At today's BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that the new Hearthstone expansion will launch on October 20, while also revealing the game's first new class in four years—the Monk, which is scheduled for release early next year.
Titled Reign of the Dark Empire, this new expansion centers on the Old Gods. Set in the ancient past, tens of thousands of years before the current Warcraft timeline, it explores the conflict between the Old Gods and the Titans and ties closely into World of Warcraft's ongoing main storyline.
Reign of the Dark Empire introduces a new keyword, "Assemble": this effect merges the text boxes of two different minions, spawning all sorts of creative combinations. The Battlegrounds mode will also add a new minion type, "Specter." Each time one of your Specter minions is destroyed, you move closer to awakening a powerful Old God to fight for you.
Reign of the Dark Empire also brings a new feature section called "Journeys," an addition to the game's journal system that serves as the central hub for various narrative events, story content, and new gameplay modes. "Journeys" will launch alongside the expansion and will be free for all players. All of the above content will officially go live on October 20.
Finally, there's news about the new class. Blizzard hasn't yet revealed detailed settings for the Monk, only confirming that the class will arrive in March next year, with more details to be shared during subsequent BlizzCon sessions.