Hearthstone will receive three major expansion packs next year, giving the card-collecting community about four months each to prepare for the new content.
Speaking with Metabomb in a recent interview, lead artist Ben Thompson pointed out that each expansion pack will also feature a narrative-driven single-player campaign.
Blizzard has completely dropped the idea of Adventures and will continue forth stuffing solo missions inside card expansion packs instead of giving them an independent release. The developer believes this to be a better balance for the game.
“It’s hard to put definitive numbers to those sets, but three full sets – whatever that may mean, give or take cards – is absolutely the plan, with missions in each,” Thompson confirmed. “At this point we feel it’s best to continue to add mission content to the actual release set for several reasons.”
Knights of the Frozen Throne featured a well-received single-player campaign that rewarded free loot to players. The upcoming Kobolds and Catacombs will also feature a similar dungeon run.
Thompson noted that there were a few concerns with Adventures because players were locked out of the loot until they completed them. Sandwiching both the paid card expansions and free solo missions solves that.
“For that reason, putting together three full releases with mission content is a big part of how we see the game going forwards,” Thompson stated.
Kobolds and Catacombs will officially release for Hearthstone on December 7. Those who do secure an early purchase will receive a total of fifty card packs for $50. There is also the “For the Hoard” card back in the mix, which becomes available as soon as the purchase takes place. The card packs, however, will only unlock on date of release.
