Hearthstone Game Modes Introduction

Hearthstone Game Modes Introduction by Fluxflashor

Practice Mode

Play against A.I. opponents representing different classes using your personal card collection to unlock new heroes and basic cards.

Play Mode

By participating in traditional head-to-head matches, using cards from your own collection, players have a chance to win card packs. Both ranked and unranked play modes are available to players and use a matchmaking system to match you up with other players. Ranked matchmaking will take into effect your skill level to match you up with similar ranked opponents.

Rewards

Players will be rewarded with Experience to advance their hero levels, and Gold to use towards card packs and entry into the Arena.

The Arena

The Arena is the “build-and-battle” mode where you construct a 30-card deck on the fly, and then battle it out with other Arena players. You’ll be presented with three random cards at a time, and you’ll choose one of the presented cards to go into your deck. After 30 cards have been selected, you’ll have a full deck of destruction that you’ll use to crush your opponents. You will play with this deck until you have 9 wins or 3 losses, whichever happens first. The Arena really puts your deck-building knowledge to the test, and it’s just one of the many fun ways you can play Hearthstone.

How to play

It’s easy to access The Arena. Each time you want to start a new Arena playthrough, you simply pay the entry fee with 100 gold acquired from Play mode and quests, or with real money. Your first trip to The Arena is free!

Building your deck

Inside The Arena, your first decision is to choose the Hero that you’ll base your deck around. Three random Heroes out of the total nine are presented. Perhaps you’ll be in the mood for a bit of spell-slinging with Gul’dan the Warlock, or maybe you’d like to try smashing the competition with the brutality of Garrosh the Warrior. The choice is up to you!

With your trusted Hero by your side, you’re ready to test your deck-building skills by selecting cards. For your first pick, three different cards will be displayed to you, and it’s your job to decide which one you want to use for your deck. Any neutral card or card specific to your class could be displayed, and it doesn’t need to already be in your collection.

Your choices might be tough—and you can’t go back and change your cards later—so pick wisely! For example, you may have selected Uther as your Hero, and you’ll have to make a difficult decision between [card]Coldlight Seer, Violet Teacher, or Blessed Champion. You might then decide to base your deck around that choice, or you may change your strategy halfway down the line—you never know what may come up! Don’t rush through this process—there’s no time limit. You can even stop halfway through making your choices, come back a week later, and pick back up where you left off.

Whew! You finally picked the first card of your deck and you’re feeling really good about the decision. You’ll be faced with three card choices a total of 30 times, eventually giving you a 30-card deck when all is said and done. You may have even picked up a Legendary along the way, and you can’t wait to unleash it against the competition. There’s no limit to how many of each card you can have, so if you were lucky enough to pick up five of your favorite spell card, more (arcane) power to you!

Rewards

Each win you accumulate will level up a key you’ll see on The Arena screen—the better your key, the better treasure it unlocks for you. Losses aren’t factored into your rewards, just wins. Rewards can be gold, Arcane Dust, Golden commons and rares, or even packs of cards! The more you win, the better your rewards will be.

There are a couple of limits: If you win 9 times, your key will be fully upgraded to the max level: the Grand Master Key, which grants the best rewards possible. If you lose three times, that’s it for that deck, hero. You’ll receive rewards based on how much your key has been upgraded before you reached three losses. So, for example, if you earn 5 wins before you reach three losses, you’ll get better rewards than if you had had 0 wins and 3 losses. If at any time you need to take a break from dueling in The Arena, just hit the back button to come back later. The deck you made before leaving will be the deck you use until you lose 3 games or win 9 games. Fight hard!

Once you’ve finished your epic run in The Arena and claimed your rewards, you can venture back in at any time and start a new Arena challenge from scratch using gold or real money. If you were skilled enough to receive a Diamond Key or higher in The Arena, you’ll have enough gold from your rewards to immediately play it again—and undoubtedly, a few fallen foes will be eager for revenge. Once you pay the entry fee again, you’ll get to create a brand new deck from new Heroes and new card choices, and soon you’ll be a renowned deck-building machine in Hearthstone. May your opponents tremble at the mere sight of your name!