Adobe’s AI is getting close to turning bad selfies into good portraits

Why it matters to you

Concepts like AI-powered 3D-facial mapping, background clipping, and style transfers have just been experimental research — but the latest teaser from Adobe suggests the features are coming sooner than we thought to a smartphone near you.

Could artificial intelligence turn bad selfies into good portraits? Adobe Research thinks so — on Thursday, the team released a sneak peak at a current project developed by the company’s artificial intelligence framework, Adobe Sensei. While Adobe did not say how close the tech is to reality, the teaser video shows off a number of capabilities that could bring some serious selfie-editing power to smartphones.

The app appears to contain a trio of AI-powered developments on the forefront of today’s photo software research: 3D-facial mapping, automatic portrait masking and style transfers.

More: Neural photo editor works like magic thanks to machine learning

With 3D-facial mapping, the software can identify the facial features and make slight adjustments both in the pose and the appearance created by focal length. By collecting 3D-mapping data, the entire face can be moved, pointing the chin down for a more flattering look or tilting the face to one side — Adobe demonstrated the possibility in another teaser earlier in 2017.

The same 3D-facial mapping also allows the software to mimic the effect of a portrait lens. Wide-angle lenses tend to distort facial features, making the face appear thinner but the nose to appear larger — that is why many portrait photographers shoot with a 50mm or larger lens. In the teaser video, however, the system recognizes each facial feature and with a slider can create the look of a longer lens from a smartphone photo.

But that is not the only DSLR-like quality that Adobe Sensi is hoping to bring to smartphone photography. Using auto-portrait masking, the app will be able to mimic a shallow depth of field effect. The small sensor of a smartphone camera can’t create the same background blur of a DSLR. Dual lens cameras can simulate the effect by using data from two cameras to calculate where the subject ends and the background begins.

Adobe, however, appears to be teasing an effect that can be accomplished with single lens smartphones. The company did not go into detail on just how the software separates the background but in March, Adobe created an auto clipping program by allowing the neural network to watch more than 49,000 images being clipped by actual people.

The third feature in the teaser allows the app to transfer the style of one photo onto the image, like Prisma, only a photo-to-photo edit instead of turning a photo into a painting. Just two weeks ago, Adobe Research published a paper demonstrating software that was able to mimic the style of another photo, even allowing smartphone snapshots to mimic high-end magazine photos.

For now, Adobe is only teasing the tech — it’s unclear how close the program is to reality or if the app in the video is an actual app or a computer generated preview of what the app could look like. But, it does take the biggest advancements in using AI to edit images from academic research and puts them all into one consumer-oriented app.

Adobe’s AI is getting close to turning bad selfies into good portraits

Why it matters to you

Concepts like AI-powered 3D-facial mapping, background clipping, and style transfers have just been experimental research — but the latest teaser from Adobe suggests the features are coming sooner than we thought to a smartphone near you.

Could artificial intelligence turn bad selfies into good portraits? Adobe Research thinks so — on Thursday, the team released a sneak peak at a current project developed by the company’s artificial intelligence framework, Adobe Sensei. While Adobe did not say how close the tech is to reality, the teaser video shows off a number of capabilities that could bring some serious selfie-editing power to smartphones.

The app appears to contain a trio of AI-powered developments on the forefront of today’s photo software research: 3D-facial mapping, automatic portrait masking and style transfers.

More: Neural photo editor works like magic thanks to machine learning

With 3D-facial mapping, the software can identify the facial features and make slight adjustments both in the pose and the appearance created by focal length. By collecting 3D-mapping data, the entire face can be moved, pointing the chin down for a more flattering look or tilting the face to one side — Adobe demonstrated the possibility in another teaser earlier in 2017.

The same 3D-facial mapping also allows the software to mimic the effect of a portrait lens. Wide-angle lenses tend to distort facial features, making the face appear thinner but the nose to appear larger — that is why many portrait photographers shoot with a 50mm or larger lens. In the teaser video, however, the system recognizes each facial feature and with a slider can create the look of a longer lens from a smartphone photo.

But that is not the only DSLR-like quality that Adobe Sensi is hoping to bring to smartphone photography. Using auto-portrait masking, the app will be able to mimic a shallow depth of field effect. The small sensor of a smartphone camera can’t create the same background blur of a DSLR. Dual lens cameras can simulate the effect by using data from two cameras to calculate where the subject ends and the background begins.

