The first wing of Curse of Naxxramas™: A Hearthstone™ Adventure has opened! Players can now put their decks to the test against the malevolent undead who roam Azeroth’s most infamous floating necropolis—without spending a single coin. The Arachnid Quarter, the first of the Adventure’s five sinister wings, is now available—free for a limited time—to all Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft™ players who step into the necropolis during the Curse of Naxxramas launch event, taking place now through early September.
“Curse of Naxxramas introduces a whole new way to play Hearthstone”
Curse of Naxxramas pits solo Hearthstone players against a series of iconic, necrotic bosses, each with its own unique powers and cards to command. Heroes will need to draw on all of their wits and deck-building prowess to prevail over Naxxramas’s horrors, earning a total of 30 new cards along the way that can be used in regular play—including a new Legendary card for completing each wing.
“Curse of Naxxramas introduces a whole new way to play Hearthstone,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Players of all skill levels will find plenty to challenge them within Naxxramas’s haunted corridors—and plenty of new options for their decks with the new cards we’re adding.”
A new wing of Naxxramas will open each week, and access to these four additional wings may be purchased for 700 gold per wing or $6.99 per wing. Players can earn the in-game gold needed to unlock the next wing by completing various quests or emerging victorious from the game’s Arena mode—or they can choose to unlock the next available Naxxramas wing using real money.
eRe4s3r wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 19:46:
The land thing was always one of these things house rules fixed where I played back then.. heh, that's probably now more than 5 years ago... but we never enforced the mulligan rules of tournament. you could reroll all cards with no restrictions if you didn't roll a land or gate, or whatever But only until you had a land. (so yeah, we forced you to start with a deck made of only land if you had THAT kind of luck ,p) Seen that too.. heh
I don't really know why, but in Hearthstone with the low combination counts that a class gives you, you end up feeling like you don't ever really have control or a fully working strategy. I always lack 2 or 3 cards to really build a good synergetic deck (and I don't mean a hunter-wild-animals zoo or warlock murlock of doom). And most of the time my counters to things are only ever turning up in situations where I don't need them (probably because there are so few friggin counters to anything in HS, secrets are such a thing.. argh!) Only 1 counter in HS against secrets or shrouded creatures.. that is just.. nonsense..
This is why every year I hope MTG comes out with a PROPER game for PC where the battles don't feel so archaic and unepic (yes.. it's just cards doing damage numbers to other cards, but HS at least gets *that* right) attacks feel heavy, and spells look cool.
Keilun wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 17:12:
Sorry yeah I know what Dredge is. I just thought all the hate was reserved for land destruction decks. But I did get my fair share of hate from blue control decks too. I didn't mind dredge decks too much. But maybe that's because when they were popular I had lots of graveyard removal/exile combos to counter them.
I think maybe MTG seems less RNG dependent because there are so many different strategies to go with. But I've had my fair share of MTG games where I had zero land in all 6 mulligans. Really going past 2-3 mulligans and you might as well forfeit anyway. I more or less equate that to the RNG of getting all big fatties in your Hearthstone hand or cards that you don't necessarily want to play in your first 3 turns. I'm sure the smaller HS deck/hand size contribute to RNG feeling. I did love making giant decks in MTG though for the added surprise in every game (kind of like singleton decks, but with extra variance). I can only hope Hearthstone looks at adding new game modes along those lines.
Keilun wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 15:09:eRe4s3r wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 12:29:
Oh? And Dredge decks don't make you feel bad?
I thought that title was reserved for land removal decks. I was chewed out enough on MTGO when I ran those puppies. So much hate. And yes I'm a horrible person.
eRe4s3r wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 12:29:
Oh? And Dredge decks don't make you feel bad?
SimplyMonk wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 10:49:
I will say, I've never played a CCG that has caused me so much rage when losing a game due to random luck. Not even playing against Blue control decks in Magic and people that play Blue control are horrible people and should feel bad.
