We've known a new major patch focused on Hearthstone Battlegrounds was due before the end of this month, and now it's been confirmed to be arriving on August 30! With that, we've also entered what might amount to a short reveal phase. Prepare for a lot of new info to take in!
There is so much more coming than we might've ever anticipated - with the game mode receiving its own special Rewards Track and Season Pass, new mechanic in the form of Quests, added minions and heroes, and a different way of handling in-game purchases (Runestones, already known to Chinese players for quite a few years). In that sense, it all feels like a small revamp. Read on for all the fresh details:
Quote From Blizzard Since November 2019, Battlegrounds has grown into one of our most popular and beloved game modes. For many players, Battlegrounds has become their main way to play Hearthstone, and we’re excited to further support and grow the mode for all Battlegrounds players. With that in mind, Patch 24.2, launching on August 30, will bring some of the most significant changes to Battlegrounds we’ve ever seen!
Quote From Blizzard Welcome to Battlegrounds Season 2!
New Battlegrounds Track
Battlegrounds will now have its own progression track that grants Battlegrounds-specific rewards each season. Like the current Hearthstone-wide Rewards Track, there will be both free and premium unlockable rewards along the Battlegrounds Track, and progress towards those rewards is earned by playing. Those Battlegrounds-specific rewards include new Battlegrounds Emotes, Hero Skins, Strikes, and more!
The level 3 reward is free to all players, while the other rewards shown are unlocked through the Season Pass.
By giving Battlegrounds players their own rewards track, we can give them more rewards they care about, and we no longer need to try to mesh Battlegrounds rewards with a Gold and XP system that was designed to serve traditional Hearthstone.
Battlegrounds will remain a free-to-play mode, with more free rewards than ever before. In addition to the free rewards on the Battlegrounds Track, the base emotes, advanced stats, and hero early access that were previously purchased through Battlegrounds Perks will now be available to all Battlegrounds players. We’re excited to make these features free for all players.
Get the Battlegrounds Season Pass to Earn Even More Rewards
The new Battlegrounds Season Pass will get you access to the premium rewards on the Battlegrounds Track, including exciting new tiers of Battlegrounds cosmetics including additional Emote options, Legendary Hero Skins, and a new three-stage Legendary Strike! Purchasing the Season Pass will also immediately unlock the option to choose from two additional heroes at the start of each game. We’re committed to maintaining hero and gameplay balance so that regardless of which heroes you choose from, you know your chance for the crown is based primarily on player skill.
The Season Pass can be purchased in-game with Runestones, Hearthstone’s new virtual currency. Runestones can be purchased through both the in-game shop and the Battlenet web shop, once Patch 24.2 goes live. During the transition period for this first season, the Season Pass can also be purchased with money directly, either in-game or through the Battlenet web shop.
Level XP To Level Cumulative XP Free Reward With Season Pass 1 0 0 2 Hero Slots 2 20 20 Crystallarium (Rare Board) 3 20 40 Guardian Xyrella (Rare Emote) 4 20 60 Crystal Justice (Rare Strike) 5 30 90 Dark Force Malygos (Rare Hero Skin) 6 30 120 Dark Flight Malygos (Rare Emote) 7 30 150 Sky Sailor Galewing (Rare Hero Skin) 8 30 180 Magic Guardian Elise (Legendary Hero Skin) 9 40 220 Nozdormu, Time Warden (Rare Hero Skin) 10 40 260 Guardian Reno (Rare Emote) 11 40 300 Tamsin, Shadow Mage (Rare Hero Skin) 12 50 350 Adventure Beauty Reno (Legendary Hero Skin) 13 50 400 Shadow Helm Saurfang (Rare Hero Skin) 14 50 450 Guardian Nguyen (Rare Emote) 15 50 500 Corrupted Arcana (Rare Strike) 16 60 560 Mystical Mentor Nguyen (Rare Hero Skin) 17 60 620 Guardian Bigglesworth (Rare Emote) 18 60 680 Bigglesworth, Feline Guide (Rare Hero Skin) 19 60 740 Tuxedo Bob (Rare Emote) 20 60 800 Tuxedo Bob (Rare Bartender) 21 60 860 George the Fated (Rare Hero Skin) 22 60 920 Dark Flight George (Rare Emote) 23 60 980 Rokara, Arcane Warrior (Rare Hero Skin) 24 60 1040 Crystal Justice (Epic Strike) 25 60 1100 Dark Flight Prestor (Rare Emote) 26 60 1160 Omencaller Prestor (Rare Hero Skin) 27 60 1220 Guardian Jandice (Rare Emote) 28 60 1280 Dawn Guardian Varden (Legendary Hero Skin) 29 60 1340 Spellbound Baz'hial (Rare Hero Skin) 30 60 1400 Guardian A.F.Kay (Rare Emote) 31 60 1460 Corrupted Arcana (Epic Strike) 32 60 1520 AF Kitsune (Rare Hero Skin) 33 60 1580 Deal Speaker Blackthorn (Rare Hero Skin) 34 60 1640 Dark Flight Blackthorn (Rare Emote) 35 60 1700 Sorceress Greymane (Rare Hero Skin) 36 60 1760 Secret Destiny Aranna (Legendary Hero Skin) 37 60 1820 Guardian Toki (Rare Emote) 38 60 1880 Spellwinder Toki (Rare Hero Skin) 39 60 1940 Enchanting Edwin (Legendary Hero Skin) 40 60 2000 Crystal Justice (Legendary Strike)
The Season 2 Battlegrounds Track rewards will focus on the anime-inspired “Magic of Azeroth” theme. In a new, alternate timeline, The Dark Flight has launched a crusade to extinguish all traces of magic from society. They have rallied the Horde as their army, gathered a few select magic users to their side, and conquered most of Azeroth. Nozdormu is forming a team to take down The Dark Flight and restore the true timeline. This group, the Guardians of Azeroth, and their allies, must awaken the power within them to save the Magic of Azeroth!
