After yesterday’s teaser, Blizzard just dropped a full-blown announcement of the upcoming Battlegrounds season – “Enter the Technotavern”. It launches on December 3 with a technological, cyberpunk theme.
However, some of you might be quite disappointed to hear that Season 9 has no new mechanics or minion types (Draenei was probably the most common guess). Instead, it focuses on a big minion refresh. Over 90 minions will be removed from the pool and replaced with new/returning ones. We’ll also get 3 brand new Heroes. The reveals will happen over the next week. You can find all of them here.
Definitely the most controversial addition is the introduction of a new currency called “Battlegrounds Tokens”. For now, they can be used to reroll your Hero choices. When you start a Battlegrounds match, you will be able to reroll each of your Hero choices once (so 1 reroll per Hero slot) by spending a Battlegrounds Token. While some Battlegrounds Tokens will be given away for free, as you can probably imagine, if you want more of them – you have to pay. A new, $5 more expensive “Season Pass+” will also be available, offering players 1 free reroll every match (“free” as in “you don’t need to spend Tokens on it). Tokens can also be purchased separately through in-game shop bundles. The current free rewards track and Season Pass will stay the same.
This will for sure spark the P2W discussion all over again. Introducing the original Season Pass with 2 more Hero choices a few years ago was a huge deal in the Battlegrounds community. And this seems like another step towards paying players having an unfair advantage. In a perfect world, if all Heroes were roughly on the same power level, I don’t think it would be a big deal. You’d pay for more options, not more power. But as we all know, we don’t live in a perfect world and the differences between weakest and strongest heroes can be massive. Rerolling a Tier 4 Hero is not only an “I don’t like this Hero so maybe I get something more fun” situation but also a competitive advantage.
If you follow HSTD, you certainly know that we’re against any kind of P2W or anti-consumer practices, and sadly the last year has been full of them. We’ll probably explore it more in-depth in a separate post, but for now, we just want you to know that we aren’t happy with this direction. We all know that the game needs to be monetized, but going for a P2W route is just not the way to do it.
And finally, as always, everything will be reset at the Season launch. All players will be back to 0 MMR and a rewards track will refresh. So if you haven’t finished the current one, you still have some time until August 20.
Check out the official blog post below:
In his travels across The Great Dark Beyond, Bob’s decked out the Tavern with cyberpunk style, new technologies, and all kinds of minion updates. Come see what the universe has to offer in Battlegrounds Season 9, Enter the Technotavern, blasting off on December 3!
With Season 9, Battlegrounds Ratings will reset and Trinkets will rotate out of the Tavern. Season 9 will also bring with it an update to the Battlegrounds Track and all new Battlegrounds Tokens, which can be used to Reroll a Hero option at the start of your game—find out more, below.
Three out-of-this world new Heroes will enter the Hero Pool in Season 9, including: Farseer Nobundo. Peer through the Galaxy’s Lens and channel powerful cosmic flares as your Tavern Spells lead you to victory!
A Massive Minion Refresh
Over 90 minions and Tavern spells will be removed from their respective pools, replaced by nearly 90 new and returning minions and 11 all-new spells across Battlegrounds and Duos!
Over the next week, we’ll be sharing more information about these card removals, new and returning cards, and card updates. You can see all the card updates as they’re revealed in the official Card Library. Once the patch goes live, minion types will also roll out in-game over time to give you a chance to learn the new type compositions as they go. You can see the full reveal and rollout schedule at the bottom of this post.
Damage Cap Update
Starting with Season 9, the damage cap will be adjusted in solo Battlegrounds games (note: this change will only apply to solo Battlegrounds, not Duos). The damage cap will start at 5 damage, then go up to 10 damage on turn 4, and 15 damage on turn 8. The cap will still be removed once you’re in the Top 4. This change will allow games to progress more evenly, without big bursts of damage in the early game.
