Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Now that a new Hearthstone World Champion has been crowned, Blizzard is ready to move on to the game's next chapter. As it turns out, there are parts of the game that need some attention. For one thing, the Ranked meta is a bit of a mess at the moment. Fortunately, that's being addressed in Tuesday's 19.2 patch, but the bigger story might be the changes to Hearthstone Battlegrounds, which is about to be invaded by the Old Gods.
There's a lot to talk about with the latest Hearthstone update, but let's discuss Battlegrounds first. Battlegrounds will receive an injection of madness from the Old Gods. Throughout the day, Blizzard had some of Hearthstone's biggest content creators (Octavian "Kripparrian" Morosan, Thijs Molendijk, and Alyssa "Slysssa" Ritter) unveil the various new Old Gods set to grace the auto-battling game mode. Here are the Old Gods and their Battlegrounds Hero Powers:
You might be asking why Yogg-Saron isn't included here. This is where it must be pointed out that Yogg-Saron is already in the game and has been since the beginning, you silly person. While Yogg-Saron is already in the game, a few other heroes are rotating in and out of Battlegrounds. Galakrond is being retired while Sir Finley Mrrgglton makes his return. The Great Akazamzarak is also back and he'll have Competitive Spirit added to his Secret pool.
If all of that isn't enough, players can find a special limited-time mechanic for Battlegrounds with Tuesday's update. Darkmoon Prizes implements spells into the game mode for a limited time. Everyone will get different Darkmoon Prizes after a certain number of turns and depending on which spells are mixed with which minions, they can potentially swing the game. For more on the Darkmoon Prizes, check out Kripparrian's video above.
Of the heroes sticking around, several of them are getting some buffs to keep them competitive. Zephrys, the Great and Patches the Pirate are getting their Hero Powers reduced to 3 mana. Silas Darkmoon is getting a probablity buff for his Hero Power.
However, the Old Gods' addition isn't the only new addition to Battlegrounds. Ten new minions are making their way into the game. Here's what those look like:
To make way for these minions, it's time to say goodbye to several new minions. Pour one out for Righteous Protector, The Beast, Crowd Favorite, and the wild card Shifter Zerus.
As for the Standard Ranked mode of Hearthstone, players can expect to see a series of nerfs, many targeting the overpowered Demon Hunter. The following cards are being changed:
This is scratching the surface of the update 19.2 changes. Several Duels changes are being implemented, the reward system is being revamped, and more single-player adventures are coming with the launch of Book of Heroes content for Garrosh and Uther. There's a lot to read through, so be sure to brush up on the Hearthstone website for the full patch notes.