Blizzard have unveiled some of the changes coming with Hearthstone: Forged in the Barrens, more specifically their work on the rewards track and Diamond Cards.
"We’ve made several adjustments to the Rewards Track over the last few months, based on player feedback: increasing rewards, upping the frequency of rewards, and removing limitations that might make rewards more difficult to obtain. We’re always iterating on our systems and features, and the Rewards Track is no exception", they wrote.
The Rewards Track for Forged in the Barrens will feature card packs from Standard's expansions, the Zuldazar card back, Tavern Tickets, a random Epic card, two random Legendary cards and a bunch of gold.
Players who manage to complete Hearthstone's shiny new Rewards Track will be handsomely rewarded - they get to choose from one of 10 returning Hero Skins. On top of that, Blizzard threw in 14 uncraftable Golden cards and the Legendary Minion, Mankrik, which is actually the first reward on the new Track.
You can check out the full rewards track on Blizzard's website , but the summary of the changes is as follows:
"We've doubled the number of core reward levels from 50 to 100, and halved the amount of XP required to reach each level. Where possible, we’ve also adjusted the amount of rewards at each level, in order to distribute them more effectively across the whole track. To this end, we’ve introduced new rewards, including the uncraftable golden cards, in places where simply adjusting the amount of previous season's rewards wasn't possible."
Activision Blizzard
Overall, the intent was to offer more frequent rewards, particularly in later levels.
Introduction of Forged in the Barrens Tavern Pass also brings the all-new cosmetic card tier for Hearthstone, i.e. Diamond cards. Each expansion will come with one or more handcrafted Diamond Legendary cards, which have brand new 3D animations, more card-art real estate and a diamond border.
The first two Diamond cards and the criteria to unlock them are as follows:
- Diamond Blademaster Samuro – Instantly obtainable by purchasing the Forged in the Barrens Tavern Pass and claiming the card on the Rewards track.
- Diamond Bru’kan – Obtained by completing the Forged in the Barrens Legendary Collector 5/5 Achievement (Collect all Legendary cards from the set.)
