It's been almost two weeks since the 22.0.2 patch arrived which brought us full dust refunds for Drek'Thar and Vanndar Stormpike. With that in mind, you have around 2 days remaining to decide if you should get a full refund for the cards that were nerfed or changed in the patch. No better time for that last search of your collection to see if there is anything relevant still hiding in there. Soon the following cards will no longer grant you the full amount of arcane dust upon disenchanting: 

Drek'Thar Card Image Vanndar Stormpike Card Image

Do note that only the normal versions of these cards are refundable for full Arcane Dust.

Why Are Drek'Thar and Vanndar Refundable?

The Alterac Valley expansion is unique in that players were able to choose a faction to represent at the start of the expansion and this would determine the order some golden cards would be received in.

  • If you chose Alliance, you started out with the Stormpike General, Vanndar Stormpike.
  • If you chose Horde, you started out with the Frostwolves General, Drek'Thar.

Everyone ends up getting all the same rewards though, so you end up with your opposing faction's general card as a Golden Legendary once you collect a total of 7200 honor points. This will take you over 300 games, so its a bit of a grind that not everyone will have completed early on. This is why Blizzard let these Legendary cards be opened in card packs - it would suck if you wanted to play with it early but didn't put in the time investment into games!


So much honor to earn... but we do also get a hero skin reward!

This became a bit of a "feels bad" moment though for us players. Under normal circumstances, when Blizzard provides us with a golden card at the start of an expansion, if the normal version of the card is opened from a card pack before you obtain the golden copy, the normal version is dustable for its full crafting value so you can craft another legendary. This can happen if you open your packs before visiting the rewards track to claim your free golden legendary. With this in mind, players felt that these cards were deserving of a full refund policy as well, since they were available for free just requiring a grind, and is something which Celestalon explained the reasoning behind why Drek and Vann weren't disenchantable for full value. It was great to see Blizzard came to the conclusion that yes, they should make these cards fully refundable but they also don't want to set precedence for this currently unique situation.

Luckily, that post from Celestalon also mentioned that the team has some plans for new tech which will make this expansion launch refund situation a relic of the past, so it won't feel like these refunds would be needed as the golden cards will then be viewed as a simple cosmetic upgrade should more be given in the future. This is much like how later rewards track golden card rewards don't give full dust refunds. No estimate is available on when that new tech will arrive though, so its possible we might have the same duct tape situation when Hearthstone's first expansion of 2022 launches.

Should I Disenchant My Regular Drek'Thar or Vanndar Stormpike?

Generally speaking, the answer here is yes. For a more in-depth answer though, it depends on your situation. 

In any situation where you don't expect to finish the legendary honor quest, you should probably keep the card. The only time I wouldn't keep your opposing general's normal card is if you want to play with another legendary card and don't think you'll use the card that is to be disenchanted. You can always open the normal version of the legendary again in an Alterac Valley pack or hit the ol' crafting button.

Another situation where I wouldn't disenchant the card is if you are playing more casually, are planning on completing the honor questline towards the end of the expansion, and are currently using the card. If you are having fun with the card, its not a large loss of value at the end of the day since you should factor your fun into it. 

I've always given the advice that you should disenchant every refundable Hearthstone card. Why? Because you can always sit on the Arcane Dust and craft the card(s) again with no loss if you end up wanting to play with them again. It does require some commitment to forgetting about the dust existing so you don't accidentally use it on another card, but this way really fool proofs it. 

The End of the War

These refunds also signal the end of the faction war, but don't worry, you can still progress through the legendary honor questline to obtain those sweet golden card rewards up until the end of the expansion. January 11 is the final day that honor progression will go towards your faction's total which is going to determine the ultimate victor in the war and the Diamond card we'll end up seeing; The winning faction's general will be getting a Diamond version when the expansion ends in late March/early April.

If you want to earn honor in-game, it's easy, just play games in Traditional, Arena, and Duels modes. Though preferably, win those games against the enemy faction for the best value.

  • 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).

New Feature: Refund Keyword in the Collection

When Patch 21.0 hit with preparations for United in Stormwind, a very important feature was added to the collection manager. No more do we need to manually go looking for refund-capable cards because Blizzard added in a new keyword that will find them for you.

By typing "refund" in the collection manager search box, you will now be able to find these cards together and make your decision on whether or not they are getting dusted. An excellent addition to the game that unfortunately took this long to make happen. It doesn't matter though, we'll always take a quality of live improvement and as they say, the second best time to plant a tree is today.

Cool trivia time! This feature is in the game thanks to Hearthstone's yearly free your mind event.