Just a quick reminder, that Arena still exists and can actually be fun! - Though I understand why you shouldn't spend your gold right now, with the new expansion looming!

***

After quite some time I decided to give Arena another shot. I actually didn't even know there was a Dual-Class event ongoing still.

Long story short:

I drafted a Warlock/Demon Hunter with Cairne Bloodhoof, Ragnaros the Firelord and Ysera, plus decent early game and quite some draw.

And damn, this deck seems unfair! (Although I don't know the meta). It definitely helps me being reintroduced to Arena.

EDIT: Went 7-3 but I immeditately started the next run. :)

Anybody complete this achievement?   I am at 26 and can't seem to find anymore.

I've been trying to  bear the new adventure with all three teammate choices. It was pretty easy with Finley, but now i am trying with the pirate lady and its been terrible. They give you some kind of zoo druid deck for the final fight and its abysmal to beat her. Has anyone cleared it yet?

Hi to all!

I don't known if I'm doin' things right (it's my first forum thread here), but just give a read to this.

Some days ago diamond Loatheb was added to the game, so I've think it was time to play old adventures for getting the set cards without crafting them and in the end that sweet diamond version.

But since this adventure is the first, i noticed is extra easy if played with deck made with all the pool of cards we have now, so i was looking to the internet if there were information about the actual card pool of that time, i wasn't able to find exactly the list of the cards, but it was clear were just basic and classic cards.

And this bring me to the question in the title of the thread: why we can't just play this adventure in the ol' fashioned way? I think it would be a cool and/or a challenging experience! Also 'cause it's hard to make a deck like those old times in wild because nerfs, buffs, replaced cards ecc...

What do you think Out of Cards community?

(The best community imho)

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 :)

Hi guys - I completed this thing some time ago, and the Illidan Book of Heroes, but I don't seem to have the achievements, though I do have the little crown thing over their heads. Is there a quick way to get the achievement credit, or will i just have to do them again?

It's probably past your mind before. What if there was an event where quests were offered maybe..... 25% of the time. Or 100 if we're going nuts. And you'd be offered a random of the 3 quests for every class (sorry dh) and a higher chance of receiving the necessary support cards for them if you do select to take it. On paper it sounds really fun. Do you think it would work?

Got the Halloween graphics set up and everything. Can Arena players have duel class, it's um Oct 19th? Nope. Not only does standard wild battlegrounds and this new excuse for a mode suck but for the only game mode you can play now we are not going to even give you that.

Wow.

It has been a while since the last Arena Impact thread here on out of cards. The last one dates back to the Ashes of Outland card reveal and it had only two people rating cards and it didn't get a lot of response. To be frank, I believe the thread went by mostly unnoticed to me as well. Still, I always enjoy reading such threads and I feel a bit sad that there wasn't such a thread for recent expansions. To hopefully prevent this from happening this time around I decided to raise some attention, hence this thread.

Arena is my main mode, been on the leaderboard once, and I'm willing to rate cards for Arena completely voluntary. Would people be interested in an Arena Impact thread for United in Stormwind? Would anyone else be willing to rate cards for Arena format specifically? I'm willing to do this on my own if I have to, but of course, it's a lot more fun if more people are involved. Personally, I don't care if you're staff here on OoC nor if you're an experienced Arena player or not, but I'm no staff member either so if any staff member can comment on this that would be nice.

Also, if you're not willing to put in the time to rate cards for the Arena format specifically, but would like to see such a thread a comment would be much appreciated as well.

Tl;dr: My goal here is to gather some Arena enthusiasts, both rating and reading, in order to have some fun while rating cards and shine some light on Arena. The format could use some attention.

Hi, I've been grinding Arena again recently and I find it basically impossible to win when going second, especially in a tempo matchup. Any tips for this?

I just finished the Sylvanas fight (final boss in Anduin's chapter in the  Book of Heroes) and I was absolutely blown away by it. It felt like I was raiding in WoW again, progressing to various stages of the fight with each requiring different strategies. And because of the 1 mana draw 2, you actually seem to get the resources that you need to do that pretty reliably. Very good design. Lore-wise it felt very accurate too and the whole experience of your growing army of legendaries made it just feel like an epic fight.

What probably helped too was that I killed her with no card left in my deck and when her HP started to feel overwhelming - a bit similar to downing a WoW raid boss with everyone running out-of-mana and half the raid dead when you land this final hit.

So for me, yes, it was the best PvE content that I have played in HS. What are your experiences?

It's rough when you draft that really interesting deck then happen to get beat up with it and then presto, you never get to try it again.

Why not allow a casual mode where you can take it for a spin to your heart's content?

This is a really obvious idea I'm sure that has been brought up several times before. Right now I'm playing a very fun Elemental Mage deck with Silas Darkmoon and a surprisingly effective Deck of Lunacy. It would be so fun to be able to hold onto it for a few more plays after the fun is over.