Adobe, however, appears to be teasing an effect that can be accomplished with single lens smartphones. The company did not go into detail on just how the software separates the background but in March, Adobe created an auto clipping program by allowing the neural network to watch more than 49,000 images being clipped by actual people.

The third feature in the teaser allows the app to transfer the style of one photo onto the image, like Prisma, only a photo-to-photo edit instead of turning a photo into a painting. Just two weeks ago, Adobe Research published a paper demonstrating software that was able to mimic the style of another photo, even allowing smartphone snapshots to mimic high-end magazine photos.

For now, Adobe is only teasing the tech — it’s unclear how close the program is to reality or if the app in the video is an actual app or a computer generated preview of what the app could look like. But, it does take the biggest advancements in using AI to edit images from academic research and puts them all into one consumer-oriented app.

Windows 10 and Xbox stores no longer allow game emulation apps

Why it matters to you

That game emulation app you’ve been enjoying on Windows 10 is now officially banned according to the latest Windows Store terms and conditions.

Microsoft has now semi-officially released the latest major Windows 10 version, Creators Update, with the ability to manually install the update if anyone’s too impatient to wait for the automatic download. Along with the obvious new features and some underlying technological changes, Microsoft also introduced some new policies that will impact gamers and developers alike.

One section that involved a significant change to the general Windows Store terms and conditions is the one that applies to “Gaming and Xbox.” That section now provides that emulation apps are no longer allowed, as Ars Technica reports.

More: Here’s how you can start using the Windows 10 Creators Update today

As sometimes happens with such changes, this one first became publicized as a result of its impact: the Universal Emulator app by NESBox was delisted from the Windows Store due to a new Windows Store rule. Simply put, “Apps that emulate a game system are not allowed on any device family.”

Universal Emulator has been unpublished 🙁 Apps that emulate a game system are not allowed on any device family. https://t.co/tmgw7K6l2q pic.twitter.com/B3pyDZ0IDW

— NESBOX (@nesboxcom) April 4, 2017

More generally, while the “Gaming and Xbox” section previously included a single line referring developers to the ID@Xbox program, it now includes a host of other rules. In addition, game developers can now publish their Universal Windows Platform (UWP) titles to both the Xbox and Windows 10 stores with the payment of a $100 fee or by being a part of the Xbox Live Creators Program.

The emulation ban isn’t brand new. Rather, it’s an extension of a ban that was implemented for the Xbox One last year, and it includes all “apps that are primarily gaming experiences or [that] target Xbox One.”

NESBox plans to get around the removal of its app from the Windows Store by focusing instead on its web browser version. For any developers and gamers who were enjoying an emulation app on Windows 10 or the Xbox One, this limitation might be a little more painful. It appears that Creators Update is taking some things away from gamers as well as giving some new things, such as the update’s Game Mode.

The Galaxy S8+ is massive and you should buy a case for it

Opting for the larger Galaxy S8 Plus? You’ll want to keep it protected!

The Samsung Galaxy S8+ is a big, beautiful phone with a gorgeous screen and stunning glass backing that looks great in whichever color you choose to get.

If you care about keeping your phone looking ‘like new’ for as long as possible, you’ll want to slap a case on it as soon as you can. If you still want to show off the design of your brand new phone, you’ve got some options there, too.

• Samsung Clear View Standing Cover
• Spigen Neo Hybrid Clear Case
• Spigen Ultra Hybrid Clear Case
• Silk Base Grip Case
• UAG Monarch Case
• SUPCASE Rugged Holster Case

Samsung Clear View Standing Cover

We’ll start off with one of Samsung’s own cases for the Galaxy S8+. The Clear View Standing Cover offers a really slick way to fully protect your phone without affecting it’s functionality.

The case features a translucent matte cover that completely covers the screen while still allowing you use Always On display, answer calls, control your music and more through the front cover. It can also be folded to create an adjustable stand for binge watching Netflix or YouTube.

Since this case is designed by Samsung itself, you can buy confidently knowing that the fit will be spot-on and you won’t have any issues accessing the physical buttons, headphone jack and charging port.

You can preorder your own case (along with your Galaxy S8+ if you haven’t done so already) from Samsung, though as you might expect a high-end case like this doesn’t come cheap.

See at Samsung

Spigen Neo Hybrid Clear Case

So you want your phone to be well protected… but you also don’t want to cover it up with a layer of thick black plastic. The Spigen Neo Hybrid Clear Case offers the perfect balance of protection and style, with its crystal clear polycarbonate backing letting the stylish design of the phone shine right through.

