Creating Hearthstone – Talking Kobolds & Catacombs with Blizzard

We chat with Blizzard's Dean Ayala and to talk about the story behind the new Hearthstone expansion, Kobolds & Catacombs, and more.

Kobolds & Catacombs, the latest expansion for Hearthstone, is available now. In addition to bringing new dungeon themed cards to the fold, the expansion also brings perhaps what is the most re-playable single-player mode seen so far in the long-running digital card game. Called Dungeon Run, it's essentially a boss run mode where delving deeper into the dungeon triggers increasingly more difficult boss battles. And of course, better rewards.

Days before the release of Kobolds & Catacombs we caught up with Dean Ayala, one of Hearthstone’s designers. Who, came to the company in the sort of dream come true way that all Blizzard fans tend to spend at least one afternoon every now and then pondering. As a fan of both Warcraft II and World of Warcraft, the at-the-time restaurant consultant Dean Ayala began his career at Blizzard as part of the Quality Assurance team for WoW. It was whilst Hearthstone was still a well-kept secret that he fell in love with the digital card game, and joined the team as a designer. Even now, several years later, this means ensuring that new cards make a difference, whilst balancing the delicate meta.