Card pack concept art
Card packs are items which can be used to obtain additional cards for your collection.
There are four types of card packs, each providing cards from the corresponding card set: Classic, Goblins vs Gnomes, Grand Tournament and Whispers of the Old Gods. Only card packs for the current Standard format sets are available for purchase or as rewards.
Each card pack contains 5 cards from the corresponding set. Each card has a chance to be of common, rare, epic or even legendary rarity, but each pack is guaranteed to contain at least one card of at least rare quality[1]. While the majority of cards in card packs are common, it is possible to find multiple cards of high quality within a single pack. Each card also has the chance to become a golden version of that card. The chances for rarities and golden versions are the same for all types of card packs,[2][3][4][5] and buying options do not in any way affect the contents of packs.[6]
The contents of each pack are decided at random, at the time of opening.[7] Details such as the amount of cards you currently have, and which heroes you have unlocked, will not affect which cards are found.
Card packs are potentially the most cost-efficient means of obtaining cards, but also one of the most random. With their generous but unpredictable contents, they offer a quick way of expanding the player's collection for a particular set, but when wishing to obtain a specific card, players will generally find it cheaper and quicker to craft the card instead.
Opening a pack
A gnome opening a new card pack.
Card packs can be opened by clicking on the "Open Packs" icon from the main menu screen. The number underneath the icon indicates how many unopened card packs you currently possess.
Once the Open Packs screen has been reached, all current unopened packs will be displayed on the left-hand side. Drag a pack over to the right-hand section to open it. Once you open a pack 5 cards will appear face down. This forces you to turn each card individually, heightening the suspense.
Hovering over a card will show a border depending on the rarity of the card. Hearthstone uses quality colors based on World of Warcraft's gear system.
- No color means the card is of common rarity
- A blue glow means the card is of rare rarity
- A purple glow means the card is of epic rarity
- An orange glow means the card is of legendary rarity
How to get
There are two main ways of obtaining card packs for Standard format card sets. They can be gained as a reward, from competing in the Arena, for your first Tavern Brawl win each week, or from certain quests; or they can be purchased from the Shop, either for gold, or for real money.
Wild format card packs cannot be purchased, and are never granted as rewards. Players who had packs left over when the set moved to Wild format can however still open them and receive cards as normal. Players can still obtain Wild format cards through crafting.
Purchasing
The following purchasing options are available. Only the single pack option is available for gold (although players can buy more than one pack at a time); all other options require real money. Players can use any of the payment methods that are also available for buying games and goodies from the Blizzard store.
| Packs | Gold | USD | GBP | EUR | RUB* | BRL | AUD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | ||||||
| 2 | $2.99 ($1.495 per pack, $0.299 per card) | £1.99 (£0.995 per pack, £0.199 per card) | €2.69 (€1.345 per pack, €0.269 per card) | 149.00 р. (74.50 р. per pack, 14.90 р. per card) | R$ 6,50 (R$ 3,25 per pack, R$ 0,65 per card) | A$3.79 (A$1.895 per pack, A$0.379 per card) | |
| 7 | $9.99 ($1.427 per pack, $0.285 per card) | £6.99 (£0.999 per pack, £0.200 per card) | €8.99 (€1.284 per pack, €0.257 per card) | 499.00 р. (71.28 р. per pack, 14.25 р. per card) | R$ 22,00 (R$ 3,143 per pack, R$ 0,629 per card) | A$12.99 (A$1.856 per pack, A$0.371 per card) | |
| 15 | $19.99 ($1.333 per pack, $0.267 per card) | £13.99 (£0.933 per pack, £0.187 per card) | €17.99 (€1.199 per pack, €0.240 per card) | 999.00 р. (66.60 р. per pack, 13.32 р. per card) | R$ 44,00 (R$ 2,933 per pack, R$ 0,587 per card) | A$24.99 (A$1.666 per pack, A$0.333 per card) | |
| 40 | $49.99 ($1.250 per pack, $0.250 per card) | £34.99 (£0.875 per pack, £0.175 per card) | €44.99 (€1.125 per pack, €0.225 per card) | 2500.00 р. (62.50 р. per pack, 12.50 р. per card) | R$ 110,00 (R$ 2,75 per pack, R$ 0,55 per card) | A$64.99 (A$1.625 per pack, A$0.325 per card) | |
| 60** | $69.99 ($1.167 per pack, $0.233 per card) | £47.99 (£0.799 per pack, £0.159 per card) | €62.99 (€1.05 per pack, €0.21 per card) | 3500.00 р. (58.33 р. per pack, 11.66 р. per card) | R$ 159,00 (R$ 2,65 per pack, R$ 0,53 per card) | A$84.99 (A$1.417 per pack, A$0.283 per card) |
- * Russian Ruble prices are frequently changing due to unstable exchange rate.
