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For the minion card, see Mean Streets of GadgetzanPatches the Pirate.

Updates to Hearthstone are made in the form of patches. This page lists all Hearthstone patches to date.

New patches for Hearthstone are released regularly, fixing bugs and adding new cards, card backs and game features. Patches for desktop clients are downloaded automatically from the Battle.net launcher prior to launching the game, and players are required to update to each new patch in order to launch Hearthstone.

Larger patches are released sparingly, adding cards and data for new expansions and adventures, or more rarely major new features. Between these, smaller patches are more commonly released, fixing bugs and adding less critical content such as new card backs, alternate heroes and cards and data for Tavern Brawls.

Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

  • Patch 19.2.0.68600 - 15th December, 2020
    • A medium patch, adding new heroes, minions, and the limited-time Darkmoon Prizes event to Battlegrounds, as well as balance changes for Constructed, Battlegrounds, and Duels.
  • Madness at the Darkmoon Faire logo Patch 19.0.0.65614 - 12th November, 2020
    • A large patch, adding all the data for the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire set, as well as the revamped progression system, new heroes, minor card changes, and some changes to Battlegrounds and Duels.

Scholomance Academy

Ashes of Outland

Galakrond's Awakening

Descent of Dragons

Saviors of Uldum

Rise of Shadows

Rastakhan's Rumble

The Boomsday Project

The Witchwood

Kobolds & Catacombs

Knights of the Frozen Throne

Journey to Un'Goro

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

One Night in Karazhan

Whispers of the Old Gods

The League of Explorers

The Grand Tournament

Blackrock Mountain

Goblins vs Gnomes

Curse of Naxxramas

  • Patch 1.3.0.6898 - 29th October 2014
    • A small patch, featuring minor changes such as adding new card backs and adjusting flavor text localisations.
  • Patch 1.2.0.6485 - 22nd September 2014
    • A medium patch, featuring two card changes and a number of bug fixes.
  • Patch 1.1.0.6284 - 18th August 2014
    • A small patch, fixing issues on Windows 8.
  • Patch 1.1.0.6187 - 6th August 2014
    • A small patch, adding support for Windows 8 mobile devices.
  • Patch 1.1.0.6141 - 31st July 2014
    • A bug fix patch to fix issues with purchasing the Curse of Naxxramas Plague Quarter wing.
  • Curse of Naxxramas logo Patch 1.1.0.6024 - The Necropolis Beckons - 22nd July 2014
    • A large patch, preparing for the release of Curse of Naxxramas, adjusting several other secondary features, and making one card change and numerous bug fixes.

Initial release

  • Patch 1.0.0.5834 - 30th June 2014
    • A small patch, featuring several bug fixes.
  • Patch 1.0.0.5506 - 28th May 2014
    • A small patch, featuring a minor bug fix.
  • Patch 1.0.0.5435 - 21st May 2014
    • A small patch, featuring several bug fixes.
  • Patch 1.0.0.5314 - 8th May 2014
    • A medium patch, featuring one card change, some string changes and several bug fixes.
  • Patch 1.0.0.5170 - 10th April 2014
    • A small patch, featuring several bug fixes.
  • Patch 1.0.0.4973 - 13th March 2014
    • A small patch, featuring several bug fixes.

Open beta

Closed beta

  • Patch 1.0.0.4482 - 17th January 2014
    • A small patch, featuring bug fixes and two Korean language card description changes.
  • Patch 1.0.0.4458 - 16th January 2014
    • A medium patch, featuring changes to ten cards.
  • Patch 1.0.0.4243 - 18th December 2013
    • A medium patch, featuring changes to three mage cards, and one bug fix.
  • Patch 1.0.0.4217 - 10th December 2013
    • A large patch, featuring a complete reworking of the Ranked Play mode, six card changes, some changes to Arena, some new social features, and numerous bug fixes.
  • Patch 1.0.0.3937 - 17th October 2013
    • A medium patch, featuring one card change.
  • Patch 1.0.0.3890 - 2nd October 2013
    • A large patch, featuring numerous changes to game systems, individual cards and non-gameplay elements. This patch was immediately preceded by a complete wipe of all Hearthstone account information and card collections.
  • Patch 1.0.0.3749 - 30th August 2013
    • A small patch, mostly focusing on preparing for the EU region, in which the beta was not yet available.

