Hearthstone’s new adventure ‘One Night in Karazhan’ revealed

Polish your dancing shoes and whip out those glow sticks; Blizzard’s online collectible card game, “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft,” is getting a brand new Adventure called “One Night in Karazhan”—and it’s all about getting your groove on.

We all know the role Azeroth’s most powerful mage, Medivh, had to play in the “Warcraft” mythos. Well, what better way to make up for one’s sins than to throw the most lavish party this side of the Eastern Kingdoms? “One Night in Karazhan” invites players to the Last Guardian’s tower for a night of singing, funky dancing, and all-around merrymaking.

Images: Blizzard Entertainment

Upon your arrival at the party, however, you discover that Medivh is nowhere in sight. Worse, his arcane objects collection is running amok, turning Karazhan into a madhouse. You’ll have to work with Medivh’s faithful butler, Moroes, to find your missing host and keep the festivities under control. And as the night progresses, you’ll find yourself encountering a host of iconic characters, playing against an enchanted chess set, and even participating in an Opera.

The story sounds great and all, but how does all that translate into game terms?

“One Night in Karazhan” plays out over a series of single-player missions all set in Medivh’s ivory citadel. The Adventure adds 45 new cards to “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft”—cards that can be earned by defeating bosses and completing special class challenges.

Wings

Like other Adventure add-ons, “One Night in Karazhan” will be released piecemeal, via weekly episodes called “wings.” Each wing is composed of a number of missions, surprises, and challenging bosses that must be defeated in order to earn the new cards.

The Adventure goes live on August 11. On said date, the prologue mission becomes available for free play. In it, players assume the role of Medivh. Not only do they get to wield the mage’s powerful magic and learn the reason behind his disappearance, they also receive two new cards, and get a glimpse of what “One Night in Karazhan” has to offer.

Following the prologue, each of the four wings—The Parlor, The Opera, The Menagerie, and The Spire—will be released on every subsequent Thursday. In order to play through the wings, players can choose to purchase the Adventure in its entirety for $19.99 or 2,800 Gold, or buy the wings individually for $6.99 or 700 Gold each. Blizzard will offer discount-bundles to those who use the latter method to acquire the wings.

Within a week of its release, “One Night in Karazhan” can be pre-ordered in full to be granted the Karazhan Nights card back.

New cards

Blizzard has revealed several of the 45 cards that players can add to their collection.

Some of these cards are fairly simple. For example, the low-cost druid card Enchanted Raven should prove useful to players hoping to build beast decks. On the other hand, you’ve got the rather expensive mage card Firelands Portal, which not only deals 5 damage to a selected target, but also randomly calls forth a 5-Cost minion, such as a Psycho-o-Tron or Doomguard.

Of course, the new set comes with legendary cards—Moroes and the Curator as shown above being two of them. Players can also craft golden versions of the cards.

Class challenges

“One Night in Karazhan” features nine new class challenges. By throwing the players into duels in which they have to use premade decks, these challenges will test how skillful they are with each class. Every victorious player who succeeds in all challenges wins a class card boasting the “One Night in Karazhan” theme.

Heroic Mode

After besting a wing’s bosses, players can then play the Heroic Mode version of the wing for a far greater challenge. Emerging victorious from the Heroic Mode will award players the “One Night in Karazhan” card back.

Arena

After the release of each wing, its cards will be introduced to the Arena mix, making them available for everyone to use, whether or not they’ve played said wing.

“‘One Night in Karazhan’ will give players the chance to party with Medivh while earning some great new cards for their collections,” stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment’s co-founder and CEO. “We’re excited to reimagine one of Azeroth’s most beloved locations in ‘Hearthstone,’ and we can’t wait to see players put their new decks to the test.”

“One Night in Karazhan” will be available on Mac and Windows PCs; iOS, Android, and Windows tablets; and iOS and Android mobile phones. — BM, GMA News

For more information about “One Night in Karazhan,” visit its official site.