Blizzard previously stated that future plans for popular digital trading card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will see the release of a big expansion at the start of the year, followed by a single-player-focused adventure in the middle of the year, and then another big expansion at the end of the year.
Invites sent to media companies by Blizzard hint that this year's adventure will be announced as soon as next week.
Through the invitations, Blizzard is asking media companies to watch a stream on the official Twitch channel of Hearthstone on the late night of July 28, at 11:00 p.m. PT.
"We would be honored if you would join us for a once-in-a-lifetime event that will be full of magic and celebration," the invite reads, adding that something "very special" is waiting for the upcoming stream's viewers.
The invitation also mentions an "unforgettable adventure," which points to the fact that Blizzard will be revealing the next adventure mode for Hearthstone.
A similar invitation was also recently handed out to some gamers at a Fireside Gathering event at the University of California, with the invitations mirroring the style of those sent out prior to the reveals of previous expansions.
Before the invitations, a thread on a Chinese forum was also posted discussing the upcoming adventure, including leaked information saying the adventure will be based on a raid in World of Warcraft with three Chinese characters in its name. The information is a rumor, but it was the same source that correctly predicted the arrival of Morgl the Oracle as a new Shaman hero.
According to PC Gamer, the raid most likely being referred to is Karazhan, which is a magical tower formerly inhabited by Medivh, who can be acquired as a hero in Hearthstone and who also made an appearance in the recently released Warcraft movie. The theme of magic is also heavily insinuated in the invitations, and back in March last year, Hearthstone lead designer Eric Dodds stated that there was the possibility of going to Karazhan.
As to why the time of the stream is so late, it is because Blizzard is apparently making the reveal during ChinaJoy, which is a gaming convention taking place in Shanghai.
Hearthstone has had three previous adventures, namely Curse of Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain and League of Explorers. The adventures contain a smaller number of new cards compared to big expansions, but they come with single-player matches with challenging conditions and powerful bosses.
The big expansion that Blizzard released earlier this year is Whispers of the Old Gods, which contained 134 new cards and spawned new deck archetypes alongside the introduction of the new Standard and Wild formats. Hearthstone players who have grown tired of the current meta will likely look forward to the new cards that the next adventure will be adding to the digital trading card game.
