I was eagerly awaiting Hearthstone’s first single player adventure, the Curse of Naxxramas because I was hoping that it would be a fun single player experience that I could play offline. Now that the expansion is finally out, I’m kind of disappointed.

While there is a loose structure of a plot, the expansion can really be summarized as follows:

• 15 battles against new heroes and set decks, where you win a new card for each victory.
• Class challenges where you use a set deck and hero, and fight another set deck/hero combo. You get another card for each victory
• Heroic mode where you can win a new card back if you complete it

The first wing (of 5) was free so I tried it out. I got through the 3 battles and 2 class challenges pretty quickly (on the first try). I was disappointed that the single player was simply more straightforward card battles. Sure the new cards are fun to see (and possibly use), but there’s no real collecting aspect to the game (i.e., you can’t grind for anything new).

I had saved up in-game gold to potentially buy additional wings. It costs 700 gold, but if you want to spend real money you get a slight discount ($20 for remaining 4 wings). I had considered just buying the wings and using the gold on additional card packs; but I also realized that I would always get more gold to buy card packs. So I might as well spend it on wings. Now I’m conflicted. You’re basically paying 700 gold for 6 new cards (one of which is legendary). If you spent it on packs, you would get up to 35 new cards, with at least 7 of those rare or better (but possibly no legendaries).

It’s too bad that the single player experience just isn’t great enough that the decision is easy.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: games