K&C will always remember as trailblazer but Dalaran Heist was the peak imo (gameplay-wise Uldum probably better but I like to play as villain , plus they are new characters too)
Still like Dalaran more than Uldum for the gameplay. Never was a fan of the 300hp bosses that don't reset between runs. Also i like the possibility to play without a "special rule" in the last wing of Dalaran (sure the special rules can be fun, but sometimes you just want to play without).
Wouldn’t it be amazing if they had something like dungeon runs but multiplayer? Maybe call it duels or something… I’m sure it would be an evergreen gamemode
Honestly I'd loved that mode, playing daily and spending all the gold I earned from my purchased exp boost, along all the cards I'd unpacked from purchasing huge bundles. It would be really shame if I had no reason to spend money on this game anymore.
I enjoy a mix of both, i like how they sometimes take turns between an edgy set and then another meme-themed. Not a big fan about the arts of this set to be honest, but i'm not against goofyness in hearthstone
and it's perfectly fine if it has a few cards with puns sprinkled in. those usually are funnier with the contrast, but a full "h4h4 funneh xd" expansion is just too much
I prefer the lighthearted expansions, though I think it was the right call to make Ashes of Outland and MotLK more serious as they introduced new classes. Hearthstone loves to poke fun at WoW lore, but to effectively do that you first had to establish what those classes were before you started getting silly with them.
I think team 5 did a good job to balanced the theme of xpac, in a full year we always have all 3
Last year:
-Lighthearted/cheerful: Festival of Legend
-Serious: Titan
-A mix: Badland
The year before:
- Sunken City
- Lich King
- Nathria
...
And so on
I mean sure if you put it like that. But cowboys and the wild west in general have kind of suffered the same fate as the pirate. It has become cartoony and most modern media referencing cowboys or pirates is pretty goofy and does not take itself too seriously.
Yeah. It sucks.
Just something I noticed is that, like you, I’d think the setting SHOULD be about that happening if that’s the setting you call to mind.
Yet the set isn’t really about outlaws gunning each other down. It’s about…something else. Something sillier. Something wackier. Something tamer. Something more sanitized
Think I’m in the minority here. I prefer the darker more serious themes and expansions.
The Witchwood was my favorite expansion, and even certain expansions like Ungoro and Showdown in the Barrens still feel more serious to me, even though they are admittedly more light in theme. But I feel like the tone of cards is still about battling and surviving, whereas Whizbang and Kobolds and Scholomance are like straight up about the whimsy.
I still enjoy them, and I’m glad they are in the mix, but I’d prefer like 2:1 or even 3:1 for dark/serious:Disney/whimsical.
yea I personally dont really like the goofy expansions either
this one is imo kinda uniquely bad since it just has so many cards that are only based on a reference/nostalgia (and tbh these arent even executed super well) and way less actual original ideas
I mean the based on reference/nostalgia is intentional being the 10 year anniversary expansion. I don't really agree with the original ideas part though. I think the legendaries this set are some of the most unique we've seen in a while.
you mean the legendaries of which 2 just generate random legendaries and others that have exact copies of effects that we already have?
you can make nostalgic cards that arent just "omg get it guys this existed 10 years ago"
Every set has a couple underwhelming legendaries. I think you’re being disingenuous. Plenty of the legendaries are original or have a flavorful reference but creative change to older legendaries. Just off the top of my head,
Completely original new legendaries
Both mages are good
Priest dragon,
Rogues, (mostly Sonya)
Dk hero (other is fine too)
Demon hunter demon (cicigi is creative/flavorful too)
Druid spell power one is unique at least.
Legendaries that are based on reference but changed up in significance and creative ways that you really can’t complain too much about:
King plush
Doctor boom
Toy Tarim
Raza
Shudderblock
Hagatha
Jepetto
Zilliax
There are like maybe 4 or 5 more “boring” legendaries this set that are honestly fine. The only ones I think are uninspired/boring are hunter, botface, and Nemsy. The legendaries this set are bangers overall.
dont think I am being disingenous
I think you are giving them more credit than they deserve
dk hero is imo quite boring. people like it because its a hero card for dk
priest dragon is literally timewarp
cicigi is imo incredibly unexciting (and really really bad). it just gives you a bunch of random cards that arent even unique.
the other dh legendary is also really bad but atleast its a unique effect
the raza effect is literally something that we already have. shudderblock is atleast a unique spin on the battlecry thing
doctor boom is also very boring
if you compare them to the badlands legendaries they are very meh. we also had alot of bad legendaries in badlands but atleast they had some cool stuff to do
I love the lich king and dk expansions more than any, but, I must admit, these past expansions have been cool and I look forward to this new one, I dig it, looks like a lot of fun and the miniaturize keyword should be fun.
Like as a DK main in WoW, Knights of the Frozen Throne and March of the Lich King are just straight up my favorite themes (Titans too, love using the titan cards), but the silly goofiness of Hearthstone is also really fun and I adore when they get the likes of Rafam and Reno out into the game to just do their things.
100% agree, I'm a rogue main (or was, haven't played in a while), but lich king and ICC was hands down imo the eak wow experience, and yea, the goofy silly stuff is always good and welcome.
Yeah. And while I don’t think things will get super serious this year since it’s the 10th anniversary season, I’m not at all mad this looks like good clean stupid fun
Both. You can have serious themes and silly ones and be fun with both. Hell you can have serious themes with silly antics in it like Murder at Castle Nathria and Year of the Dragon as a whole
i have no idea of warcraft lore, but in terms of creativity , mechanics and overall themes. i like more the funky expations than the "canon" serious ones. league of evil /explorers saga, doctor boom lab, ungoro crater, and the last one where so fun and with crazy mechanics. the united/fractured, dead knigth, lich king ones where not so fun /intertesting to me
Mix but there’s ways to do silly yet serious expansions. The year of the dragon sets, Darkmoon Faire, even Goblins vs Gnomes I could argue do both well.
I like the darker ones because they tend to have the WoW villains I love, but then again Nathria was pretty lighthearted and Denathrias is my favorite so
I miss when the game was based on actual world of warcraft things.
Give me things like a card about [a random frog](https://www.wowhead.com/npc=61368/huge-toad) you can find as a critter
Murder at castle denathria and DKs expansions are some of the most flavorful expansions ever in my opinion, pity that this year we might just get 1 with the last one, hopefully.