But just because it’s slim and clear doesn’t mean it’s not protecting your phone. This two-piece case doubles up around the edges with flexible TPU hugging your phone with raised edges at the top and bottom to offer you that crucial screen clearance when you place your phone face down on a table. It’s capped off with a PC bumper — available in clear or black options — to provide added drop protection.

See at Amazon

Spigen Ultra Hybrid Clear Case

If you’re looking for a clear case that offers a bit more functionality, Spigen also has the Ultra Hybrid case for the Galaxy S8+. It’s made of the same crystal clear materials as the Neo Hybrid and offers a very similar look and in-hand feel.

But unlike the Neo Hybrid, the Ultra Hybrid is a one-piece case that still combines a strong PC back with a flexible TPU bumper wrapping around the edges of your phone. But what makes the Ultra Hybrid extra special is the built-in kickstand on the back for hands-free viewing. Because with such a beautiful display, you’re going to want to show it off.

See at Amazon

Silk Base Grip Case

A common issue with bigger phones is maintaining a steady grip. Some phones are so big it can be hard to hold them with one hand! That’s where the Silk Grip Case for the Galaxy S8+ comes in.

This case features Silk’s patent pending grip texture around the perimeter of the phone, which should greatly enhance your ability to keep hold of it. Other valuable features include air cushion corners to help absorb the shock of a drop, natural feeling buttons that still give you that click feedback when you press them, and lay-flat screen guard design to keep that brilliant display protected.

All in all, its a fairly sleek and simplistic look with thoughtful design to help keep your phone in your hand.

See at Amazon

UAG Monarch Case

Some people buy a case to make their phone look all snazzy, while others buy cases that offer maximum protection because hey, buying the latest flagship device ain’t cheap and you want to protect that investment.

Enter the UAG Monarch case. UAG is known for making some really rugged cases, and the Monarch is the most rugged case they offer. Despite its ultralight design, they’ve packed five layers of protection into this case, including top grain leather and alloy metal. On the inside, your phone is protected with a soft impact-resistant core that also wraps around the front of the phone a bit to offer protection for the screen.

Along with the PC plate on the back, the Monarch features honeycomb patterns along the edges which will help with grip. This case isn’t cheap — but then again, neither is your Galaxy S8+, so spend a little more and keep it well protected.

See at UAG

SUPCASE Unicorn Beetle PRO

So you want to keep your Galaxy S8+ secure with a rugged case, but you also don’t want to spend a lot to do so. The SUPCASE offers a slim-yet-rugged case, the Unicorn Beetle PRO, which offers full protection for a very reasonable price.

This three-piece case features a dual-layer back casing that combines impact-resistant TPU with a hard PC shell, and also includes a protective front casing that offers ample protection around that beautiful new screen, and completely covers the bottom bezel of the phone.

On top of all that protection, it also comes with a 360-degree holster to clip onto your belt, if you’re into that look.

See at Amazon

What’s your preferred case?

How are you planning to protect your Galaxy S8+? Do you have a case you’re eyeing that isn’t on our list? Let us know in the comments!

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

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Home screen layouts and how to theme them

Making your home screen look pretty is not a requirement. Putting things on it is.

Even if you don’t actively theme your phone, you do actively lay out your home screen. Layouts are the way you arrange the apps and widgets on your home screen. We don’t talk about them nearly as much when theming as we should. In fact, I try to avoid specific layouts in my themes so they are more accessible to users of varying tastes. But layouts are important, whether you intend to theme your phone or not.

Some people like their home screen to have as little on it as possible. Some people want everything on the home screen they possibly can squeeze in there. Some people are a little of column A and a little of column B, because we believe that the space on our home screen is meant to be used, but we don’t need/want to cover up every inch of it. No matter which camp you fall in, all of us can benefit from seeing the differences and the benefits of each approach.

Heavy home screens

These are without a doubt the most prevalent layouts in the mobile space, in part because these layouts look a lot like how Windows Phone and iOS home screens look: a vast sea of app icons and (maybe) widgets. For users who have recently migrated from one of these platforms, or users on their first smartphone, this busy layout is a taste of the familiar, like the desktop they save everything to at home.

