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Hearthstone hears the 'Whispers of the Old Gods' with new expansion coming soon

An evil force is seeping into Hearthstone's jovial inn and it's corrupting many of its minions. The Old Gods are making their presence felt in the game's newest expansion announced today.

Ozzie Mejia

March 11, 2016 10:10 AM

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There's an ominous presence that's been spreading across the inn of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, two years after its doors first officially opened. But given that players have already braved the darkness of Naxxramas, the intense fires of Ragnaros' domain, and survived the onslaught of a mad archaeologist with the League of Explorers, what kind of darkness could possibly await. The answer is the very forces behind all of the darkest and most dreadful beings inhabiting Azeroth. It's the Old Gods and they're taking center stage in Hearthstone's newest expansion called "Whispers of the Old Gods."

Whispers of the Old Gods will introduce 134 all-new cards across a single expansion, with a theme unlike any introduced in the game to date. The Old Gods have slowly been corrupting all things pure and good in Hearthstone, so the central theme will revolve around existing minions that have been warped by their touch of darkness. These new minions will be available in conjunction with their existing counterparts.

Blizzard will gradually reveal the contents of the full 134 card expansion in the weeks ahead. The Whispers of the Old Gods expansion is expected to release in late April/early May, at which point Standard and Wild formats will also launch. Anyone that hits up Hearthstone during its launch period will get three packs for free and will also receive one C'Thun legendary minion and two Beckoner of Evil minions for free with their first pack purchase. What exactly are C'Thun and Beckoner of Evil? Come back to Shacknews in just a couple of minutes, where we'll break down the first of the new expansion's cards revealed today.

Players will be able to pre-purchase 50 Old Gods card packs starting next week. Those that do will receive a special card back that not only sports C'Thun's eyeball, but the eyeball will also be animated. Hearthstone players looking for something a little sooner than late April/early May will at least have something to look forward to this Monday, as a patch is set to drop in the next seven days introducing a preview of the new Standard/Wild user interface, as well as the new Deck Recipes and nine new deck slots.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?