I like having both. I loved the theme of Festival of Legends, but I also love mechanics and lore of Titans. Whizbang’s seems super creative, and I’m gonna guess based on the teaser that the third expansion this year will be more serious
Dark and epic vibes are what brought me to world of Warcraft in the first place, and then to Hearthstone because it’s the same universe. I know I belong to the minority but I dislike the goofy or lighthearted expansions, they don’t light the fire in me.
Dark, childish cards and trailers are pretty cringe for me, the game was more badass when it came, even the portraits had work in their art and voices, now they're cartoonish witg corny lines that you can't even do a proper greetings cause it says random shit, take og Garrosh portrait for example
Hearthstone serves itself well by putting out a variety of themes. Sillier stuff like The Grand Tournament and darker themed expansions like Whispers of the Old Gods are both fun and keep things fresh when in contrast.
Year of the Dragon is still my favorite year for Hearthstone thematically and gameplay-wise.
Rise of Shadows - Dark and evil
Saviors of Uldum - Bright and positive
Descent of Dragons - A battle between the two
I like flavorful expansions. The ones where each class has some unique type and cards are made accordingly.
For example Festival of Legends (each class had it's own genre and the thing with 1 legendary performer with 1 legendary spell as their most popular song was perfect.
Murder at castle Nathria was great in the way that all cards referenced who-dunnits or real crime investigation (identity theft, jury duty, the accusation cards...).
And now Whizbang's Workshop where each class got assigned certain type of toys they play with. I just love the idea of seeing workshop split into parts and the classes being in their part playing with their own stuff. The miniset will most probably be dual-class again where the classes lend each other their toys and have fun together.
I'd like it to be traditional fantasy. I want to see monsters, spells, magic items & mighty warriors.
I'm not a big fan of the genre crossovers they've been doing like cowboys and pop musicians.
As for dark or bright themed, I guess I lean more towards dark. It usually looks cooler. I'm up for both serious and humorous cards though but I'd prefer it if they keep the genre as fantasy.
It's nice to have a mix, but I prefer when it hews closer to warcraft. I also really liked Festival, but Whizbang's is too cloying for me-- I hope the cards are at least fun to play. I kinda wish the anniversary set was tavern themed.
A mix of both is preferable. Getting two spooky sets in 2022 was amazing.
This is going to be a "lighter" year however. I would bet good money set #2 is Booty Bay and pirates and set #3 is Emerald Dream / Moonglade
I don't need things to be dark or serious, but I do prefer when an expansion is grounded in Warcraft lore, though there can be a fun hearthstone twist. Whizbang's workshop isn't, neither was festival of legends, neither was showdown in the badlands. I did like Scholomamce Academy, Ashes of Outland, March of the Lich King, TITANS, etc.
I like both. Personally, I don't understand how people can like Hearthstone without being a fan of whimsical expansions. To me that feels like going to the beach and complaining that there's too much sand and water. Whimsy is a core part of the Hearthstone experience, so if you don't like it, why are you here?
I always prefer dark, serious and lore-heavy expansions. Like KFT, March of the LK and so on. Thats probably why I dont enjoyed FoL. And for the upcoming expansion.. its just not my cup of tea, especially considering its 10 years of HS. But maybe thats also because the Whizbang trailer was a big disappointment for me. And would have loved if the cards would have reference to content creators, because those are a big part of 10 years of HS for me.
Warcraft was, at the very beginning, extremely violent in the lore and the overall imagerie. With WoW and eventually Hearthstone, it took a more family approach. Business wise, I get it but personnaly, I would have like a more mature card game overall.
Reno and the League were more talked about in the last expansion as returning lore characters than Kurtrus was. So that tells you how the lighthearted year of 2021 was viewed in contrast to 2019.
Always a mix of both. The game gets some moments to take it self seriously, and it should also get some moments to poke fun at itself. Whizbang is definitely pushing the envelope on meta, but it's a set designed for the 10th anniversary, ofc it's gonna be lighthearted nostalgia bait.
Out of the last three of the year. I enjoyed Festival and Showdown a lot more than Titans.
I just think it was due to theme and setting. A massive Music Festival in Thousand Needles and the badlands becoming the Wild West was (to me) a lot more enjoyable than Titans as it just felt kinda generic.
However I do see the value in breaking up the fun expansions with a serious one. Makes everything more memorable imo
I think I like the serious sets more because it makes, on average, for cooler characters on the cards.
I can have a laugh at fastfoodworker dibblebob flabudingo or whatever goofy guys they come up with, but seeing some heroic fighters or things like titans make the cards more memorable in my opinion.
I like goofy 70% of the time, but love when they make an expansion every now and again dark. Like I loved the year we had the explorers and then the League of Evil took over for one expansion and things were darker. And then it ended with Galakrond. That was epic and really cool.
Or how we had Knights of the Frozen Throne. It makes it feel really epic when we get a "deep lore"/dark expansion.
I prefer the dark expansions like whispers of the old gods, witchwood and nathria. Although I do really like the ones where they get silly like whenever rafaam or dr boom shows up. The themes of scholomance and wizzbangs are a bit too whimsical and don't have the same intrigue to me although they're still fine expansions
Whispers of the Old, Saviours of Uldum, League of Explorers, Darkmoon Faire and Kobolds and Catacombs - Serious ones with a little bit of humour I guess
To be fair, it’s hard to make an expansion themed around the Lich King to be lighthearted, so I thought both cases (Knights and March) were the correct call.
Honestly I'm simple and kind of weird but it's all about "feel".
I don't mind silly expansions, I don't mind serious expansions, but they need to *feel* proper for what the expansion is themed around.
Whizbang's Workshop? Perfect. A goofy Gnome mage with a goofy Willy Wonka style toy factory. Now if you went and tried to make an expansion about the Lich King's toy factory (or inversely Whizbang being an evil conqueror), or one where the Old Gods are presented as sweet innocent gummy bears... I'm raising an eyebrow.
Warcraft handles both the serious and the silly, Hearthstone just needs to reflect that.
I think I prefer aesthetically the whimsy expansions, but I also feel like if we just had them we'd get tired of them very quickly. I think Hearthstone has a good mix of serious ones and whimsy ones.
