New expansion pack for Hearthstone was revealed at BlizzCon 2017! The expansion pack goes by the name of ‘Kobolds and Catacombs’, which has a roguelike single-player mode called ‘Dungeon Run’.

In ‘Dungeon Run’, players start out with Basic decks for their class and fight against bosses that gradually gets stronger, and gain treasure and cards to build their decks. It is clear how much care the devs put into this seeing the numbers of cards only made for this mode.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that exploring dungeon is just it for this expansion. The new keywords are Recruit, Spell Stone, and Unidentified Cards. This is an expansion pack that players who don't play single player mode can also enjoy.

We had the chance to ask the Hearthstone devs, Ben Brode and Yong Woo about the reason they developed such expansion pack and what new excitement lay in the new system.

Could you briefly tell us about the new expansion pack, ‘Kobolds and Catacombs’?

Ben Brode: ‘Kobolds and Catacombs’ is like a love letter from the Hearthstone team to classic dungeon exploration. The important keywords for this expansion pack are treasure, journey, and exploration. Well, the most important among these would be the ‘treasure’. Also, the most interesting part of this is that each class gets one Legendary weapon for the first time in the game.

And new single-player mode, ‘Dungeon Run’, will be added as well. It is completely free and can be enjoyed with the cards players are given.  

Is there any reason ‘Kobolds and Catacombs’ was chosen as the theme for this expansion pack?

Yong Woo: Everyone in the Hearthstone development team was indeed very interested in dungeons and fantasies when they were young. Personally, it was hard for me to make friends and overcome the language barrier when I left South Korea to learn English for the first time since I was in a foreign country. Then, I started to learn English and make a lot of friends when I started to play dungeon RPGs. That is why I love dungeon role-playing fantasies where you get to explore dungeons.

All our team members had something similar like this when we got to talk about it. When we made Hearthstone 4 years ago, we hoped that other players would love and enjoy playing card games like this since that is what we love, too. That is why we chose this concept for the new expansion so that our players can feel like they are role-playing in dungeon fantasies as they play Hearthstone.

Are there any new effects that are going to be added to this expansion pack, like ‘Quest’ or ‘Discover’?

Yong Woo: The new keyword for this expansion pack is Recruit. Use Recruit to summon a random minion right from your deck and Battlecry is not applied. When you enter a dungeon in RPGs, there are many times you’d be entering with an ally or another hero, which we turned into a part of the game.

Also, new content like Spell Stone was added, which is one of the various items found in the dungeon. They are basically cards that become stronger in your hand once you meet certain conditions.

When we were making the Un’Goro expansion, we had a far greater time with quests, although the quest may have been difficult since they are legendary cards. However, Spell Stone is a Basic card, and everyone will be able to get Spell Stone easily. I hope everyone who has Spell Stone can play the quest much more easily.

In case of this expansion pack, turning to the Wild cards might be sooner than before so players who enjoy playing the Standard format may consider buying the pack.

Ben Brode: We are sure many of our fans will enjoy the expansion since there are many fun effects from newly added cards and the meta can be changed. As for Dungeon Run, it is really fun- it is a piece of content in which the cards actually used in the Wild game modes can be used as well. And there are still many players who enjoy playing Wild game modes. I think many Hearthstone players will love the expansion pack whether the cards will become Wild or not.

What was the aspect you considered most important in the making of ‘Kobolds and Catacombs’?

Ben Brode: Some main aspects were the vibe the expansion pack gave and the new effects. Additionally, we paid a lot of attention so that players would feel as if they are hunting treasure in the dungeon while playing Dungeon Run, which includes parts like Legendary weapons or Spell Stones. Again, we paid a lot of attention to this part for players to feel as if they are ‘truly exploring’ a dungeon.

We’d like to know why you made ‘Marin the Fox’ as the BlizzCon bonus instead of card backs. Also, is ‘Marin the Fox’ a card that doesn’t become Wild like ‘Gelbin Mekkatorque’?

Yong Woo: ‘Marin the Fox’ will stay with the Kobolds expansion as just a card until it is turned Wild. It is closer to C’Thun rather than Mekkatorque. Of course, the card back which was provided with pre-order will still be given.

One of the things that we wanted to try out at BlizzCon is enjoying players’ reaction and energy after the announcement. I’ve watched people hiding their gift under the chair, giving it out of surprise and enjoying the moment many times on TV. That energy and the reactions were really entertaining, so I wanted to try doing it once. That’s why I wanted to make a scene with me saying “everyone here can have this!” when I announced the Kobolds.

Not all classes had their own weapon, but the legendary weapons are added to all classes this time. Is there any feature that you paid attention to the most, in order to reveal the characteristics of the weapons?

Ben Brode: We have dedicated ourselves to it so that legendary weapons are designed to represent the characteristic of each character. Weapons until the last update did this job really well. For example, a Warrior has that particular hit sound, and Priest and Mage didn’t have a special weapon because it doesn’t usually matter.

It doesn’t mean that the class feature can be completely changed with new additional weapons. He claimed that the balance of weapons has been adjusted and that they show the true potential of each class. Even though priest and mage use an expression of “weapon”, it doesn’t mean that they charge to the enemy and smack their heads with their “weapon”. Other classes such as Warrior have been re-designed to give a more satisfying hit sound.

Since we have a legendary weapon, will we have a legendary minion as well?

Yong Woo: We have developed the game to contain legendary weapons for all classes, and also legendary minions. The total number will be 135, and the number of cards added for each class will be similar to last year.

Will cards that destroy a weapon such as Slime become more valuable with many legendary weapons updated?

