Cortyn looks at The League of Explorers, the new adventure of Hearthstone.
For a change, no instance
“The League of Explorers” was not only announced during BlizzCon but also essentially fully revealed. Not only were all cards presented, but also a first look at potential bosses was given.
From a lore perspective (if one can speak of such in Hearthstone), the expansion is also a novelty: For the first time, no instances from World of Warcraft are being carried over (or only small parts of it), but a true adventure in the style of a long journey is planned.
The Collection of Fragments
The League of Explorers is based in Ironforge and is dedicated to the collection of artifacts they gather to learn more about the world’s past. Right now, the locations of the fragments of the “Staff of Origins” have been found, an ancient relic that can provide insights into the creation of Azeroth. You will be sent out to collect these fragments, facing various dangers in the form of Hearthstone matches.
Each wing represents a fragment, and story-wise, each time you are accompanied by a different member of the League of Explorers. The four champions from the intro video each bring very different personalities and promise to enrich the battles with amusing comments.
The Various Battles
While there are also some classic boss encounters in “The League of Explorers”, the developers have noticeably worked hard to implement new ideas. So it’s not necessarily about reducing an enemy’s health points to 0, but rather surviving a certain number of turns.
In the style of Indiana Jones, a wild ride awaits you in a mine cart alongside Brann Bronzebeard, where you must shake off your pursuers. Brann keeps throwing various items at the enemies to make your battles easier – at least in theory.
A rather traditional fight is against Lady Nazj’ar, who, with her hero power “Tide Pearl”, replaces all minions at the end of the turn with new ones that each cost 1 more mana.
As usual, the bosses on normal difficulty will probably not require more than two to three attempts. However, the heroic challenges could be significantly tougher, requiring some serious brainpower (or a quick search engine) to overcome.
45 New Cards and “Discover” as a Keyword
In total, 45 new cards await in the 4 wings and the 9 class challenges that need to be tackled. As usual, only one wing will be unlocked each week, so it will take a few weeks for all new cards to become available. The Arena always has the cards from the currently active wing already in rotation.
Particularly impressive is the card “Golden Monkey”, as it replaces all cards in your hand and deck with legendary minions. While the Golden Monkey requires some time to ramp up, it can lead to exciting and quite wild matches.
As a new keyword, “Discover” is available on some of the cards. Discover ensures that three cards are presented to you, from which you must choose one and take it into your hand. It only offers you cards that would “logically” fit into your deck – so neutral minions or class cards.
This aims to maintain the fun element of randomness in the game while providing strategic components, as the choice of the right card will make the difference between a good and an excellent player.
All cards and more about the developers’ plans can be found on our Hearthstone theme page.
