14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard’s most recent expansion for Hearthstone is called Ashes of Outland and apart from the many new cards it adds, it also brings a new class – Demon Hunter. All the basic cards for the new class are available for free to everyone and the same goes for the Prologue of the single-player experience, which will get you even more free cards.
Ashes of Outland is the first expansion in the Year of the Phoenix and includes 135 new cards. The Demon Hunter, Hearthstone’s first-ever all-new class since launch, features a unique playstyle that encourages aggression.
The Demon Hunter class and corresponding Illidan Stormrage Hero, as well as 30 of the class’s specially tailored cards, are available free to all players who complete the free four-part Demon Hunter prologue single-player campaign.
The new cards included in the expansion offer a new type of powerful legendaries, the so-called Primes, which have been designed to make a lasting impact on a match. In their initial forms, Primes are strong and cost little mana to make them perfect as early-to-midgame drops.
However, upon leaving the board, they’re shuffled back into a player’s deck in an upgraded form, so they have an even bigger impact when they're played a second time. Equally dangerous, the new Imprisoned Demons cards arrive on the board in a “dormant” state for two turns. They' re unable to attack or take damage, but once they wake up, these minions unleash terrible effects.
More importantly, the ranked mode has been completely overhauled. The matchmaking has been reworked to offer a fun progression and meaningful rewards. Each time you reach a certain tier, you are awarded packs and cards of various rarity. Some rewards are given immediately, while others will become available at the beginning of the next month.
For veterans, the new expansion brings an improved card pack experience. Basically, you will no longer receive duplicates when opening packs, regardless of the rarity. Hearthstone players will no longer receive more than two copies of any Common, Rare, or Epic until they’ve acquired two copies of all cards of that rarity in a set.
Last but not least, big changes have come to the Priest class, which are meant to highlight this class's identity. Six of the class’s cards have moved into the Hall of Fame, with all-new ones introduced in their place.
For your information, all players who log in to play Hearthstone between now and June 29 will receive the Legendary minion Kael’Thas for free.