Patch 16.2 is out now! The main feature is – of course – the launch of Galakrond’s Awakening, but we also have a lot of Battlegrounds changes. Here’s a quick rundown of the patch:
- Chapter 1 of Galakrond’s Awakening (Battle of the Frozen Coast) has launched!
- Two new Battlegrounds Heroes added – Tirion Fordring (Honorable Warband (1 mana): Give minions with no minion type +1/+1) and Millhouse Manastorm (Manastorm (Passive): Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 2 Gold.) – Sir Finley Mrrgglton was removed from the Hero pool.
- Two new Battlegrounds minions added – Fiendish Servant (Tier 1) and Imprisoner (Tier 2). Voidwalker (Tier 1) was removed from the minion pool.
- More Battlegrounds improvements – a basic match history, you can now “spy” what tribe your opponents are running, in-game matchmaking changed and more.
- iPad crashes were (hopefully) fixed.
Read everything in the official blog post below!
The final stage of Arch-Villain Rafaam’s nefarious plan has now been set in motion – will you join the League of E.V.I.L. as an accomplice in unleashing Galakrond’s destruction, or take up arms with the League of Explorers in a final daring attempt to save the world? Experience the final epic clash from both sides of the story, including two completely different endings, in Galakrond’s Awakening!
With this update, Hearthstone’s new solo adventure is live, along with new content and balance changes for Battlegrounds (including two new Heroes!).
Galakrond’s Awakening: Chapter 1 – Live Now!
The frantic foray to reach Galakrond’s remains begins on the Frozen Coast of Northrend – jump in straight away with the free first chapter of the E.V.I.L campaign! Chapter One of the Explorers campaign, which comes with three bonus collectible cards, is available for $6.99 or 700 gold. If you’re planning to go the distance with Galakrond’s Awakening, consider picking up the full adventure for $19.99, which includes all chapters and 35 collectible card rewards to unlock as you progress! For the full details on Chapter 1 and the new collectible cards, head here.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Update
New Heroes:
- Tirion Fordring:
- Honorable Warband: [Cost 1] Give minions with no minion type +1/+1.
- Millhouse Manastorm:
- Manastorm: [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 2 Gold.
New Minions:
- Imprisoner: [Demon] 3 Attack, 3 Health.
- Taunt, Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Imp.
- Fiendish Servant: [Demon] 2 Attack, 1 Health.
- Deathrattle: Give this minion’s Attack to a random friendly minion.
Additional Changes:
- Voidwalker: Has been removed from the Battlegrounds minion pool.
- Golden Zapp Slywick: Now has Mega-Windfury instead of Windfury.
- Sir Finley Mrrgglton: Has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
- Note: Finley will be returning in a future update with a new Hero Power.
Bonus stats:
- Minion lineup history has been added to the Bonus Stats Page! Now, you’ll be able to see your last 5 board states (as of the recruit phase immediately before you won or lost).
Scoreboard:
- When hovering over opponents on the scoreboard, you will now be able to see how many of the majority minion Tribe are currently in their lineup.
- Note: If your opponent has the same number of minions from multiple Tribes the scoreboard will display “Mixed Minions”.
In-Game Matchmaking Adjustments:
- We’ve adjusted the algorithm that determines which opponent you face each round in a Battlegrounds match. You will no longer face the same player, or Kel’Thuzad, more than once in every 3 combat rounds (unless there are 2 players remaining).
- Note: This change is being implemented with the 16.2 update, however, it will go live with a later server-side update.
Game Improvements and Bug Fixes
- Several fixes were implemented for bugs which could result in client crashes when playing Hearthstone on iPad.
- Myra’s Unstable Element and Enhance-a-matic now fill your hand to maximum after playing Valdris Felgorge.
- Fixed the banner icons on copies of minions created after playing Crystal Core.
Battlegrounds Improvements
- Spawn animations have been disabled when playing minions from your hand in Battlegrounds games.
- Increased the drag speed of minions in the Shop phase of Battlegrounds.
- Cut down the animation time of the Poison effect in Battlegrounds.
- Reduced the amount of screen shake in Battlegrounds games.
- Minion “sleep” animations (Zzz) have been disabled in Battlegrounds games.
Battlegrounds Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where +0 rating was incorrectly shown at the end of the game.
- Fixed an issue where minions would swap positions on the board when playing and moving them very quickly.
- Fixed an issue where minions in the shop would be un-interactable if you clicked on them immediately after a refresh.
- Fixed an issue where Battlegrounds buttons could not be clicked while the hand was enlarged on mobile devices.
- Fixed an issue on mobile devices where tapping a minion would cause it to hover on the board.
- Fixed an issue where Zapp Slywick would attack a Taunt minion before redirecting to his correct target.
- Note: This caused Secrets like Autodefense Matrix to trigger on the Taunt minion instead of Zapp’s real target.
- Fixed an issue where a minion’s voice over line would play when buying a minion immediately after a reroll.
- Fixed an issue where a minion resurrected by Redemption would not attack.
- Fixed an issue that was causing the effects of normal Brann Bronzebeard and golden Brann Bronzebeard to stack.
- Fixed an issue that was causing the effects of normal Baron Rivendare and golden Baron Rivendare to stack.
- Fixed several issues related to spectating Battlegrounds games.
- A fix has been implemented to prevent an accidental use of the Hero Power during the hero select phase.
- History for damage done to Kel’Thuzad now correctly includes damage from minions.
Why remove Voidwalker? Did they give any reason? It wasn’t op at all and yet it got replaced by a worse t1 drop. The other demon is pretty strong on the other side, just like a second ImpGangBoss.. but what demon really miss is a t6 minion. Those changes are not fell focused imho.
And a HOST of new bugs and still little visual bugs that havent been fixed and have been around for months! Now.
Anyone else still not able to get into the solo mode yet on mobile?
Still not on IOS, but Android has it.
hmm, tirion has a not so very good minion pool: 25 of the 83 battlegrounds minions has no tribe, but only righteous protector, crowd favorite, bolvar fireblood, zapp slywick, and possibly selfless hero, spawn of N’zoth, phalanx commander, festeroot hulk seem worth buffing, and Khadgar, brann, and baron, might want some buffs (for protection, and face damage). Thats a small 11 out of 83 minions that might be any good with his HP, but he has A chance of being played.
And millhouse, this guy is just hilarious. he’s just about being lucky with the “free” refresh, and possibly one refresh. but his main problem is that he can not do the “turn 2” tier up… still OK though, looking forward to playing both 😉
You forgot about Boogeymonster! I agree that his minion pool isn’t great, but at the same time, the HP is overpowered. 1 mana for +1/+1 to every minion is huge. We’ll see how it works in practice – whether his Hero Power will be able to carry him.
And yeah, Millhouse looks fun, but 2 gold rolling HURTS :/ It might be good for the early game, but in the late game you start rolling much more than buying.
So paladin won’t see a new hero card? ????
nope, I’m sad too 🙁
Tirion Fordring and Millhouse Manastorm seem fun. Millhouse seems funniest though, but I can’t say no to a neutral Jeraxus.
Is it out on mobile? I enter it but nothing new
It’s not out for me yet, but mobile patches tend to be up to a few hours late I’m afraid :/