Get More Hero Choices with New Battlegrounds Tokens
One of the most common requests we hear about Battlegrounds is for more control over play direction. You have different favorite playstyles, preferred minion Types, and even Hero skins you want to see more of—not to mention some Heroes that you’re just not all that interested in playing.
Introducing Hero Rerolls! At the start of a game, during the hero selection screen, you can now Reroll one or more of your heroes to get more options on how you play. Each slot can be Rerolled once per game, for one Battlegrounds Token per Reroll.
Hero Rerolls (shown here with the Season Pass+)
Battlegrounds Tokens can be earned through the Rewards Track (both for free and with the Season Pass), as rewards from Events, or in the in-game Shop. Once the season goes live, there also will be a free intro gift of 2 Battlegrounds Tokens that will be automatically added to all player accounts and an additional 4 free Battlegrounds Tokens that can be claimed from the shop. Battlegrounds Tokens will also be included in viewership drops campaigns, including for the upcoming Season 9 Preview Event—more details on that below.
Get Even More Options with a Reworked Season Pass and the Season Pass+
The Battlegrounds Rewards Track is being extended to add Battlegrounds Tokens throughout both the free rewards and the Season Pass at no additional cost—giving players more rewards to earn throughout the Season. We will be closely monitoring this updated progression system and will adjust it further if it turns out this first version isn’t hitting right.
We are also adding the Season Pass+, a new option which will include all the perks and rewards of the Season Pass and makes your first Reroll each game not consume a Battlegrounds Token. This Reroll can’t be banked and follows the same Reroll rules as free-to-play players and players with the regular Season Pass—it just gives a consistent option for players who want to make the most out of this new system.
Here’s what each level of the Rewards Track will offer:
Lvl
XP
Total XP
Free Reward
Season Pass
Season Pass+
1
0
0
+2 Hero Slots
Reroll Perk (1 per game)
2
20
20
3
20
40
2 Battlegrounds Tokens
4
20
60
5 Battlegrounds Tokens
5
30
90
Droid Toki (Rare Hero Skin)
6
30
120
Droid Toki (Rare Emote)
7
30
150
Hacker Tamsin (Rare Emote)
8
30
180
Cybernetic Slam (Rare Strike)
9
40
220
Boss Denathrius (Rare Hero Skin)
10
40
260
5 Battlegrounds Tokens
11
40
300
Mr. Bigglesbot (Rare Hero Skin)
12
50
350
Hacker Tamsin (Epic Hero Skin)
13
50
400
Boomfist Mukla (Rare Hero Skin)
14
50
450
Punk Faelin (Rare Emote)
15
50
500
2 Battlegrounds Tokens
16
60
560
5 Battlegrounds Tokens
17
60
620
Specialist Finley (Rare Hero Skin)
18
60
680
Denathrius Shrug (Rare Emote)
19
60
740
Eudora (Rare Emote)
20
60
800
Smuggler Eudora (Legendary Hero Skin)
21
60
860
Scrapper Reno (Rare Hero Skin)
22
60
920
5 Battlegrounds Tokens
23
60
980
The Future King (Rare Hero Skin)
24
60
1040
Rebel Varden (Epic Hero Skin)
25
60
1100
Visor Aranna (Epic Emote)
26
60
1160
Pumped Garona (Rare Emote)
27
60
1220
2 Battlegrounds Tokens
28
60
1280
Punk Faelin (Legendary Hero Skin)
29
60
1340
StarCraft Jaraxxus (Rare Hero Skin)*
30
60
1400
StarCraft A.F. Kay (Rare Hero Skin)*
31
60
1460
StarCraft Probe (Rare Emote)*
32
60
1520
Cybernetic Slam (Epic Strike)
33
60
1580
StarCraft Ini Stormcoil (Rare Hero Skin)*
34
60
1640
5 Battlegrounds Tokens
35
60
1700
King Krush Chomp (Epic Emote)
36
60
1760
StarCraft Zeratul (Epic Bartender)*
37
60
1820
StarCraft Cho (Rare Hero Skin)*
38
60
1880
StarCraft Gall (Rare Hero Skin)*
39
60
1940
StarCraft N’Zoth (Epic Hero Skin)*
40
60
2000
StarCraft Queen Azshara
(Epic Hero Skin)*
41
60
2060
StarCraft Curator (Rare Hero Skin)*
42
60
2120
StarCraft GG E.T.C. (Epic Emote)*
43
60
2180
2 Battlegrounds Tokens
44
60
2240
StarCraft E.T.C. (Legendary Hero Skin)*
45
60
2300
StarCraft Teron (Rare Hero Skin)*
46
60
2360
StarCraft Zergl Rush (Epic Emote)*
47
60
2420
StarCraft Flurgl
(Legendary Hero Skin)*
48
60
2480
Cybernetic Slam (Legendary Strike)*
* All StarCraft rewards unlocked in a later patch, targeting February 2025.
