Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2017/07/07/hearthstone-expanding-again-but-this-time-im-kind-of-interested/
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It’s no secret that Hearthstone has lost its luster since its glory days back in 2014/2015. I’m only speaking for myself, of course, as I know there are still millions of players who play and love it. It just got big enough that I lost track of what the hell was going on, kind of like life. It seemed easier to ditch the game than try to learn the new cards and metas and, surprise, I’m the kind of guy who usually takes the easier path. Today, however, Blizzard announced the next expansion for Hearthstone and it might just be what was needed to drag me back in.
The new expansion is titled Knights of the Frozen Throne and covers my favorite part of Warcraft lore, the birth of the Forsaken and the rise of the Lich King, Arthas. I used to play World of Warcraft a lot [yes, Dave used to be even a bigger nerd, if you can imagine -ed.] and by far my favorite content involved my treks to the frozen landscapes of Northrend in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. That’s not the only cool thing about the latest expansion, however.
Last year, Blizzard announced they would no longer be creating the single-player adventure expansions, which were the only things I still looked forward to. Knights of the Frozen Throne is a regular “big” expansion with 135 new cards, but it’s also including new single player content. Unlike previous solo adventures which cost upwards of $20, this new content is free. It includes eight new boss battles culminating in a showdown with the Lich King himself. As usual, you unlock new cards as you make your way through the content and I might redownload the game just to have the chance to take on Arthas.
The other big addition is the inclusion of a new class, Death Knights. Well, it’s kind of a new class. You cannot choose to become a Death Knight from the beginning, instead there are now “hero” cards that, when played, convert your current hero into a Death Knight with new abilities and more:
Hero cards are an entirely new card type that are neither spell, minion, nor weapon. When played, each Death Knight Hero card replaces your hero, casts a Battlecry, dons some hefty armor, AND provides a new Hero Power. While each Death Knight hero is different, they all offer possibilities that can transform the way you play Hearthstone.It's not ideal--I would have preferred an entirely new class that I could play from scratch--but it still sounds like a fun idea. Will all this new content get me back into spending money on boosters? Maybe not, but it's the closest I've been in a long, long time. https://youtu.be/DgaBjPyMtXo