Fans of Hearthstone all knew to expect a new expansion announcement at BlizzCon 2019 - however, the addition of an entirely new mode came as a shock to everyone. Battlegrounds will be added to the game in the near future and is the first new mode added to the game since 2015, when Tavern Brawl made its way into the client.
Battlegrounds will be modeled after the increasingly popular Autochess, or Autobattler genre, but within the familiar constraints of the Hearthstone game board. This means that like a regular Standard or Wild match, each player will occupy a side of the board, which will still support a maximum of seven minors per side.
Players will engage in two phases that repeat, consisting of minion recruitment and combat against the other players in the lobby. As this is an eight-player mode, this means you will face off against one of seven, with losers being eliminated until only one victor remains.
Cards will be generated for each player and will be separate from one’s library of cards. This means that anyone can jump in and participate on level ground without the massive paywall that new players of Hearthstone often experience shortly after getting into the game.
Initial impressions of the mode reveal an entertaining experience that is ultimately shallower than something like Teamfight Tactics. This is to be expected of course, since there is only the equivalent of minions that do not level up, and there are no items to purchase that can swing the tide of battle. Still, it is great to see a new mode added, and hopefully it will have its own unique and enduring playstyle to make it worth the time to play.
That may be an odd statement for those not familiar with Hearthstone, but it is justified due to how the game is monetized. Players pay real money for cards to add to a collection, and slowly earn in-game currency by winning matches in a few different modes. However, solo adventures have been criticized for offering players no way of expanding their collection, and that criticism often extends to why players do not play modes outside of those that can earn them in-game currency.
If the new Battlegrounds is fun, but also does not allow players to earn gold at a similar pace as Standard, Wild, or Arena matches, it may be doomed right out of the gate. For now, this is all speculation, and we have only a short while before the game becomes available for everyone to try.
Source: BlizzCon 2019