Battlegrounds Developer Insights: Updated Trinket Rules

Community Discussion
1

The following is being posted on behalf of Mitchell Loewen, Lead Designer on the Battlegrounds team.

Greetings everyone!

I hope you’re excited for the return of Trinket this season! While the core system is mostly the same as the one you already know, we’ve made some adjustments based on your feedback to make it more fun. As before, Trinkets are designed to “just work” without needing to know all the specific offering rules. If you want a refresher on the basics, check out our Season 13 Announcement blog post or just hop into a game. But if you want to know more details, read on!

Starting off, we’ve made some quality-of-life improvements to Trinkets. We received feedback that it’s sometimes hard to tell what minion type each trinket is associated with (especially when the minion type is not mentioned in the textbox). To help make this clearer, all Trinkets will now show their affiliated minion types (if any) at the bottom of the card. You can still check whether a trinket is lesser or greater by looking at the icon in the top-left corner.

Example:

We also received feedback that it’s very frustrating to lose generated cards from your Trinkets when your hand is full. Therefore, we’ve changed it so that ALL cards generated by Trinkets will wait until you have space if your hand is full. (We’ve also extended this “hand protection” to all Quest Rewards and Anomalies too!)

Now onto offering rules. As before, you will be offered four different Lesser Trinkets on Turn 6 and Greater Trinkets on Turn 9 to buy with Gold. There are a lot of special rules that influence your Trinket offerings:

  • The overall pool of Trinkets you can get is modified by the minion types in the game, your warband, cards in your hand, and your hero power.

  • Some Trinkets have an internal tag that ties them to a particular minion type. For example, Leapfrogger Portrait is a Beast Trinket and Chromatic Tear is a Dragon Trinket.

Some of the typed Trinkets can only be offered if you are “in” that type. You are considered “in” a type if you have 2 minions of that type on Turn 6, or 3 minions of that type on Turn 9. You can be “in” multiple types, and you won’t be more likely to see a Trinket of a type if you have more than 2-3 of that type.

  • Leapfrogger Portrait is an example of a typed Trinket that will only be offered if you’re “in” Beasts, while Chromatic Tear is an example of a typed Trinket you could always get even if you aren’t “in” Dragons.

  • Certain heroes are always considered “in” a type even if they don’t have minions of that type in their warband (e.g. Azshara always has access to Naga Trinkets).

  • Having 3 or more distinct types will place you “in” the menagerie type.

  • Having 3 minions with no type will place you “in” no type.

In each Trinket offering, you’ll always get offered a Trinket for the most common type that you are in.

  • You will always be offered at least one Trinket with no type. Some Trinkets with no type are more likely to appear than others, specifically Transcribing Typewriter, Goldenizing Supply, Reflective Pendant, Souvenir Stand, Trip Vouchers, Colorful Compass, Warband Whistle, Manipulator Portrait, and Gold-plated Compass.

  • Most Trinkets cost 1-4 Gold, but some cost more or less than that. In each Trinket offering, you’ll be offered at least one that costs (2) or less.

  • You can’t be offered a duplicate of a Trinket you already have. However, if a Trinket has both a Lesser and Greater version of itself, you can get both of those.

  • You won’t be offered more than one Trinket for a minion type that isn’t your most common type. If you get offered a Trinket for a minion type you aren’t in, the cost of that Trinket will be reduced by (2).

There are a lot of individual trinkets that have special offering rules. Here are some examples:

  • You cannot be offered more than 1 menagerie Trinket.

  • You cannot be offered more than 1 of Shrine of Evolution and Sacrificial Altar. Additionally, you cannot be offered either unless you control 6 or more minions.

  • You cannot be offered more than 1 of Souvenir Stand, Trip Vouchers, or Ornate Clock.

  • You cannot be offered Demonic Tapestry, The Eye of Sargeras, Nether Pendant, or Felburned Ledger unless you have a Health rewinder effect.

  • You cannot be offered Scraper Sticker or Beatboxer Portrait if you are below Tier 3.

  • You cannot be offered Magician’s Top Hat if you have 5 or more minions in your hand and board.

  • You cannot be offered Lens Case unless you control a Tier 3 minion.

  • You cannot be offered Bob-blehead in Demon lobbies.

  • You can only be offered Baller Portrait if you’ve sold a Baller this game.

  • You cannot be offered Ur’zul Sticker or Flaming Portrait if you haven’t buffed the Tavern this game.

  • You can only be offered Murky Sticker if you’ve triggered multiple Battlecries this game.

  • You can only be offered Dramaloc Sticker if you have a minion with 10 or more Attack in your hand.

  • You cannot be offered Herald Sticker, Blood Amulet, Unholy Sanctum, or Thornspike Pauldron unless you control a Deathrattle minion.

  • You cannot be offered Safety Patch if you have 16 or more total Health and Armor. You also cannot be offered Safety Patch in Duos.

  • You can only be offered Tiger Carving if you control Trigore the Lasher, Iridescent Skyblazer, Spiked Savior, or Rabid Panther.

  • You cannot get offered Divine Signet unless you control a minion with Divine Shield.

  • You cannot be offered Fancy Spellbook or Heart of the Forest unless you’ve buffed your Tavern spells this game.

  • You cannot be offered Gilded Anchor unless you control a Golden minion.

  • You cannot be offered Souvenir Stand, Ornate Clock, or Trip Vouchers as Marin or Buttons.

  • You cannot be offered Cho’Gall Sticker as Cho or Gall.

  • You cannot be offered Corrupted Tome as Mr. Clocksworth.

  • You cannot be offered Skipper Portrait as Gallywix or Flurgl.

  • You cannot be offered Kaleidoscope as Voone or ETC.

  • You cannot be offered Goblin Wallet or Bob’s Tip Jar as Gallywix.

  • You cannot be offered Fish Portrait as Greybough.

That’s all the updates for now. We’ll keep an eye on things and make further improvements and adjustments as needed. We hope you enjoy the return of Trinkets and we’ll see you in the Tavern!

- Hearthstone Battlegrounds Team

3 Likes