How to open Forged in the Barrens packs early

Hearthstone latest expansion Forged in the Barrens is scheduled for release on Tuesday, 30th March, but for those of you who are impatient to see what cards will they get, you can open them a few days earlier!

As is tradition, Blizzard is setting a special pre-release weekend, for those players who have pre-ordered expansion bundles.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, these weekends would have been in the form of Fireside Gatherings, where innkeepers would set up a Fireside Gathering event for local Hearthstone players to meet, socialize and find new Hearthstone friends.

(Picture: Blizzard)

Unfortunately, the whole Fireside Gatherings program has been put on pause for more than a year due to pandemic, but Blizzard still wants to give players an opportunity to enjoy in pack opening a few days before the official release.

That's why they are still allowing players to have their very own Pre-Release weekend event at their homes but in order to prevent people from grouping amidst pandemic, these events will be set on private automatically and no other person can join them.

In this way, anyone who pre-ordered Forged in the Barrens bundles will still have a chance to open their packs a few days earlier even without Fireside Gatherings.

Forged in the Barrens pre-release Fireside Gatherings schedule

The pre-release weekend will take place the weekend before Forged in the Barrens goes live.

Start date: 26th March at 10 am PT/ 1 pm ET / 7 pm CET

End date: 29th March at 10 am PT/ 1 pm ET / 7 pm CET 

How to set up a private pre-release Fireside Gathering

(Picture: Blizzard)

In order to open your Forged in the Barrens packs during the pre-release event, you will need to create your own pre-release Fireside Gathering, which is not particularly complicated.

1. Go to Fireside Gathering "Create an event" page
2. Make sure that you are logged in with your Battle.net account, the one you use to play Hearthstone.
3. You can give any name you want to the event.
4. "Start date & time" should be set during the pre-release weekend.
5. The event duration should be around 8 hours.

And that's it, you are all set.

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When the pre-release weekend starts, your private pre-release Fireside Gathering will start automatically once you start Hearthstone for the first time, and you will be able to open your pre-ordered Forged in the Barrens packs.

Good luck with the pack opening, and we wish you many legendaries!