Curse of Naxxramas Finally Hits

Hearthstone’s first expansion the Curse of Naxxramas has finally hit servers, after long months of waiting and eager anticipation. The final cards to accompany the expansion were finally revealed yesterday, a host of Deathrattles continuing the trend that has become apparent with past card reveals (Baron Rivendare anyone?).

The surprise for many players was that the return of servers after maintenance was not necessarily the launch of Naxxramas — a further three hours being necessary before Naxx was finally released to the wild. A Blue post from Aratil in the forums confirmation “that this maintenance is not for the Curse of Naxxramas Adventure” — leaving many to wonder (verbally and with much fervor) just what the maintenance had been for in the first place.

Nevertheless, despite getting in to the first Hearthstone Adventure a little later than I had wanted, I’ve got to admit to being pretty impressed.

Straight out of the gate, the design and voice-work that greets the player is as top-notch as you would expect from Blizzard. You really feel the makings of an adventure as you step inside the vaults of Naxxramas, much to the displeasure of Kel’Thuzad. It’s as polished as the rest of the game has been, however I found that, even after 9 hours of the game being live, it was still frustratingly laggy through the solo-campaign.

We’re faced with three bosses in the first wing each of which grant cards as a reward:

• Anub’Rekhan grants you two copies of the Haunted Creeper
• Beating Grand Widow Faerlina awards you with a pair of Nerub’ar Weblord cards
• And the final boss of Naxxramas is the massive spider, Maexxna. Defeating her provides two Nerubian Egg cards, and as she is the last boss of the wing, the final reward is the 6-2/8 Maexxna card itself.

Kel’Thuzad’s commentary through the first dungeon keeps things interesting, while the opponents are sufficiently difficult for the average player. There don’t appear to be any restrictions as to what they can place in their hands — as I have found myself up against a multitude of Worshipper cards when playing the Grand Widow, and a half dozen Haunted Creeper’s as I played Maexxna.

Upon unlocking the first wing you are granted access to two class-specific challenges — druid and rogue, each of which will provide a class specific card upon competing. The decks are premade, by the looks of things, and include some of the new Naxxramas cards to play with as you try to defeat your opponent.

The lack of gold rewards makes it a little difficult to be able to free-to-play your way through the upcoming wings — each of which cost $7 or 700 gold. However, with that small issue aside, Curse of Naxxramas is a fully-fledged expansion to an already kick-ass game. If you haven’t already gotten into the world of Hearthstone, then now is a great time to experience one of the most impressive free-to-play games on the market.