Greetings, travelers.
I've been recently playing the three latest installments of Hearthstone's Solo Adventures. While playing them, I found myself enjoying the story much more than I thought, since they usually tend to be pretty back-bones. So, I thought I could make a little ranking just for fun. Yeah, it's ranking, not a tier list. Sorry for the clickbait.
As a quick disclaimer, I'll be just evaluating the storytelling, not the gameplay. Thus, Dungeon Run-likes and Dr. Boom's Puzzles are excluded, since they don't have much story going on (even if some of them have nice character moments). Also, this is obviously just my opinion. If you disagree, I encourage you to give your own opinion in a civil way or even make your own ranking.
Finally, beware, because there will be plenty of spoilers for pretty much every Solo Adventure.
So, let's begin.
#10 - Knights of the Frozen Throne: Icecrown Citadel
Let's get this out of the way. The Adventures which just try to recreate raids from World of Warcraft are all going to be at the bottom of the ranking. In terms of story, they tend to be a boss rush with a small twist in the end, if so.
Out of all of them, I find Icecrown Citadel to be the most basic. Sure, most characters here are iconic, but they're not depicted in an interesting way.
The best thing about this Adventure is the class challenge against The Lich King, but since that's a gameplay element, it doesn't count for this tier list.
#9 - Blackrock Mountain
In terms of pure storytelling, this is probably the most interesting out of all the WoW raid Adventures. I mean, it has the whole betrayal of Victor Nefarius and stuff happens not just at the end of the story.
That said, it hasn't much else going for it. Sure, the Dark Iron Dwarves have a pretty entretaining personality, but that's about it.
#8 - One Night in Karazhan
This might be a bit controversial, since I remember most people hating the party theme of this adventure back in the day, but I really enjoyed it. Hearthstone has a flavor distinct from the rest of the Warcraft universe, and I think this expansion really helped to cement this identity.
I'd highlight the Barnes wing, which was very cool and imaginative.
#7 - Curse of Naxxramas
Hearthstone's debut Adventure makes the top of the raid-inspired story modes. Yeah, it's true, the story is as basic as it gets, but there's one thing that elevates this Adventure.
Yeah, it's obviously Kel'Thuzad.
His Hearthstone personality is just so entretaining and sassy, I couldn't resist to put this on top. This is probably the first tonal departure Hearthstone had compared to the Warcraft universe, so, just like with Karazhan, you have to appreciate that.
#6 - Descent of Dragons: Galakrond's Awakening
I wouldn't be surprised if this was a fan favorite, but I honestly think there's too much going on here. As the conclusion of the experimental Year of the Dragon, this Adventure touches a lot of characters: the League of E.V.I.L., the League of Explorers, Karl and Lenny George, Kragg, Galakrond himself...
Sure, the conclusion of several arcs here is very satisfying (Reno and Karl/George come to mind), but I think I would've enjoyed it much more if this whole thing was a bit more focused.
In a way, this is like Hearthstone's Infinity War, a film which I don't personally enjoy as much as most people because of how many things it tries to focus on.
#5 - Ashes of Outlands: Trial by Felfire
In terms of pure storytelling, this is one of the strongest contenders in the whole ranking. Baduu leaving the group and later being brainwashed by the Rusted Legion was a very thrilling event. I also liked Aranna talking shit about her sister Elise, just to embrace her philosophy in the end. Sure, Illidan's final redemption was quite lame, but nobody is perfect.
Besides that, I also loved the flavor of assembling a group of Outcasts who help each other to survive (kinda like Aranna's own League of Explorers), even if the personality of none of them was particularly interesting.
So, why is this Adventure so low in the rank? Yeah, it's obviously the "talking in verse" gimmick. I guess they were trying to go for a shakesperean tragedy feel with this decision, but this whole thing is very optimistic for that. For a story which has its main characters' eyes replaced with demonic fireballs, it has a very feel-good and empathy-driven conclusion lol
In my opinion, this decision would've made way more sense for the Demon Hunter Prologue, since Illidan's story is quite tragic. Speaking of which...
#4 - Ashes of Outlands: Prologue
Even if in a pretty basic way, I think Illidan's fall from grace is pretty well told here. As I said above, this story's chain of misunderstandings has a very Greek/shakespearean tragedy flavor to them, in the sense that all issues are caused its protagonists' fatal flaws. Illidan's pride and power-hunger are obviously a pretty important part, but I like that the story also blames Malfurion's self-righteousness. All in all, pretty cool stuff.
#3 - Book of Heroes
I'm kinda surprised it took them so long to make this Adventure, since it's a pretty obvious move. Still, getting to know the background of these heroes we know from some long ago was pretty cool.
As someone whose main knowledge about the Warcraft universe comes from playing Warcraft III and reading the WoW Wiki, this story mode was pretty interesting. The stories told here had some familiarity, but I also discovered a lot of new information about Warcraft lore.
To be honest, this game mode is not without flaws. Some stories were not particularly well fit for being told in this fashion, which led to jarring time skips (ahem, Uther) or crucial character development being dispached with a short line of dialog.
Compared to something similar like the Demon Hunter Prologue, this is told in a more clumsy way, but, since this has more content, I decided to give it the upper hand.
#2 - The League of Explorers
We're the League! The Explorer's League! And we're a League of Explorers!
What's not to love here? Mysterious settings, thrilling adventures, ancient artifacts and memorable characters. All four members of the League and Rafaam are awesome and iconic. Sure, the story is a bit formulaic and mcguffin-y, but it's pretty entretaining (it's also very fitting that it's plot is structured like the first Indiana Jones movie).
This was the very first Hearthstone original story, which focused on (mostly) Hearthstone original characters. In a way, this is also the first expansion that feels like modern Hearthstone, so that alone makes it very important for the game as a whole.
But most crucially, it still holds up to this day as one of Hearthstone's best Adventures, at least in terms of story and characters.
#1 - Book of Mercenaries
I know this game mode isn't finished by now, but my god! The Stormwind battle, with Tamsin and Cariel's chapters is easily the most endearing story Hearthstone has ever told. Their relationship is so well done not just for Hearthstone, but for Warcraft in general. Cornelius' characterization as a strict father, just to end up like he does, and the way Cariel reacts to it. Awesome stuff.
I'll admit that I was pretty disapointed by the first two episodes (especially Rokara's), but the overarching story keeps ramping in a very well crafted way. Honestly, the final Alterac segment would need to flop incredibly hard for me to put this on second place.
And this was my ranking. I'd like to know your opinions or even your own personal rankings.
See you around :)
