Posts with tag goblins-vs-gnomes

Hearthstone's first expansion, Goblins vs Gnomes, is now live. In celebration of the launch, all players who log into the game before December 19 will receive three Goblins vs Gnomes card packs free of charge. In addition, success in the arena will grant Goblins vs Gnomes card packs as rewards. Classic card packs will no longer be available through the arena, but they are still available of purchase with gold.

Of course, this being a Blizzard launch, the Hearthstone servers have been suffering from instability today. Many players have been unable to connect to the game (and other Blizzard titles) this evening. The draw of new cards is strong.

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Though Hearthstone's Goblins vs Gnomes doesn't officially launch until December 8, the new cards are already active -- in the Hearthstone arena. In addition, if you log in between today and December 8, you'll receive one free run at the arena. If you want an early look at Goblins vs Gnomes cards in action, now is your chance.

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Hearthstone's December ranked play season has begun, and like every season, brings with it a new card back. In celebration of the impending Goblins vs Gnomes, this month's card back is gnome themed -- actually somewhat disappointing for those who wanted a Winter Veil card. As always, you need only reach rank 20 to earn this card back. A simple task, given you can't lose rank until you've surpassed 20.

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The Deathrattle mechanic was a major focus of Hearthstone's Naxxramas adventure pack. While it isn't the central theme of Goblins vs Gnomes, Blizzard's latest look at the upcoming expansion makes it clear there may yet be strong synergy with Deathrattle cards. The expansion preview highlights three cards in particular:

• Feign Death Trigger all Deathrattles on your minions.
• Lil' Exorcist Taunt. Battlecry: Gain +1/+1 for each enemy Deathrattle minion.
• Scarlet Purifier Battlecry: Deal 2 damage to all minions with Deathrattle.

Feign Death (a Hunter card, naturally) has the potential to be extremely powerful -- not only with Naxxramas cards, but also with the Hunter's own Savannah Highmane, which is already a powerhouse unto itself. Savannah Highmane on the field with Baron Rivendare followed by Feign Death would result in a full board of minions. Lil' Exorcist and Scarlet Purifier seem more of a reaction to Naxxramas, a small balance to some of the adventure pack's more powerful cards, though your Scarlet Purifier triggering an opponent's Nerubian Egg might be bad news.

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We're all hyped with Warlords of Draenor, but those of us who play Hearthstone are also looking forward to the impending release of Goblins vs Gnomes. Since BlizzCon, the Hearthstone community team has revealed a few more new cards from the expansion set.

First among them is the Illuminator, a 3 mana cost 2/4 minion that restores 4 health at the end of your turn if you control a secret. The Illuminator might provide the mage and hunter decks with new healing capabilities, or give the paladin deck even greater capabilities on that front. Also revealed: Jeeves, which provides both players with continuous card draw, the warrior minion Shieldmaiden with a +armor Battlecry, and the shaman's Ancestor's Call, which puts a random minion from each player's hand on the field.

While the Hearthstone playing field will certainly be altered by the release of this expansion, we're curious to see which of these cards will actually make their way into players' decks. A number of additional cards will be revealed before the expansion's launch, and if you want a say in what will be revealed, head over to the Hearthstone site and cast your vote.

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Hearthstone announcing its expansion, Goblins vs. Gnomes, is no surprise. The fact that it releases in one month is a surprise. At BlizzCon this afternoon, Hearthstone Game Director Eric Dodds discussed some of the expansion's new gameplay developments in their Fireside Chat. You can see all of the newly revealed cards in our gallery embedded at the end of this post or follow along to learn about the new Mech minions, Piloted Mechs, Spare Parts, and new class cards.


Mechs

Goblins vs. Gnomes introduces a new minion type: Mechs. Not only are many of the new minions Mechs, but a number of old minions will be placed in this new category, too. The Harvest Golem was offered as an example along with the Alarm-o-Bot and Mechanical Dragonlings. There are enough new Mechs included in the expansion that you could, if you wanted to, build a full Mech Deck.