It was more or less inevitable to see Blizzard turn his GCC north of Azeroth, more specifically to that piece of Lore that had fallen in love with Warcraft III and World of Warcraft players, related to the transformation of Prince Arthas Menethil into Lich King after "sell" the soul to Ner'zhul's spirit. This element of the Lore is relatively stable since a brave group of heroes climbed the fortress of Icecrown to challenge the Lich King, defeating it and leaving Bolvar Fordragon in control of the Scourge, because as we know, there will always be a Lich King.
It was in this thematic that Blizzard supported to present / display the most recent expansion of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, the celebrated digital card game, that in full year of the Mammoth, brings to us each of the heroes of game in format of Death Knight, a a new type of card that replaces the traditional hero, modifying his standard Hero Power, plus take advantage of a powerful Battlecry that matches his archetype of cards and has the potential to change the fate of a game.
So far, the release of Knights of the Frozen Throne is simultaneously the biggest success and failure for Blizzard. It is a victory due to the amount of content presented, the expansion brings with it about half of the typical challenges of the old adventures, completely free for all. Over the course of the first few weeks, players have been given eight bosses to deal with, who strongly encourage the use of new mechanics introduced by the 135 new expansion cards, and will be familiar to all who played World of Warcraft in 2008-2009.
There is a Prologue, two wings of three bosses and a final confrontation with the Lich King, which if surpassed with all classes, rewards us with the Arthas skin for the Paladin class. Additionally, after completing the prologue, we are entitled to a legendary Death Knight card, with a set of packs along the way.
And because we're talking about news, Lifesteal is the new keyword of expansion, a mechanic that is not at all unfamiliar with collectible card games, and which may be associated with a minion or weapon, controller, equal to the damage dealt by the card.
Knights of the Frozen Throne is then a mix of PvP and PvE news, adding to the Mammoth's standard year-round environment, which this year will receive a third expansion. Let's say it was a kind of flexing of muscles, which aims to ensure that all players can enjoy the contents of the icy throne, an option that adds to the changes in the rules of opening packs, which put an end to the frustration of the legendary repeated.
But then what has Blizzard failed to do with expansion? It took only a few weeks for the more competitive players to realize that a goal that was already dominated by many archetypes became fully controlled by the druid class, which currently has the most popular and well-rated ladder 3-4 deck types.
It is true that the entry of the new cards allowed the formation of several different and amusing amalgams, but this is not enough, it is necessary that the synergies between cards and decks be pushed to the limit, in order to guarantee a system in which the players have several hypotheses competitive, preferably according to your style of play. That is not what happened, and there are already nerfs on the way, which is an admission of some failure.
In the field of arenas the case is much less serious considering the randomness of the choices, some Death Knight Hero Cards are extremely powerful for the limited, but the players are accustomed to pay this price in this type of environments. More debatable is the introduction of a card like Bonemare at the level of a common, 'bicho' that is still neutral, and which currently dominates the arenas mid-game, is annoying.
VERDICT
I do not remember seeing such a contradictory expansion, the theme is passionate for the fans of always and is very well reflected in the new letters and mechanics, with the new Hero Death Knight to the head. The volume of content available to everyone is also remarkable, however, if you play Hearthstone in a minimally serious way, it is impossible not to be bothered by the current state of the goal, which saw the promised promise of diversity being delayed a few more times.
