With the launch of Journey to Un’Goro and the Standard rotation fast approaching, there’s a few things you’ll likely want to know before the expansion releases. I’ve been gathering up some information to help you prepare for the big release!
What Time Will Journey to Un’Goro Launch?
We know the date is April 6th for the Americas, and likely the 7th for just about everywhere else. Blizzard usually launches things at 10am PDT, but for the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, it actually launched on December 1st at 8:30am PDT (1630 UTC). So, as long as there’s no issues I would expect around the same.
For a more global perspective: Gadgetzan released on December 2nd at 0200 CET (0100 UTC) in Europe, 0800 KST (2300 UTC) in Asia, and 0640 CST (2240 UTC) in China.
Read more about launch times in this great thread on Reddit.
Expansion Launch Tips
Here’s a quick run down of what I’ve learned in the past when dealing with expansion launches.
Tip: Don’t Purchase the Wrong Packs
In the past it’s been easy to absentmindedly purchase the wrong packs, so make sure you are paying attention when you hit the purchase button!
Tip: Save Money by Watching Twitch Streamers Open Packs
Streamers buy a TON of packs, and if you’re on a budget and want to get your fix then I’d advise watching them open packs. It’s not exactly the same, but it can help ease your lust for packs.
Tip: Don’t Craft or Disenchant Legendaries Right Away
It’s tough to not craft a bunch of cool looking Legendaries the day they come out, but if you’re on a budget you should just hang back and wait for the meta to settle a bit. The famous example of tons of people crafting Troggzor the Earthinator comes to mind, where it seemed like a great card but ended up never really seeing any play. This also goes for disenchanting cards! Finja, the Flying Star was not a popular Legendary when Mean Streets of Gadgetzan released, but now it has seen quite a bit of play.
Year of the Mammoth Standard Rotation
The second Journey to Un’Goro releases in your area the Standard rotation will take place. This means Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers will no longer be usable in the Standard format.
This also means, if you haven’t purchased one of the wings from either Blackrock Mountain or League of Explorers you will no longer be able to purchase either one of them with cash or gold. This doesn’t mean you won’t have access to the cards, you can craft them with Arcane Dust, but that method is far more expensive in the long run. To prevent losing access to these Adventures, you can purchase just the first wing from each one (with cash or gold) and you will then be able to play and purchase the rest of the wings even when they rotate out of Standard.
Update (10:22am PDT): With the new patch up it appears that it’s too late to grab either of those adventures, I hope you got them ahead of time!
If you want to see what notable cards are headed to Standard then check this post out: Notable Hearthstone Cards Leaving Standard in Year of the Mammoth.
Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame has been added to the Standard rotation to allow for commonly played cards to be added to Wild from the Classic set.
There are six cards headed there in this rotation, and they are:
The positive about this is that you’ll get a full dust refund for each card you own up to the amount you can play into a deck. You also get the dust for the highest quality version of the card you have, so if have a golden Sylvanas and a normal copy you will receive 3,200 Arcane Dust for the golden Sylvanas and nothing for the normal one. If you own 4x Azure Drake, with one being gold, you’ll get dust for 1x gold copy and 1x normal copy (you can only play 2x Azure Drake in a deck).
If you do NOT own any of the cards you really should craft each one of them (golden if possible) before the rotation happens because at the very least you are getting free cards, and at the most you can disenchant the cards and gain that dust for free.
If you want to learn more about how to optimize you dust amount, check out this detailed post I wrote: Hall of Fame Dust Guide.
Also, don’t disenchant anything until you’ve actually received the dust from the rotation!
New Rogue Hero: Maiev Shadowsong
A new Rogue skin will also be available! All you will have to do is win 10 games of Hearthstone in Standard Ranked or Casual mode after the rotation goes live.
Journey to Un’Goro Expansion
Losing three sets and six core cards is already going to be a big meta changer, but Journey to Un’Goro will also be launching and bringing 135 new cards with it!
