Blizzard have revealed more details about the upcoming expansion Hearthstone: Forged In The Barrens. This announcement came at Blizzconline, and included announcement of a new game mode called Mercenaries.
Set in the Horde area known as The Barrens, Hearthstone: Forged In The Barrens will give World of Warcraft players plenty of nostalgia. The expansion features 135 new cards, a new game mode and a whole remapping of the classic/basic sets.
New cards in the expansion will include a new keyword called ‘frenzy’, as well as spells that scale with your mana. Frenzy cards have an effect that triggers the first time a minion survives damage. On the other hand, the new spells will have an effect that upgrades when you reach 5 and 10 mana crystals.
Furthermore, there is the permanent addition of spell schools to both new and existing cards. All spells are now defined as being from one of seven different schools. This looks to play in with new synergies from Hearthstone: Forged In The Barrens.
In addition, the expansion will come alongside the rotation to the year of the Gryphon, with an announcement detailing huge changes to the classic and basic format. We have a dedicated article on that here. The latest announcement revealed some of the new core set cards, including the debut of Vanessa VanCleef.
Hearthstone’s latest game mode is following the theme of Forged In The Barrens. The game is called Mercenaries and is a ‘strategic RPG with roguelike elements’ . You will assemble a team of mercenaries and take part in turn based combat. The enemies will either be randomly generated encounters or other players.
The release date for the new expansion is coming soon, with no official date yet announced. There are pre-order options available for Hearthstone: Forged In The Barrens packs in the in-game store.
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