Hearthstone's Summer "Felfire Festival" Introduces New Events And Battlegrounds Pirates

Hearthstone is bringing back its summer event, this time with a Demon Hunter-inspired twist. The Felfire Festival will begin on June 9, introducing new solo events, Tavern Brawls, a new hero bundle, and big additions to the auto-battler Battlegrounds mode.

The events will be littered throughout June and into early July. It starts with a legendary questline that will reward you with free packs covering the past year, including the most recent Ashes of Outland expansion.

Starting on June 9, the auto-battler mode Battlegrounds is getting a big update with a completely new tribe: Pirates. The scurvy buccaneers will add 17 new minions, most created specifically for Battlegrounds, along with a bunch of new and reworked heroes.

On June 17 you can play a new Solo Adventure starring Aranna Starseeker, as she takes on Mecha-Jaraxxus and the Rusted Legion. Unlike some past Solo Adventures, this one will include all five chapters at once, and it will be free for all players. It won't be introducing new cards, however. A week later, the Solo Adventure will update with the constructed Trial by Felfire Challenges. Completing the Solo Adventure will win you the Rusted Legion cardback, and then completing the Trial by Felfire Challenges gets you a Golden Kael'thas card.

Aranna Starseeker will also be introduced as a new alternate Demon Hunter, and she will be packaged into a special bundle with Ashes of Outland packs for purchase.

Finally, starting on June 24, Hearthstone will be rolling out a pair of special Tavern Brawls. The first will be the Outlandish Burndown, a twist on the classic Burndown brawl. July 1 will start the Rumbledome, which makes you one of Mecha-Jaraxxus' henchmen.

You can hear more about the Felfire Festival plans in our exclusive interview with Blizzard's Dave Kosak and Conor Kou, as part of GameSpot's Play For All event, in the video above.

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