Hearthstone Patch 29.6 has released and brings the pre-order for the new Perils in Paradise expansion, Genn and Baku back into Core, Buddies in battlegrounds, and more! Here are some of the other things in today's patch:
- 9 new heroes arrive in Twist starting on July 1.
- Login to get yourself a free Marin the Manager.
- Genn Greymane and Baku the Mooneater have been put into the Core set until July 23.
- 23 updated buddies and 12 new Buddies enter Battlegrounds.
- Midsummer Fire Festival begins on June 25 and runs until July 16.
- Complete the rewards track to earn 6 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs and the Reaver V-07-TR-0N Rogue Hero Skin.
- Anti-botting measures decrease the XP earned by bots.
- Diamond cards will be disenchantable for golden legendary values (3200 dust).
- Hearthstone will no longer run on 32-bit operating systems.
- Various Boomsday Project puzzles have been fixed.
For full details, read on for the full patch notes.
Quote From Blizzard Perils in Paradise has 145 all-new collectible cards. You can learn more about what’s on the trip itinerary in the Perils in Paradise Announce Blog. Two pre-purchase options are available now, so pack your bags!
Log in and Get Marin the Manager for Free!
What better way to prepare for your trip than a chat with the resort manager? Log in to Hearthstone now to start planning with the free Marin the Manager Legendary card!* Play him and he promises you’ll Treasure your trip.
* Limited one per account. After Patch 30.6, Marin the Manager will be granted upon opening your first Perils in Paradise pack, instead of upon logging in.
Genn and Baku Return to Core
With Patch 29.6, until the launch of Perils in Paradise on July 23, Genn and Baku will be added to the free Core Set! That means they will be playable in Standard and Wild for everyone during that time. Years ago, these two iconic cards were so powerful they were sent to Wild early! Now they’re back to celebrate Hearthstone’s history—and for a bit of revenge. What Odd creations will you Even come up with?
Buddies are Back in Battlegrounds!
Buddies return for the Battlegrounds, and come to Duos for the first time, in the 29.6 mid-season update! Each Hero has a special Buddy that is unique to them and synergizes with their Hero Power. Press your Buddy Button during the shop phase to get yours! The cost to press the Buddy Button reduces throughout the game and resets when pressed—press it again for three total copies of your Buddy.
There are 12 all-new Buddies, 23 updated Buddies, new and returning minions, minion pool changes, and more this patch! Check out our dedicated Battlegrounds preview blog for all the details.
In-Game Event: Midsummer Fire Festival
The summer season is underway, with a new Fire Festival in-game event before we set sail for Perils in Paradise! From June 25 to July 16, complete Event Quests to earn Event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 6 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs and the Reaver V-07-TR-0N Rogue Hero Skin.
July Twist Season: Even More Heroes
Whizbang’s Heroes is returning in July with 9 additional new Heroes to try! Each Hero is unlocked when you have the card with the same name as the Hero in your Collection. You can see all Hero details—including their decklists and a direct link to their unlock card—from the Twist Hero selection screen once the July season begins.
Marin the Manager
- Passive: Seize the Opportunity! - When you play your right-most card, draw a card.
- Hero Power: Investment - [1 Mana] Shuffle 3 Coins into your deck.
Lady Liadrin
- Passive: Liadrin’s Champion – After you cast a spell on a friendly minion, draw a card. It costs (2) less. Once per turn.
- Hero Power: Patience - [0 Mana] Refresh your Mana Crystals. Lock this Hero Power for that many turns.
Sargeras, the Destroyer
- Passive: The End is Nigh! - At the start of your turn, shuffle a 10-Cost spell that deals 30 damage into your deck.
- Hero Power: Twisting Nether - [3 Mana] Destroy all minions. Only usable once.
Elite Tauren Champion
- Passive: KEEP ON ROCKING! - At the end of your turn, give a random Taunt minion in your hand +2/+2.
- Hero Power: Riffraff - [1 Mana] Get a 2/1 Rocker with Taunt. Finale: Summon it.
Halveria Darkraven
- Passive: Outcast Anthem – The left and right-most cards in your hand cost (1) less.
- Hero Power: Song of Angst - [1 Mana] Choose a minion, it takes one extra damage from all sources this turn.
Heartbreaker Hedanis
- Passive: Starstruck – When a minion enters your hand, give it -2 Attack and reduce its cost by (1).
- Hero Power: Captive Audience - [2 Mana] Give a minion +2/+2. If it is Silenced, draw a card.
Thorim Stormlord
- Passive: Titanic Surge – Your Totems have +2 Attack (wherever they are).
- Hero Power: Harness the Storm - [1 Mana] Summon a basic Totem. Summon two if you’re Overloaded.
Queen Azshara
- Passive: Shifting Tides – After you play a spell, refresh a Mana Crystal and switch to Naga. Also swaps your Hero Power.
- Hero Power: Command Naga - [1 Mana] Get a Naga that costs (3) or less. Shifting Tides swaps this.
- Command Magic - [1 Mana] Get a spell that costs (3) or less. Shifting Tides swaps this.
Tamsin Roame
- Passive: Perfume Phylactery – You have two lives. After you die, your Hero Power deals damage instead of summoning a Demon.
- Hero Power: Blood Pact - [2 Mana] Take 1 damage. Summon a 1/1 Demon. Increases each turn.