- ** Only available on PC and Mac.
Note that a discount is offered when buying in bulk. Purchasing 40 packs of cards at once presents a 12-16% discount compared to buying cards in sets of 2. Exact prices and discounts vary by currency.
While no bulk purchase option is presented for gold transactions, players can double-click on the '1 pack' option to instantly order multiple packs by entering a number from 1 to 50. No discount is offered. Players are informed of this option upon entering the shop for the first time with a sufficiently large amount of gold.[8]
Notes
Purchasing options in the Americas region.
All types of card pack feature the same chance of producing cards of any given rarity, and of golden and regular versions.[9] This suggests that the internal process for the selection of each card functions by first determining a rarity, then randomly selecting a card of that rarity to produce.
The cards rewarded from card packs are selected randomly, and may not suit the player's taste or preferred classes. Additionally, players can only use 2 of each card in a deck (and only 1 of each Legendary), meaning additional copies of cards beyond these limits are of no value. When receiving unwanted cards from card packs, the disenchant option can be used to destroy unwanted cards in exchange for Arcane Dust, which can then be used to craft new cards. This process allows players to convert unwanted cards into more desirable options.
When opening packs, cards are displayed using the player's currently selected card back.
Statistics
Hovering over an Epic card.
- Main article: Card pack statistics
Various attempts have been made to establish the chances of receiving each rarity of card when opening card packs. Note that all types of card pack have the same chances at rarities and golden cards.[2][3]
The following numbers combine data from several other studies. Since the numbers provided by each study are relatively similar, this is mostly for the convenience of a single overview of the statistics, as well as improved accuracy in the rarer cases. The original studies can be found in the linked article.
Currently included studies: Steve Marinconz (June 2014), E. R. Kjellgren (August 2014), Amaz (February 2015), HearthSim (August 2015). This produces a total sample size of 27,868 card packs, describing 139,340 cards in total.
| Common | Rare | Epic | Legendary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of total | 71.65% | 22.84% | 4.42% | 1.10% |
| Count per 27,868 packs | 99,836 | 31,821 | 6,152 | 1,531 |
| Probability of at least 1 per pack | 99.81% | 72.64% | 20.21% | 5.37% |
- Golden cards
Golden card data gathered prior to The Grand Tournament show significant differences from that gathered after. For this reason the below information is currently taken solely from the most recent study: HearthSim (August 2015). This yields to 98.25 Dust per pack in average.
| Common | Rare | Epic | Legendary | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of total | Regular | 70.36% | 21.60% | 4.08% | 0.94% |
| Golden | 1.48% | 1.27% | 0.19% | 0.07% | |
| Count per 15,109 packs | Regular | 53,151 | 16,319 | 3,086 | 710 |
| Golden | 1,120 | 957 | 146 | 56 |
The following table describes the likelihood of getting at least 1 golden card in a given pack.
| Common | Rare | Epic | Legendary | Any rarity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Probability of at least 1 golden per pack | 7.4% | 6.35% | 0.95% | 0.35% | 15.05% |
The following table describes the percentage of cards of each rarity which will be golden.
| Common | Rare | Epic | Legendary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage golden | 2.06% | 5.54% | 4.52% | 7.31% |
| Rough probability | 1 in 48.5 | 1 in 18.1 | 1 in 22.1 | 1 in 13.7 |
Trivia
Concept art for the Goblins vs Gnomes card pack opening animation
The Goblins vs Gnomes card pack and its opening animation was originally designed by Jomaro Kindred,[10] and animated by John Zwicker.[11]
Videos
Gallery
Patch changes
Patch 2.0.0.7234 (2014-12-04): Expert card packs have been renamed to “Classic” card packs.
References
- ↑ It is possible to open a pack with no Rares in it, if it has epics/legendaries instead: [1] Tested in Patch_2.7.0.9166 (Tavern Brawl patch)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hearthstone Fireside Chat Goblins vs Gnomes. (2014-11-07).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-12-04).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-08-15).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-04-20).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-12-13).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-06-15).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-04-19).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-11-19).
- ↑ John Zwicker on Twitter. (2014-12-09).
- ↑ Yong Woo on Twitter. (2014-12-08).