True to the flavor of the Allliance capital city, Questing makes a return along with Mounts and Tools to boot!
With the recent troubling events at Activision Blizzard, the Hearthstone team made the executive decision to limit communications in a bid to amplify the voices of those affected. After a period of unprecedented silence, the team re-established contact, explaining their hesitance at launching and celebrating the new expansion. While the promotional tour Hearthstone expansions usually get have been limited this time round, the United in Stormwind expansion is set to release later today. It will be the second expansion this year, themed after the Alliance stronghold. The new set of cards looks to continue the Alliance vs Horde theme for this year.
The journey into the capital city of the Alliance will bring back both new and familiar experiences. Featuring a new Keyword, and the return of Quests, Mounts and Tools - here's all you need to know to survive the first few days of the expansion.
What's In Store in United in Stormwind?
New Keyword: Tradeable
Consistent with the theme of Stormwind, this Hearthstone expansion encourages visitors to Trade. The new mechanic allows players to reshuffle the card into the deck to draw a new one. Flexibility is not free: you will need to pay one Mana.
On reveal, this mechanic was met with celebration from the community, garnering a lot of hype. So much hype that some even asked for the mechanic to become evergreen - beyond United in Stormwind. Iksar, Hearthstone's Lead Designer responded to this request in his routine Twitter AMA. He was pleased by the positive reception, but also mentioned there was no rush in the decision before seeing it live.
Questing Makes a Return
Mercenaries have arrived in Stormwind, and Questlines will represent their journey through the city. Each class will have access to a different legendary Questline. These Legendary Spells start in your hand at the beginning of the game. Each quest has three steps you need to complete before receiving the reward. Sound's like a hassle - but the pay off is more than worth it. Upon completion, players will be granted an upgraded Legendary Mercenary Minion with unique effects depending on class.
Mount Spells & Profession Tools
A big part about being in the Alliance is riding your trusty steed into battle. The United in Stormwind expansion represents this aspect of the Alliance with the introduction of Mount Spells. Mount Spells are buffs that you can cast on your minion.
Similarly to an actual mounted companion, defeating the buffed minion is just the first half of the battle won. Upon death, the mount remains on the board as a minion too!
On top of that, each class has some shiny new toys to play with as well. Profession Tools are weapons with no attack value, but instead grant the player unique effects. Each time the effects are triggered, the Tool loses a durability charge. Players will have to plan ahead to make the most out of these tricky new cards.
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2021 Roadmap: United in Stormwind's Mini-Set, Mercenaries, and More
With the release of United in Stormwind, Hearthstone enters Phase 2 of the year. Fret not though, there's still a lot on the horizon. Just like in the last two expansions, United in Stormwind will also have its own Mini-Set with 35 new cards. The Mini-Set will come at least 7 weeks from now.
On the other side of the hearth, some of the planned Battlegrounds features have already been launched, including the Battlegrounds Cosmetics. But that's not all! The auto-battler will have a minion-type refresh, as well as regular content updates.
Last but not least, the long awaited Mercenaries game mode finally has a release date. This new way of playing the game was expected to release late 2020 or earlier this year. We now know that Mercenaries will release with the next expansion.
What are you waiting for? Grab your tools, saddle your mounts - there's no better time to fight for the Alliance!
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