Un’Goro Quick Links
- Full Guide & Information on Journey to Un’Goro
- Journey to Un’Goro Full Card List
- Journey to Un’Goro Full Card Art Roudnup
- Un’Goro Card Clarifications & FAQ
Journey to Un’Goro Pre-Purchase
If you plan on spending money on the expansion then grabbing the pre-purchase is going to be the best way to do it. You’ll get 10 extra packs for the normal price of 40 and an exclusive card back for pre-purchasing. Once the expansion launches this deal will be over, so make sure to grab it before April 6th/7th.
Amazon Coins: Free 500 Coins w/Pre-Purchase
It’s my time to shill a bit, but this is actually a good offer. If you pre-purchase Un’Goro with Amazon Coins you get 500 coins back (which you can use to purchase more packs). You also get the pre-purchase for cheaper than normal, especially if you are in an area that doesn’t have a coin tax. Purchasing through our link also helps support the site, so thank you to everyone who has done so!
I’ve written an in-depth guide on purchasing with Amazon Coins: Cheaper Hearthstone Packs with Amazon Coins Guide.
Quest Cards
One of the big additions coming in Journey to Un’Goro is the Quest card mechanic. Each of the nine classes receives a Quest card that requires them to meet a certain goal, once that goal has been reached the reward is large!
Here’s a list of all the new Quests plus their rewards:
- Awaken the Makers
- Fire Plume's Heart
- Jungle Giants
- Lakkari Sacrifice
- Open the Waygate
- The Caverns Below
- The Last Kaleidosaur
- The Marsh Queen
- Unite the Murlocs
If you want to learn a lot more about how the Quest cards work, check out this guide: Everything You Need to Know About Quest Cards.
Adapt Mechanic
Another big addition coming in Un’Goro is the new Adapt mechanic. Adapt takes three options (like the Discover mechanic) from a pool of ten which then buffs your minion or minions.
Here are the ten possible Adapt options:
- Crackling Shield
- Flaming Claws
- Lightning Speed
- Liquid Membrane
- Living Spores
- Massive
- Poison Spit
- Rocky Carapace
- Shrouding Mist
- Volcanic Might
Elemental Race/Tribe
Elementals are a big part of the new expansion. A lot of the new Elementals gain power when you’ve played an Elemental card the previous turn, but others have unique effects. There were also 18 cards from previous sets that were given the Elemental tag. Not all cards that likely should be Elementals got the tag, a card like Shadow Rager being a notable exclusion.
Hopefully that’s everything, if you think I’ve missed something please let me know in the comments!
I’ve seen that the first official Hearthstone tournament starts right after Un’Goro release, here’s the link if someone’s interested https://egamersworld.com/hearthstone/news/lifecoach-to-host-first-tournament-after-release-o-41DKsvqhG
Yes, I confirm this information )
hi, when will I be able to disenchant my
Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers, I only play standard, will there be a period of time to do this? thanks
sorry, disenchant for full dust, thnx
No, they will only disenchant for the normal value.
“I only play standard” – On Tyrande´s words: You will regret this!!!
Keep your collection dude, standard sucks from times to times and it´s not fun.
On top of that, some of the levels for Adventure Mode can be really brutal, and they run on Wild rules, so if you wanna have a good chance of beating them, best to keep those Hall of Fame and good rotating cards.
An option is also not playing at all. If you ever hope to be free to play then you’d have to dust cards that are rotated out. Thats a huge investment into the next set be it $$ or hours spent grinding for gold. There’s always a focus on new players so focus would be on standard to limit the very high barrier to entry into wild. That’s just me but with 3 expansions every year if you don’t dust outgoing expansions you’ll likely have a mediocre set for standard or you’re spending a lot of money or time.
The only legendary that I will craft will be the rogue one, just because I have Illidan and with the rogue skin I can make a perfect Irony deck, just like when I put Cairne into a warrior deck
Nerd
Nerd
Nerd
Nerd
NERD
And your oppenent says ‘Nooo, it is so ironic, what am i gonna do?’ (concede)