Hearthstone

Yesterday, Blizzard released Whispers of the Old Gods, the latest full expansion to Hearthstone, and at least on the surface level it appears to be the craziest expansion the game’s seen yet. I’m still slightly apprehensive, but I do think the sorts of cards we’re getting with this expansion are really going to shake things up.

Each week, players can look forward to battling each other in often zany scenarios and rules with often hilarious results. This week, we’ll be taking a look at our five favorite Tavern Brawls, so go ahead and take a seat by the hearth!

It’s been over a month since Hearthstone’s latest expansion, The Grand Tournament, was released. I think it’s safe to say the dust has settled enough at this point to be able to judge the expansion’s impact on the game. Unfortunately, Hearthstone’s Grand Tournament has been anything but grand for a massive 132 card expansion.

Hearthstone’s latest expansion, The Grand Tournament, has only been live for about a week now, but there are already some clear winners and losers emerging from all the chaos. This is by no means determinative of where things will be for the rest of the TGT meta, but it’s fun to take a look at things as they are now nonetheless.

Following Blizzard’s all but confirmed expansion-adventure mode-expansion cadence, The Grand Tournament is the second pack-based expansion set for Hearthstone, which means players can look forward to a lot of new cards (132, to be exact!) when the expansion releases later next month.

Is Tavern Brawl a worthy addition to Hearthstone given the team’s desire to keep the overall experience pared down to only the cream of the crop? It should come as no surprise to you that I’m a fan given the article headline, but let’s dig a bit deeper into the new game mode.

Week Three was only significant in that it opened up the potential for Dragon Paladin, but let’s still dig through it and talk about the wing and new cards.

Another week, another wing of Hearthstone’s Blackrock Mountain. Last week’s wing took us into the depths of the infamous Molten Core with a new trio of bosses to conquer and new cards for both the Shaman (who desperately needed some love) and the Warlock (who didn’t). Let’s dig in.

I’ve got a love/hate relationship with these Hearthstone adventure modes. Five weeks until all the goodies are unlocked? Ugh! Still, it’s been an interesting last few days with a couple of new cards in the wild leading to the rise of some fun decks. With week one out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the new developments.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to crushing some dwarves when the first wing of the game’s second adventure zone, Blackrock Mountain, releases tomorrow, but it’ll be a couple of weeks until all the new cards are available. Unfortunately, that means some of my deck ideas will have to wait until all the wings are out. In the meantime, let’s round up some of the Blackrock Mountain cards we’re most excited for.

Hearthstone’s feature set remains somewhat barebones and the new year offers Blizzard many opportunities to expand on the game and perhaps make some changes to the way the approach certain aspects of dealing with its issues. This week, let’s take a look at a couple of ways Blizzard can improve the Hearthstone experience in 2015.

Just about anything you could do with Rogue since Naxxramas, you’d be better served doing with the game’s other classes. And now with Goblins vs. Gnomes, things appear to have gotten worse.

I thought it would be fun to attempt to rank the new class legendaries in the Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion based on how I’ve seen them played thus far.

Will I be able to adapt once Blizzard launches Goblins vs. Gnomes next week? I’m not sure. I’ve already felt overwhelmed by all the new cards that have been steadily revealed since the expansion was announced at BlizzCon, but I also can’t help but be excited for all the new possibilities.

Truth be told, I hadn’t played Hearthstone in a couple of months due to the game’s stagnating meta (Zoo, anyone?), but Naxxramas represented an opportunity to shake all of that up, so I dove right back in last week with the Arachnid Quarter. I have to say I am really enjoying Blizzard’s approach to expanding the game’s card set with adventure modes. It’s a neat combination of new cards and new content. But there is one problem: the wait is killing me!