Naxxaramas is the first expansion for Hearthstone, a free, online, digital collectable card game. Hearthstone is made by Blizzard, who is famous for games like World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. (For those who have been living under a rock.) Anywho, on July 22nd, Blizzard released Curse of Naxxramas as the expansion. Like the game, the expansion is kind of free, but you only get a little taste of what the game has to offer if you aren’t willing to shell out some dough.
I spent the last 3 days playing through Naxx, which really is the only gaming I’ve been able to do in awhile because of the move and such. I was pleased to find that the expansion focuses on solo adventuring, which was essentially non-existent in the original version. To progress in the game in any way you needed to play against other people. Now you can take on bosses with completely unique cards and hero abilities. Now, why my character is limited to 2 of the same card per deck, while one of the new bosses can have 10+ Haunted Creepers, I’m not sure. However, you get to go through and play against these bosses alone, without the stress of timed turns or having to squelch another player, so it’s nice. (Side note: am I become a game agoraphobic?)
Pros:
One big pro, and something Hearthstone has always had going for it, is that you can get a little of the content for free. The first wing of the expansion comes without cost. Although that’s actually only 3, fairly easy, bosses, it’s still nice. Further, you can buy wings with either money or coins. I never liked playing in the arena, so I had almost 2000 gold just lying there. I was able to unlock all available wings with that, though it looks like I may have to shell out for the next 2.
Another big pro is somewhat easy earning of legendary cards. I know folks who haven’t spent any money on the game, and they’re really limited by what they can and can’t do deck-wise because of a lack of legendaries. Even though the legendaries you get for completing the wings aren’t amazing, they’re no Black Knight or Bloodmage Thalnos, they’re solid. I am sure many decks exist out there that are capitalizing on these cards already.
Finally, and I think this is the most interesting change, my last pro is that Naxx has forced me to rethink my strategy on creating decks. I previously had 9 solid decks, one for each character. I could tweak those and such, but actually because I thought I had the best of the best for each character, I got kind of bored. However, while playing these bosses, I have had to revise my decks. I haven’t totally gotten rid of my staples, like Dragon Priest and Watcher Druid. But because of the 9 deck limit, I had to get rid of my mage deck to get an all-spell deck. I had to redo my warrior because I needed an armor/weapon guy. If they just allowed you to have more than 9 decks, it just might be the perfect game. I would probably stay interested forever, tweaking and changing and trying new stuff. But I just don’t want to revise a deck I know how to play well and gets results. Call me old fashioned. The new expansion, however, has caused me to at least participate in some of the constant changes that other people make to their decks. And it is fun, no doubt.
Cons:
The biggest con I have for the game is the lack of substantive content you get for each wing. The wings are not cheap, and they consist of 3 games. Why would you not make it 10? Or 20? Why only 3? For someone like me who has bought many legendaries and spent a fair amount of time playing, it was too easy and quick to get through. I haven’t finished the Heroic wings yet, but the regular wings only took a day. For more advanced players I can’t even imagine how deflating it was to get through all the content in an evening. Then again, if your biggest negative on a game is that you want more of it, I’d say it’s not a bad game.
Further, Hearthstone is at its heart a collectable card game. Theoretically the wings should just be a temporary step between you and the cards you want. However, I still think it’s a big missed opportunity to pull in the players who haven’t fallen in love with the constant multiplayer.
Overall, Hearthstone is a great game, and the expansion just adds to it. For those who got bored with the game, I suggest you come back to at least play the bosses. It is, as you would expect, very fun.
