During this afternoon’s Opening Ceremony at BlizzCon, the Hearthstone team unveiled a new content drop, catch-up packs, and a new co-op mode – all of which were touched on in the studio’s follow-up panel this evening.
Cora Georgiou began by explaining the catch-up packs, which are essentially 50-card explosions intended to help players, well, catch up. Everyone’s getting two packs, while attendees are getting three, and Georgiou promises that players who already have all the cards will still get something out of it. But of course, what people are hyped for is the new Wild West-themed expansion, Showdown in the Badlands, which is coming out on November 14th.
“Hearthstone is headed to the Wild West in November with Showdown in the Badlands! The evil Bloodrock Mining Company, run by the dastardly sheriff Eustace Barrelbrim, have set up a ramshackle mining venture to drain Azeroth of its Azerite resources. Will the outlaws, led by the likes of Elise Starseeker, be able to save Azeroth from the sinister townsfolk that threaten to destroy the entirety of the Badlands? You can pre-purchase now and stake your claim on 145 brand new cards, including Legendary Outlaws, a new Keyword: Quickdraw, and a second new Keyword: Excavate!”
Quickdraw on cards adds a bonus on the turn, and when Excavate is executed, the player gets a random excavated treasure from that tier; once players score treasure from last tier, the mine is “tapped out” and you’ll have to start over. And the neutral card Reno, Lone Ranger, gets a special mention, as he’s the first such card in the game.
The Battlegrounds update will be of extra interest to multiplayer fans as the new Battlegrounds Duo mode will effectively add a co-op element to Battlegrounds; you’re not playing against your partner but rather partnering up with one other player to fight other teams – together. Duos isn’t coming until next year, Blizzard cautions, and it’s still in earlyish development, but there is a demo at the show.
Finally, everyone take a moment to really appreciate the gorgeous Hearthstone art from the team, ensuring we have a fresh round of funny new Blizzard header pics for the next half a decade.
