Finally, after what feels like an eternity, a fresh wind is blowing through the card landscape of the Free-2-Play card game “HearthStone”, as the development team has kept its promise and released the expansion in July – at least the first part. But does Blizzard sacrifice the August season with this?
The first expansion “Curse of Naxxramas” will be unlocked in succession with its five wings, one section per week, with the first being free if you log into the game during the release period. Wings 2-5 can then be purchased for 700 gold coins each, or for 18 euros in a complete package. One may say what they want about the price, I consider it reasonable, especially since the expansion has been known for a long time and every player has been able to accumulate gold for a long time. And even if not: 700 gold is exactly what one can earn in a week without quests.
The new cards
Even though not all cards are available yet, the general theme revolves around “Deathrattle”, meaning effects that trigger when a card is destroyed. The developers have managed to create a good mix of “positive” and “negative” effects – as some cards shift the tide of battle in my favor upon their death, while others trigger a negative effect, which is why they should be protected at all costs. Truly outstanding synergies can probably only be created when all cards are available, but already one or another new card has found its way into my decks, especially I do not want to miss “Nerubian Egg” anymore.
A questionable design idea
On the one hand, I can completely understand that one wants to release content over several weeks and wants to slowly acclimate players to the new cards. On the other hand, it is absolutely unclear to me how one could either overlook what impact this has on the metagame or simply accept it. Rogues and Druids have already been able to look forward to new, class-specific cards this week, while all others will first have to look on and make do with the few neutral cards. And this will be the case every week until the expansion is fully accessible, meaning: The entire August season will continuously disadvantage some classes until all cards are released. Unfortunately, the necessity eludes me and gives the entire expansion – at least at the beginning – a rather bland aftertaste.
Difficulty level – None
Honestly: The difficulty level of the first three challenges was a bad joke; even with entirely new accounts that only have the basic cards, the bosses posed no problem. Even the two class challenges for Rogue and Druid, where you are given pre-made decks, require little understanding of the game to tackle, or to quote a good friend: “It’s almost more exhausting to lose these games than to win them.” Only the heroic mode was challenging, as there you actually had to adjust some of the tried and true decks to avoid the nasty hero powers. The whole spectacle of the first quarter was over in just under 90 minutes and, unfortunately, leaves one not very satisfied.
But I also do not want to rush to judgment and condemn the entire expansion – I just hope that the first wing was made a bit easier to engage newcomers and perhaps attract new customers to the game. Because despite everything, the fights are really fun, the comments from the bosses are amusing, and their hero powers are interesting – unfortunately, though, not very challenging. So it is still a bit too early for an overall assessment of the expansion, but I am currently skeptical. Very skeptical. It remains to be hoped that the first wing is just a kind of tutorial – next week we will know more. For the August season, things look grim due to the staggered accessibility of the cards.
