Although Hearthstone is an online game, only the solo mode appeals to me now. At least that’s the case for Cortyn.
Hearthstone is one of Blizzard’s games that is regularly supplied with a large amount of new content. After all, new expansions with 135 fresh cards are released roughly every 4 months. So, there’s always something new just a few weeks away. And yet, it hasn’t been the new cards that have made me log into Hearthstone regularly for a long time – it’s the solo modes like the Troll Arena or Monster Hunt.
I still remember well when Blizzard said that there would no longer be purely adventure-based content in Hearthstone. Instead, they would release several thematic expansions with many cards each year and also offer a free solo mode to support them.
The concerns within the community were significant back then. People assumed that the missions in Hearthstone would only be a small addition and would be “cheap” or “uninteresting.”
But the exact opposite has happened. The solo missions have become the best part of Hearthstone for me in the last expansions. I can play five or ten matches in a row and constantly try out a new deck, new tactics, or a new shrine.
On one hand, it’s great that the solo mode in Hearthstone gives me so much. On the other hand, it makes me sad that the rest of the game simply “doesn’t appeal to me anymore” and not even duels with friends really excite me.
“In the past,” I used to start farming quests weeks in advance, so that I would have 4000-5000 gold by the launch of an expansion to spend many hours in the arena and earn new decks. The appeal has completely disappeared now. More than 2-3 hours of arena playtime since the launch of Rastakhans Rumble, I’ve probably spent several times that in the solo mode.
If I’m not busy exploring the Troll Arena, then I play in standard mode with a random deck, where I just put Wurbelfitz the Wonderful into my deck. Because then I get one of several random decks that even correspond to current deck formulas and include cards from Rastakhans Rumble. Why spend money or arcane dust when I can play current decks with just one card from the last expansion?
I can’t even pinpoint exactly what bothers me so much. Maybe it’s the “same old” new appearance of cards, which now resembles an item spiral in MMORPGs. But just like in an MMO, the item spiral loses its appeal after a while, and you crave something fresh to shake up the whole game. Hearthstone could really use something like that right now.
I hope that eventually, a tournament mode or a “2vs2” mode that was considered years ago will be implemented. That would bring fresh air into the game, which the current expansions simply cannot deliver.
What are you currently playing in Hearthstone? Are you still climbing the ladder to become a “legendary” player? Or has your interest in the game also waned somewhat?
