Hearthstone, the popular digital card game, made an upsetting announcement that its Duels game mode would be discontinued come April 2024. The game mode will cease to receive any updates until then, and will eventually be removed from the Hearthstone client in a few months.
The Duels game mode made its debut on November 17, 2020, coinciding with the release of the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion in Hearthstone. In Duels, players choose a Hero, a special Hero Power, and construct a 16-card deck, with one unique Treasure, adding more cards to their deck after each game until they reach 12 wins or three losses. Despite regular updates over the past three years, Duels has remained in beta.
Unfortunately, Duels will exit its beta phase in an unexpected manner. In a recent blog post, Hearthstone confirmed the discontinuation of the game mode in April. No further updates will be made until its closure, after which the game mode will be completely removed from the Hearthstone client. Although the specific date has not been announced, players are advised to complete their active Duels runs in Hearthstone before then.
When is Duels Leaving Hearthstone?
- April 2024
- No further updates or seasons will be added to the mode between now and then.
Despite the departure of Duels, some aspects of the game mode will be retained in Hearthstone's Arena format. According to the same press release, certain Duels Treasures will be incorporated into the upcoming Arena season. Specific details on this will be provided closer to the start of the next Arena season.
Duels is not the only significant loss Hearthstone has experienced lately. In February 2023, Hearthstone transitioned Mercenaries into maintenance mode following a final major update. Nevertheless, as a primarily PvE mode separate from constructed, players can still engage in Mercenaries, while Duels is being completely removed from the game due to the resources required for its maintenance. Furthermore, the game's esports program was significantly downsized last year, unsettling fans about its competitive future.
Despite the setbacks of losing two game modes and scaling back its esports program, Hearthstone remains robust. It intends to reallocate the resources saved from discontinuing Duels into its other game modes. Battlegrounds is in the process of introducing a co-op Duos mode, set for an upcoming Battlegrounds patch later this year, and the next Standard year and new expansion will likely be announced in the next month or two. Celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2024, Hearthstone appears far from finished despite the loss of Duels.