Hearthstone Battlegrounds is coming to open beta this week following a period of early access for BlizzCon and expansion buyers.
Battlegrounds will provide the perfect chance for gamers who have never tried an Auto Battler to test the unique gameplay on offer.
Set in the Hearthstone system, it won’t be the fully-fledged Auto Chess mode that some who already enjoy the sub-genre will recognise.
But as a new free mode in Hearthstone, it looks set to be a massive hit with fans. And the good news is that the open beta Hearthstone Battlegrounds release date is set for this week.
WHEN DOES HEARTHSTONE BATTLEGROUNDS COME OUT?
As mentioned above, some Hearthstone players have already had a week’s worth of action as part of their BlizzCon attendance.
But now is the turn of the full Hearthstone audience to get their hands on the new mode.
The Hearthstone Battlegrounds release date for the open beta has been set for Tuesday, November 12, 2019.
And once Battlegrounds makes its way into Hearthstone, it will be accessible through a new “Modes” button from the Hearthstone main screen, which will also include the Arena.
This can be found at the bottom of the main page UI and should make for an easy transition for fans.
The other good news about the release of Hearthstone Battlegrounds this week is that we know what time it will be going live.
According to Blizzard, the new open beta phase will kick off using the same schedule as the early access phase.
This will mean updating your game, perhaps multiple times, before getting access to all the new content.
Blizzard hasn’t confirmed an exact time for launch but they have revealed that things will start happening after 6pm, GMT.
That is when the early access period ends and should lead to the launch of the open Hearthstone Battlegrounds beta.
As with all major updates, there’s a good chance of server disruption and gameplay problems during this period.
It could take a little longer for the update to reach mobile gamers, as this is usually more complicated to pull off.
“Battlegrounds will go live at 10 a.m. PDT on November 5 for a week of Early Access where only players who have acquired the Descent of Dragons pre-purchase bundle, BlizzCon Attendees, or BlizzCon Virtual Ticket holders will be able to access this new game mode,” a message from Blizzard explains.
“After this early access phase ends at 10 a.m. on November 12, we’ll enter Open Beta where everyone will be able to hop into Bob’s Tavern to try their hand at being the best of the Battleground Heroes!
“Battlegrounds will launch with a fully functional tutorial (narrated by Bob himself, of course) which will teach you everything you need to know to get started.”
Blizzard has warned that not all users will be able to play the new Battlegrounds mode on mobile, if they don’t match the basic requirements. This includes having a mobile device with more than 2GB of RAM, although work is being done to make it more accessible in the future.
The downside to this is that it might take until the new mode’s full launch out of open beta before this happens.
“We’ve iterated on the phone issue for some time, and we’ve reduced the download size a bunch over the last year or so along with loading time,” Mike Donais, Principal Game Designer on Hearthstone, told the Express Online.
“And we have a couple of new improvements coming soon; one is happening in the Tuesday patch, and we got another coming in a patch a week later.
“This will be improving phone performance yet again, because we are hoping to include more and more phones, with better and better accessibility. Hearthstone Battlegrounds is a new free mode that won’t cost anything to play on Android and iOS devices.
It will come as part of the normal app but players who have unlocked packs from the latest expansion will get certain benefits. This can be achieved through any different ways, including Quests, Gold Purchases, Bundles and events.