Hearthstone Welcomes Old Friends to the Party

Hearthstone players: pick a card, any card… for $10. Blizzard’s wildly popular Hearthstone sees its fan base grow more and more each month. With over 30 million registered users, it’s easy to see that the game has become a somewhat unexpected success. To answer the call for an expanded roster, Blizzard isn’t going as far as adding new character slots, but instead character skins. One of the “complaints” from some players has been the game’s lack of hero selection. The nine heroes available since day one have remained the same, they’re nine easily recognizable Warcraft characters at your disposal.

So instead of looking at the same old grim and angry looking Garrosh the Warrior every time you digitally slap down your Legendary Leeroy Jenkins, you can switch him up with the dwarf warrior, Magni Bronzebeard. Mr. Bronzebeard will be the first newby to the party and will come with his own set of animations, emotes, and even a new cardback for your collection. According to Battle.net and the trailer released along with the announcement, Magni has spent too much time in the forge and is ready for battle!

Following many free-to-play type games, including Hearthstone’s cousin Heroes of the Storm, skins will be purchased individually. The difference here, they’ll cost $10 per hero! That’s a solid $90 for the entire crew to be re-skinned. A steep price to pay for a single hero skin and set of animations? Possibly; but if my countless hours of Heroes of the Storm have taught me anything, skins make the Blizzard world go ‘round. There has been no confirmation if these skins will be available using in-game gold at any point. If you’re interested in jumping in with an old Warcraft friend at the tavern to play some Hearthstone, Magni himself says it best in Blizzard’s trailer: “It’s hammer time!”