Free rewards will remain free and will include some Battlegrounds Tokens. The Season Pass will still be available for the same price as before ($14.99 USD or 1500 Runestones). The Season Pass+ will be available for $19.99 USD or 2000 Runestones. Players who get the regular Season Pass and later decide they want the Season Pass+ Rerolls can upgrade their Season Pass to a Season Pass+ for $4.99 USD or 500 Runestones.
Season 9 Preview Event (with Drops!)
On December 2, the day before Patch 31.2 launches, watch your favorite content creators roll through the new content live! Participating players will be streaming on their personal channels, so make sure you have notifications turned on. Time slots by region are:
APAC region: 2:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. (PST)
Americas and EMEA regions: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (PST)
Drops will be enabled category-wide during the event. Watch for a total of 2 hours to earn 4 Battlegrounds Tokens (over 2 drops, 1 hour per drop). Granted drops will appear in your account once Patch 31.2 goes live and Battlegrounds Tokens are added to the game.
Season 9 Reveal and Launch Schedule
November 19: Season 9 Announcement; Neutrals, Spells, and Mech Reveals
December 3: Patch Live with Beasts, Dragons, Quilboar, Pirates, Naga, and Mechs
December 5: Murlocs and Demons added to the minion pool
December 9: Undead and Elementals added to the minion pool
Follow the Card Library for updates over the next few weeks up to and through launch. We can’t wait to see you Enter the Technotavern!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why are you making these changes?
A: Battlegrounds is a huge part of our Tavern, and we want to better serve you and make a more awesome experience for you all. We love the core Battlegrounds experience and want to be very careful about any changes we make. That’s why we are pursuing angles that provide you with more optionality rather than direct power. For example, we are not interested in selling perks like additional Armor at the start of the game or additional Gold or Tavern Refreshes during the game. By keeping Battlegrounds Tokens small, instead of all-or-nothing, you can engage however much you want. This also opens up a wider range of uses for us like drops, events, and freebies.
Informed by game data and direct player feedback, we have decided to shift some of our attention towards new offerings, like Battlegrounds Tokens. We’ll be watching for your feedback on these changes as we continue to refine this approach going forward.
Q: How do I get Battlegrounds Tokens?
A: The primary source of Battlegrounds Tokens is the Rewards Track. The free Track includes 8 Battlegrounds Tokens and the Season Pass adds an additional 25 Battlegrounds Tokens.
You can earn 4 Battlegrounds Tokens from Drops during our Preview Event. At Patch launch, all players will automatically get 2 Battlegrounds Tokens and be able to claim an additional 4 Battlegrounds Tokens from the shop. We also plan to include Battlegrounds Tokens as part of in-game Events.
Players who want even more Rerolls can also get Battlegrounds Tokens from the Shop (at a base price of 4 Battlegrounds Tokens for $0.99 or 100 Runestones; bundles will also be available), or pick up the Season Pass+ to get one Reroll per game without using up their Battlegrounds Tokens.