Yong Woo: That’s possible if players use legendary weapons quite often. We had a look at how the meta flows by using the internal test. We are paying close attention to how players will make a meta with legendary weapons.

Is there any appealing reward for players once they finish Dungeon Run?

Yong Woo: When we draw new players, it’s not a good if the main appeal of a mode is that it has some kind of reward but isn’t really fun; that somewhat forces you to play. We are trying to make the mode itself entertaining, regardless of the reward. That’s how we designed this Dungeon Run as well, and the mode gives the card back when a player clears all 8 bosses. Note that this Dungeon Run shouldn’t be underestimated and is very challenging. You may be proud if you manage to get the card back.

Unidentified cards were revealed on the official website, we are curious as to what kind of card it is.

Yong Woo: It’s a new card in this expansion, and has its own ability. For example, it may give +2/+2 to a certain minion. You can check its ability once the card gets in your hand. It may also give you an extra chance of taunt. Players do not know what kind of ability it will provide unless they have it checked first. It’s not legendary, and only 3 of them are given to each class, whereas classes have one Spell Stone each.

Will Dungeon Run be a mode that players can keep playing?

Ben Brode: We are planning to keep providing single-player content in every expansion. We can’t say that how the next ones will come out is the same with Dungeon Run. We are trying out many ways through various game modes. We will receive feedback for this mode from players and consider more about the single-player mode.

Yong Woo: It’s been already 4 years since the launch of Hearthstone. There are players who played the game in the beginning and stopped, and those who hesitate to play thinking that the game wouldn’t be fun since there are no more of the cards they had 2 to 3 years ago. I can see that there are quite a number of them. That actually affected us when we were developing the Dungeon Run. The mode starts with 10 cards regardless of what cards you already have, and you can make your own deck as you take on an adventure. We would like to make modes where players can experience the fun of Hearthstone without a burden, just like this one.

It seems that you consider new or old players who are not playing anymore while you are developing the game.

Yong Woo: We are trying to make the game in a way that players want to enjoy. Some players enjoy the game every day, and some try the game every 3 months when the new expansion comes out. We’ve been handing out the legendary cards for free through the Mail in the Box, and more when we launch the expansion along with the single-player mode, and one more randomly when the mission is completed. Thus we are planning to take the same method with Kobolds and Catacombs by offering a legendary weapon for free when players log in so that casual players also get a chance of getting the new expansion’s core card and experiencing the main entertainment. We are focusing very much on this aspect.

Ben Brode: We also have a feature that was applied a few months ago. It helps a returning player to adapt to the game much easier. The features that offer a free card pack after completing a mission and automatic deck formation were added. We soon realized that they are working just fine as a result. Many tended to come back, played a few games, and stopped playing again before, but we were able to detect that the features retain players longer than before.

Yong Woo: We are also trying to resolve these issues with game events. We are planning to provide new experiences, such as playing two different classes at once in the arena as a Halloween event, on a regular basis. We plan to proceed with such events in this expansion as well.

There are not many Korean players who enjoy DnD. It won’t be easy to make the dungeon play appealing to them.

Yong Woo: Not only Dungeons and Dragons, but most RPG fantasies have players exploring inside of dungeons. The very first instance of WoW was the Deadmines, after all. There is a fantasy experience when you enter the dungeon, explore, and get the item. That’s what everyone in the world experiences. You can experience this content especially in games. Even Final Fantasy has many underground instances, so we are not concerned too much.

The ability Recruit would probably seem similar to the card search in other games.

Ben Brode: Recruit is the system that picks a random card out of the deck. Whereas the search picks a certain card, this performs a random summon. Of course, Recruit is not a perfect randomness but it may limit to a certain type of cards. The cards such as Guild Recruiter, which will be introduced later in the panel session, recruits minions that require less than 4 mana. It would be easier to understand if you see it as a complete randomness, but with certain cards, specific conditions apply.

There were cards in previous expansions that supplemented the characteristics and concepts of a certain class such as Frost Mage or Demonology Warlock. Will there be similar cards in this expansion as well?

Ben Brode: Generally, the composition of cards in a certain class includes key cards that become a part of a specific meta, and others that support these meta cards. Players tend to make a deck with new concepts and change the meta like that. Cards which either change the meta, or empower the features of that meta, will surely be added in this expansion as well.

Yong Woo: Shaman’s Spell Stone becomes more powerful as it overloads. We've been often adding cards in an overload deck, and this Spell Stone through the Kobolds expansion would become a chance to try out the overload deck for players. As Ben Brode mentioned, we are watching players change the deck concepts as cards are given out one by one. Shaman’s Spell Stone will probably be announced later at the panel talk, which I personally think is a very powerful card. For your information, Spell Stone can also be seen at the Hearthstone Arena.

The expansion packs came out in the Year of the Mammoth. Will there be 3 expansion packs every year?

Yong Woo: It may change as we keep on making Hearthstone, but we aim to develop 3 expansion packs every year.

Any last words for Korean Hearthstone fans?

Ben Brode: I hope you all enjoy the new expansion pack. Also, Dungeon Run are really fun so do play it and we’d very much appreciate your opinions and feedback. And those of you at BlizzCon, please give us feedback after you play the demo version!

Yong Woo: We’d like to ask for feedback after you play the demo. I think this is just the beginning for our Dungeon Run. I think we’d be able to make modes even more fun for our fans to enjoy and let them give good feedback. Whenever we make new things like this, we feel that Hearthstone will become an even better game and players that stopped playing will enjoy playing it again. We will try to make a Hearthstone that gets better and better as time goes by.