Because everything important is in one place, these users spend little time digging through apps they don’t frequently use in their app drawer. It keeps some users focused on the apps they need to use, rather than getting sucked in by an app that catches their eye in the drawer. If there are widgets here, they’re usually a clock, some settings toggles, and maybe a weather widget.

Despite the time-consuming look of these home screens, these layouts are usually the quickest to come together: drag everything you need to the home screen and maybe sort them. However, busy home screens also don’t leave much space open for gestures beyond a double-tap.

These layouts may look chaotic to the untrained eye, but to the user who set them, everything has a place and they know where that place is. When theming a heavy home screen like these, stick to simple wallpapers without a single area of focus. Icon packs are especially important here as the screen is covered in apps. If you use a lot of obscure apps that are unlikely to be themed in icon packs, alternative icons and filters for unthemed icons matter.

Minimalist home screens

At the other end of the home screen spectrum lie screens with as little on them as possible. Minimalist home screens are tidy, they are simple, they are here to stay out of the way and let you get what you need to do done. The default layout on most third-party launchers, and even some manufacturer launchers like Google Now Launcher, lean towards the minimalist side so as to not overwhelm new users.

Sometimes, their home screen will be completely clear, just a small array of apps in the dock and a wallpaper that’s easy on the eyes. Maybe there’s a single widget at the top with the time and weather, or maybe another row of apps above the dock, but that’s it. While this makes it easier to find the few apps that are there, this does mean that you’ll dip into your app drawer more often, so app drawer organization becomes much more important.

Folders allow many of us to cheat, giving us a clean look on the home screen while still offering more apps outside the app drawer. When theming a lean home screen, you have much more freedom with your wallpaper, as that will be the most prominent element on your screen.

The need for your icon pack to compliment the wallpaper is higher with these layouts because the few apps that are there stand out more. Widgets with clear backgrounds play especially well with minimalist layouts, but a bright, custom widget can also serve as a bit of a statement.

Mixed home screens

Mixed home screens try to strike a balance between the shelves of shortcuts and the emptiness of a minimal layout. These layouts can skew busy or simple, trying to make the most of the space given to them without overcrowding things. When building themes for myself or the site, this is the layout category I strive for.

The key to a well-balanced layout is defining the space you do and do not want to use. If you’ve got a phablet and don’t want to strain yout thumbs reaching for that top row, keep your folders and icons down low while leaving the top for glanceable widgets, or leaving it open to show off your wallpaper. I usually keep the middle open on my themes, both to let my wallpaper shine through and to have an open space for gestures.

Because mixed layouts are somewhat built around their device or wallpaper, they’ll adapt to most themes you throw at them. If your wallpaper is busy in the middle of your screen, lay out your elements on the top and bottom of the screen. If your wallpaper features a character’s profile on the left side, keep your apps and widgets to the right.

The key here is being flexible with your element placement and playing around with your layout until you find what works for you.

Beyond these three broad categories for home screen layouts, there are many more precise flavors and variants to try, and there’s a method to the madness for each and every one. My dock consists of six folders and a phone. A friend of mine hides almost every app and just uses search to pull them up.

How do you make order out of the chaos on your home screen? We’re always looking for ideas. Share your layout with us in the comments below, and stay tuned for more theming tips and tricks here on Android Central.

Everything you need to know about SD card speeds and your phone

When it comes to SD cards, our phones have a need for speed.

An SD card is the only way to get extra storage space inside your phone. If you need an extra 256GB of storage that doesn’t need any wires or anything plugged in, you have no other option. But you have to do it right to make the most of it.

The single biggest decision to make when you’re buying an SD card is the speed. The form factor is easy (you need a microSD card for your phone) and we all understand that more capacity means we can put more stuff on it. But unless the card you buy is fast enough, none of that matters. Let’s see what fast enough really means and how you can tell how fast a card is rated.

A numbers game

Ignore the speed listed on the package because it’s not realistic, Ever.

When you get a new SD card you’ll see all sorts of claims on the package about the card’s read and write speeds. Forget about the actual rating for a moment because you need to know that your phone will never be able to read data from the card or write data to the card as fast as the package says. Most of the time, nothing can meet those speeds in the real world. Consider those numbers the theoretical maximums that happened under perfect conditions while a unicorn was in the lab next to the tester.

Next, you need to know that the write speed is much more important than the read speed and those blurbs that say things like “up to 90MB per second” are talking about the read speed. Like every other thing that’s sold, the company making the cards wants to advertise the best features and fastest and biggest everything. But that’s OK because you’ll know exactly what you want when we’re done here!

