New Hearthstone expansion, Fractured in Alterac Valley, will introduce a Horde vs Alliance rivalry and each player can pick their desired side to join. Based on the side you pick, you will get a free Legendary card of the faction leader right away and once expansion launches, you will progress through a Legendary Quest chain containing various rewards where at the end, you will be awarded with another free Legendary, the opposing faction leader. So you will end up with both of them, only difference is when!
- You get the legendary you pick today!
- You get the legendary from the opposing side once you finish the Legendary Quest chain.
- From December 7th to January 11th, all players will earn Honor for their side by playing the game.
- Honor can be gained in Traditional, Arena, and Duels Modes.
- Gaining Honor will progress you through Legendary Quest chain, where you get additional rewards.
- 10 Honor for every game played
- 10 more Honor for every game won (20 total)
- 20 more Honor for every game won versus an opponent from the enemy faction (40 total)
- At the end of the event, the total Honor for both sides will be tallied and all players will receive Diamond copy of the winning faction leader.
Once you log-in to the game today, you will be presented with a choice to pick between the Horde leader Drek'Thar and Alliance leader Vanndar Stormpike.
Quote From Blizzard Patch 21.8, launching today, paves the way for Hearthstone’s next expansion with balance changes, Fractured in Alterac Valley pre-purchase, and more!
Choose Your Faction, Claim Your Leader
Next time you log in to Hearthstone, you will get to choose between Horde and Alliance! Your choice comes with a different free Golden Legendary ahead of the expansion. Joining the Horde will instantly get you the mighty Drek’Thar, of the Frostwolf clan! Those who aid the Alliance will instantly receive the stout Vanndar Stormpike, leader of the Stormpike Dwarves!
Fight for Honor and Battle for Alterac Valley!
After the expansion launches, from December 7 to January 11, all players will compete for Honor in order to receive even more free rewards and to claim ultimate victory for their faction! You gain Honor by playing and winning during the eligible period:
- 10 Honor for every game played
- 10 more Honor for every game won (20 total)
- 20 more Honor for every game won versus an opponent from the enemy faction (40 total)
Honor can be gained in Traditional, Arena, and Duels Modes. As you gain Honor, you climb the ranks within your faction and progress a Legendary Quest chain that takes you through the Alterac Valley battlefields and rewards cards from the expansion! All players who complete the Quest chain will receive the same total end rewards, including a Golden copy of the enemy faction’s leader. The order of the rewards depends on which faction you choose, and will be revealed closer to release!
At the end of the event, all Honor will be tallied and the winning faction’s accomplishment will be forever enshrined in Hearthstone, because every player will receive a Diamond copy of the winning faction’s leader card (Drek’Thar or Vanndar)! Every time a player opens their Collection, they will remember this glorious battle!
Which side will you pick? Horde or Alliance? Tell us in the comments.
Comments
I agree that Drek'Thar seems like the stronger choice but I had a hard time thinking of what low CMC decks would want him in the current meta. Taunt Druid would need to give up Park Panther, Greybough and Teacher's Pet, Face Hunter doesn't want to give up Warsong Wrangler into Trampling Rhino, Pirate Warrior wants to actually play it's pirates for quest progression, and doesn't want to give up Sword Eater.
Maybe some sort of Zoolock or Murloc based aggro deck?
Some decks don't have to give them up if they can draw them quickly. Though I agree it's a tough choice. I was building with it and had to stop myself at some points.
I ended up with a deathrattle/outcast demon hunter shaved down a bit to fit Drek'Thar. It's been working somewhat. Taunt Druid and Pirate Warrior fall to it (if the warrior doesn't run Brawls, apparently that's a thing). Quest Mage and Quest Lock are tough but winnable with an early Drek. I could probably make this even more aggressive.
I'll see what the site comes up with. I am sure there is a better, faster deck out there already.
The issue with Vanndar Stormpike in wild is that Pirate Warrior can summon 7/7 worth of stats on turn 1 and none of the cards printed so far has been balanced around that. At least, none of the spells I can find.
Dont care about the legendaries, this is Alterac Valley and the Horde always win it. For the Horde!!!
As Horde player in heart I will take Horde just to fight for the Horde. I will get both of them anyway :)
I hate how people are gonna choose based on classes, because you can play for the Alliance with a Horde class and vice versa. All in all, choose Horde bc I want the diamond portrait! lol
I can't believe they actually make the decision hard. On one hand, Drek'Thar is straight-up a better Call to Arms, but there are ways to break Vanndar Stormpike too like drawing it with Call to Adventure. I'm having more trouble about this than choosing a fucking major.
Probably Vanndar Stormpike for me. Because his effect is stronger but its likely Drek'Thar will see more success, which means I'll likely get a diamond copy of the stronger card. And because Vanndar is simply the more challenging one to deckbuild.
Also because without choosing I can't play the game. Nice move team5. I was actually thinking of waiting for reddit to explode before choosing.
Yes I was a little perturbed to have to choose before I could play too. I went straight to OOC to read before feeling like I was armed with the knowledge to choose.
I made the same choice you did.
Still it's a fun new thing so good job on Team 5 for that. And we get both cards in the end anyway.
I have 2 questions.
"a Legendary Quest chain containing various rewards where at the end, you will be awarded with another free Legendary, the opposing faction leader. So you will end up with both of them, only difference is when!"
1) will the other faction leader legendary be golden as well?
2) is every player gonna get diamond faction leader legendary regardless of their pick at the start?
edit: I think the answer to the first one is yes, I found it in the blizzard's message
thanks for the answer
so no need to think hard and try to min max here, got it. Everyone will get all the cards, yay!
2) I even put it in bold ... yes :)
1) yes
2) yes
I strongly prefer control decks so easy Alliance for me.
Same here. Based on the comments, Horde's gonna have more followers tho.
Yeah same here. I'm normally more of a Horde fan, but I can't think of the last time I made a deck without any 5+ cost minions (that's when they start getting interesting!), so there's not really much point in me picking Drek'thar.
Early signs are promising... already faced two Big Priests running Vanndar (in Diamond 3 fwiw), and not a single Mage or Questlock. Fingers crossed that he makes plonking down several very large mans a viable strategy in more classes than just Warrior!
While I think Drek'thar is the most likely to be meta (huge in Zoo), I'll pick Vanndar because he's my last hope for making both Big Warlock and Big Druid work.
Drek'Thar is such a buff to Big decks, especially Shaman, Priest and DH! NVM, I can't read.
Personally I like the Alliance more - but at the end I choose the horde legy, because I play more aggro than control decks so the legy fits my playstyle more.