Since Hero Rerolls are an entirely new system, we’ll be watching play patterns and your feedback to see how this initial launch and distribution of Battlegrounds Tokens feels. Let us know what you think to inform our future iterations of this system.
Q: How exactly do Hero Rerolls work?
A: When you are on the Hero selection screen, there will be a Reroll button underneath each particular hero. The buttons under each Hero will indicate that it takes 1 Battlegrounds Token to Reroll (except, if you have the Season Pass+, your first Reroll won’t cost a Battlegrounds Token). Your total Battlegrounds Tokens will be displayed in the corner of the screen as you decide.
Each hero slot is independent and can be Rerolled up to once (meaning that you can’t Reroll the same slot multiple times and you’ll have either 0-2 or 0-4 hero Rerolls per game, depending on whether you have the +2 Hero Options perk from the Season Pass). You can’t Reroll into a Hero you’ve already been offered, or a Hero that isn’t allowed in your game, and your Rerolls aren’t affected by the other players’ Rerolls (so you don’t have to try to game the timing of your Rerolls). Once you see a Hero you want to play, just stop Rerolling and select it like normal.
We limited it to one Reroll per Hero slot because we wanted to avoid games being too samey as everyone rolled for the most popular Heroes. Rerolls are done individually (instead of Rerolling all your Heroes at once) so that you can stop once you’ve found a Hero you like, and so that each Reroll isn’t more valuable to people with 4 Hero Options than people with 2 Hero Options.
Q: How will Rerolls work in Duos?
A: Rerolls work the same in Duos as in regular Battlegrounds, with one major special case just for Duos: two-player Heroes, like Cho and Gall. We won’t force anybody to use a Battlegrounds Token when they don’t want to, so one player Rerolling the paired Hero won’t affect the other player’s Hero options. Similarly, if you Reroll a Hero, you won’t roll into one of the paired Heroes (which would be useless to you, because your partner wouldn’t have the other half). You’ll also never Reroll into a banned Hero pairing.
Q: Why aren’t you changing the Damage Cap in Duos, too?
A: We tested it out in Duos and found that it made the Mode worse instead of better. Duos already inherently rewards greedy scaling more than regular Battlegrounds does because your partner can help support you, so we didn’t want to further incentivize that strategy. It’s still our overall goal to make normal Battlegrounds and Duos overlap as much as possible, so players can smoothly take experience in one into the other, but we don’t want to restrict ourselves to that requirement if it makes the overall experience less than it can be.
Q: How will the StarCraft cosmetic unlocks work?
A: The StarCraft cosmetics are earned just like everything else on the Track, except that they won’t be unlocked until a later patch, planned for February 2025. If you earn that level of rewards prior to that patch, you won’t be able to claim them until they unlock.
Q: What’s the bottom line for me?
A: People who are free-to-play will continue to have that option. There are slightly fewer cosmetics on the free Rewards Track, but they’ll get some Battlegrounds Tokens from the Track, events, drops, and other free grants. So, they can keep engaging with Battlegrounds as they always have, with the option to occasionally Reroll a Hero they don’t feel like playing for a chance at one they like better.
People who are used to buying the Season Pass each Battlegrounds Season will get the +2 Hero Options and a range of cosmetics similar to what they’re used to from the Season Pass, with the addition of 25 more Battlegrounds Tokens on the Season Pass (plus the free Battlegrounds Tokens mentioned above).
People who want to maximize their Hero selection options can upgrade to the Season Pass+ to get one free Hero Reroll every game, plus the Rerolls they get from all the Battlegrounds Tokens on the Rewards Track and other sources.
A Hearthstone player and writer from Poland, Stonekeep has been in a love-hate relationship with Hearthstone since Closed Beta. Over that time, he has achieved many high Legend climbs and infinite Arena runs. He's the current admin of Hearthstone Top Decks.
