Players to get 13 free Hearthstone Whispers of the Old Gods packs

Blizzard has announced plans to give players over 65 free cards upon the release of next week’s expansion Whispers of the Old Gods.

All players will get three free packs for simply logging on following the expansion’s release. The developer has now revealed that a further five packs will be handed to players after they have completed two games in the new Standard mode.

Then, a further five packs will be dished out after ten Standard games are completed. Players will also get key card C’Tun for free, and two Beckoner of Evil cards.

These card packs will be handed out via the game’s Quest system and will automatically appear once quest slots have been cleared, with the second appearing once the first is completed.

In total the expansion will offer 134 cards, so that’s a pretty decent handout – although of course players can expect duplicates in their free card bundles.

Many seem to be interpreting this as an apology to those who were displeased with Blizzard’s decision to move to a new model that blocks access to many existing cards in what will now be regarded as the default mode.

It should be noted, however, that plenty are rapturously welcoming the changes.

Others have pointed to an anecdotal decline in recent player numbers that followed the announcement of the new modes. It’s certainly true to say that the Hearthstone ‘meta’ – which is best described as the current deck trends – has become pretty stale in anticipation of the upcoming changes. However, expect interest to surge once the big change arrives next week.

The Whispers of the Old Gods expansion, and the split into Standard and Wild modes, will arrive in Europe on April 27th. The changes will roll out in the US on April 26th.