‘Heroes Of Warcraft’ Update: Blizzard Announces New ‘Hearthstone’ Expansion Pack

“Hearthstone” — originally known as “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft” — has a new expansion. Developer Blizzard Entertainment has given it the title “The Witchwood” and it does look like a bewitching expansion with a dark, enchanting adventure to showcase to players.

On Monday, Blizzard announced its first “Hearthstone” expansion for the “Year of the Raven” through an entertaining, musical/animated/horror promotional clip uploaded on YouTube. The teaser is strategically set in the Irvine California backwoods to capture the essence of “The Witchwood.”

“The Witchwood” is slated for release in April. It features a new single-player adventure and comes with 135 new cards, six of which have already been debuted by the team behind the game. More cards will be revealed during a March 26 livestream and the rest will be introduced on the day the expansion is released, as per GameSpot.

The six cards that were unveiled on Monday are Baku the Mooneater, Genn Gremane, Phantom Militia, Pumpkin Peasant, Militia Commander and Azalina Soulthief. The said cards give a taste of the upcoming expansion’s flavor.

The team also emphasized that players should take note of two new keywords: Echo and Rush. The former will enable players to use the same card multiple times in one turn as long as their is sufficient Mana to do so. The latter works similar to the existing Charge mechanic but then it disables attacks toward the opposing Hero on their opening turn.

Blizzard is encouraging fans to pre-purchase “The Witchwood” expansion so they can receive a special 50 card pack bundle, the “In a Dark Wood” card back and 20 more “The Witchwood” card packs as special bonus. As soon as their purchase is processed, they will right away receive their card back and bonus packs.

The developer also said that for a limited time after the release of “The Witchwood,” it is giving away three card packs and a random Class legendary card to players who will log in to the game. All of them are free of charge, so it’s best to take advantage of the offer.

The official description of “The Witchwood” reads: “Join the city’s bravest heroes as they embark on a hunt for the source of a dreadful curse! Whatever lurks in the heart of the Witchwood will soon discover that it has bitten off more than it can chew, for the people of Gilneas bite back.”