Set 3 for Hex: Shards of Fate currently in public beta
Release date: July 21, 2015 1pm PDT
Update 2: launch date and time changed above
Armies of Myth is the third set of cards for Hex: Shards of Fate. The different races and factions of the world of Entrath are the core of Hexs story. Where Sets 1 and 2 focused on Humans, Dwarves, Shinhare, and Orcs, this set is mostly about the Necrotic, Vennen, Elves, and Coyotles.
Please see this page for more information on the races of Hex
New features: Gauntlet, Chest opening, and Extended Art
Gauntlet is the new form of asynchronous tournament play. As an alternative to having to wait for formal tournament queues and rounds to finish, now you can queue for Sealed or Constructed Gauntlet games with a commitment of only one round at a time. Great for people who love tournaments but are unable to dedicate a full 2-3 hour block to play them to completion. Also nice for Hex Twitch streamers to avoid large pockets of downtime in between rounds. As with Sealed tournaments, you keep all the cards you open in Sealed Gauntlet.
Please see this page for more information on the Gauntlet
The long awaited opening of chests will be added with the Armies of Myth client patch. A chest is an item you receive on your account every time you open a pack of cards. Chests have rarity levels and are unique to each set. Chest contents include alternate art cards, sleeves, equipment, and more. As a side note, over 300 new pieces of equipment are coming with this update as well.
Please watch this video that is narrated by the head of Hex Entertainment, Cory Jones, to see what chest opening is like inside the client
Extended Art is unlocked on cards in your collection via Stardust. Stardust is an item you can purchase with the in-game only currency, or acquire it via Wheels of Fate rolls, chest opening, or playing in the Frost Ring Arena. Very important note that shows Hex Entertainments level of commitment to their fans: All Wheels of Fate rolls that wouldve earned Stardust will be retroactively distributed to players after the patch.
Please watch this video that is narrated by the head of Hex Entertainment, Cory Jones, to see how the Extended Art process works
New keywords: Shift, Prophecy, and Allegiance
Shift is a keyword primarily on Necrotic troops. This is a play on the lore of this pseudo-undead race, where they gain powers by inserting Hex gems into their bodies. Shift lets you permanently move a power to another troop. The usefulness in the above example would be Shifting its power to a troop with much higher attack that you would play on a later turn.
Here is an article explaining in more detail
Prophecy is the Coyotle race mechanic. Divination is a big theme of theirs but this does not really let you see what is coming, instead it makes the future better. When you play a troop with Prophecy, it will often increase the stats or give a power to the next troop in your deck. Some Prophecy cards will interact with Actions too.
Allegiance is used across all the races that Armies of Myth focuses on. This keyword gives you an additional benefit when the card is played if you have a troop of that race in play or even in hand.
New Cards: Over 250
Prismatic (multishard) cards with a new border have been added.
Please see this page on hextcg.com for a full card list.
New Champions:
20 new champions are added with this content patch. They will be added to the present roster for Constructed tournaments and used exclusively during Draft and Sealed tournaments.
Please see this page on hextcg.com for a full champion list.
Event: Release Celebration Friday 10AM PST, July 17th to Monday 10AM PST, July 20th
Players will be able to obtain two exclusive alternate art cards from the new set during this release event. Anyone participating in a draft or sealed tournament or Gauntlet will receive a Brightmoon Brave AA. Winning a Duplicitous Duke AA requires one of the following:
- Gauntlet: Get 5 Wins in a single Sealed Gauntlet Run (you must finish a Gauntlet run during the event).
- 8-person Queue: Top 1 is awarded Duplicitous Duke AA (Single-Elim Competitive Draft, and Swiss Draft)
- Daily Sealed Tournaments: 4-0 and 3-1 will win the Duplicitous Duke AA
FAQ:
This thread is about the Armies of Myth set launch and the new client features along with it. Please avoid any discussion regarding the lawsuit involving neanderthal paper card game companies. Please create a new thread of your own if you wish to talk about it.
Is this game really free to play?
Yes and sort of. To elaborate, you receive a starter deck with a new account along with some additional cards and in-game currency, gold, through playing a few rounds against the AI. Currently, the only PvE portion of the game that is live is the Frost Ring Arena, which is completely free to play and is pretty much the only source of gold currently. The sort of part is in regards to the PvE campaign of Hex, which is slated to be the next major content patch later this year. PvE dungeons will be added that are far more intuitive than Frost Ring Arena and will be free to play as well.
But I want to draft! I love drafting and I want to do it for free no matter what the time sink is.
The Hex community has demonstrated creating a new account and running 10 successful rounds of Frost Ring Arena to earn enough gold to buy packs off the auction house or trade for platinum (real money currency) to be able to draft for free. Gold is in high demand due to having many uses even to players with huge collections. You can easily find either packs on the Auction House selling for gold instead of platinum or reputable players in chat willing to trade platinum for gold. Also remember that everything you draft, you keep. So if your only intention is limited play, you can sell anything you pulled that has value to reduce future arena runs.
Where is PvE? Where are my dungeons to crawl?
As stated above, the PvE campaign will be the next major feature patch which should be out by the end of the year. More information about it should follow in the coming months after Armies of Myths launch.
Useful Links:
Hex registration and download
Hex thread in Gaming Community (OP is woefully abandoned and out of date)
Five Shards - A Hex community-run site with great content as well as a community organized tournament series
A list of Twitch streamers on the official Hextcg Twitch Channel - These guys are all from the Hex community and do a wonderful job of showing off the game. Watching a few drafts can really help you improve your play, especially when a new set launches.
