Blizzard has just published a blog post sharing more details about the upcoming community events happening before the release of The Great Dark Beyond expansion. Here’s a quick summary of what’s coming:
- Theorycrafting Streams – As always, many content creators got invited to play and stream the expansion early. The usual rules apply – they have to use at least 10 cards from the new expansion. We’ll also get an official stream on PlayHearthstone Twitch channel with casters jumping between different players and showcasing their matches. Twitch drops will be active – get two The Great Dark Beyond card packs for watching any Hearthstone stream during theorycrafting period.
- Pre-Release Tavern Brawl – This is something they are trying for the first time. Players will be able to open their new expansion packs (from pre-purchases and other sources like Twitch Drops or the Brawl itself) early and use them to build decks and face against other players. Only cards from Core Set and 2024 expansions will be available so the meta should be different from Standard. All players will get one free entry, more entries will cost 2 Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones ($4). Brawl will be played up to 6 wins or 3 losses, with better rewards for more wins. However, unlike Heroic Tavern Brawl, the rewards aren’t stacked at the top and even an average 3-3 result gives you nice rewards. There’s a separate blog post going into more detail about the Brawl, I also analyze it more in-depth in there. You can check it out here.
- Community Days – Community Days are returning with even more Twitch drops. From October 29 to November 2, watch any Hearthstone stream to get free packs. There will be 3 drops in total – 3 Whizbang’s Workshop packs, 3 Perils in Paradise packs and 4 Great Dark Beyond packs. Each one will take 2 hours of watch time to earn. Great Dark Beyond packs earner this way can be used in the Pre-Release Brawl, of course.
- Creator Decks Return to Client – In-game deck recipes were once again updated with decks built by Hearthstone content creators.
Read more about all of those in the official blog post below:
The final countdown is about to start as we prepare to blast off into The Great Dark Beyond! Join us for stellar community celebrations, a new type of Tavern Brawl, and more as we chart the unknown.
The Great Dark Beyond Theorycrafting Streams October 24-25
Join your favorite content creators as they take their first steps into The Great Dark Beyond and theorycraft the new expansion. Featured players will be streaming their participation on their own personal streams, so make sure you’re following your favorite creators when they go live!
- NA/LATAM/EMEA players will play on October 24, 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. (PDT)
- APAC players will play on October 25, 2:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. (PDT)
All participants need to include at least 10 The Great Dark Beyond cards in their decks (that can be 10 individual cards, 5 duplicates, or anything in between).
Theorycrafters to mission control! Your favorite casters will be returning for their Theorycasting stream on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel. Join them as they watch our intrepid theorycrafters, casting over games across participating players.
- Sottle, Raven, Lorinda, and Edelweiss will return to Theorycasting on October 24, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PDT)
Twitch Drops will be enabled category-wide from October 24, 9:00 a.m. to October 25, 9:00 a.m. (PDT), so you can watch any Hearthstone stream you’d like to earn up to 2 The Great Dark Beyond packs (make sure you link your Twitch and Battle.net accounts so that your viewing time counts towards the drops). On top of that, participating streams will have Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle codes to give away to their audiences during the event!
Pre-Release Tavern Brawl from October 29-November 5
Starting with Patch 31.0, jump into The Great Dark Beyond early in the special new Pre-Release Tavern Brawl. Open your The Great Dark Beyond packs early and build a deck using cards from Core Set, Event Set, Whizbang’s Workshop, Perils in Paradise, and The Great Dark Beyond!
All players will get one entry into the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl for free. After that, each entry will cost 2 Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones. On each run, lock in a deck and play until you get either 6 wins or 3 losses and earn more new cards based on how well you do!
See our dedicated Pre-Release Tavern Brawl Developer Insights blog for more information about the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl and the Disclosure Page for more on specific rules.
Community Days October 29-November 2
Community Days return with free packs you can use in the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl! From October 29, 10:00 a.m. (PDT) to November 2, 10:00 a.m. (PDT), you can get up to 10 packs just for watching any Hearthstone stream (2 hours per drop)!
- 1st Drop: 3 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs
- 2nd Drop: 3 Perils in Paradise Packs
- 3rd Drop: 4 The Great Dark Beyond Packs
Tune in to your favorite streamers or host your own party in this category-wide celebration of the Hearthstone universe!
Creator Decks Return to the Client
You’ve watched their expeditions all reveal season. Now you can play like the pros! When The Great Dark Beyond launches on November 5, the in-game deck recipes will update to include decks from Hearthstone’s iconic content creators! Try them out to play among the stars:
- Cantelope’s Rainbow Starship Death Knight
- Kibler’s Starship Crew Demon Hunter
- Kibler’s Starcaneship Druid
- Day9’s Ceaseless Discover Hunter
- SwayBae’s Fiery Elementals Mage
- Roffle’s Libram Paladin
- MarkMcKz’s Mystified Draenei Priest
- Clark’s Schematic Heist Rogue
- Roffle’s Spacerock Shaman
- MarkMcKz’s Demon Starship Warlock
- Sloot’s Akamattack Warrior
In-game deck recipes will update with expansion launch on November 5. However, new and returning player loaner decks will instead update with the 31.4 Patch and will include cards from the main expansion as they did in the 30.4 update.
Last Chance to Pre-Purchase!
Final checks before launch: don’t miss your chance to get a Pre-Purchase bundle, only available until expansion unlock on November 5. The Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle includes over 80 packs, Legendary cards, and 6 Tavern Tickets that you can use to access the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl.
