Blizzard has announced a slew of updates for Hearthstone, including changes to help onboard new players.
Top of the list are four brand new Class cards coming to the Hearthstone Classic set. The new cards – Icicle, Tome of Intellect, Pilfer, and Call of the Void – will be added to the game in October, and can be obtained through opening packs or crafting.
A number of changes will also be added to the game to improve the experience for new Hearthstone players. The most obvious is the removal of casual mode.
New players will instead start at Rank 50, and can work through to Rank 26 as they get to grips with the game. Once they reach Rank 25, they will ever drop below it.
In-game tournaments will also remain on hold while Blizzard consider methods to improve the game’s social experience.
In a frank blog post, the Hearthstone team explains the reasons behind the delay:
“Ultimately, we were forced to conclude that we needed to think about how and where we want to improve Hearthstone’s overall social experience before we can tackle adding a satisfying and robust implementation of In-game Tournaments that all players can enjoy. As developers, sometimes we have to make the difficult decision to step away from a design that isn’t working. We no longer felt that the end result would deliver on everyone’s expectations or the high standards we have for Hearthstone.”
In more positive news, the Headless Horseman will make a comeback for a new Hallow’s End event starting on October 17, 2018. The event will also see the debut of a new Paladin Hero, Sir Annoy-o.
And finally, a new Welcome Bundle will include 10 Classic card packs at a reduced price. Instead of including a random Legendary card, the bundle will contain one of six Legendary dragons – Alexstrasza, Deathwing, Malygos, Nozdormu, Onyxia, or Ysera – from the Classic set.
