Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 2 starts today with Quests, new Heroes, Minion rotation and the controversial Rewards Track

The biggest Battlegrounds update is here, on August 30th, Season 2 starts with the Quest mechanic and more new content. However, this Battlegrounds Season 2 content has been under the shade of the Rewards Track and Seasonal Pass controversy. Let's go over everything coming in this new Season.

In each expansion cycle, the X.2 patches are known to bring big news to Battlegrounds, and this time is no different. Starting August 30th, Battlegrounds players will start enjoying Season 2. Or well, at least some, but we will get into that in a minute.

With this Battlegrounds update, the game will see the new Quest mechanic, 2 new Heroes and a significant change in the minion pool with 11 inclusions and many farewells. If you want to check out how Battlegrounds Quests work, we have a dedicated article for you to learn every detail of this new mechanic.

Following the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion theme, Battlegrounds will welcome the two most iconic characters: Murloc Holmes and Sire Denathrius. As usual, the new characters will appear in every lobby for the first two weeks following the patch for everyone to try them out.

Alongside these new additions, the Hero pool will see some balance changes in other characters with Battlegrounds Season 2 update. The Heroes that will see changes in the 24.2 Battlegrounds patch are Rakanishu, Patchwerk, Vanndarr Stormpike, Drek’Thar, Aranna Starseeker, Fungalmancer Flurgl, Skycap’n Kragg and Galewing. Feel free to review their modifications in the official patch notes blog post.

As if this was a standard rotation, with the 24.2 Battlegrounds patch, the minion pool will change. Bob managed to recruit 11 new minions to his Tavern. Furthermore, we will witness the return of the most toxic character in the game. As a counterweight, 13 minions will leave, and some of them won’t be missed.

Let’s start by showcasing the new demons in town coming with Battlegrounds Season 2:

Dragon fans will see two new faces. Will they be enough to boost the comp’s winrate?

As you see, Bob also brings some shiny goods. A new pirate that will make it easier than ever to get a Golden Minion and its powerful discovery and satisfaction guaranteed Tortollan that will serve as insurance if you fear losing the next fight.

The last batch of new minions includes one known suspect. Will these new recruits shift the metagame?

While Bob tries his best, there aren’t infinite chairs. The following minions will not be part of Battlegrounds Season 2: 

Kooky Chemist, Steward of Time, Bublette, Silverback Patriarch, Icky Imp, Nathrezim Overseer, Soul Devourer, Briny Bootlegger, Shifter Zerus, Cobalt Scalebane, Witchwing Nestmatron, Mythrax the Unraveler and SI:Sefin, have all been removed from the minion pool.

Since Blizzard announced Battlegrounds Season 2, the conversation has been all about the new monetization model. Starting with Patch 24.2 patch, the ability to select 4 Heroes (instead of 2) will be behind a paywall. 

While when we initially covered the news there were some hopes that this could be reverted similarly to what happened with the original Rewards Track, that possibility gets lower as time goes by. Players and even content creators are debating if they will keep playing Battlegrounds due to this. You can read more details about this in our article covering the Rewards Track and the new Runestones Seasonal Pass.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time, in Bob’s tavern.