Hearthstone gets new expansion and autobattler game mode

Hearthstone is getting a completely new game mode and a new expansion called Descent of Dragons. The new game mode is called Battlegrounds, but the genre is auto battler, known for example from Dota Auto Chess.

The auto battler in Hearthstone offers players access to ’23 playable heroes and a dancing Murloc’. Eight players participate in a kind of mini-tournament in which level-ups and gold must be collected in order to place an army on a chessboard. These two armies compete against each other in rounds. Where ‘traditional’ auto battlers use RTS characters, Battlegrounds obviously uses Hearthstone maps. Battlegrounds will be available in Early Access on November 5 and an open beta starting November 12.

Descent of Dragons adds 135 new cards to the game and, as the title suggests, focuses on dragons. In this pack, players can obtain the power to transform into Galakrond, the most powerful dragon in Warcraft, among other things. Descent of Dragons can be pre-ordered for 49.99 euros.

Blizzard made the announcement at BlizzCon 2019, where it also unveiled Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, and a new WoW expansion.