Blizzard Unveils Hearthstone Adventure Mode: Curse of Naxxramas!

A new single-player adventure mode for the Blizzard's free to play card game Hearthstone was unveiled a couple of days ago at PAX East. In this mode, players will be able to take on AI bosses as a part of a single-player campaign. The new expansion is set to launch in Summer 2014 on PC, MAC and iPad platforms while a specific release date is not yet known.

What's even better news, at least for me, is that this adventure mode will take place in NAXXRAMAS!!!! I've been a WoW player for 8 years now and Naxxramas was my favourite raid ever at level 60. It still is to this date, not the level 80 version but the really challenging level 60 version! I was playing a tank warrior back then and I've had some fantastic times there and made some incredibly entertaining memories. Our guild had server first kills on the likes of Maexxna and Thaddius which is my favourite boss EVER (Tanking was so much fun on that boss)! 

However at level 60 we could never get past 4 Horsemen so we couldn't fight against Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad. Of course I cleared the place at level 80 when it was redesigned as a higher level raid dungeon but I still feel that something is missing because we couldn't advance further back then. To be fair to my guild, none of the other 2 raiding guilds could get past 4 Horsemen during that time on our server (yes on my server only 3 guilds were raiding way back then). Ah well I don't think anyone cares about my personal Naxx experiences but I still wanted to share as I've had some of the best times in there. 

So back to the original story, The Curse of Naxxramas will open its 5 wings in a course of 5 weeks. Kind of like the new instances in Mists of Pandaria where we needed to wait for a week for the new bosses to be available. The first wing, that is Arachnid Wing will be free to all players whereas the next wings will be available for purchase with in game gold or real life money. Frostwyrm Lair, the 5th wing, which will have Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad as last 2 bosses, will be unlocked once you complete all 4 wings so this means that we only need to save up for 3 wings. So better start saving your hard earned gold now if you plan on not spending a dime on these wings. I assume it will be around at least 600-750 gold per wing. 

In this new mode we will get a total of 30 brand new cards including a guaranteed legendary card after completing a wing and 9 class specific cards. When we count one unique neutral card for each of 15 bosses, a total of 5 legendary cards per wing and 9 class specific cards, the total sum accumulates to 29 cards which would suggest that the 30th card could be a legendary reward for completing everything in Curse of Naxxramas. But I am merely speculating here. Even if you don't earn any of these cards or decide you can't afford the rest of the wings you don't need to worry because all the cards will still be available to everyone in Arena, if by luck you run into them of course. Upon earning a card, that card will immediately be added to your deck to be used in any mode of your choosing.

Shade of Naxxramas will surely be a big threat if left unattended for a couple of turns whereas Baron Rivendare will be a great complementary card with Cairne Bloodhoof or Sylvanas Windrunner among many others.

Based on what we have seen so far among the many riches that Naxxramas will offer us, it may as well look like you better start stacking up on Deathrattle cards as soon as possible. It is safe to say that after Murloc rush or Beast rush decks, a lot of Deathrattle control or Deathrattle rush decks will start to unravel.

Apart from these new neutral cards there will also be 9 new class specific cards. By completing a class specific task given to us during a boss encounter we will earn new cards exclusive to that class. These class specific cards will be unlocked by  using predetermined decks.

The introduction of a brand new mode and dungeon of course brings forth a brand new skin for our game board that complements the beauty of the necropolis Naxxramas.

The second encounter in the Plague Wing, Heigan looks rather promising. It seems like with his Eruption hero power, our dancing skills will be put to the test. If you are a Hearthstone player, yet you never played WoW, you probably have no idea what I am talking about. Just search Heigan Dance.... Worst case scenario, you will be ready to face Heigan the Unclean when Plague Wing is released!

By the way I simply can't wait to see the 4 Horsemen encounter in Hearthstone (last boss in Military Wing). Can you just imagine facing 4 different heroes with 30 health and 4 hero powers at the same time? That encounter will be hellish!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! Also, considering that Ashbringer is already in the game as a Paladin exclusive weapon, its previous version Corrupted Ashbringer, which dropped from the 4 Horsemen, as a minion (like the new Dancing Swords card) could indeed be a good reward. 

Patchwerk will be a pretty interesting encounter as well. I imagine his hero power will be something like dealing a massive amount of damage but it will get a damage penalty based on the number of our minions which would suggest that we will be needing LOTS of minions on our side to mitigate that massive damage. To make matters even more interesting, technically we might need more minions with TAUNT to survive. I mean isn't Patchwerk like that in WoW? I remember getting 1 shot so many times that I couldn't keep track of anything anymore while we were trying him on level 60 despite using all the potions and flasks available to a tank during that time. And if they put something like "beat Patchwerk in/under 15 turns" or something as an enrage timer, things would get even more and more interesting :D Some bosses should definitely get turn limitation, it would make it much more challenging or maybe I should stop taking WoW encounters so literal and implementing them to Hearthstone...

One last thought. Do any of you remember the real hero in Naxxramas? Kel'Thuzad's cat pet MR. BIGGLESWORTH! I really hope he will be a fun legendary card in this expansion. Even 0/0 with no special power would suffice for me. I just love that cat! :D It would indeed be a pretty funny card.

I am so excited about this Adventure Mode that I can't even fit into my own skin. Single Player mode was pretty weak in the game so this Adventure Mode was a really needed feature. To be perfectly honest I was getting tired of playing against other players. Up next should definitely be the introduction of the Death Knight class which is my main on Horde side (I've got some interesting thoughts about DK cards which I will be posting when they are completed) alongside multiplayer modes like 2 players against a boss or 2v2 3v3.

This news is also extra exciting in that we might see more WoW raid dungeons as a part of an adventure mode in the future. As a vanilla player I really wouldn't mind seeing more dungeons like Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj (40 men) (C'thun simply HAS to be in the game in one way or another!!!). Also 3-4 vs Onyxia's Lair would be pretty interesting as well. Although imagine playing Ragnaros against Ragnaros or Nefarian against Nefarian :) It would be pretty hilarious.

Curse of Naxxramas surely hints at many more dungeons to follow. After finishing up with vanilla raids, the likes of Black Temple, Tempest Keep (I'm still waiting for a Kael'Thas legendary card although his boss version would be incredibly entertaining) and of course Icecrown Citadel might present themselves. I am sure many of you have made some incredible memories in those dungeons like me and it would be fun to relive those moments in a rather more different and unique way with the help of Hearthstone! I can't wait!