Hearthstone Update Paves the Way For Knights of the Frozen Throne

The latest update for Hearthstone, released yesterday, is preparing the world for the release of Knights of The Frozen Throne. Even though the expansion isn’t coming out until August, it’s good to be prepared. It’s also good to prepurchase dozens of card packs, which you can now totally do.

The offer Blizzard is most excited to present is the one where you pay $50 to get fifty card packs and the fancy new card back. The boosters will unlock once the expansion is out, but it’s unclear whether you can start using the card back immediately. Apart from that, there’s a bunch of balance changes and fixes:

• The Caverns Below now requires you to play five minions with the same name and rewards you with a Crystal Core.
• The following minions are now Elementals: Jade Spirit, Djinni of Zephyrs, Flame of Azzinoth, Mana Geode, and Hallazeal, the Ascended.
• Added the following card backs:
  • Frostmourne – Acquired from the Knights of the Frozen Throne pre-purchase bundle.
  • HearthS0mores – Acquired from achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Play, July 2017.
• Fixed an issue that could cause Hearthstone to freeze when closing.
• Fixed some visual issues associated with Deck Importing.
• Arena:
  • On average, Arena runs consist of 60% Common, 28% Rare, 10% Epic, and about 2% Legendary cards.
  • Class minions are +100% more common than neutral cards.
  • Class Spells and Weapons are +175% more common than neutral cards.
  • Journey to Un’Goro cards receive an additional +50% increase in their appearance rate.
  • The following cards are unavailable in arena: Jungle Giants, The Marsh Queen, Open the Waygate, The Last Kaleidosaur, Awaken the Makers, The Caverns Below, Unite the Murlocs, Lakkari Sacrifice, Fire Plume’s Heart, Klaxxi Amber Weaver, Dark Arakkoa, Cult Sorcerer, Hooded Acolyte, Twilight Darkmender, Blade of C’Thun, Usher of Souls, Ancient Shieldbearer, Twilight Geomancer, Disciple of C’Thun, Twilight Elder, C’Thun’s Chosen, Crazed Worshipper, Skeram Cultist, Twin Emperor Vek’lor, Doomcaller, C’Thun, Dust Devil, Totemic Might, Ancestral Healing, Windspeaker, Sacrificial Pact, Sense Demons, Void Crusher, Succubus, Savagery, Soul of the Forest, Mark of Nature, Warsong Commander, Rampage, Starving Buzzard, Timber Wolf, Snipe, Mind Blast, Lightwell, Purify and Inner Fire.
  • Flamestrike, Abyssal Enforcer, and Vicious Fledgling will appear in drafts 50% less often.
  • Popular cards had small drop rate changes to address class balance concerns.