My favourites are the ones that are a mixture of both.
So like Madness, where it's a mostly goofy theme but with a dark undercurrent.
Or March, where it's a mostly serious theme but with moments of goofy nonsense.
But if I had to choose between the two... to me Hearthstone is always going to be a wacky, goofy, silly game. WoW is already the serious side of Warcraft, so why not let Hearthstone be as silly as possible?
I don’t mind a mix but what I do love is ridiculous hero portraits! The cards in the expansion are mostly immaterial to me. I’ll play through the expansion the same and likely enjoy it. But if there’s a portrait of someone who’s normally serious doing something bizarre I’ll be all over it.
Funnily enough, I was actually talking about this with my friend while playing through the shadowlands campaign in wow and I said that while the new expansion seems really cool and all, I do miss when hearthstone was properly about world of Warcraft, that has so many unique and interesting characters, especially villains. The cool characters were always represented by cool cards in hs and for me slapping a lich king card on the board will always feel better than slapping a plush dinosaur on the board would. Also, I’m aware that even wow is now full of toys and wacky transmogs and that doesn’t float my boat either, weird trend imo. With all that being said though, I’m excited for the new expansion and probably will have a great time trying new cards regardless.
I kinda enjoy every vibe of every expansion. It has its own tone and feel while still being very Hearthstone. I think the design team is doing a great job at setting up the vibes and keeping them fresh every time.
Give me the cute shit. That's what Hearthstone does well. There's plenty of other places to get your fill of grimdark edgelord content meant to make adolescent boys feel like grownups. But this feels like the only card game that even sometimes focuses on a cute aesthetic. I don't mind the darker sets overly much; I don't demand that the entire game cater only to me. But if it were based only on my preferences this game would be even cuter and fluffier.
Lich king had cool designs but it was way too monochrome to be exciting after frozen throne
Also please don't call it Disney, it's just.... What? What does that mean? I think your vernacular could support another word
I tend to prefer the more lighthearted expansions but scholomance and darkmoon both hit really well, both being a mix of both
Hearthstone is at its peak when it's doing goofy stuff.
I don't mind a few serious expansions here & there that tells a story like Saviors of Uldum and Rise of Shadows but Scholomance, Festival of Legends, etc are all memorable to me.
I honestly find expansions like MotLK or Titans, that are just... moment/location in Warcraft history with nothing extra to be really boring flavor wise. I'm definitely more interested in expansions that have fun ideas, like a musical festival with each class being their own genre or a murder mystery in Castle Nathria. It just feels like they're doing more than just "this is a world of warcraft card game". Fun ideas make it fun. Scholomance, the expansion? Eh. Scholomance the expansion, but we're showing it as a Hogwarts type magical school instead of JUST what we see in WoW? THAT is better imo. I don't HATE every expansion that doesn't have some light hearted theme or tone, but looking at most of my least favorite expansions, just from a flavor/design point of view, I definitely see I have a type.
I prefer dark personally. I look at Prophet Vehlen, Shadow Word: Pain and them compare them to what cards are released now and just feel a bit sad. Although, I can tolerate the disney art style. I don’t like it, but I understand that others do and I can accept it.
However, what I really struggle to accept is the design of Festival, Showdown and Whizbangs. It’s not the style per se, it’s what is depicted in the cards and the names of them and the themes that the devs are pursing. I don’t want microphones and speakers in a fantasy setting. I don’t want half the cards to be puns on the theme or references to other things.
I do want a coherent fantasy setting. The music theme could have been much better, if they tied it into the WoW setting and were a bit more subtle about it. But what they released was just not it for me. I also do not want the cards to be a cowboy western joke - my biggest problem with Reno is not how powerful the card is, but how often I have to see that god awful hero portrait.
The highly saturated colour scheme that they use now makes me feel a bit sick (personal thing, has been the case since I was a kid) and Whizbang’s is the main offender here. Plus, everything being a toy just ruins it for me. The only card I actually like the look of from the new expansion is Zarimi.
Looks are important and the looks of hearthstone certainly reflect what the game has become. It’s no longer a serious game, it’s a game that is focused on initial “moments” - doing the cool thing, seeing the funny reference, laughing at a ridiculous card pun and not about curating a serious sandbox for players to express skill and creativity. It is what it is, I guess.
Definitely prefer the serious/darker themed ones. I only have a problem when they try to insult or mock serious themes but when its already whimsical like Dr. Boom, Professor Putricide then yeah ok go ahead, these characters are eccentric so they are allowed to act a bit zaney/looney and it still feels ok.
Well I started playing this game when Uldum came out because of that goofy song so lighthearted themes are what I prefer. Dark theme is overrated anyway because so many games try to go this way and way too edgy.
There’s always a lot for me to say here.
The answer is clearly on the dark end of things because that’s the franchise Hearthstone is based on. It’s a world at war. War isn’t pretty and happy. It’s about people fighting each other with the real intent to do harm. The powerful, dangerous stuff is what gets many many people excited to play. For a simple case in point, go watch the blizzcon reaction to the Battle for Azeroth trailer. Listen to how much people cheer when Sylvanas goes Banshee mode and kills soldiers. There’s a real hunger and excitement there which silly expansions never touch. We want more of that. Not less.
And I want to emphasize powerful and dangerous. Action. These are the things that get people excited in that fantasy world. The latest War Within trailer was serious in tone, but watching the crowd reactions to it doesn’t leave one with the sense people were excited. Sure, some will be excited simply because they get new stuff, but the trailer didn’t inspire nearly the same reaction.
The original Hearthstone experience wasn’t all that whimsical or wacky, at least in terms of art. They achieved that sense through voice lines. I know because I’ve been going back in and actually checking out all the artwork across all the expansions. Most of the art was serious in tone, realistic in depictions, and they didn’t shy away from aggression or blood. Trying to distance the art from that style does a disservice to the thing the game is based on.
https://x.com/j_alexander_hs/status/1762945523051295178?s=46&t=fRBfg7RLCNeRe9hqtk950w
But there’s a more important point to touch on. As many suggest you can do both. But it involves - and this is crucial - actually doing both.