The speed “class” rating

All SD cards have a rating that tells us approximately how fast data can be read from an SD card. They are, in order from slowest to fastest:

• DS (up to 12.5 MB/s)
• HS (up to 25 MB/s)
• UHS-I (up to 104 MB/s)
• UHS-II (up to 312 MB/s
• UHS-3 (over 312 MB/s)

Don’t get excited when you see those speed ratings and think you’ll be able to move data at 312MB per second. Remember, those are the laboratory test maximum speeds that a computer program calculated. But those speeds are useful when you see how much faster or slower one type of card is compared to another. And to make things even more confusing there are also speed subclasses, and those are what most people use when they discuss anything to do with SD card performance.

• DS speed cards are rated (slowest to fastest) 2,4 or 6
• HS speed cards are rated 10
• Sometimes UHS cards are abbreviated as U1, U2, and U3

You’ll find the speed class of the SD card listed on the packaging and printed on the card itself. Look for a ②, ④, ⑥ or ⑩ printed on DS or HS class cards and the actual rating on a UHS class card. And know that a UHS-3 (I have no idea why Roman Numerals weren’t used for 3 when they were for I and II) card is about 30 times faster than a class 2 DS rated card.

Here is where we are going to make things easy for you: Never buy a card slower than class 10 and always buy the fastest one you can afford.

Why your phone wants a fast card

This is simple once you stop overthinking things. The faster you can move data to and from your storage the less time it takes to do it.

A real world example would be copying a 600MB file to your SD card. A class 2 card would take about 200 seconds. A UHS-3 class card would take about 20 seconds to do it. While waiting for files to transfer is a horrible thing we go through from time to time, it matters even more to your phone.

Your phone is a computer. It is programmed to take input from you or through an app and do something cool with it. If you tell it to do something that needs it to copy a 600MB file, it has to wait until the file is copied before it can begin. Since it can’t tell jokes or mix the perfect martini, it won’t do anything while it is waiting. You can do something else while waiting on your phone, but nothing you can do will make the data move any faster.

While this is general information that’s good for the way most of us use an SD card as a place to store media and documents, sometimes you want something even faster.

Running apps using your camera

Imagine your SD card being used as the install location for an app and the place to store all the data for the app. You just doubled the wait time.

Realistically, you will be fine with a class 10 card most of the time even if you install apps to it. Your phone will store the parts of the app that make it run in its actual RAM so it only needs to load that once. And data created by an app is usually in very small files that can be read almost instantly. But there are apps that are huge, and some of them use many big files from their data resources when they run. You will see longer load times and wait times with something like a really big 3D game even with a UHS-3 card and they are magnified when you use one that’s slower.

Your 4K videos will look better when you use a faster SD card.

Last but not least, your camera wants the fastest card available, especially if you take burst photos or shoot 4K video. Your phone camera has what’s called a buffer. When you take a picture or video, the images and metadata and sound are all copied to that buffer because it’s really fast to put them there. The buffer then writes all that data to the storage, and if you’re using an SD card for camera storage those wait times come into play.

You’ll be able to take more burst mode photos in sequence and that means less of them will be blurry. The faster the picture can move from the buffer to the card, the more free space is in the buffer for the camera to drop photos into. When that buffer is full, your camera can’t do anything.

4K video will just look better with a faster card. 4K video files are gigantic and the data is pulled from the buffer a little differently. Since you’re doing something live and in real time, waiting for a buffer to flush isn’t an option. The movement from the camera buffer to the SD card is more like streaming video that a direct file copy. When you can’t pull data from the buffer fast enough, you get fuzzy video, poor sound, skipped frames or audio and video not synchronizing very well. While 4K video is best when written to the phone’s storage, you can get by with a fast UHS class SD card. You can’t get by with a slower card.

If you take a lot of pictures or want to run apps from your SD card, buy a class UHS-3 card. Full stop. You will wish you bought a faster card eventually if you don’t.

Don’t be confused

Numbers and letters and the different ways an SD card can be used can be overwhelming if you’re just buying an SD card to use and aren’t worried about knowing what they all mean. But all that jazz aside, a few simple rules will make sure you don’t buy the wrong thing.

• Buy a class 10 card or faster every time.
• If you like to take pictures and video, buy a class UHS-3 card.
• If you want to install apps on your SD card, buy a class UHS-3 card.

