Blizzconline 2021 Hearthstone Announcements Recap - Updated Live!

BlizzConline is starting soon! In this post, I'll recap all of the news, announcements etc. regarding Hearthstone, such as new expansion, core set, possibly new game mode and more!

Last time I tried to cover all the games, but this year I'm going to focus on Hearthstone since that's what most of you are here for. Also, I expect quite a lot of announcements, so Hearthstone alone will keep me busy enough.

If you want to learn more about the event, where to watch it (for free!), what to expect, then check out our Survival Guide!

BlizzConline Recap

If you're interested in non-Hearthstone related stuff like WoW, check out the live recap on Wowhead instead!

Year of the Gryphon is the new Standard year!

Three new Legendary Dragons from the upcoming Core Set:

Forged in the Barrens is the new Hearthstone expansion!

Everyone is getting a free 30 years anniversary card back.

All players will get a free copy of Shadow Hunter Vol'jin LATER TODAY:

Other new cards:

Frenzy is a new keyword that triggers the first time a minion takes damage. It can only trigger once.

Spell are now getting types based on magic schools like Nature, Fire, Arcane etc. And it's a permanent addition that will apply to all spells!

And here are Chain Lightning upgrades:

Mercenaries is the new Hearthstone game mode. It's a "strategy RPG" mode, where you lead a team of mercenaries in a roguelike format. You go through the map, fight enemies, level up your mercenaries, gather new gear and so on.

Pre-Purchase bundle info is now out! Hamuul Runetotem Druid Hero is available as a part of Mega Bundle:

Deep Dive Stream is just starting! Covering it below!

Year of the Gryphon Roadmap & Expansion Teasers:

More new cards:

Now devs talk about the Core Set, but we already know the general info since it was announced some time ago. You can learn more about it here.

Here are some of the cards coming back to the Core Set:

Some of the cards are also getting upgraded:

Shaman is getting a new Totem! Strength Totem replaced Wrath of Air Totem in the Basic Totem pool from Hero Power:

New Core Set 2021 cards:

New exclusive minion type in Battlegrounds - Quillboar, coming in Patch 20.0. Gameplay revolves around generating & taking advantage of their own resource.

Valeera is the next Book of Heroes character.

Another PvE content will be Book of Mercenaries, telling stories of the 10 "mercenary" characters coming to the game soon.

Hearthstone Mercenaries takes a lot of inspiration from other tactical RPG / roguelike games. It's a bit like playing with 3 Heroes at the same time, each having different actions and combos. Progression (XP, loot) is permanent!

Mercenaries doesn't use your collection, it's completely separate.

Team 5 is trying to evolve Hearthstone to be a "platform for card games"

Mercenaries game mode is heavily single-player, but it has multi-player aspects. The majority of leveling & progression is single-player, but there is some PvP combat too.

And that's it for Hearthstone announcements for now! This post is pretty messy, but don't worry, I'm working on creating separate posts for all the announcements now that should be more clear.