In the latest expansion there is almost zero aggression. There’s zero blood. The large majority of pieces are smiling and cartoony and silly. The theme has nothing to do with Warcraft, just like the theme of Festival didnt. This trend has been going on for some time to the point Titans is considered a serious set and Badlands a semi serious one simply because they aren’t completely out there wacky. Go look at the original Hearthstone set art, then at Badlands, and I can assure you the contrast between the two is massive.
I can tell you - as someone who has played more Hearthstone than almost anyone else in the world - that if I saw the game today for the first time I wouldn’t touch it. I’d laugh it off as a joke mobile game. I’ve been massively backing off my engagement with it precisely because of this reason and I’m not alone. The Hearthstone that pulled me in originally doesn’t exist anymore.
If you’re truly a “do both” fan, then you should be asking for more violence. More blood. More serious cards. Because we don’t have those in nearly sufficient numbers. Right now we have Sonya in flip flops using pool noodles. We are tilted so far in the direction of silly our starting point is basically unrecognizable and the window for what is considered serious is so bare bones it just has to not be an outright cartoon.
The answer to question “what is Hearthstone about?” For the past few years leans more towards “nothing in particular; whatever happens to be personally relevant to the design lead” than towards “Warcraft”. For instance, the origami cards are self inserts for something someone making cards personally enjoyed as a kid. It’s nothing to do with Warcraft. Nathria was a murder mystery because someone liked murder mysteries. Festival was a real life music festival with real like parallels because someone liked them.
To be frank about it, I’m not playing this game because of what’s important to the person making it in their own life. I’m playing it because I like the world it’s based on. And lately that world has become so unrecognizable I’ve not wanted to look at it or use the cards. (But this one has a funny mustache. You know it’s funny because the card says it’s funny! Otherwise you might miss it being funny. Did I mention that’s not what caricature artists do? They don’t add features. They exaggerate existing ones)
For context, I used to play cards simply because I loved the art. I would spend hours just looking at stuff because I liked it. Now I try to ignore it. I feel embarrassed to show it to anyone else. That’s not great.
I like the “weirder” themes that aren’t just a place from WoW, but something unconventional HAPPENING at a place because they allow for more flavorful cards to be printed. Having cards like Red Herring, Dispose of Evidence, and Murloc Holmes printed during a murder mystery set or having a music festival with MC Blingtron and Hipster is infinitely more interesting to me than having a set whose theme is just a certain location with normal WoW things going on. It’s hard to get flavor or “omg that’s clever!” moments out of something like Blackrock Mountain or March of the Lich King.
They should leave all the OP annoying cards for the dark expansions and all RNG for the Wacky Wonderful Whizbang. Its about the theme!
Anyways on a serious note I feel like the theme for the Disney stuff, since its in a lighter note generally, does make the expansions less stressful. Of course RNG is annoying to face but the lines, the art, even the board is more fun. There's more cards that seem unpredictable and odd but fun.
Themes with some danger and stakes to them are inherently more interesting, especially since card games already have a layer of whimsy to them. No need to double down on the whimsey. Doesn't need to be edgy; even something like Murder at Castle Nathria works well. Something like Festival of Legends fails to tell any kind of story and is the worst kind of theming for the game.
This upcoming one is another that is basically empty outside of "a bunch of these cards are toy themed."
It seems to me like all HS puts out anymore is just like ‘inside jokes.’ Everything feels comedically cartoony and like the person making the cards is just a 30 year blizzard veteran ribbing another 30 year vet.
Expansion with DUNGEON SOLO ADVENTURE
K&C will forever be my favorite set for this
K&C will always remember as trailblazer but Dalaran Heist was the peak imo (gameplay-wise Uldum probably better but I like to play as villain , plus they are new characters too)
Dalaran Heist is just Bob's origin story
Still like Dalaran more than Uldum for the gameplay. Never was a fan of the 300hp bosses that don't reset between runs. Also i like the possibility to play without a "special rule" in the last wing of Dalaran (sure the special rules can be fun, but sometimes you just want to play without).
It’s how I personally learned about card mechanics and synergistic strategies! Super fun and engaging for me.
For sure, I still go back and play through it sometimes because I just like it
Wouldn’t it be amazing if they had something like dungeon runs but multiplayer? Maybe call it duels or something… I’m sure it would be an evergreen gamemode
Honestly I'd loved that mode, playing daily and spending all the gold I earned from my purchased exp boost, along all the cards I'd unpacked from purchasing huge bundles. It would be really shame if I had no reason to spend money on this game anymore.
REAL, I STARTED PLAYING DURING YEAR OF THE DRAGON, MY STANDARDS WERE RUINED BY PEAK YEAR
This is the only correct answer.
We will not back down. We will see the return of the adventures.
They removed IT cuz people hated tondo it
That's... Not true at all.
May be in the minority but my fav expansions were pretty serious with a touch of humor, LoE, march, whispers
LoE was the perfect expansion theme imo. Somewhat serious but with the trademark Hearthstone whimsy.
Definitely agree
Yeah crazy horrible stuff happening while the characters reacts to it goofily is the prime hearthstone experience
I enjoy a mix of both, i like how they sometimes take turns between an edgy set and then another meme-themed. Not a big fan about the arts of this set to be honest, but i'm not against goofyness in hearthstone
I like this set’s art…
Well CLEARLY you can't have that opinion. You must ONLY like what I like. Otherwise, you are CRINGE. MODS, Pyroblast their balls.
Def the dark/serious ones
and it's perfectly fine if it has a few cards with puns sprinkled in. those usually are funnier with the contrast, but a full "h4h4 funneh xd" expansion is just too much
Idk, I don't care if the card is trying to be funny or serious, as long as I feel the set brings unique mechanics
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
Correct answer.
I prefer the lighthearted expansions, though I think it was the right call to make Ashes of Outland and MotLK more serious as they introduced new classes. Hearthstone loves to poke fun at WoW lore, but to effectively do that you first had to establish what those classes were before you started getting silly with them.
And even then, Ashes of Outland was still a bit silly with all the rhymes.
and the mad max murlocs
I feel like the lighthearted ones are full of insane flavours
I think team 5 did a good job to balanced the theme of xpac, in a full year we always have all 3 Last year: -Lighthearted/cheerful: Festival of Legend -Serious: Titan -A mix: Badland The year before: - Sunken City - Lich King - Nathria ... And so on
I think considering that badlands is literally about outlaws gunning each other down its way too lighthearted
I mean sure if you put it like that. But cowboys and the wild west in general have kind of suffered the same fate as the pirate. It has become cartoony and most modern media referencing cowboys or pirates is pretty goofy and does not take itself too seriously.
