Hearthstone players getting dual-class Arena mode next week, plus a couple of free packs

Ever wished you could run Shield Slam in Druid or Lord Jarraxus in Priest? Next week your most debased Hearthstone dreams could finally come true. From October 24 to November 6, Hearthstone's Arena mode will be replaced by a new dual class variant. Players will pick a class, then a Hero Power from another class, and finally draft a deck with access to cards from both classes. The hero will even wear a special outfit, as part of the Hallow's End festivities which Hearthstone is celebrating between late October and early November. Check out Jaina and co playing dress up in the gallery further below.

Dual class Arena sounds like a welcome shot of life for a mode which has struggled somewhat since the launch of Knights of the Frozen Throne. Arena fans were unhappy about forced synergy picks, which have just been removed, and also frustrated about how powerful the new legendary Death Knight cards are in the format. When I originally saw the name of the mode, I hoped for something along the lines of Magic: The Gathering's Two-Headed Giant, but I guess this will do instead. It'll be interesting to see what comes to be regarded as the best combination of heroes. My money is on Mage plus Warlock.

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Click left and right to see all heroes in their outfits

Speaking of money, the Hallow's End event will also save you some. Log in between October 24 and 30 and you'll get a free Whispers of the Old Gods pack and an Arena ticket. The following week there's another pack—this time from the latest expansion—and another Arena ticket being given out gratis.

Continuing the vaguely spooky theme, the Tavern Brawl which runs between October 25 and 28 will pit players against the Headless Horseman, with unique passive Hero Powers and different costumes (ie decks) to try on.

Vicious Fledgling

Goodnight, flappy prince.

The Hallows End event actually kicks off today, with the release of the 9.2 patch, which also tweaks some edge case card interactions, and—hallefrigginglujah—removes Vicious Fledgling (aka Flappy Bird) as a possible Arena pick. More detailed patch notes can be found here, and as reported by Hearthhead there are a ton of additional bug fixes too.

The 9.2 update going live also means Nemsy Necrofizzle, the new Warlock hero skin, is now available to unlock. To do so, you'll need to navigate the fantasy equivalent of Craigslist that is Firesidegatherings.com, as she can only be acquired by travelling to a qualifying meet up.

I've seen some shenanigans on there in terms of people trying to set up phoney Firesides just to get the skin, though Blizzard seems to have removed a bunch of these more recently. I'll certainly be trying to make the effort to attend, as her emotes sound gloriously annoying. All hail the new queen of BM.

With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now.