I know, I know – not everyone cares about cosmetics. But for me, they’re one of the most interesting features of the new progression system. I always hoped that Blizzard will not only make more of them available to the players, but also add new customization options (like Coin styles they’ve added now).
A total of 17 new Heroes were added to rewards track – 10 into free one and 7 into Tavern Pass. But there’s a catch…
Rewards Track Heroes
10 Heroes being added to the free rewards track is a “too good to be true” situation. And that’s correct – while there are 10 in total available, you will only be able to choose ONE after hitting Level 50 (if you’re wondering how difficult is that – check out our Progression System Guide).
So, does it mean that the other 9 are gone forever? You will never be able to get them? To be honest, Blizzard hasn’t clarified it, but I’m absolutely sure that it’s not the case. It would be a really terrible decision. My best guess is that the rest of them will simply be available for you to pick next expansion, on the new rewards track. That would be enough for 10 expansions in total, which is… over 3 years. Yeah.
Alternatively, Blizzard might just sell them – individually or in some bundles. It would be a wasted opportunity to just make them unavailable.
And here’s a full list of new Rewards Track Heroes (scroll down below to learn more about Tavern Pass Heroes):
Demonbane Illidan
Cenarion Malfurion
Giantstalker Rexxar
Arcanist Jaina
Uther Lawbringer
Anduin of Prophecy
Nightslayer Valeera
Earthfury Thrall
Felheart Gul’dan
Garrosh of Might
Tavern Pass Heroes
Now, while there are less Tavern Pass Heroes in total, they will be ALL available to pick. Technically, you have two skin “progressions” and one separate skin. Those progressions are for Mage & Shaman and start… let’s just say not very impressive, but they get much better with every “upgrade”. You can of course still decide to use the first or second skin, but I feel like most of players will choose the final version, as they look most interesting. The last Hero skin is Annhylde, a Val’kyr skin for Warrior, which is singular – no upgrades here.
Those skin are also unlocked by leveling on the rewards track – they’re spread through it all the way from Level 5 to 45. However, you first need to unlock paid Tavern Pass, which costs $19.99. Sadly, right now that’s the only option and you can’t get it with Gold. Good news is that you don’t need to buy it right away – all the progress done on free rewards track will still count for the Tavern Pass one (e.g. if you were already Level 25, you will immediately unlock a few cosmetics after buying it). However, since another feature of Tavern Pass is an XP boost, the longer you wait, the more XP you’re missing.
And here’s how they look like:
Apprentice Jaina
Archmage Jaina
Kul Tiran Jaina
Thrall, Son of Durotan
Alterac Thrall
Wolfrider Thrall
Annhylde
Cosmetics are great, but i only like them when they show off some accomplishment. it was really cool when my screen exploded with the 9 new hero portraits, and already on the way for 10 heroes on 2K wins.
I’ll never quite understand the cosmetics that just show off that you paid $, but that’s just me.
Hey there! Firstly, I gotta say- That’s an insanely impressive track record you have, seriously, that’s awesome! I’d be super interested to know if you play with a deck tracker and if so, is it one that keeps track of your time in game? Totally irrelevant I know, I’m sorry.
(I’m a freak for the potential that statistics like that have when they’re from super invested players; Additionally, this is extra interesting since this is one of the few games I’ve been invested in since it’s beginnings in the closed beta and then continued to play consistently ever since. I say that for relevancy sake because the reason I’m so impressed is that comparatively, I only have ~2,200 total ranked wins vs that nearly 20,000 win milestone of yours! Haha I’m sure by that you can deduce that even though I’ve always been an active player I’ve always enjoyed a balance of everything available in Hearthstone more so than I’ve enjoyed ranked play) Aaaanyway lmao
I hope you don’t mind me chiming in with a personal take on why I (and possibly others) enjoy the paid cosmetics enough to dish out for them.
(My intentions are only for the sake of offering additional perspective, I totally understand and respect your opinion and am in no way attempting to change it or start an argument in any way!)
