How to get six free Hearthstone: Mean Streets of Gadgetzan packs

Hearthstone’s latest expansion pack, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, is officially live on North American servers today. While Blizzard ran its traditional pre-order deal for the expansion — $49.99 for 50 packs — the developer has also, as usual, slipped in a method for getting a few packs for free.

Here’s how it works: When you first log in following the expansion’s launch, you’ll get a notification of the expansion and a new quest titled “Join the Goons.” Don Han’Cho, the ogre leader of the game’s Grimy Goons faction, will pop up and provide some flavor text describing the gang while providing you the goal of your quest: to win three games as a hunter, paladin or warrior, the three classes that can use Grimy Goons decks.

Finishing this quest will net you two Mean Streets of Gadgetzan packs and unlock the next quest, “Join the Jade Lotus.” For this one, you’ll need to win three games as a druid, rogue or shaman for two more packs. Finally, “Join the Kabal” will task you with winning three games as mage, priest or warlock.

These quests and the fun bits of voice-over surrounding them help set apart the three tri-class factions introduced in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. Note that to complete the quests and win your packs, you’ll need to win those games against real, random players — playing against the computer (or friends) doesn’t count.

While six free packs is certainly nothing to scoff at, it’s sadly a bit lacking compared to Blizzard’s offerings from April’s Whispers of the Old Gods expansion launch, where players could unlock a total of 13 free packs. Then again, that expansion also heralded the arrival of standard mode and an increased push by Blizzard to make the game more friendly for both newcomers and returning players.

It’s unclear how long the free pack quests for Mean Streets of Gadgetzan will be offered, so it’s recommended that you log in and complete them as soon as possible. You may want to hold off on actually opening your new packs, however, as there is currently a bug being investigated that dramatically increases the number of repeat cards you’re likely to get.