If you thought today’s Hearthstone excitement ended with the reveal of a new expansion, you have been misled.
Hearthstone patch 16.6 just went live and introduces a plethora of changes to Battlegrounds, including the new Tavern Pass.
The Tavern Pass is billed as an all-new way for players to access perks for Battlegrounds. The Tavern Pass will be purchasable for $19.99 or 2,500 gold. It’s actually a pretty decent value for what you get. The Tavern Pass includes four Arena Tickets and a variety of Battlegrounds Perks for the duration of the Ashes of Outland expansion cycle.
Players with the Tavern Pass will have access to advanced stats, visual emotes, a third and fourth hero to choose from at the start of a game, and early access to the new Battlegrounds Heroes. Battlegrounds perks earned during the Descent of Dragons expansion will expire once Ashes of Outland is released. The Tavern Pass aims to make it so that players no longer need to purchase card packs in order to obtain Battlegrounds perks.
Patch 16.6 introduces a ton of balance changes to Battleground, as well as a few Hero pool updates. The most noteworthy addition to the Hero pool is a brand new Battlegrounds Hero, Fungalmancer Flurgl. This hefty Murloc has a passive Hero Power that adds a random Murloc to Bob’s Tavern every time you sell a Murloc. Flurgl won’t be the only Murloc in the Hero pool this go around either, he will be joined by the returning Sir Finley Mrrglton. Professor Putricide will also be reintroduced to the Battlegrounds Hero pool.
This patch also introduces a number of changes to Heroes currently available for play in Battlegrounds. Heroes who have undergone balance changes include the Lich King, Ysera, Pyramid, Millhouse Manastorm, The Rat King, Millificient Manastorm, Deathwing, and Reno Jackson. Most of these changes are minor and deal with the cost of a character’s Battlegrounds Hero Power.
For a full list of the balance changes coming with Patch 16.6, you can check out the patch notes here.
