Hearthstone‘s Hallow’s End event (the Warcraft universe’s version of Halloween) is going to be giving players more treats than tricks. Blizzard announced today that it will give out free card packs and Arena tickets during the activities, which go on from October 24 to November 5.
These events and free rewards can keep players engaged and happy. Hearthstone is a free-to-play digital card game for PC and mobile. It makes money mostly by selling card packs, but you need people to be logged on to become potential customers. Promising them free packs and new modes can get them inside.
If you log in during the first week, you will get an Arena ticket and a Whispers of the Old Gods pack. Logging on during the second week gets you another Arena ticket and a Knights of the Frozen Throne pack.
Arena is Hearthstone’s card-drafting mode. You make your deck by picking between a series of three card choices. You then play it against others until you lose three games or win 12. It usually costs 150 in-game gold or $2. An Arena ticket lets you draft a deck for free.
But Hearthstone is also adding a new version of the mode for the event: dual-class Arena. You will pick a random hero, then a random Hero Power, and then draft cards from both classes (along with neutral cards). This is significant because it is the first time Blizzard is altering the Arena formula in a notable way aside from changing which cards are eligible (all of them used to be available in Arena, but Blizzard changed it to only Standard cards).
Blizzard is also making some other, more long-term changes to Arena. Vicious Fledgling, a minion that could steamroll into an unstoppable force if not killed right away, will be removed from the draft. Blizzard is also doing away with a recent change that made the first two card picks “synergy-based cards” that were meant to help guide future choices.
The event will also have a special Tavern Brawl mode, The Headless Horseman Rides. It will run from October 25 to October 28 and have players pick from “costumes” that represent different decks with Passive Hero Powers.