out of Cards and we'll be covering the new expansion live.
Quote From Blizzard With all that experience fighting Quilboar in the Barrens, heroes like you have leveled up! It’s time to replenish your bags, repair your armor, and prepare for a new quest. . .
Join us on July 1 at 9:30 a.m. PT, on either Twitch or YouTube, for the reveal of the next Hearthstone expansion! Lead Designer Alec Dawson will kick things off with an overview on what you can expect from Phase 2 of the Year of the Gryphon. From there, Game Designers Liv Breeden and John McIntyre will dive into what’s new in the upcoming card set. We also have some news to share for Battlegrounds. We’ve got plenty to talk about, you won’t want to miss it!
Separately, we know you’re eager to learn more about Hearthstone Mercenaries. While we’re very excited with how things are coming together, we need more time to implement all the awesome content we’ve planned for the mode. As such, we’re now expecting Hearthstone Mercenaries to be released in Phase 2 of the Year of the Gryphon and won’t be quite ready to share details on the mode during the stream on July 1.
Instead, we’ll be hosting a dedicated Hearthstone Mercenaries stream this Fall. We’ll give more details about this stream closer to its broadcast date. Until then, we hope you’ll enjoy the expansion reveal and all the things still to come in the Year of the Gryphon!
Comments
There is also the fire-festival which should start anytime soon.
My predictions:
* Lady Katrana Prestor (AKA Onyxia's human form for those not into WoW lore) featured prominently since she's been teased at the end of the Xyrella campaign
* Mathias Shaw hero portrait for the bundle
* Gnoll tribe in BGs
I think they said they wouldn't be doing any more BG tribes, rather focusing on improving the current ones. I could be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure they said something like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. "For the Alliance" and all that. That's great. Now get out of my way. I have a message from Valeera Sanguinar that needs to reach Mathias Shaw urgently. It reads:
Dear Mathias,
I'm afraid my efforts in recruiting more heroes have failed once again. I have not managed to find a single rogue willing to join me since I ventured into Un'Goro crater some 4 years ago (and truth be told, there's only so much one can take of Maiev before wishing for less... abrasive company). I have even gone so far as to dress up as a pirate and a handmaiden to fill in some of the gaps, but I fear I can go no further down that road without losing my sanity.
I know you stepped away from this mission in its earliest stages, but I must ask for your aid. Will you join me? I will be visiting Stormwind again soon. Please be ready with an answer when I arrive.
Yours faithfully,
V
P.S. I recently saw Anduin masquerading as an SI:7 agent. You might want to check the locks on the armoury.
eh... Maybe something of a theme could happen like it goes to The Stockades?
I was originally thinking Westfall/Deadmines since the area is about the same level as the Barrens/Wailing Caverns. But since they mention "you have leveled up" I start to wonder if maybe it's a place slightly higher in level than the Barrens and Westfall? But then again, since they'll likely want to use an Alliance controlled territory, I could still see Westfall as the destination with the Deadmines to follow as the mini set theme.
I understand that Blizzard doesn’t want to tell us a lot about Mercenaries, but they have told us enough by now that they should have mentioned “This mode will be fun because _____” or “People who like ____ will also like this”. The good news is, since they haven’t given me a reason to look forward to it, I don’t have to be disappointed by the delays.
Pretty sure they've mentioned it's inspired by Slay the Spire a whole bunch of times...
Yes, but it’s hard to tell what to make of that. When I hear “Slay the Spire”, my first impression is that you must be adding cards to a deck over multiple battles. That’s the core of the game to me. From what we know about Mercenaries, you level up heroes and then choose combinations of those heroes to use in encounters. That’s very different - maybe this has a similar map that you use to move through encounters, or a battle system where it tells you what your enemy’s next move will be, but if it isn’t a deck-builder it won’t feel like StS.
I’d LOVE a legit Slay the Spire-inspired game in Hearthstone, especially since that team has the designer who created DreamQuest. (i.e., the game that directly inspired StS.) But right now we mostly still have speculation. I feel like they are either dancing around how the game actually plays, or they somehow missed the fact that we don’t know. But whenever I look at the comments here or on Reddit, it’s clear that there is a lot of confusion out there. And if people’s expectations are being set for the wrong genre, then that’s going to be a problem when it launches.
So reveal countdown timers will be coming to the front page again soon!
There's something about them that is super exciting :) :) :)
FOR THE ALLIANCE!
Man I was really hoping we would get Mercenaries before the 2nd expansion this year. At least they will hopefully release it at some point this fall, while it's polished which is a great thing as mentioned in another comment. A new card revealing cycle is still exciting though, don't get me wrong.
*sad mercenaries fan noices*. Atleast I can still hope for another expansion song, I really missed that in the FitB trailer.
Yeah, this makes it like a year delayed lol.
I'm glad they're giving it the polish it needs though. It would be such a mess if they launched another new mode that was subpar. I know Duels isn't everyone's cup of tea, and Mercs definitely won't be too, but at least Mercs has the potential to bring in some new players much like Battlegrounds has done.
I would have liked to see them talking more about the mode though throughout the past year. I know there are a lot of downsides to that - many players aren't as patient and you do have the issue of another studio beating you to the release of similar content, but damn it, I love my dev insights!
I am expecting a leveling zone in the Eastern Kingdoms where you could level from 20 to 40, as the Barrens is in Kalimdor 10-20.
Means last expansion will handle Classic lvl 60 (Alterac Valley? Dwarfhype)
They said that the second expac will take place in the 40s. With the third capping off at 60.
We definitely have to be getting Alterac Valley for the last expansion. I can't wait to get a new Chillwind Yeti friend from the Alterac region :D
We could even see a lead-up Hillsbrad event or maybe adventure chapter? There are just so many stories they could tell with the area.
So glad we're getting some news though. It feels a bit earlier than I would have expected, but I'm not complaining about it (aside from the Canada Day stream date) because damn, Hearthstone has felt like its been in a bit of a rut lately.
MY MAN!!! That's what I'm talking about!
I play WoW aswell and the development of that game is a bit messy as well. It has huge competition from other MMORPG, but somehow it managed to create a contentdrought of 9 months. Shadowlands was so promising (still is).
For Heartstone I do think that the mini-set saved the meta, as the cards are pretty fun.
Ooooh ooooh oh! Yes, yes! Yes!