Genuine question for those who have played the Garrosh solo adventure and done the Jaina fight. For Thereamore, the fight is basically the same as in Jaina's chapter in the first book of heros story. Main diffrence is that you switch sides using Garrosh's hero power to destroy the gates. The voice lines are very much the same, although with a few small additions. Overall, do you consider this to be clever as we see the same scenario from the other side, or a cheap reuse of assets? Perhaps both somehow? I'm undecided myself, so I'm curious to see what people think.

Also, additional question, How many of you think the warrior pack is worth buying now that we have more skins in the game overall? 

I know Arena at the moment its not the main subject of discussion, and its far from the glorious days as a game mode, but I am one of the few ones who still enjoy it a lot, and still play it for at least 4-5 days per week. I was refreshing this forum a lot this  to find some thoughts on the upcoming meta, and upcoming rotation, or cards, and nothing, I know that we have the Arena impact, but even that one if not full. I know I am not boozor, sinti or some other of you favorite Arena contend creator, but I still decided to write a post about this to share my opinions, and to ask what to you guys think about the upcoming set to Arena, it will be impactful enough? it will change the meta? is corrupt cards good for Arena? Below I had few videos in which I show my thoughts for the upcoming expansion.

Playlist, with meta analysis, card review, and best classes.

You know what's not fun? Having no control. For me there is no point in playing the game if it is just being fed to me. This is getting tiresome. People qq'ed by the amount of dungeon runs they were churning out but guess what? Thanks to your qq'ing we get even worse solo adventures. Granted, the following DR's never captured the magic of the first one in Kobolds, but at least they tried to keep them fresh like with the shrines in Rastakan.

I'm sure some people like this and I don't mean to be a prick and alienate you, but after two goes with Jaina and seeing that I am going to have no control over the deck I'm using, I have no motivation to play it. I'd rather netdeck and have the ability to at least change a card or two to fit my play style.

If you want a return to Dungeon Runs, please voice your opinion, otherwise keep getting these.

I commented on the latest news but I think this is worth the discussion.. I think arena has no real fun reason to play it, most of this OP will be a copy paste from that comment on the news article: but I reformatted parts of it to be more readable.

https://outof.cards/hearthstone/1792-the-arena-will-keep-separate-rewards-from-hearthstones-battle-pass

What is wrong in arena? (At least for me)

I don't like that the runs take a lot of time and you needs an insane win rate to actually profit from arena, I don't feel like sitting through 12 wins only to get trice the entry fee.. the arena feels unrewarding for the time poured into them.. I didn't play arena for over 2 years and I used to play more when I didn't had many resources it's feels like a chore..

I do enjoy the gameplay but it feels like such a big time and gold commitment to play.. I just hate playing it and losing too fast or make risky picks.

The reward system is the same since beta... SERIOUSLY.

Suggested estimated rewards that would feel better:

lower the entry fee, lower the max wins, increase the reward threshold.

I just threw numbers and rewards but something that will be exciting to earn and not just.. "value" it feels bad to play arena and get some value we want to get special rewards or get guaranteed rewards on good runs.. arena feels BAD to win at and feels bad to get less than 7 wins you get less than the fee.. and need insane win rates. About the cosmetics: it's not a hero skin (maybe as a rare 10 wins drop) but it's something to grind for like some alternate card art or some old card backs.. give players a good reason to play more arena the mode is fun the entry fee is discouraging and so are the rewards.

More improvements suggestions:

1.Would also enjoyed the mixture of the expansions in arena but it wasn't conveyed correctly had no idea what to play or not around there was no way in game to tell which expansions were available.. for that a new feature needs to be implemented which is a peek into the available pool just open a collection manager which shows you the expansion available and what cards are legit or not, from the draft screen no need to do in game.

2. Arena tickets as rewards from quests + exp since they are 40 gold quest for none arena players this way. people who don't want to play arena can start and exit just to get the 40 gold, it will intensify players to try arena more and experiment more.

I hope I formatted this post correctly so it's easy in the eyes.

The AoO solo adventure was a stroll through the park until I reached this boss. Then the difficulty level turns up to 11. What the hell! This guy summons huge threats or casts devastating spells for 1 mana. Meanwhile my deck Ive been given is garbage and in so little time to deal with the threats your outcast cards better be perfectly lined up.

Is there something i'm missing? This guy seems impossible to defeat.

How have you been finding the Arena and what's the best strategy?

Thought I had a decent deck of good value stats and OP cards with a good curve but ended up going 1-3 as priest.
since classic, I've always spent 90% of my gold on arena runs, but I took a break over the last 2 expansions.

Hi there

Usually I leave my arena runs on 2 losses for a free ticket for expansion launch, but this time that hasn't happened.

Did they decide to add SA to arena but not reset the arena runs?

I could easily have missed this already being announced or discussed - apologies if so.

Been feeling like arena is slowly dying all around with it being super unbalanced and totally forgotten not just in news but also lack of leaderboards and such. So seeing some love from anywhere right now just makes me really happy and i'm stoked to have a new column just for arena. 

Thanks!