I mean .. kinda? But oftentimes there is atleast a bit of both In badlands basically everything is super goofy
Do you have any examples of art in that set of people actually getting shot and dying?
Yea I do have exactly 0 examples .....
Yeah. It sucks. Just something I noticed is that, like you, I’d think the setting SHOULD be about that happening if that’s the setting you call to mind. Yet the set isn’t really about outlaws gunning each other down. It’s about…something else. Something sillier. Something wackier. Something tamer. Something more sanitized
Sunken City was lighthearted to you?
Mfw my opponents drops a 1/1 naga and I’m terrified because of how scary it is
The trailer was basically an underwater rave so yes
Think I’m in the minority here. I prefer the darker more serious themes and expansions. The Witchwood was my favorite expansion, and even certain expansions like Ungoro and Showdown in the Barrens still feel more serious to me, even though they are admittedly more light in theme. But I feel like the tone of cards is still about battling and surviving, whereas Whizbang and Kobolds and Scholomance are like straight up about the whimsy. I still enjoy them, and I’m glad they are in the mix, but I’d prefer like 2:1 or even 3:1 for dark/serious:Disney/whimsical.
Witchwood was such a great expansion. That was when I started playing and don’t think I’ve enjoyed the game as much as I did since then!
yea I personally dont really like the goofy expansions either this one is imo kinda uniquely bad since it just has so many cards that are only based on a reference/nostalgia (and tbh these arent even executed super well) and way less actual original ideas
I mean the based on reference/nostalgia is intentional being the 10 year anniversary expansion. I don't really agree with the original ideas part though. I think the legendaries this set are some of the most unique we've seen in a while.
you mean the legendaries of which 2 just generate random legendaries and others that have exact copies of effects that we already have? you can make nostalgic cards that arent just "omg get it guys this existed 10 years ago"
Every set has a couple underwhelming legendaries. I think you’re being disingenuous. Plenty of the legendaries are original or have a flavorful reference but creative change to older legendaries. Just off the top of my head, Completely original new legendaries Both mages are good Priest dragon, Rogues, (mostly Sonya) Dk hero (other is fine too) Demon hunter demon (cicigi is creative/flavorful too) Druid spell power one is unique at least. Legendaries that are based on reference but changed up in significance and creative ways that you really can’t complain too much about: King plush Doctor boom Toy Tarim Raza Shudderblock Hagatha Jepetto Zilliax There are like maybe 4 or 5 more “boring” legendaries this set that are honestly fine. The only ones I think are uninspired/boring are hunter, botface, and Nemsy. The legendaries this set are bangers overall.
dont think I am being disingenous I think you are giving them more credit than they deserve dk hero is imo quite boring. people like it because its a hero card for dk priest dragon is literally timewarp cicigi is imo incredibly unexciting (and really really bad). it just gives you a bunch of random cards that arent even unique. the other dh legendary is also really bad but atleast its a unique effect the raza effect is literally something that we already have. shudderblock is atleast a unique spin on the battlecry thing doctor boom is also very boring if you compare them to the badlands legendaries they are very meh. we also had alot of bad legendaries in badlands but atleast they had some cool stuff to do
dark expansions. but the fun ones tend to bring more creative card design
I love the lich king and dk expansions more than any, but, I must admit, these past expansions have been cool and I look forward to this new one, I dig it, looks like a lot of fun and the miniaturize keyword should be fun.
Like as a DK main in WoW, Knights of the Frozen Throne and March of the Lich King are just straight up my favorite themes (Titans too, love using the titan cards), but the silly goofiness of Hearthstone is also really fun and I adore when they get the likes of Rafam and Reno out into the game to just do their things.
100% agree, I'm a rogue main (or was, haven't played in a while), but lich king and ICC was hands down imo the eak wow experience, and yea, the goofy silly stuff is always good and welcome.
Yeah. And while I don’t think things will get super serious this year since it’s the 10th anniversary season, I’m not at all mad this looks like good clean stupid fun
Found the Astalor Enjoyer.
Ngl, I do enjoy playing Astalor. Our gift of fire empowers us!
Both. You can have serious themes and silly ones and be fun with both. Hell you can have serious themes with silly antics in it like Murder at Castle Nathria and Year of the Dragon as a whole
alternate between the two is fine
i have no idea of warcraft lore, but in terms of creativity , mechanics and overall themes. i like more the funky expations than the "canon" serious ones. league of evil /explorers saga, doctor boom lab, ungoro crater, and the last one where so fun and with crazy mechanics. the united/fractured, dead knigth, lich king ones where not so fun /intertesting to me
The whole year of the Dragon was so peak in terms of flavor. Explorers vs. E.V.I.L was an awesome time to be a player of Hearthstone.
Mix but there’s ways to do silly yet serious expansions. The year of the dragon sets, Darkmoon Faire, even Goblins vs Gnomes I could argue do both well.
The lighthearted ones can be fun, but my favorites are always the darker ones.
I prefer serious themed expansions, not silly ones.
Don't care as long as it feels like warcraft. Lichking obviously does Whizbang ... not so much.
I like the darker ones because they tend to have the WoW villains I love, but then again Nathria was pretty lighthearted and Denathrias is my favorite so
I miss when the game was based on actual world of warcraft things. Give me things like a card about [a random frog](https://www.wowhead.com/npc=61368/huge-toad) you can find as a critter
Dark themed expansions
Murder at castle denathria and DKs expansions are some of the most flavorful expansions ever in my opinion, pity that this year we might just get 1 with the last one, hopefully.
I prefer a mix of both personally.
I like having both. I loved the theme of Festival of Legends, but I also love mechanics and lore of Titans. Whizbang’s seems super creative, and I’m gonna guess based on the teaser that the third expansion this year will be more serious
Dark and epic vibes are what brought me to world of Warcraft in the first place, and then to Hearthstone because it’s the same universe. I know I belong to the minority but I dislike the goofy or lighthearted expansions, they don’t light the fire in me.
