BlizzCon is a good place for announcing upcoming expansions for Blizzard, and for Hearthstone this has been no different. BlizzCon 2014 featured the announcement of Hearthstone’s first expansion, Goblins vs. Gnomes. This year, however, we’ve just had the release of The Grand Tournament, and based on how Hearthstone’s releases have shaken out, it means that we will likely see a new Adventure added to the game. Adventures add around 30 cards to the game, and feature single player bosses and challenges that allow you to unlock the cards. This would be the third adventure added to the game, with Curse of Naxxramas and Blackrock Mountain being the other two.
Normally at the end of a season we get a sneak preview of what card back we’ll be fighting for during the next season. Instead, we’ve been given a slight teaser image along with this message:
What is this month’s card back? It’s a secret, and it will be revealed at BlizzCon!
The usual rules apply, so you’ll want to reach rank 20 before the end of the month in order to add this unrevealed card back to your collection.
Keep an eye out for the official release of this month’s card back, coming soon!
[Source]
As you can see from the image, it does look a bit frosty and while Blizzard uses icy imagery in their promos, it could POSSIBLY be a slight hint towards the direction of the new Adventure. You could argue, however, that because The Grand Tournament was actually very much linked to Icecrown and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion that we would probably see something else. I imagine we’ll see a bit of a teaser within the next week which will point us in the right direction.
What to Expect at BlizzCon for Hearthstone
Here’s where I’m going to speculate wildly on what will be announced or shown off at BlizzCon for Hearthstone. I’m purely using my knowledge of past releases and have no insider information.
95% Chance
New Adventure Announced
It absolutely follows their schedule, and what better place to announce it then BlizzCon. Goblins vs. Gnomes was announced at BlizzCon and released on December 8th. This follows the standard month of hype that precedes most Hearthstone releases. The biggest question is what will be the theme of the Adventure? Icecrown Citadel or something to do with the Lich King is going to happen eventually. There’s a ton of other WoW Raids and things left to be explored.
New Hero Skins
I would be pretty surprised if we don’t get some new Hero Skins in the very near future. This is an easy money item for Blizzard to push, and there are still six classes unrepresented by a new skin.
75% Chance
Deck Slots
With every passing month it gets more and more surprising that more deck slots haven’t been released in some way. Last we heard, it was on the to-do list:
The core message for deck slots is that it will happen. It is now on the list of ‘to-do’, and not on the ‘should-we-or-should-we-not-do-this’ list. So we are discussing how to do that kind of thing, because there are many options. And I think we want to do it the best way and not just the first way. But I don’t think this is the type of thing that’s like five years away or something. [Source]
We’ll see if they’ve figured out a way to implement it.
50% Chance
Tournament Mode
I might be underselling how likely Tournament Mode is because it was almost released instead of Tavern Brawl:
Tournament mode is another thing that people have been asking for. We almost did it before Tavern Brawl, but we decided that Tavern Brawl was something more people would enjoy, and let more people have more fun each week. [Source]
I could see Tournament Mode being announced as a “Coming Soon” item. Basically, they announce they are working on it, but it doesn’t have a solid release timetable.
5% Chance
New Class
I think we’re still far away from a new class being added to Hearthstone. Balance issues are an issue with the classes we currently have, and the game is still relatively new and doesn’t really need a new class.
New Expansion
Back-to-back expansions would be crazy. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to do one so soon, but there’s always a chance!
You so optimistic! I think new adventure announce percentage is under 20%!
We’ll see, I’m pretty sure they announce something big at BlizzCon!
Isn’t co-op battle mode a pretty good chance, too? I read somewhere that co-op screen and texts were uncovered in the most recent code push.
That was for Tavern Brawl. You are right though, there is a possibility that co-op could be in the future.
Tournament mode would be cool instead of tavern brawl. I think it is the one thing missing in the game so far. New adventure would be good too
Icecrown OR RIOT
SAME!
(P.S. if they were going to release a new hero, it would be the 5th anniversary)