Blizzard has just dropped tons of new information for its upcoming Hearthstone expansion, The Grand Tournament, during Gamescom 2015. Aside from announcing new cards, Blizzard also shared cool new features about the game.
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, or simply Hearthstone, is an online collectible card game created by Blizzard Entertainment. The developer revealed, via a post on its official blog, some exciting new details about the latest expansion. It includes 11 new cards and a new minion mechanic called "Joust."
Hearthstone's new Joust mechanic
The Joust mechanic is designed to function as a new form of battle cry attached to certain minions. It is specifically intended to slow down the game as a whole to help make sure that the Inspire mechanic is more viable.
At present, Hearthstone is pretty fast and aggressive and most players would like to see those aggressive decks lose potency to pave the way for a slower, more control-oriented play, IGN observed. As mentioned, a number of new cards were shown showcasing the possibilities of this new jousting mechanic. The cards are officially unveiled at Blizzard's Gamescom stint but are also posted in the developer's Battle.net site which you can check out here.
Since the Joust mechanic was not detailed enough in the developer's press release, Eurogamer provided the following gameplay example to further explain how it works: "When you play Master Jouster onto the board, both players reveal a minion from their decks. If the card you reveal is more expensive to play onto the board than your opponent's, Master Jouster gains defensive bonuses. Other cards gain attacking power or return Health points to your Hero, depending on similar comparison conditions."
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft updated Ranked Play
The other major change coming to Hearthstone via the Grand Tournament expansion is an update to the seasonal Ranked Play reward system. This is one of the game's competitive play modes where players compete over the course of a season starting from rank 25 all the way to rank 1 and ultimately into Legend.
The process is also known as "grinding" and many Hearthstone players like to see more rewards for their effort. That is exactly what Blizzard intends to bring via the upcoming expansion. As of now, players who log in and reach the game's lowest spot on the ladder will get a new card as a reward.
When the update arrives, there will be new tiered rewards handed out to players depending on the ladder position they reach before the end-of-month reset. Moreover, a new Rare card will be given to those who reach Rank 17 along with bonus crafting dust. Blizzard is hoping that this move will encourage users to continue playing it until the end of the month.
The exact release date for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft's Grand Tournament was not given. But according to a post shared by Blizzard in July, the expansion that will bring these new cards and reveal mechanic will arrive before this month ends.
