“The end is coming!”
Blizzard has revealed the official last day of Hearthstone Duels. Once patch 29.2 launches, players will no longer be able duke it out against others in this game mode.
Hearthstone Duels removed
Hearthstone's Duels game mode will be removed on April 16, according to Blizzard. This will coincide with patch 29.2. Players with ongoing Heroic Duels runs will get them prized out just like previous seasonal resets. Tavern Tickets will still be viable in the Arena game mode.
Players within the Hearthstone community shared their thoughts about the removal of Hearthstone Duels. Croquette, for example, stated on X that Duels had unused potential. She also wrote that she's heartbroken about it.
Meanwhile, back when the ending of Hearthstone Duels was first announced in January 2024, player Roffle wrote that he felt gutted by it. In a post on X, he also noted how the game mode helped him with views on YouTube.
"I came to Duels late, but thought it was going to be my main format going forward. Now, for the first time, I have no clear direction for my content," Roffle continued. "The result will likely be me just throwing stuff out for a bit to see if anything resonates in the same way Duels did. Feels bad."
Why did Hearthstone remove Duels?
According to Hearthstone influencer manager Ridiculous Hat, the decision to remove Hearthstone Duels was based on its significant maintenance requirements. "It's not a sealed pool," he explained on X. "We release new cards all the time that impact the balance of the mode, make new buckets, and have to change interactions between old treasures and new cards."
Ridiculous Hat also provided some behind-the-scenes details, noting that a lot of options were explored in the attempt to keep Hearthstone Duels. One of these options pertained to locking existing expansions and not adding new cards to the game mode. "Unfortunately, to really tighten up [Hearthstone's] focus like we stated in the article, we had to go this way," Ridiculous Hat wrote.
That's all for now. Again, Hearthstone Duels will be removed on April 16. Until then, you can still duke it out and create some memories in the game mode.
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