New Synergies, Regimes, and the Future of Battlegrounds – What is known about the upcoming Hearthstone expansion?

Disclaimer: a conversation with the developers took place before the announcement of the fifth series of nerfs, which take effect on July 14.

The new addition is called Scholomance. The story is based on a free interpretation of the World of Warcraft lore, which refers to the times when Kel’Thuzad had not yet become a minion of the Lich King, and quietly (well, maybe not quite) taught at the Scholomance. The developers decided to play a little with the history of the universe and tried to imagine what the original Scholomance would have been if not only the necromancers, but also people, orcs, etc. had studied there. What was new about Blizzard?

New synergies

One of the main features of the add-on – cards available to two classes at once. As the developers told us, they thought about a similar innovation back in the days of the Witch Forest, but decided to implement everything just now. There will be a total of 40 such cards – a pair was made up of each class, but it all started with a warlock and a priest.

When approving cards, Blizzard primarily focused on their class identity. For example, both the priest and the warlock manipulate health – accordingly, the effect of their common card will be somehow connected with this. At the same time, the general map of the warlock and priest will not be oriented toward extras (since this, according to Team 5, should not be inherent in the priest). Another example of such synergies is the warrior and the robber. Both classes, according to Team 5, “love to use weapons”, so some of the cards will be associated with this feature.

The second of the announced synergies is dependence of the effect of the card on the board. As you know, in Hearthstone there are many locations, from Orgrimmar to Naxxramas. Blizzard decided that it would be cool if the effect of the card could change depending on the field. So, the game will appear “Exchange student” – A minion with 2/2 stats for two mana. For example, on the field from “Rescuers of Uldum” he will receive rebirth, and on the location from the new addition he will dig out a map belonging to two classes.

Interestingly, a similar map could appear in the game already during the Un’Goro Expedition. Now everyone will get it for free, and how she fits into the meta is an open question.

Another one new mechanics – cards with the Resonance effect. It is activated once after casting a spell and can either buff a creature on the table or, for example, return a used spell to a hand.

The developers have not yet shared other ideas. Currently opened cards have the usual effects. One can only note the legendary cards, which so far do not seem overpowering: it seems that the approach outlined in Outland Ruins will not change – you should not wait for an excessive imba like Queen Alexstrasza or Zefris. At least for now.

Demon Hunter and Archetypes

Perhaps the main question for anyone who is trying to get to the “legend” (or take a place in it higher) is what do the developers plan to do with the demon hunter, who even after four series of nerfs remains the leader of the meta?

Team 5 admitted that it originally intended to make Illidan aggressive in Outland Ruins. However, the agro-archetype is not the only one, and with Scholomance Blizzard plans to promote other hero builds: in particular, with tokens and large demons.

During the conference, Blizzard was openly asked if the control decks would play in the new meta. Of course, there was no direct answer, but the developers said that such decks are at least planned. In particular, Blizzard representatives urged journalists to pay attention to the new assemblies of the demon hunter and … the warlock! What changes await the class is unknown, but it is really intriguing.

During the release of Outland Ruins, Team 5 announced that it was ready to add new classes to the game. But those who do not like radical changes can breathe out – this is definitely not worth the wait.

PvE Content and New Mode

In general, Blizzard does not yet want to reveal all the cards, so the company did not answer many intriguing questions. Nevertheless, we still learned some details about the future PvE content and the new mode.

In particular, the future adventure the plot will not be connected with the history of Scholomance. But in it the iconic characters from the lore of Warcraft will definitely appear. This, as Blizzard introduced, will be a “new project” that will be part of the Scholomance phase, and will be released after the release of the add-on.

New mode – also a big mystery. However, Blizzard let slip that it will not be as large as the “Battle Fields.” However, the developers assured everyone that he would still be “fun and catchy.” The emphasis in the mode will be made on the use of our own collection of cards. It has to “create small interesting decks”, and it will also be somehow connected with the arena or similar to it. Alas, Blizzard did not tell more.

Battlefields

During the conference, many were worried about the fate of the “Battle Fields”, and in particular, their e-sports component. I hasten to disappoint those who hoped for major championships with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money – while Blizzard has no such ambitious plans.

At the same time, the company noted that they want to develop the regime using the grassroots method – that is, an initiative from below. Therefore, tournaments from the community will continue to be held, and after the addition, Blizzard hopes to add a full lobby to the game to simplify the life of gamers. In general, the company continues to monitor how the regime’s popularity is growing – if players continue to pay much attention to it, then it will be able to take a more important place in the plans of the developers.

Many asked about the balance system in Battlegrounds. In particular, with the release of “Battlegrounds” a lot of people abandoned the ladder and now they can not regularly earn gold, playing only in this mode. Blizzard said it’s not worth the wait for changes in this area.

Another topic that Blizzard touched upon was the alleged imbalance in the choice of heroes: those who invested more in the game than the others get four characters to choose from, while everyone else is content with three. The company believes that this does not significantly affect the game: the win rate does not suffer from this.

The developers have their own logic

If it seems to you that Hearthstone is “dead” or “dying,” then I hasten to disappoint you. According to Blizzard, everything is exactly the opposite. In 2023, many gamers who had long forgotten about HS returned to KKI. If it seems to you that the game needs to be “radically changed”, constantly adjust the balance so that the winrates of all decks barely depart from 50% – no, this will not happen.

Of course, balance is important – Blizzard recognizes this. But it must be understood that there are no factors that would forced company do it. Everything that happens with Hearthstone now is a figment of the imagination of Team 5 designers: they will experiment and continue to do so. Now the team does not see actual problems in Hearthstone that could “kill” the game.

In short, you don’t need to take Hearthstone too seriously. With each addition, new mechanics appear in KKI – and this is really cool. They will probably be bored, but the game will not stand still. Isn’t that the main thing?