Patch 20.4 is a big one
This past week, Hearthstone got a pretty big shakeup. Patch 20.4 touches pretty much every facet of the game, even cosmetics! Let’s break it down.
So the big news is the addition of the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set. As a reminder, mini-sets do not break the tavern (season) pass cycle and are not a full “expansion” drop. Instead, it adds 35 cards to the pool in a bid to thematically shake up the meta. You can buy the entire set for $14.99 or 2000 gold. Patch 20.4 adds the Wailing Caverns set to Duels too.
Standard is also getting a few changes, most notably, Paladin nerfs. First Day of School has been altered to “only” add two random 1-cost minions to your hand, following a nerf from 0 to 1 cost. Hand of A’dal now gives +2/+1 to a minion, down from +2/+2: the card draw is still in and it’s still 2-cost.
Battlegrounds and Books
Battlegrounds is getting two new heroes in 20.4: Mutanus the Devourer (from Wailing Caverns) and Guff Runetotem (from the last Barrens set). The former has a 0-cost devour ability that removes a friendly minion and spits its stats to another (and gains you one gold). The latter allows you to give a friendly minion of each tavern tier +2/+1 for one gold. Oh, and Maiev, who has generally been performing well for months, has been removed from the Battlegrounds pool, Quillboars aren’t a guaranteed faction, and Siegebreaker is removed too.
Interestingly, Blizzard has dropped the “exclusive” charade on some cosmetics, like many card backs and special hero skins. You can now outright buy 94 backs and 11 hero skins for gold, which I’m sure some people will appreciate. Morgl, for instance, was annoyingly tied to a “recruit a friend” system that was more trouble than it was worth.
Finally, a ton of free Book of Mercenaries/Book of Heroes stories are coming soon. Xyrella is already live, Guff is coming on June 15, and Malfurion will drop on June 22. If you finish all eight bosses in each story, you’ll get a pack of standard cards for the class they represent (Priest, Druid, Druid respectively).
