If you aren’t familiar with Hearthstone, a major component of its gameplay is the collectible nature of the cards themselves. That means booster packs, which, when purchased with in-game or real money, offer the same sort of excitement as opening a pack of the unknown in the real world. Blizzard is looking to make it even better moving forward.
Announced in a video with game director Ben Brode, the biggest of the changes is in limiting the number of any one legendary card that players can find in packs. No longer will you double up on your C’Thun or Deathwing cards in subsequent packs. Once you have a legendary, your chances of getting a duplicate drop to zero.
This not only makes it easier for players to expand their legendary collection, but also makes crafting them a more worthwhile pursuit, because you know you aren’t going to unlock them later in a pack purchase.
But what if you aren’t someone with mountains of time or money to invest in the game and therefore won’t get a chance to unlock a bunch of legendary cards? That’s the category most players fall into, and Blizzard wants to make it easier for them to still play around with some of the rarest and best cards in the game.
To that end, the next expansion will also introduce a guaranteed legendary card for all players sometime during the opening of their first 10 packs. That means you won’t need to spend too much to get hold of one, and once you do, you’ll be ready and waiting for the next unique card to come along, rather than fretting about getting another just like it.
These big changes are coming with the next card set that Hearthstone introduces later this year, though we don’t have an accurate release date or many details for it. However, when these changes are implemented they will apply to all previous expansions too.
To keep you buying cards in the meantime though, Blizzard is currently offering Un’Goro packs for free with bundle purchases. Buy at least seven and you’ll get a few free packs for your trouble.
For a helping hand in setting up your Un’Goro deck, check out our guide to the best deck archetypes.