I’d say one of the most ‘obvious’ / ‘easiest’ reasons I find the hero portraits that have been obtained via pay incentive so appealing, is the exclusivity that Blizzard has somewhat thematically made them to be; That is, outside of: Magni, Alleria, Medhiv, The newly introduced ‘Premium’ Tavern Passes’ “Standard Annhylde Hero Portrait,” 3 “Tier” Jaina, 3 “Tier” Thrall, and in some regard, Khadgar for being made available a 2nd time, unlike the remainder of the paid portraits who were only available either as a short, promotionally structured pack & portrait limited
time ‘bundle’ or as an incentive to preorder an upcoming expansions’ more ‘elite’ edition before being retired from sale permanently. I gotta say though, for someone who really values their collections in the games they decide to invest in, missing any one time sale is so painful and I’m honestly so conflicted when it comes to the topic of how to remedy that, because I’m pretty sure the reason it feels so awesome to have a certain thing collected, stems from 1. How totally kick-ass the collectable is & maybe a bit of: 2. knowing how terrible you’d feel if you’d missed out on getting it. I figure this is probably more extensive of a comment than anyone would be compelled to read and I don’t blame anyone for that lmfao so I’m gonna stop being weird and end this.
That’s cool. I understand and Honestly I actually did buy a hero portrait once for the aesthetics: Sir Annoyo. 🙂 I had a tournament with mates at the time and i wanted to hello the hell out of them.
Ps i really don’t want to know how much time i have already sunk in HS. I play since Naxx, and it is the only computer game I play. I do not have decktracker, since i only play mobile (3h commute each day and a lot of smoking breaks in the evenings).
could be nice to have an exhaustive list of what achievments give xp.
Hey Solaris, I’m actually in the process of pulling all relevant Progression Revamp info into a space that’s easier to navigate, browse, and manually (for now at least) track specific achievements- I wasn’t able to find anything concrete when I looked around so I’m not sure if someone else has the same inclination to create what I’m going for, but I’m going to make a personal note to drop by your comment again & drop a link with a document that has what you’re looking for.
Cheers!
I’m assuming all but Annhylde keep their original voice lines?
Yes, I believe that’s the case. Although I would like to be pleasantly surprised.
Shame. Aw well, at least they’re free. Now I can finally have a hunter or warrior skin.
*20$
Did you read the article? They’re being added to the free rewards track.
@Noelle: Ahem … ‘However, you first need to unlock paid Tavern Pass, which costs $19.99.’
Question: Annhylde have new lines and emotes? or its just a simple cosmetic like Horseman Uther?
Annhylde does have new voice lines and emotes. Other of them are just cosmetics with base voice lines as far as I know.
And Horseman Uther will also get new emotes, by the way 🙂
Oh, thanks. <3
Valeera is not the most impressive but its the one hero with only…2 skins
Yeah, I don’t like her that much, but I consider picking her, because I’ve been using Maiev for 3.5 years :/
Yeah, I’m mostly bothered by her arm pose, looks awkward. Hard to tell if she has tried to swing the blade, or blocked something so her arm got pushed up against her body.
Still going to pick that one too though. For the same reason like you two, need more rouge skins…. and I like collecting girls… creepy laugh in the background.
A fellow man! For same reason while I was between Jaina and Uther (2 best artworks in my opinion) and the later got slightly better artwork, think would choose Jaina (again if rogue had at least half have the skins mage has)
Yup, as a Rogue main I was very disappointed by Valeera’s artwork, it’s almost the worst out of all. Anduin is also not great i believe, and I was disappointed by Garrosh (but then again basic Garrosh just looks better). Blizzard please just give us an Edwin VanCleef Hero or something…
So, Battleground Pass and Tavern Pass is totally different items.
I thought by winning a Battleground Pass from giveaway automatically grant me a Tavern pass.
Silly me.
Tavern Pass last expansion gave you Battlegrounds upgrades like selecting 4 heroes, access to stats etc.
This time they’ve renamed Battlegrounds stuff to “Battlegrounds Perks” and Tavern Pass is the “premium” rewards track.
$80 pre-order gave you Battlegrounds Perks and not Tavern Pass. But I honestly wish it was the other way around :/ If someone is buying 80 packs pre-order then he probably isn’t mainly a BG player, so perks are less useful.
That’s true. BG is not really for me, but I guess it doesn’t matter, since I got the mega bundle for free, so I guess I’ll just appreciate the extras.
I don’t really get why they named it “Tavern Pass” instead of I don’t know, Advance Pass maybe.
Tavern Pass is for Bob’s Tavern in BG.