With the newest Hearthstone expansion, Descent of Dragons, going live this Tuesday, the Hearthstone development team decided to surprise the community with the biggest patch of the year. The patch includes updates to all aspects and formats of Hearthstone and promises more changes to come. But let’s start by talking more about the expansion.
Launching the new Hearthstone expansion, Descent of Dragons
Descent of Dragons is arriving on Tuesday, Dec 10. The new expansion includes five hero cards, based around Galakrond. There will be different forms of Galakrond available for the Shaman, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, and Warrior classes. Each of the forms of Galakrond will have three stages of upgrades. The upgrades happen through the new keyword of this expansion, Invoke.
Invoke is a keyword certain minions have, which brings a bonus specific to each of the five classes of Galakrond. Each of the upgrade stages requires two cards with Invoke to be played. As Invoke is a Battlecry effect, cards such as Brann Bronzebeard, which doubles all Battlecry effects, can be used with Invoke. Besides Galakrond, there will be other class-specific cards available that work around the Invoke effect. One such example is Fate Weaver, a card that is among the strongest in the set.
The sidequest mechanic in Hearthstone
In addition to Invoke, quests make their return. However, unlike before, the quests are not of a legendary rarity. This has several implications for the way you build the decks around these cards and the way it will affect rules about how quests worked in previous expansions. Unlike before, more than one copy can be played of this card. This allows you to complete a quest twice, or two at one time. It is important to note, that this comes at a cost. The new quests will no longer be guaranteed to show up in your starting hand, like the previous edition of the quest cards did.
Login rewards and this expansion’s pre-purchase bonus
This time around, the login rewards are looking extremely good. For logging in within the first 90 days after the Descent of Dragons expansion launches on Dec. 10, you will receive two copies of Shield of Galakrond, a common card that is used to introduce new players to the concept of the Invoke keyword. In addition, you will receive three Descent of Dragons packs.
This is where the rewards would have ended in the past. However, Blizzard made a huge move and announced that all five Legendary hero cards, the forms of Galakrond, will be given out for free when you open the menu to start opening your card packs.
For this expansion, the pre-purchase bundles are split up in the 60-pack and 100-pack bundles. Both bundles include a random golden legendary card of the Descent of Dragons expansion and the new Shattering card back. In addition, the 100-pack bundle includes the newest Warrior portrait, Deathwing.
Galakrond’s Awakening
In a surprise move, hidden away far in the announcement post, is the announcement of Galakrond’s Awakening. It is the final battle of the latest solo adventure story and introduces an additional 35 cards to collect and play around with, shaking up the meta in a major way. More information on the new story mode and the new cards will be coming soon.
For more Hearthstone news, be sure to check back later today at Daily Esports. We will be covering more of today’s patch and how it will impact the game going forward!