We wish all tech was this easy to sort out.

Sprint is going all-in on unlimited and killing its 50%-off deal to boost revenue

Sprint is getting rid of its metered plans entirely as it moves to a single unlimited plan.

Sprint has announced its intention to get rid of its metered plans and go all-in on unlimited as it tries to find a balance between the intensely competitive U.S. wireless market and its own need to keep revenues high.

The company is ending its long-standing 50%-off deal, which offered up to four lines for $90 per month to new customers, and is instead settling on a more reasonable, but still lower-than-T-Mobile pricing structure that starts at $50 per month for one line.

The change actually makes it cheaper than before to have two lines on the service — it’s down to $80 from $90 — rising to $100 for three lines and $120 for four, a $20 to $40 discount over T-Mobile.

Sprint also claims to support unlimited HD video streaming unlike T-Mobile, but T-Mobile is currently promoting that feature, along with 10GB of high-speed LTE tethering, with its own unlimited plan for a limited time.

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The second way Sprint is using to sell its new unlimited plan is by advertising its spectrum allotment, which is higher than the rest of the U.S. carriers.

Sprint has more spectrum than any other carrier in the U.S. With holdings of more than 160MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum in the top 100 U.S. markets, Sprint has the right kind of high-band spectrum that is built for data and very fast speeds. This is a tremendous advantage, allowing Sprint to keep adding the capacity and speed needed to meet customers’ increasing demand for data now and well into the future. Perfect for unlimited.

High-band spectrum, though, is much more difficult to use reliably on smartphones, and Sprint lacks the same coverage in the 700MHz spectrum, which puts it at a disadvantage next to Verizon and AT&T.

These unlimited prices are also only for a limited time — the price of a single line goes up to $60 on June 30, 2018 — and includes a $5 AutoPay discount.

Everything you need to know about Sprint’s Unlimited plan

First ‘Hearthstone’ expansion of 2017 adds dinos and adventure

The long-awaited first expansion of 2017 for Blizzard’s Hearthstone is finally here. Journey To Un’Goro adds 135 cards (gallery here) to the game with fun new functions, but the first content of the year will also retire all of 2015’s cards out of the main Standard format. That means saying goodbye to some old frenemies (adios, Ragnaros) and hello to a refreshed meta, a Wild West of untested deck concepts and synergies. A digital cardscape where dinosaurs rule.

First thing’s first. The new set is a promising collection with two major additions: The “Adapt” mechanic, which allows players to choose between three options to buff a creature, and the new “Elementals” group, which has tribe synergy akin to pirates and murlocs. (Some old creature cards have been retroactively rebranded and included in the new gang.) The expansion also introduces a new type of card, called “Quests,” which give players a powerful reward for fulfilling requirements (“play X number of Y cards/creatures,” etc).

The first expansion of the year ends Hearthstone’s Year of the Kraken and begins its Year of the Mammoth. This is the game’s way of designating when certain sets rotate out of Standard format, which is restricted to only the latest cards. This isn’t just great news for players eager to see some powerful decks lose their key dominant cards — it’s also dropping all cards from 2015 and replacing them with just the new cards from Un’Goro (along with a few too-popular cards from the original Classic expansion). This majorly shakes up the game balance, ushering in a refreshing period of uncertainty where players have more breathing room to try out new deck lineups and card combinations.

But Year of the Mammoth isn’t just cycling out old cards for new ones: As Blizzard announced in February, Hearthstone will be ditching its prior schedule alternating between 135-card expansions and small-release Adventures in favor of releasing three full-size content blocks in 2017. That’s a lot more cards, meaning a lot more gameplay possibilities. But it’ll also be the most expensive year for collectors yet, so completionists beware: It’ll cost you about $670 to get 90 percent of this year’s content if you’re paying up front.

That said, who knows how generous the studio plans to be for players who can’t spend big bucks to enjoy all this year’s fun new toys (like the brand-new Quests, which are all legendary-rarity, costing 1600 in-game dust apiece. Ahem). Blizzard also promised free Adventure-style PvE content to come, starting with the as-yet unnamed next expansion. And as indicated by the most recent patch notes and the latest designer insights video, the game’s team will be increasing support for the local get-togethers, known as Fireside Gatherings, including an upcoming closed beta testing out the mysterious custom Taverns. For now, enjoy your dinosaurs.

Source: Hearthstone blog