Announced at BlizzConline - alongside a teaser for a new roguelike mode called Mercenaries - Hearthstone's Forged in the Barrens is the new expansion to hit Blizzard's long-running card game. And the first to kick of the Year of the Gryphon, which includes a number of shake-ups.

A deck reshuffle if you will. As for Forged in the Barrens, well, taking place in Kalimdor -- it's basically For the Horde.

Kalimdor, the Barrens, and the home of the Orcs, Trolls, and Tauren will be familiar to veteran Warcraft players, but in the case of Hearthstone it sets a different tone. “One of the parts of Warcraft that we haven't captured a whole lot, that we're looking to capture here is the journey,” Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer on Hearthstone tells AusGamers. “That experience of starting out as a new adventurer, growing, and levelling up. We're going to be looking at that through the course of the year with this, the first expansion, focusing on the Horde.”

Journey aside for a moment, the fun and vibrant Hearthstone aesthetic still shines through -- with Blizzard also noting that you will “find Mankrik’s wife”. In card form. A nod to a classic WoW experience.

Our Full Hearthstone: Forged in the Barrens Preview