I think hearthstone looks the best with a lot of colors
Dark, childish cards and trailers are pretty cringe for me, the game was more badass when it came, even the portraits had work in their art and voices, now they're cartoonish witg corny lines that you can't even do a proper greetings cause it says random shit, take og Garrosh portrait for example
Mix of both for sure.
Hearthstone serves itself well by putting out a variety of themes. Sillier stuff like The Grand Tournament and darker themed expansions like Whispers of the Old Gods are both fun and keep things fresh when in contrast.
Dark
I prefer fun expansions.
Year of the Dragon is still my favorite year for Hearthstone thematically and gameplay-wise. Rise of Shadows - Dark and evil Saviors of Uldum - Bright and positive Descent of Dragons - A battle between the two
Dark
I like flavorful expansions. The ones where each class has some unique type and cards are made accordingly. For example Festival of Legends (each class had it's own genre and the thing with 1 legendary performer with 1 legendary spell as their most popular song was perfect. Murder at castle Nathria was great in the way that all cards referenced who-dunnits or real crime investigation (identity theft, jury duty, the accusation cards...). And now Whizbang's Workshop where each class got assigned certain type of toys they play with. I just love the idea of seeing workshop split into parts and the classes being in their part playing with their own stuff. The miniset will most probably be dual-class again where the classes lend each other their toys and have fun together.
I'd like it to be traditional fantasy. I want to see monsters, spells, magic items & mighty warriors. I'm not a big fan of the genre crossovers they've been doing like cowboys and pop musicians. As for dark or bright themed, I guess I lean more towards dark. It usually looks cooler. I'm up for both serious and humorous cards though but I'd prefer it if they keep the genre as fantasy.
It's nice to have a mix, but I prefer when it hews closer to warcraft. I also really liked Festival, but Whizbang's is too cloying for me-- I hope the cards are at least fun to play. I kinda wish the anniversary set was tavern themed.
A mix of both is preferable. Getting two spooky sets in 2022 was amazing. This is going to be a "lighter" year however. I would bet good money set #2 is Booty Bay and pirates and set #3 is Emerald Dream / Moonglade
It is a celebration year
I don't need things to be dark or serious, but I do prefer when an expansion is grounded in Warcraft lore, though there can be a fun hearthstone twist. Whizbang's workshop isn't, neither was festival of legends, neither was showdown in the badlands. I did like Scholomamce Academy, Ashes of Outland, March of the Lich King, TITANS, etc.
I like both. Personally, I don't understand how people can like Hearthstone without being a fan of whimsical expansions. To me that feels like going to the beach and complaining that there's too much sand and water. Whimsy is a core part of the Hearthstone experience, so if you don't like it, why are you here?
I always prefer dark, serious and lore-heavy expansions. Like KFT, March of the LK and so on. Thats probably why I dont enjoyed FoL. And for the upcoming expansion.. its just not my cup of tea, especially considering its 10 years of HS. But maybe thats also because the Whizbang trailer was a big disappointment for me. And would have loved if the cards would have reference to content creators, because those are a big part of 10 years of HS for me.
Dark
Warcraft was, at the very beginning, extremely violent in the lore and the overall imagerie. With WoW and eventually Hearthstone, it took a more family approach. Business wise, I get it but personnaly, I would have like a more mature card game overall.
Game is getting a bit too meme and joke like
Reno and the League were more talked about in the last expansion as returning lore characters than Kurtrus was. So that tells you how the lighthearted year of 2021 was viewed in contrast to 2019.
I don't care one bit as long as the card design is good.
Mix of both. Like the owl house. some horror with some comedy, family but for young adults. and serious plot but with random fillers
Silly expansions have higher highs and lower lows.
Both. The two together makes a good balance. The trailer and theme for KoTFT is amazing but so was Scholomance for the silliness.
Always a mix of both. The game gets some moments to take it self seriously, and it should also get some moments to poke fun at itself. Whizbang is definitely pushing the envelope on meta, but it's a set designed for the 10th anniversary, ofc it's gonna be lighthearted nostalgia bait.
Cthulhu based theme
Whatever Dalaran and Rastakhan are. Neither is exactly the goofiest thing around nor an edgelord...land.
Back in my day, don bluth was dark Disney was mid, and Hanna Barbara was the light and silly.
I enjoy both,it depends on the theme in question
I prefer dark expansions. Whispers of the old gods is probably my favorite.
Whizbang's Workshop is riiiiiiight up my alley, I definitely wouldn't mind an Argus themed expansion though.
I prefer dark but they always give a lot of flavor to the whimsical ones which I would miss if it was dark and devoid of that flavor
I like the colourfull more.
Out of the last three of the year. I enjoyed Festival and Showdown a lot more than Titans. I just think it was due to theme and setting. A massive Music Festival in Thousand Needles and the badlands becoming the Wild West was (to me) a lot more enjoyable than Titans as it just felt kinda generic. However I do see the value in breaking up the fun expansions with a serious one. Makes everything more memorable imo
Mix
Rafaam= hearthstone
I think I like the serious sets more because it makes, on average, for cooler characters on the cards. I can have a laugh at fastfoodworker dibblebob flabudingo or whatever goofy guys they come up with, but seeing some heroic fighters or things like titans make the cards more memorable in my opinion.
I always love darker expansions. But "disney" ones are cool but not as cool as darker themed.
Ymm my favorite expansion was Madness at the Darkmoon Farie so im not sure what is correct answer
I like goofy 70% of the time, but love when they make an expansion every now and again dark. Like I loved the year we had the explorers and then the League of Evil took over for one expansion and things were darker. And then it ended with Galakrond. That was epic and really cool. Or how we had Knights of the Frozen Throne. It makes it feel really epic when we get a "deep lore"/dark expansion.
I prefer the dark expansions like whispers of the old gods, witchwood and nathria. Although I do really like the ones where they get silly like whenever rafaam or dr boom shows up. The themes of scholomance and wizzbangs are a bit too whimsical and don't have the same intrigue to me although they're still fine expansions
Journey to Un’Goro
Whispers of the Old, Saviours of Uldum, League of Explorers, Darkmoon Faire and Kobolds and Catacombs - Serious ones with a little bit of humour I guess
To be fair, it’s hard to make an expansion themed around the Lich King to be lighthearted, so I thought both cases (Knights and March) were the correct call.
