It has been several days since the possibility of making a pre-purchase of the new Hearthstone expansion, which does not include adventure, but completely redoes the way of playing and adds a large number of new cards and strategies in the process.
At the same time, from Blizzard they have taken advantage of this remodeling to take away many cards that until now were "too good", something that is colloquially known as "nerf", these cards include the Pariah Gnome, Force of Nature, and others that we will detail now.
Whispers of the Old Gods
The new expansion, which had an advance purchase cost of € 44 (€ 95 if done from iOS) contains a total of 134 new cards Among which we find the 4 Gods of the Warcraft universe (including C'Thun) and remodeling of already known cards, such as Lunch, Dragon that now has 2 legendary cards in Hearthstone.
This new expansion comes with a lot of play, and its spooky environment and its new mechanics and strategies will give Hearthstone players many hours of fun and conversation.
Of all the new cards, one stands out given its importance in this new expansion, and this card is the legendary C'Thun, a God who will serve as the basis for a multitude of strategies and that it will be given to all players as soon as they open their first pack of Whispers of the Old Gods (not inside the pack, but as additional cards), and will be accompanied by two Captivators of Evil, a 2/3 card that costs 2 will grant our C'Thun + 1 / + 1, wherever it is, whether in hand, on the table or in our deck. Many cards in this new expansion have the secondary effect of giving more power to C'Thun, this God of cost 10 that by default is a 6/6, and is that his Battle Cry (ability that is activated as soon as it is summoned to the board) is to inflict his attack distributed among all enemies, therefore, the more attack he has, the more deadly his output will be.
To acquire cards from the beginning and compensate for the new game modes, Blizzard will give 3 packs of Whispers of the Old Gods to all players (you only have to connect to receive them) and after that they will give you a mission in which you must win 2 games of the new Standard mode to receive 5 more packs, after which you will receive another one asking for 7 victories in this new method in exchange for another 5 packs, giving all players a total of 13 envelopes, 65 letters (+3), of the new expansion, thus forming a solid base to face the new game mode with total freedom and breadth of strategies.
Change in game modes
And as it was warned, they have remodeled the Hearthstone game system, something that a priori may seem very complex but it is not, they have simply moved the so far "Standard" as a secondary mode called "Wild" and the new Standard is now limited to decks made up of cards from the last two years, thus avoiding having to keep an eye on the entire repertoire of existing cards when designing new expansions.
With the new mode Standard the letters of naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes are uninhabited (and restricted to Wild mode), we will have to make our decks with Classic cards, Grand Tournament, Blackrock Mountain and Whispers of the Old Gods.
In case you can't understand how the game system is going to work from now on, Blizzard has left this short graphic representation:
These two modes will feature their respective ranks, so that you can reach Legend in both modes, likewise the season prize will be awarded to each player based on the highest rank they have reached, regardless of the mode in which it is, although yes, there will only be one reward for each season.
Modified letters
As I mentioned at the beginning, "thank you" to patch 5.0 a small group of letters have been modified to reduce or neutralize their explosiveness, thereby breaking strategies that were starting to get heavy or that did not fit with what Blizzard is looking for, so the following cards have been modified:
- Ancient of Knowledge - Now you draw 1 card instead of 2.
- Force of Nature - Mana cost reduced from 6 to 5, Treants no longer have Charge and no longer die at end of turn.
- Guardian of the grove - Health reduced from 4 to 2.
- Ironbeak Owl - Mana cost increased from 2 to 3.
- Hunter of beasts - Mana cost increased from 3 to 5.
- Hunter's Mark - Mana cost increased from 0 to 1.
- Barrage of steel - Mana cost increased from 2 to 4 and only affects minions.
- Knife juggler - Attack reduced from 3 to 2.
- Outcast gnome - Attack reduced from 2 to 1.
- Arcane Golem - Health increased from 2 to 4. No longer has Charge.
- Molten giant - Mana cost increased from 20 to 25.
- Mistress of disguise - Now the stealth granted by this card only lasts until the start of the next turn.
These letters they can be pulverized if you wish for the full cost in arcane dust, that is, if creating a Pariah Gnome costs 40 units of arcane dust, pulverizing it will give you 40 units for a limited time, this way those who are not happy with the changes made can obtain the cost of the cards in full and create some new, as if they were golden cards.
Goodbye to "I'm sorry"
The phrase that was used so much to martyr our opponent, that "Excuse me" that allowed us to make a little mockery towards our opponent, has been replaced by a miserable and contrary "Wow", a new phrase that instead of ridiculing comes to euphorically flatter our adversary, a Wow that in the case of the Shaman becomes "Incredible!", in this way from Blizzard they are loaded at a stroke the provocation between players, leaving the heroes phonetically unarmed on the battle boards.
This is a movement that surely not many users like it, and while the new inclusion is successful, it is not to replace our only intimidation asset with it.
Personal opinion
After this detailed analysis of the new expansion and after playing a few games, I have to say that I am happy, I miss feeling sorry for the opponent in those moments when your hand screams victory, however the new expansion and his 134 letters give renewed fun to the game, and although many may regret it, nerfing those old cards and thereby breaking established strategies is a decision that can be positive by motivating players to make a living with the new cards and use their imagination to create groundbreaking strategies with them.
I have rediscovered that fun that Hearthstone was missing due to its monotony, but and you?
Leave us in the comments your opinions about the changes of this patch number 5 and the introductions of the new expansion 😀
Source - Blizzard USA