- Soulbound - [2 Mana] Take 1 damage. Deal 1 damage. Increases each turn.
Diamond Disenchanting Update
Starting with Patch 29.6, most Diamond cards will be able to be disenchanted for the same value as if they were Golden cards. As with other card qualities, the Diamond cards that won’t be able to be disenchanted are the ones that are specially granted, like those on the Rewards Track or included in the Golden Mini-Set. As with Signature cards, Diamond cards still won’t be able to be crafted, to keep them exciting and special.
Matchmaking Update
Previously, matchmaking on the ranked ladder was based on your internal rating (commonly called “MMR”) while you had bonus stars and based on ladder rank after you ran out of bonus stars. Now, matchmaking will continue to be based on your internal rating even after you run out of bonus stars. This change should reduce matchmaking complexity and result in more consistent and fairer matches throughout the ladder.
Passive XP Grant Adjustment
In our continued efforts to combat bots and exploitive play patterns, extended periods of inactivity will now reward less XP. This change will not impact players taking normal game actions on their turns, such as playing cards, making attacks, or even just hitting the end turn button, so most players won’t see change in their XP earned—just fewer bots wasting their time.
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
- [General] Updated minimum specifications to require 64-bit support.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the “Complete Your Deck” button went missing.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where persistent effects like Sigils and Auras didn’t stack if replayed by cards like Tess Greymane or Jotun, the Eternal.
- [Hearthstone] Made Khadgar’s Magic Wisdomball more helpful in cases where all enemy characters are unable to be targeted.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where playing Boom Wrench caused a momentary client freeze up.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Return Policy could Discover cards that were granted Deathrattles—that's outside of policy. Also fixed a visual bug where Golden Return Policy’s main character was missing—it has now been returned.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where T.N.T.s copied by Jotun the Eternal’s effect would hit the enemy side, instead of Jotun’s side.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Treants and Piranha Swarmers with different art pieces were treated as different minions.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Cast When Drawn cards shuffled into the deck with Runic Adornment could target functionally dead minions.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Proving Grounds could cause illegal attacks if one of the minions was transformed or changed zones during the attack.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Arcanite Ripper’s effect would only trigger once when dealt damage and healed at the same time.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a Banana couldn’t have a funny mustache; and a related bug where Remornia, Living Blade’s weapon form couldn’t have a funny mustache.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Poisoned Blade didn’t work with Sing-Along Buddy.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where cards like Spirit of the Dragonhawk and Wickerclaw didn’t work with Sing-Along Buddy.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed various minor visual bugs with the Whizbang’s Heroes Twist user interface.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug where a card turned into Malygos with Wave of Nostalgia cosplayed as random other minions.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed bugs with Aranna Starseeker and Queen Azshara's transform, and returned them to the Hero Pool.
- [Battlegrounds] Minions that had Venomous and/or Stealth, but lost them in combat before dying, will have them again when resummoned by Cultist S’Thara.
- [Battlegrounds] Reno’s “We’re Gonna be Rich!” can no longer target Putricide’s Creations.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Polarizing Beatboxer wouldn’t gain taunt if you Fortified a Magnetic minion and then Magnetized it.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the turn timer and the rope were out of sync during the Tavern Phase.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a visual bug where Greybough’s Hero Power caused Undead summoned in combat to not show their Undead buffs.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Putricide’s Creations looked different from your teammate’s perspective.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug causing desyncs.
- [Solo Content] Fixed various Boomsday Puzzles that were unable to be solved due to card updates.
- [Localization] Fixed various localization issues across languages.
- Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 23 - Day 13 [Finished]](the-great-dark-beyond-day-13.webp)
Comments
"Starting with Patch 29.6, most Diamond cards will be able to be disenchanted..."
Huh. I have 23 diamond cards in my collection, only one of them can be disenchanted. It's the Patches I got from the Twist bundle. Contrary to that, the Helya I got from another bundle can not be disenchanted. Too bad we can't dust the ones from reward tracks and such, there are quite a few that I never use.
Am I wrong to be concerned about the reduced XP for bots? Might it be possible for the game to think I'm a bot because I'm taking a while to decide on a play, or if I get disconnected during my turn?
Captchas (the one with the check marks) are really simple and work really well at detecting bots, I don't see how it wouldn't be here. If they know what they are looking for they know how to make it work. They can't tell everyone because it would be really easy to work around it.
Perhaps the most concerning thing is the fact that bots are simply getting more sophisticated. Ive encountered legions of supposed players playing basic decks all over bronze wild, even as the core set allows them to play better decks.
Im not sure if all these measures actually discourages botting, more likely it just make botters do better.
Celestalon already addressed some concerns, including this one.
So if you rope out an entire turn, sure. But if you take actions during your turn, no. You shouldn't be affected. Ultimately this seems like it only combats bots that do nothing, and maybe the bots that would hero power and rope out every turn.
I don't really play a lot of BGs, but if people are idle botting there to try and get XP for doing nothing, this measure would also combat bots like that.
If somehow by this XP change the game starts to falsely classify slow or careful players as bots, I think Hearthstone is beyond salvation.
With all this ongoing cumulative effort to combat bots, I really wonder if replacing the entire XP system would not be a better solution instead.
I hope this new expansion will spark some much needed rejuvenation in the game.