Hearthstone Tavern Pass: Free & paid Reward Track, cost, rewards, XP boost, and more

Hearthstone Patch 19.0 is making all the necessary preparations for the launch of the latest expansion, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, but more importantly, it brings some of the biggest changes since the game has launched in 2013.

From a highly-requested achievements system, new Battlegrounds hero, and Duels, to a huge revamp of the game's progression & rewards system.

Starting from the 12th November, the game will introduce the Reward Track and Tavern Pass, a system more commonly known as a Battle Pass.

Hearthstone's Tavern Pass is similar to that used in many f2p games of today, but it also makes some adjustments and changes to make it more in line with how Hearthstone functions.

Let's see how this new system works, what are the rewards, and is it worth it for you to pay money in order to enjoy the benefits of the paid Tiers.

Hearthstone Reward Track

When Patch 19.0 goes live, the Reward Track will be your main hub to follow your progress in the game.

The progress starts with a pre-patch for every future expansion and resets at the end of expansion's life cycle.

It functions mostly how you would expect from a feature based on the battle pass monetization system which we see in a lot of modern f2p games.

It consists of two tracks, free and paid tracks. Everyone has access to free track rewards, while paid track rewards unlock once you purchase Tavern Pass.

Below the path in the middle, you can see your free track rewards, and the paid track rewards are shown above the path. (Picture: Blizzard) 

Both free and paid tracks have 50 levels (tiers).

You are levelling through both of them simultaneously(as seen in the picture above), but in order to unlock rewards from the paid track, you'll need to purchase Tavern Pass.

To progress through those levels and pick up rewards, you'll need to level up by acquiring experience (XP).

During the duration of an expansion, you will be gaining experience from completing Quests and select achievements.

You can read more about Daily, Weekly, and Legendary Quests here.

You can also earn XP simply by playing the game in any mode: Casual, Ranked, Arena, Duels, Battlegrounds, Tavern Brawls, and Adventures. 

Free Track rewards

Each level (tier) has at least some reward that goes with a free track.

The free track includes the following rewards:

• Card packs from sets in Standard.
• Tavern Tickets that grant access to either Arena or Duels.
• The Madness at the Darkmoon Faire Card Back.
• 1 random Epic card.
• 2 random Legendary cards.
• A lot of gold, but Blizzard didn't specify how much exactly.

When you complete all 50 levels on the free reward track, you'll get to choose from one of 10 all-new Hero skins, 1 for each class, which you can see below.

(Picture: Blizzard) 

Once you are past level 50, each new level will earn you 150 gold, which is a price of Arena/Duels ticket, or one and a half packs.

Tavern Pass rewards

The Tavern Pass is a paid track of the Reward Track.

It offers rewards only available once you purchase Tavern Pass, and will also grant you XP boost.

Purchasing the Tavern Pass at any point during the expansion will immediately grant the following rewards:

• Golden Silas Darkmoon Legendary card.
• 10% XP boost that lasts for the duration of the expansion.
• All items from the paid track up to your current level on the free track.

As you progress with the Tavern Pass during the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion, you'll earn additional XP boost, but Blizzard has not yet disclosed the exact amount.

(Picture: Blizzard) 

Other rewards included with the Tavern Pass are:

• Annhylde alternate Warrior Hero portrait
• Annhylde alternate cardback
• Three Jaina Hero skins
• Three Thrall Hero skins
• Once you are level 50 with the paid track, you'll get one of Hearthstone’s first-ever collectable cosmetic Coins.
• The other collectable cosmetic Coin you can earn by collecting 135 unique Madness at the Darkmoon Faire cards.

(Picture: Blizzard) 

How much does the Tavern Pass cost?

Tavern Pass is available for purchase with the real money only and it can not be purchased with the in-game gold.

You can purchase the Tavern Pass at any time during the expansion for the price of $19.99.

Battlegrounds Perks

(Picture: Blizzard)

Hearthstone Battlegrounds Perks will no longer be a part of the old Tavern Pass.

Instead, you can purchase them separately, as a standalone purchase for $14.99 or 2000 gold, starting from 17th November.

Battlegrounds Perks will grant you the following benefits:

• You will be allowed to pick from 4 Heroes at the start of a Battlegrounds match, instead of 3.
• You will have access to advanced Battlegrounds stats.
• It will grant you unique visual emotes.
• Whenever a new hero comes to the Battlegrounds, you will have a chance to play them early (Early Access).

Madness at the Darkmoon Faire will launch on Tuesday, 17th November, on all platforms.