Blizzard offering 13 free Whispers Of The Old Gods packs to celebrate Hearthstone expansion launch

In celebration of the impending Hearthstone expansion launch, Blizzard is offering 13 free Whispers Of The Old Gods packs to all gamers. The expanded game is slated for public release on 26 April for the US and 27 April for Europe, Asia and Australia.

Blizzard announced on Hearthstone's live-stream YouTube channel that gamers can earn their way into getting the packs by completing a specially designed launch quest. The strategy will help new players collect cards more easily and quickly. Blizzard plans to give away the first three packs to gamers who log in during the release event or the game's first week.

In order to collect the remaining card packs, gamers will first have to successfully complete a quest of two games in the new Standard format, which will award them five additional packs. The remaining five packs can be earned by winning yet another quest, which will include seven more games in Standard. As a cherry on the top, Blizzard is also including a complimentary C'Thun legendary card.

The free pack offer should ideally help gamers save up to 1,300 in-game gold or $15 (£10) in real-world cash. Players who pre-order the game will also receive 50 card packs for $50 as a promotional offer.

Card packs are one of the ways by which Blizzard monetises its otherwise free-to-play games. According to a report by VentureBeat, the gaming card market is led by Hearthstone, which divvies up $20m to Blizzard in just a month.

The Hearthstone expansion will see 134 new cards included in the Whispers Of The Old Gods game, which is slated to make deckbuilding for gamers all the more exciting and complex. The game developer has already previewed all the new packs coming to the expansion, which include 14 neutral legendaries (four among which are Old Gods), nine class legendaries and 111 minions, weapons, spells and uncollectable cards.