Tyrande Whisperwind was one of the first alternate hero portraits introduced to Hearthstone. First unlocked through a partnership with Twitch, the hero portrait has been unavailable for years, much to the dismay of many in the community. However, according to a recent comment made by Mike Donais, the lead game designer for Hearthstone, the skin will be given out to players who missed out before the year is over.
How Tyrande was first unlocked
Tyrande was originally made available between Sept. 30 and Nov. 5, 2016, through a partnership with Twitch Prime. At the time, Twitch Prime was only available for a limited number of countries, which left much of the community unable to obtain the hero portrait. Tyrande was again made available in early 2017 for a period of two weeks, but this was only during a limited-time event for certain countries in Southeast Asia.
At the time, Blizzard made a promise to the community that Tyrande would become available for everyone at a later date. However, after this announcement, nothing happened. That changed during a Q&A earlier this year. The question came up again, and Team 5 stated that the portrait would become available by the end of 2019.
The hero portrait and exclusive card back
When Tyrande Whisperwind was first introduced, unlocking the hero portrait included an exclusive card back. However, to this day, it has not been confirmed whether this card back will be made available alongside the re-release of the hero portrait.
As of now, there are a total of 35 alternative hero portraits available. Players can earn 18 of these by obtaining 500 or 1000 wins in the ranked game mode with each class. The remaining 17 hero portraits are available for purchase or are no longer available due to them being related to limited-time pre-order bundles.
As the year comes to an end, players hope to be able to finally obtain the Tyrande portrait after years of patiently waiting. For more Hearthstone news, be sure to check out our recent coverage of the Hearthstone Global finals.