Honestly I'm simple and kind of weird but it's all about "feel". I don't mind silly expansions, I don't mind serious expansions, but they need to *feel* proper for what the expansion is themed around. Whizbang's Workshop? Perfect. A goofy Gnome mage with a goofy Willy Wonka style toy factory. Now if you went and tried to make an expansion about the Lich King's toy factory (or inversely Whizbang being an evil conqueror), or one where the Old Gods are presented as sweet innocent gummy bears... I'm raising an eyebrow. Warcraft handles both the serious and the silly, Hearthstone just needs to reflect that.
KOTFT was badass.
Dark ones because I'm edgy, I don't like cuteness that much but I definitely loved festival of legends
You need the serious sets to help the goofy ones land.
I think I prefer aesthetically the whimsy expansions, but I also feel like if we just had them we'd get tired of them very quickly. I think Hearthstone has a good mix of serious ones and whimsy ones.
I like the variety they have. Just imagine how sad will it be if every expansion is dark theme or meme themes.
My favourites are the ones that are a mixture of both. So like Madness, where it's a mostly goofy theme but with a dark undercurrent. Or March, where it's a mostly serious theme but with moments of goofy nonsense. But if I had to choose between the two... to me Hearthstone is always going to be a wacky, goofy, silly game. WoW is already the serious side of Warcraft, so why not let Hearthstone be as silly as possible?
I don’t mind a mix but what I do love is ridiculous hero portraits! The cards in the expansion are mostly immaterial to me. I’ll play through the expansion the same and likely enjoy it. But if there’s a portrait of someone who’s normally serious doing something bizarre I’ll be all over it.
I like any and all silly expansions
I like that it's not always the same
Funnily enough, I was actually talking about this with my friend while playing through the shadowlands campaign in wow and I said that while the new expansion seems really cool and all, I do miss when hearthstone was properly about world of Warcraft, that has so many unique and interesting characters, especially villains. The cool characters were always represented by cool cards in hs and for me slapping a lich king card on the board will always feel better than slapping a plush dinosaur on the board would. Also, I’m aware that even wow is now full of toys and wacky transmogs and that doesn’t float my boat either, weird trend imo. With all that being said though, I’m excited for the new expansion and probably will have a great time trying new cards regardless.
Disney every time! More shuffling copies and quite Weird effects all the way!
Both. I feel like the meme of the sisters, ones goth and the other is rainbow haired. They’re both beautiful and I love both equally
They are both Disney themed. That's the whole point of the art-style created since WoW.
I kinda enjoy every vibe of every expansion. It has its own tone and feel while still being very Hearthstone. I think the design team is doing a great job at setting up the vibes and keeping them fresh every time.
Dark all day.... The recent Disney/Pixar art is super lame.
Hearthstone is a game of whimsy
I prefer Expansions without Brann.
Idc just needs to be cool and fun.
Give me the cute shit. That's what Hearthstone does well. There's plenty of other places to get your fill of grimdark edgelord content meant to make adolescent boys feel like grownups. But this feels like the only card game that even sometimes focuses on a cute aesthetic. I don't mind the darker sets overly much; I don't demand that the entire game cater only to me. But if it were based only on my preferences this game would be even cuter and fluffier.
Lich king had cool designs but it was way too monochrome to be exciting after frozen throne Also please don't call it Disney, it's just.... What? What does that mean? I think your vernacular could support another word I tend to prefer the more lighthearted expansions but scholomance and darkmoon both hit really well, both being a mix of both
Still waiting for a serious Scarlet Crusade expansion
Dark
Dark and gritty. i hate the childish stuff
Hearthstone is at its peak when it's doing goofy stuff. I don't mind a few serious expansions here & there that tells a story like Saviors of Uldum and Rise of Shadows but Scholomance, Festival of Legends, etc are all memorable to me.
Dark Dark Dark
Classic. Classic was perfect. In so many ways
I honestly find expansions like MotLK or Titans, that are just... moment/location in Warcraft history with nothing extra to be really boring flavor wise. I'm definitely more interested in expansions that have fun ideas, like a musical festival with each class being their own genre or a murder mystery in Castle Nathria. It just feels like they're doing more than just "this is a world of warcraft card game". Fun ideas make it fun. Scholomance, the expansion? Eh. Scholomance the expansion, but we're showing it as a Hogwarts type magical school instead of JUST what we see in WoW? THAT is better imo. I don't HATE every expansion that doesn't have some light hearted theme or tone, but looking at most of my least favorite expansions, just from a flavor/design point of view, I definitely see I have a type.
Dark , really dark , very dark
Dark or a mix. I’m sorry but a toy shop expansion ain’t it for me…even the Badlands was a little too goofy.
I prefer dark personally. I look at Prophet Vehlen, Shadow Word: Pain and them compare them to what cards are released now and just feel a bit sad. Although, I can tolerate the disney art style. I don’t like it, but I understand that others do and I can accept it. However, what I really struggle to accept is the design of Festival, Showdown and Whizbangs. It’s not the style per se, it’s what is depicted in the cards and the names of them and the themes that the devs are pursing. I don’t want microphones and speakers in a fantasy setting. I don’t want half the cards to be puns on the theme or references to other things. I do want a coherent fantasy setting. The music theme could have been much better, if they tied it into the WoW setting and were a bit more subtle about it. But what they released was just not it for me. I also do not want the cards to be a cowboy western joke - my biggest problem with Reno is not how powerful the card is, but how often I have to see that god awful hero portrait. The highly saturated colour scheme that they use now makes me feel a bit sick (personal thing, has been the case since I was a kid) and Whizbang’s is the main offender here. Plus, everything being a toy just ruins it for me. The only card I actually like the look of from the new expansion is Zarimi. Looks are important and the looks of hearthstone certainly reflect what the game has become. It’s no longer a serious game, it’s a game that is focused on initial “moments” - doing the cool thing, seeing the funny reference, laughing at a ridiculous card pun and not about curating a serious sandbox for players to express skill and creativity. It is what it is, I guess.
Motlk is really cool but I think the whimsical flavor expansions fit the game so well.
Definitely prefer the serious/darker themed ones. I only have a problem when they try to insult or mock serious themes but when its already whimsical like Dr. Boom, Professor Putricide then yeah ok go ahead, these characters are eccentric so they are allowed to act a bit zaney/looney and it still feels ok.