Keilun wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 10:20:eRe4s3r wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 07:59:
Your strategy is based on pure random luck... I tried it, turn 1 she draws rush 2/3 and +1+1 for each death rattle, turn 2 she has combined attack power of 8, far beyond anything you can actually draw on the deck on turn 2. And other variations have been 3 of the guys that give her 3+ attack by turn 4.. yeah! Hero with 9 attack...
Yeah you probably need some luck here. If her hero power wiped my board after turn 2, it's over. Otherwise the strategy was just to build a snowballing minion to take care of everything and clear your hand asap.
It was the only way I could find a way to match her giant characters. By the end my berserker was something like 17-10. She would immediately wipe any other characters off my board. I was relieved that it only took me 2 tries. You absolutely must clear her worshippers. In one game she put out 4 of them in a row. That was gg. Those guys are worse than her hero power.
I'm sure someone will come up with a more consistent way of beating her. I didn't require too many tweaks from my standard warrior rush deck, since it worked on my 2nd try. I'd imagine I would be removing things the 3 and 4 drops for 1/2 drops for some hand clearing consistency.
A zoolock deck might work better with all the discard drops you can put in there.
[Edit]: Found this discussion on the HS forums that seems to have found some consistency with a decklist:
http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/13507081260
Some of the posts there also won using similar snowball a minion strategy (with priest/druid/warrior). Seems the AI's not good at handling them. But they all admit some luck involved.
Keilun wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 04:41:descender wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 23:52:
The heroic bosses are just insane.
If anyone was worried about "completing" this part of the content too quickly well... good luck. The first heroic boss summons a 4/4 for 2 mana on turn one, and then it gets worse from there.
<strats>
descender wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 19:25:
I agree that each individual game is a little "luck of the draw" but... what card game isn't?
I don't agree that there is "limited deck design".
Cutter wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 22:54:Flatline wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 18:31:
Is anyone playing Hearthstone? Is it any good?
Go play Card Hunter instead! Way better and you're supporting the little guy instead of pricks like Nodick.
eRe4s3r wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 07:59:
Your strategy is based on pure random luck... I tried it, turn 1 she draws rush 2/3 and +1+1 for each death rattle, turn 2 she has combined attack power of 8, far beyond anything you can actually draw on the deck on turn 2. And other variations have been 3 of the guys that give her 3+ attack by turn 4.. yeah! Hero with 9 attack...
Keilun wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 04:41:
For Faerlina:
This one was probably the hardest matchup for me. I used a Warrior rush deck here. The key was to use low mana cost and empty your hand, same as when fighting her normal mode. Similarly, she didn't have anything in the way of creature removal short of her hero power. This one required a bit of luck in the draw, but I basically laid down the enrage creatures: amani berserker, raging worgen, frothing berserker (along with cruel taskmaster). Rampage helped a lot too since a lot of your minions will be damaged from her hero power. In my case I was lucky enough to not have my board cleared by the first hero power and I could then stack rampage on my berserkers.
descender wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 23:52:
The heroic bosses are just insane.
If anyone was worried about "completing" this part of the content too quickly well... good luck. The first heroic boss summons a 4/4 for 2 mana on turn one, and then it gets worse from there.
I agree that each individual game is a little "luck of the draw" but... what card game isn't?
Flatline wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 18:31:
Is anyone playing Hearthstone? Is it any good?
SimplyMonk wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 18:39:Flatline wrote on Jul 22, 2014, 18:31:
Is anyone playing Hearthstone? Is it any good?
I've enjoyed the time I spent on it. Roughly maybe 20-30 hours or so since Beta. I haven't invested any money in it though due to the game play itself being too much luck of the draw, no player trading, limited deck design and boosters being a little to costly in my opinion. The metagame sounds a little boring at the high end to me as well. I've never ranked more than 20, but I have two friends in the 5ish range where they say it is more luck in match-up and draw than skill. Grind, grind, grind.
Production value is fantastic though and I'll definitely be trying out Naxx. Just have better places to put my disposable income.