Today Blizzard released the first In The Works update for its perennially popular online CCG Hearthstone, in which the studio gives players a peek at what’s coming through the pipeline in the near future. The update begins by taking a look at the current state of the meta, saying that although some decks “stand out from the pack slightly,” all-in-all the devs are “happy with the excellent diversity of decks we’re seeing at all levels of Ranked Play.” Players can also look forward to four all-new class-specific cards, which will be added to the Classic set next month in order to make sure each class has “a roughly equal number of cards available in the classic set.” The cards in question are Icicle and Tome of Intellect for Mages, Call of the Void for Warlocks, and Pilfer for Rogues.
The team is also focusing on improving the new player experience: “Even at Rank 25,” the post says, “competition in the Tavern can be fierce, especially if you’ve never played Hearthstone before. We’d like to ease new players into the fray a little more gently.” In order to do that, Blizzard is adding 25 new ranks to Hearthstone’s competitive mode. New players will now begin at Rank 50, with Ranks 50 through 26 being reserved for new players only. Like Ranks 25 through 20, players below Rank 25 can’t lose stars while ranking up, and once a player hits Rank 25, they’ll never drop below that Rank again. On top of that, players will receive “a few free gifts along the way to help them get up to speed” as they climb the ranking ladder, which will hopefully make Hearthstone a bit more accessible to newbies. The full details on these topics and more, you can check out the full post over on the game’s official site.
