A special server-side hotfix patch has been pushed out to all Hearthstone regions in order to fix the urgent issue with inaccessible Pre-Release Fireside Gatherings. But while at it, Team 5 has also made a few other changes and updates to the game: Duels Buckets saw some improvements and the previously cancelled Rattlegore Event is unexpectedly back for Mercenaries too! 

Server-side hotfix means no downloads necessary for either desktop or mobile clients. You should see the results immediately once the deployment took place in your region, or its designated server group. In some cases, restarting the game might be necessary. 

Quote From DeckTech
There’s two server groups per region, so they’re switching from one (old patch) to the other (hotfix). That allows for the seamless update without loss of service. Also means there’s a little bit of a limbo period where some people will be on old and some on new.

It's all rather wordy for a typical hotfix, so here is everything we've learned.

Quote From Blizzard
We are in the process of deploying Patch 25.0.1, a server-side hotfix patch, with the following game updates and bug fixes:

Pre-Release Fireside Gatherings - March of the Lich King

Back and working as intended, for the most part. However, the Tavern Brawl isn't nearly as polished as one might have hoped for.

Quote From Blizzard

Pre-Release Weekend Fireside Gatherings are Back On!
We’ve corrected an issue that prevented pre-release weekend Fireside Gatherings from functioning earlier today. Once this patch is deployed to your server, you will be able to create a private Fireside Gathering where you can open your Pre-Purchase March of the Lich King packs and participate in a pre-release Tavern Brawl.

If you have an active Fireside Gathering still live when the update hits your server, it should pick you up from there. If your Fireside Gathering period has already ended, create a new Fireside Gathering event to re-access the interface and start your Pre-Release festivities!

Due to the nature of today’s fix, the Tavern Brawl is expected to have descriptions from last expansion, but the gameplay will be updated for March of the Lich King. Note that Death Knight class packs won’t be able to be opened (only March of the Lich King packs) and that the Death Knight deck recipes will not be available in the Tavern Brawl because Death Knight won’t be unlocked as a class until December 6. After unlocking the class on expansion launch day, you can try out all the Death Knight deck recipes in the A Lich King Recipe Tavern Brawl on December 7!

 

Although not everything might've been properly resolved. There might be some underlying issues with the new re-roll feature. 

Quote From Celestalon
We're investigating an issue where the Reroll feature may not work during pre-release. Will update when we know more, sorry about that!
 

Battlegrounds Updates

Quote From Blizzard

  • The Enhance-o-matic Hero now gets more Armor (Armor Tier 3).
  • The Enhance-a-matic Quest has been made harder to complete.
 

Hearthstone Mercenaries - Rattlegore Makes a Triumphant Return

After it's become disabled earlier than we were initially told and subsequently caused a riot within the community, the Hearthstone team has kept their promise and brought Rattlegore back for a good while longer. More on this subject: 

Quote From Blizzard

In Patch 24.6, the Rattlegore event ended a week earlier than initially published, resulting in some players missing their chance to complete all the event Tasks. We’re bringing the event back with plenty of time for everyone to finish. From now until January 3, you can complete 10 special Rattlegore event Tasks to earn Rattlegore, two random Rattlegore Portraits, and 700 Mercenaries Coins!

The Rattlegore event will pick up right where you left it last time the event was live. That means nobody will need to redo any Tasks they already finished and players who already finished the entire event will not be impacted by this update at all. Players who received Rattlegore outside of the event period and have not yet completed the event Task rewarding the base Rattlegore will receive a random Rattlegore Portrait instead when they complete that Task. Players who already have all Rattlegore Portraits and then complete an event Task awarding a Rattlegore Portrait will instead receive 75 Rattlegore Coins.

 

Rattlegore Card Image

Duels Buckets

It should feel a little bit better now, but the work is definitely not over. 

Quote From Blizzard

  • [Duels] Fixed a bug where non-Demon Hunter classes could sometimes be offered buckets with Demon Hunter cards.
  • [Duels] Fixed a bug where the old “Why? Why Not?” bucket with Snowflipper Penguins was being offered to players.
    o Dev Comment: We recently introduced a new automated system to create buckets, making it significantly easier to update content. While the system is generally working as intended, we’ll continue to monitor the new system and address system-breaking bugs, like this one.

Snowflipper Penguin Card Image

Bug Fixes 

Just one thing of note. 

Quote From Blizzard

  • [Hearthstone] Vision of Darkness will now Discover Priest Shadow spells if your class does not have any Shadow spells.
 

As a reminder, the card in question is generated by Sister Svalna, one of Priest's new Legendaries. Not yet live, as March of the Lich King arrives on December 6.

Sister Svalna Card Image Vision of Darkness Card Image