Gain Battlegrounds XP to Earn Your Rewards
In addition to its own seasonal rewards track, Battlegrounds will be getting its own special Battlegrounds XP system. Earning Battlegrounds XP will progress you along the Battlegrounds Track towards free and premium rewards. You’ll automatically earn Battlegrounds XP for every Battlegrounds game you win, similar to how you earn XP on the Hearthstone Rewards Track now.
You can earn even more Battlegrounds XP by completing new Battlegrounds Missions. Battlegrounds Missions are like Battlegrounds-specific Weekly Quests or Achievements. You’ll be offered 3 new Battlegrounds Missions every week, and you can complete them to earn Battlegrounds XP. These Missions will bank for each Battlegrounds Season, so if you miss a week, you can come back and complete that Mission later. You can also re-roll one Mission per day. Completing Missions will be pivotal for getting through the Battlegrounds Track and earning all those sweet rewards.
You receive three Missions per week that each award 60 Battlegrounds XP.
All players will still continue to get their normal daily and weekly progression Quests that progress the Hearthstone Rewards Track. Hearthstone daily and weekly Quests will still be able to be completed in Battlegrounds as before, but the Battlegrounds-only weekly Quests will be removed from the general Quest pools and moved over to Battlegrounds Missions pool.
New Battlegrounds Gameplay Mechanic: Quests!
Battlegrounds Season 2 will feature a new mechanic for the duration of the Season: Quests! At the start of turn 4 (the 6 Gold turn), you’ll be offered three random Quest/Reward pairs to choose from. Similar to Hearthstone Quest and Questline cards, the Battlegrounds versions will ask you to complete a particular challenge and, once you do, give you a reward that makes you more powerful for the rest of the game.
Will you go for the powerful Quest Reward that’s hard to reach, or the Quest that most matches your established gameplan? The different options mean that no two Battlegrounds games will play the same way, and you’ll have to think on your feet to adapt on the fly. You can learn more about these new gameplay Quests in the dedicated Quests preview blog.
New Minions and Heroes
In addition to the new Quest mechanic, Season 2 will introduce two new heroes, eleven new minions, and several updates to heroes, minions, and the overall minion pool. Here are a couple of the new minions we’ve invited to the party:
Rendle the Mistermind is quite suspicious. Whenever you end the turn with this minion in play, minions start disappearing from Bob’s Tavern! One could make a pretty penny with those ill-gotten gains.
Theotar saw nothing. Or did he? The Tea Master spills buffs on your other minions whenever you play another minion without a minion type. What sort of criminal lineup can you put together with this powerful minion leading the way?
These are just a couple of the guests coming to Battlegrounds with Patch 24.2. The two new heroes will be revealed at 11 a.m. (Pacific) today! Keep an eye out for more details in the 24.2 Patch Notes, coming this Thursday.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there anything I can use my Gold for in Battlegrounds?
A: No, there are no plans for Battlegrounds to use Gold in any way. Players who don’t want to spend real money or Runestones will still be able to enjoy the free rewards from the Battlegrounds Track.
Q: I used to be able to get Perks with Gold, why do I need to pay now?
A: We want Battlegrounds to be played and loved for years to come. This change will allow us to continue to support and make content for the growing Battlegrounds community. Though the ability to choose from among four heroes at the beginning of a match is changing to a paid-only feature, all players can still play Battlegrounds for free. We’re committed to maintaining hero and gameplay balance so that the choice from four heroes is more about optionality than power.
Additionally, as part of these changes, we're giving away more free Battlegrounds content than ever before. Advanced states and base emotes are now available to all players, we’ve dissolved Hero Early Access to allow all players to play with new Heroes on patch day, and there are several free rewards on the Battlegrounds Track.