Alpha

  • Patch 1.0.0.3664 - 14th August 2013
    • A small patch, featuring naming and flavor text changes to two cards and adding 900 more localized voiceovers for heroes and minions.
  • Alpha patch 2 - 12th August 2013
    • A large patch, featuring numerous card changes, and adding new audio and interface art.
  • Patch 1.0.0.3388 - 22nd June 2013
    • A large patch, featuring numerous card changes, and introducing the quest system.
  • Patch 1.0.0.3140 - somewhere between April 13 and May 23 2013.
    • A medium patch, featuring a number of card changes.
  • Alpha patch - unknown date
    • A list of all known changes between this patch and Patch 1.0.0.3140, possibly spanning multiple patches, and including numerous card changes.

Notes

Hearthstone has been updated screenshot

The innkeeper likes his patrons up to date

  • The developers try to release major features in separate patches to new content such as adventures and expansions, in order to reduce the risk of problems due to the changes.[1]

Version conflicts

Each patch represents a different version of Hearthstone, incompatible with previous versions. Because of this, players using different patches cannot be matched against each other, in order to avoid version conflict and missing data during matches. This usually only happens due to using different platforms, or because a player has not logged out and updated since the new patch has been released.

While players are required to update to the latest patch as soon as it is released on their current platform, because patches are released at different times for different platforms, it is possible to update one device to a new patch while the other is not yet able to update. Once an account has been updated to a new patch, the player will not be able to access the account on any device that has not yet updated to that patch, effectively locking out all other platforms until that patch is also released for them.

Use of older versions appears to only be permitted during the rollout period, while the patch is being rolled out to each platform in turn. Once all platforms have access to the latest patch, clients with the older version will be prevented from playing until they have updated to the latest version.[2]

The complexity of releasing on multiple platforms can cause delays to the release of patches.[3] Designer Dean Ayala explains, "In order to patch simultaneously on PC/Mobile there are a number of things that have to be submit and approved being we can release a new patch to the public," with the result that card changes are often postponed until the new patch is ready for all platforms.[3]

Patch numbers

Each patch's version number charts its position in the game's history. Currently, the first part of the number is changed for each major release (expansion or adventure). From Blackrock Mountain to The League of Explorers the second part was changed with each patch, reseting to 0 at the start of each new release, but Whispers of the Old Gods has seen the second digit increased more erratically. The third digit was unused until Whispers of the Old Gods, but seems to reflect smaller progressions. The remaining digits are increased at a more erratic pace, likely reflecting revisions to in-house builds not released to the public. These digits do not increase the first three parts of the version number, and are essentially superfluous. Colloquially, patches are often referred to by the first two sections, such as "Patch 3.2". Note that these rules are not always followed; some patches fail to increase numbers, or increase numbers without including appropriate changes.

The system used until Whispers of the Old Gods was similar to that used in games like World of Warcraft, although without the division between major and minor patches, without the use of the third part of the number, and with additional digits. In comparison, "Patch 4.1.0.10956" would likely be titled "Patch 4.0.1".

Prior to the adoption of a standardised format with Blackrock Mountain neither the first nor second parts of the number were regularly increased. The game's version numbers initially began with 1.0.0. This was changed to 1.1.0 after the release of Curse of Naxxramas, and again to 1.2.0 with Patch 1.2.0.6485. The first digit was raised from 1 to 2 with the pre-patch for the game's first expansion, Goblins vs Gnomes, but was not increased to 3 until the game's second expansion, The Grand Tournament. In September 2014 Yong Woo had stated that the developers were still "tuning" their version number process.[4] After setting a consistent patch number trend with earlier content, Whispers of the Old Gods saw sparse and erratic increases to patch numbers, entirely breaking the established pattern. The expansion's Patch 5.2.2.13807 also saw the third digit increased for the first time, previously never having had any value other than 0.

Patch numbers were first stated in official blogs with Patch 1.0.0.4243. With Patch 5.2.0.13619 the official blogs ceased to state patch numbers, instead referring to each new patch as a "Hearthstone Update".[5]

Trivia

See also

  • Hotfixes - updates to Hearthstone not released in the form of client patches
  • Platform-specific patch changes - a list of changes specific to the game's non-PC versions
  • Card changes - a list of all changes made to specific cards
  • Rule changes - a list of changes to pre-existing game mechanics
  • Unknown patch - a list of changes with no certain accompanying patch or date of implementation
  • Bugs - an ongoing project to chart all bugs currently affecting the game

References

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