Blizzard announced that they'll be ending support for the Duels Mode in Hearthstone. That means there's going to be no updates released towards this feature. In addition, the mode itself is set to be removed from the game in April 2024.
In a post, the studio revealed that this move would allow them to focus resources on features that have the most impact, giving Traditional Hearthstone and Battlegrounds as examples. As a result of this upcoming change, the studio said further that they thank all the "passionate Duels fans" for everything they've done. In addition, players can look forward to a Battlegrounds patch focused on Battlegrounds Duos. There's also going to be some Duels Treasures in the next Arena season with details to be released soon.
Duels Mode was released back in November 2020, as part of the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion. This new mode offered the excitement of a PvP Arena and combined it with the deckbuilding experience of the Solo Adventures. Similar to the Arena mode, players get to do battle against other players and need to reach 12 wins before getting three loses. Unlike other mode, in Duels players start with custom-built decks from their own collections.
Going back to the action on Duels Mode, it didn't come as a surprise to some players considering that it never left beta. What was surprising to them though was the decision to fully remove this feature from the game.
While this indeed a big move to announce at the start of 2024, there have been some significant changes made last year. Back in February 2023 for example, the Mercenaries mode was put under maintenance. However, it remained possible for players to continue playing this mode. Then it was also revealed that the esports program for Hearthstone was also being scaled back.
For a lot of players though, while it is sad to know about the removal of Duels Mode, a lot of them are looking forward to what changes are going to be implemented in the future.
What about you? What did you think about this action by Blizzard?
Hearthstone is available for the PC and through mobile platforms.