Q: What are Runestones?
A:Runestones will be replacing real money purchases for nearly every product in the Hearthstone shop. Some products, like Pre-Purchase Bundles, the Hearthstone Tavern Pass, and Packs (purchasing more than one at a time) will be able to be purchased with money or Runestones. A few other select products, like individual packs and cosmetics crafted in the Collection, will remain purchasable with only Gold.
With Runestones we’ll be able to offer additional smaller-scale items, such as the individual Battlegrounds Hero Skins offered in the shop with this patch. Runestones will be available in bundles of various sizes, including quantities that correspond to our major products (like the Battlegrounds Season Pass), so you can buy exactly the quantity needed for that product or you can stock up on more for later. No product costs are changing with this conversion—all prices are staying the same, just converted to Runestones.
Q: Can I earn Runestones in-game?
A: No, there are no plans to earn Runestones in-game.
Q: How long will it take to complete the Battlegrounds Track?
A: The Battlegrounds Track is designed to be completed with a reasonable amount of playtime throughout the Battlegrounds Season. The first few levels of the Battlegrounds Track take 20 XP to complete, and this scales up to 60 XP per level. There are a total of 40 levels in the Track, which require 2000 XP in total.
Each Battlegrounds game win (top 4 finish) gives you 10 Battlegrounds XP. Each other placement gives 0 Battlegrounds XP. If you want to accelerate your progression, make sure to complete your Battlegrounds Missions. You get three Battlegrounds Missions every week and each one is worth 60 Battlegrounds XP! Any unfinished Missions for the week are banked until the end of the season, so even more casual Battlegrounds players can take advantage of their big XP boosts whenever they play.
We calibrated the system to allow a significant portion of our engaged Battlegrounds players to complete the Battlegrounds Track by the end of the Season. The system is designed to allow even less-engaged players a good chance to complete it. We will make adjustments in future Seasons if necessary.
Q: Do Battlegrounds Missions award regular XP, too?
A: No. You will still gain some Hearthstone Rewards Track XP as you play Battlegrounds, and there will still be some Daily and Weekly Hearthstone Quests that will be completable in Battlegrounds, but the Battlegrounds Missions will only award Battlegrounds XP.
Q: How does a tiered strike work? What does a Legendary Strike entail?
A: We have upgraded the Strikes you know to add even more KABLAM! With the Season Pass, you not only get the initial two-tier Crystal Justice Strike, but also can unlock two more tiers to that Strike. That includes a tier with a special effect when you knock out a player, and a second tier with an even larger special effect when you knock out a player to win first place. As you progress along the track you will unlock each new stage of the same strike.
Q: What is a Legendary Battlegrounds Hero Skin?
A: Battlegrounds Legendary Hero Skins include animated portraits and voice over effects.
We have big plans to continue bringing new content to Battlegrounds. New heroes, new minions, new events, and new systems will keep Battlegrounds fun and fresh. We’ll also keep bringing back old favorites and updating all our current systems. This is our final major Battlegrounds update of 2022. We’re incredibly excited about everything coming in Season 2 and beyond, and we can’t wait to share it all with you soon. Until then, we’ll see you in Battlegrounds!
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Comments
as much as I hate to defend blizzard, I dont see a thing that is p2w in this post, all the new stuff is cosmetics
the only slightly p2w thing is the ability to choose from more heroes at the start of the game
the mode is still completely free and you can't buy power in any way
Being able to choose from 2 more heroes gives you a HUGE advantage though
the heroes are not balanced, if you need to choose from 2 instead of 4 your chances of winning decrease
The changes of getting a good pick is decreased.
However, pay to win would imply that a player who pays get an edge when he picks the same heroe as a player who is F2P. This is not the case.
that false, P2W imply that a player who pays get an edge on winning a match, and thats this case
It is a perk to pick 4 heroes. The armor-system is supposed to balance out the differences between heroes. So in theory every hero has the same chance of winning. It just reduces the chance of a F2P-player to pick a fun-hero.
As I commented somewhere here. The leaving of player before a lobby starts, will have consequences for balance issues with heroes. As BG is designed around a 8 player lobby.
the whole system its far from balanced, go to HSReplay to see the numbers
but that's how it's always been right from the start of BGs, so this patch doesn't change anything in that matter
The thing you used to be able to buy perks with GOLD
now it will be locked the premium BG only battlepas, which is Runestones/Real money only. NOT GOLD
previosly FTP could get the perks and thus the 4hero choices instead of 2, that wont be possible anymore
Besides the F2P, I assume there are way more BG's with only 7 players.
Around the 6000 ELO people easily concide if they get a shit hero. Some heroes are also no fun to play.