Developed by Blizzard Entertainment
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has finally received its first official expansion in the form of Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramas. This is themed heavily after the Naxxramas raid zone that was featured several years ago in the World of Warcraft.
First off: if you are somehow unfamiliar with Hearthstone, then you should bring yourself up to speed by reading our review here. The Curse of Naxxramas expansion includes several new features including new cards, solo adventure content, and class-based challenges for the different decks.
It is important to note that before a player can access the new content all 9 classes have to be unlocked through the various practice fights. But, once they are unlocked you will be able to access the content if you have purchased it (the first quarter is currently available for free). These are significant challenges so it is recommended that players tweak their decks and learn the advanced strategies first, however, before taking the plunge.
The first quarter is available initially, but additional wings will become accessible in the future. Once opened these wings can become purchasable either by spending 700 in-game gold or by paying $20 to unlock them all.
The first quarter available in the expansion consists of three boss fights. Defeating each boss earns you you a new card. Defeating the third boss earns you a legendary card to add to your collection. This also unlocks two class challenges and the heroic mode of the quarter.
Class challenges pit a player against one of the classes using a random deck. For each class challenge that is defeated another card is unlocked. In heroic mode you fight the same 3 bosses on a much higher difficulty. In heroic mode is different in that your opponent starts with 45 life instead of 30. They also have a more powerful hero power. Last but not least in heroic mode your opponent can and will use cards from multiple classes. The deck is more than a little stacked against you in this mode (metaphorically speaking). Players will need to use trial and error will be needed to determine which deck is best suited for each boss.
Overall,I found the new content to be a solid addition to the game itself. There are other fun upgrades like a new game board to play on (and click!) and access to the new cards that are unlocked in the arena mode. The only drawback I encountered is that while playing solo adventure content in the expansion you do not earn gold for victories, and quests cannot be completed. Those are minor complaints though. The expansion is definitely a good thing.
Note: I will be sharing my thoughts about each of the different quarters of the solo adventure content in individual articles since they are being released separately.