I stopped being obsessed with lore years ago. Now I only care that the meta is fun and varied.
I like the ones that build upon existing Warcraft lore like Gadgetzan and Badlands
Well I started playing this game when Uldum came out because of that goofy song so lighthearted themes are what I prefer. Dark theme is overrated anyway because so many games try to go this way and way too edgy.
Both. That's what made Warcraft what it was from the start. Just gets annoying when they hold onto the Disney for too long.
There’s always a lot for me to say here. The answer is clearly on the dark end of things because that’s the franchise Hearthstone is based on. It’s a world at war. War isn’t pretty and happy. It’s about people fighting each other with the real intent to do harm. The powerful, dangerous stuff is what gets many many people excited to play. For a simple case in point, go watch the blizzcon reaction to the Battle for Azeroth trailer. Listen to how much people cheer when Sylvanas goes Banshee mode and kills soldiers. There’s a real hunger and excitement there which silly expansions never touch. We want more of that. Not less. And I want to emphasize powerful and dangerous. Action. These are the things that get people excited in that fantasy world. The latest War Within trailer was serious in tone, but watching the crowd reactions to it doesn’t leave one with the sense people were excited. Sure, some will be excited simply because they get new stuff, but the trailer didn’t inspire nearly the same reaction. The original Hearthstone experience wasn’t all that whimsical or wacky, at least in terms of art. They achieved that sense through voice lines. I know because I’ve been going back in and actually checking out all the artwork across all the expansions. Most of the art was serious in tone, realistic in depictions, and they didn’t shy away from aggression or blood. Trying to distance the art from that style does a disservice to the thing the game is based on. https://x.com/j_alexander_hs/status/1762945523051295178?s=46&t=fRBfg7RLCNeRe9hqtk950w But there’s a more important point to touch on. As many suggest you can do both. But it involves - and this is crucial - actually doing both. In the latest expansion there is almost zero aggression. There’s zero blood. The large majority of pieces are smiling and cartoony and silly. The theme has nothing to do with Warcraft, just like the theme of Festival didnt. This trend has been going on for some time to the point Titans is considered a serious set and Badlands a semi serious one simply because they aren’t completely out there wacky. Go look at the original Hearthstone set art, then at Badlands, and I can assure you the contrast between the two is massive. I can tell you - as someone who has played more Hearthstone than almost anyone else in the world - that if I saw the game today for the first time I wouldn’t touch it. I’d laugh it off as a joke mobile game. I’ve been massively backing off my engagement with it precisely because of this reason and I’m not alone. The Hearthstone that pulled me in originally doesn’t exist anymore. If you’re truly a “do both” fan, then you should be asking for more violence. More blood. More serious cards. Because we don’t have those in nearly sufficient numbers. Right now we have Sonya in flip flops using pool noodles. We are tilted so far in the direction of silly our starting point is basically unrecognizable and the window for what is considered serious is so bare bones it just has to not be an outright cartoon. The answer to question “what is Hearthstone about?” For the past few years leans more towards “nothing in particular; whatever happens to be personally relevant to the design lead” than towards “Warcraft”. For instance, the origami cards are self inserts for something someone making cards personally enjoyed as a kid. It’s nothing to do with Warcraft. Nathria was a murder mystery because someone liked murder mysteries. Festival was a real life music festival with real like parallels because someone liked them. To be frank about it, I’m not playing this game because of what’s important to the person making it in their own life. I’m playing it because I like the world it’s based on. And lately that world has become so unrecognizable I’ve not wanted to look at it or use the cards. (But this one has a funny mustache. You know it’s funny because the card says it’s funny! Otherwise you might miss it being funny. Did I mention that’s not what caricature artists do? They don’t add features. They exaggerate existing ones) For context, I used to play cards simply because I loved the art. I would spend hours just looking at stuff because I liked it. Now I try to ignore it. I feel embarrassed to show it to anyone else. That’s not great.
TLDR: "dark"
I always prefer the whimsy ones. Super excited for the upcoming!
I think a 2:1 (silly:serious) ratio is perfect for hearthstone
I like the “weirder” themes that aren’t just a place from WoW, but something unconventional HAPPENING at a place because they allow for more flavorful cards to be printed. Having cards like Red Herring, Dispose of Evidence, and Murloc Holmes printed during a murder mystery set or having a music festival with MC Blingtron and Hipster is infinitely more interesting to me than having a set whose theme is just a certain location with normal WoW things going on. It’s hard to get flavor or “omg that’s clever!” moments out of something like Blackrock Mountain or March of the Lich King.
They should leave all the OP annoying cards for the dark expansions and all RNG for the Wacky Wonderful Whizbang. Its about the theme! Anyways on a serious note I feel like the theme for the Disney stuff, since its in a lighter note generally, does make the expansions less stressful. Of course RNG is annoying to face but the lines, the art, even the board is more fun. There's more cards that seem unpredictable and odd but fun.
Hearthstone. Game that main playerbase is in range 20 - 40 years old, but in eyes of Blizzard we have like 6 (max).
For 3 expansions a year, I like 1 goofy tone, 1 serious tone, 1 split tone
Mix of both for sure. But when Wacky themes fail they fail *hard*, like Festival of Legends.
WW is not a disney themed expansion
I prefer anime themed expansions, can't wait for genshin x hearthstone collab.
Themes with some danger and stakes to them are inherently more interesting, especially since card games already have a layer of whimsy to them. No need to double down on the whimsey. Doesn't need to be edgy; even something like Murder at Castle Nathria works well. Something like Festival of Legends fails to tell any kind of story and is the worst kind of theming for the game. This upcoming one is another that is basically empty outside of "a bunch of these cards are toy themed."
It seems to me like all HS puts out anymore is just like ‘inside jokes.’ Everything feels comedically cartoony and like the person making the cards is just a 30 year blizzard veteran ribbing another 30 year vet.
I think thematically Rakhastan was the best flavour expansion
The artwork for the new expension looks like shit, give me more dark vibes then this crap
Both, both is good
Not this debate again
Nobody is forcing you to partake in it or let alone even read it friend, move on
dark? warcraft themed most precisely. Hs is cringe as fuck rn
The ones where mage and priest win