What is the Year of the Mammoth?
To quickly answer that question the Year of the Mammoth is Blizzard’s name for 2017.
(Last year was the Year of the Kraken)
“But what does it actually mean?”
First of all the same as in 2016, there will be three expansions coming out this year.
The first one will be Un’Goro Crater which I did an article on here –
https://199.223.211.244/~degg/journey-to-ungoro-hearthstone-adventure/
Not only will there be three new sets of cards coming out this year but once Un’Goro is released you will no longer be able to play the cards that were released in 2015. They will be gone from standard mode but they will however still be available to play in wild mode.
These are the Expansions that will be gone from standard:
Blackrock Mountian
The Grand Tournament
League of Explorers
“But the money I spent on those cards is now wasted!!?!!”
Blizzard will not be offering dust refunds for those expansions at the moment as you will still be able to play them in wild but if they nerf those cards, there are rumours that you will be able to get dust refunds.
“Will I still be able to buy the Adventures after the cards move to wild?”
You will not be able to buy them however if you already own at least one wing you will be able to purchase other wings using in-game coins.
“How about the cards?”
The grand tournament card packs will no longer be available to buy but you will still be able to craft them.
“Oh three expansions have gone that’s not too bad I guess”
But wait, there’s more!
The year of the mammoth will also see the end of some classic card’s time in standard listed below:
Azure Drake
Sylvanas Windrunner
Ragnaros the Firelord
Power Overwhelming
Ice Lance
Conceal
Now you may be thinking “How could they get rid of cards that are so important for my decks” but that is exactly why they’ve moved them out of standard. Blizzard has said that “When cards show up too frequently in decks and are considered auto-includes, deck-building be
comes more limited.” So they have removed them from standard to allow space for the upcoming cards to fit into decks when they are released. Which makes a lot of sense.
These cards as a collective will be known as “Hall of Fame”, cards that were previously in classic and will now be wild only. These are only the first and Blizzard have announced that there will be more to come in coming months if they see fit.
“So I won’t be getting a refund for those also?”
Yes, you will be getting a kind of refund! All of the “Hall of Fame” cards will be refunded to players at the full crafting value meaning if you own a Golden Ragnaros or Sylvanas you will get 3200 dust. Not bad right? On top of this you won’t actually lose the card, you will still keep it and once Un’Goro is released and The Year of the Mammoth starts the dust will just appear in your Hearthstone account but you will only get dust for the number of cards that could be put in a deck.
i.e If you have two Sylvanas cards you will get one lot of dust or if you have 5 Power Overwhelming cards you will only get two lots of dust.
“Can I still get them in classic card packs though?”
No, they will be gone from packs however, you will still be able to craft the cards with dust.
New Expansion Hype!
Unlike the Year of the Kraken, Blizzard has said that they will be making all three expansions this year have some story-based element. The cards will be released in packs like other expansions but will have free single player missions based on the cards. Each expansion will contain 130 cards. This combines card expansions like “Streets of Gadgetzan” which has 132 cards with the story based adventures, such as “One Night in Karazhan” which had only 45 new cards.
The new expansions won’t be full adventures such as the ones that have come before such as “The League of Explorers” but they will give more insight into the lore and world surrounding the cards. I think this will be a great way to have loads more new and exciting cards as well as finding out more about the Warcraft lore behind the new expansions. Blizzard has said that from the free single player missions you will get card packs for completing them. This format will start from the second expansion of the year unfortunately though so we will have to wait until then for single player missions.
Extra upcoming Events + Details
Tavern Brawl
It has been announced that there will be a Tavern Brawl once Un’Goro is out which will be exclusive to wild cards so it will be interesting to see how players create new decks from wild cards turns out with an increasing number of popular cards now moving into wild only.
Wild
Blizzard isn’t going to treat wild as a place where cards go to die and so they will be making changes in the future. The rankings for best wild players will now be on a blog the same as standard. Coming also will be new wild only tournaments .
Fireside
There will be new in-game features for fireside events meaning that if you want to organise a LAN with some friends or if you go to an eSports bar fireside event there will be in game mechanics to help you.
Daily Login
You will get rewards such as dust, gold, and packs for Logging into hearthstone every day for a limited time. This will start just before the Year of the Mammoth is out to promote the release of the Un’Goro Crater.
New Hero
A New Rogue Hero called Maiev Shadowsong will come with the Year of the Mammoth. Maiev Shadowsong is a Night Elf who fought against the burning legion and was Jailor to Illidan Stormrage. I expect we will hear some interesting voice lines between her, Malfurian the Druid and the Illidan Card. Unlock her by winning 10 games in standard mode after the Year of the Mammoth begins.
Release Date
You can expect the Year of the Mammoth to start early to mid April. You have until then to play freeze Mage in all its glory in your ladder play.
If you have any other questions about Year of the Mammoth tweet me. Link is in my bio below.
Sources-
https://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20475356
https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/guides/hearthstone-standard-rotation-schedule-guide/
https://www.hearthpwn.com/news/2257-developer-insights-live-year-of-the-mammoth-q-a
