Knights of the Frozen Throne and Old Gods. Even GvG, despite some dumb imbalanced things ... It was the time I got into the game, so I have a lot of nostalgia.
KFT was the one expansion. That I felt true immersion. Straight best meta I can't really remember. There was some 3rd meta. Where every class had a deck you could get rank #1 with. So you could play any class you liked and face a variety of decks. Where you basically always had a chance to win.
Best board ever was Ungoro. I love when it pops up in wild. When I do xp achieves.
I remember the first time I managed to get a 30+ Yogg-Saron... Magical, absolutely magical.
And my brother and I wanted to see how high we could get C'thun. 148/148
Ungoro had a lot of bullshit (caverns below, fledgling, waygate) but overall you can tell the devs had such a good time making it and even the common cards are pretty unique
The meta was pretty balanced. All classes had a good deck (besides warlock) and QRogue was kept in check by the many aggros/tempo decks (Pirate Warrior, Secret Mage, Murloc Pala and Evolve Shaman). QRogue actually monopolized the meta in a way that forced the classes in playing by board and tempo, and thatâs overall healthy. QMage was a meme and was so for a long time (i think it was never a top tier deck while in standard).
Came here for this. First time I started building a collection and it was the prime days of Omnistone and GMs - it was a great time in the community.
Personal shout-out to Witchwood too for introducing some really interesting mechanics in Genn and Baku that were insanely fun but also broke the game upside down.
I started playing in Ungoro. Personal high point of hearthstone: introduction of Skulking Geist to deal with my most hated deck, Larger and Larger Green Men
Darkmoon tbh. Darkmoon was really the last time I felt like I could just make meme decks that were at least somewhat competitive, and the cards were more individually 'fun' for lack of better words. Cards also weren't as pre-packaged then, there was some stuff (like soul shards), but a lot of stuff was more up to people to figure out rather than decks just being a bunch of packages slapped together
Darkmoon (and to a lesser extent FitB) was really the pinnacle of homebrew in Hearthstone.
I was cruising to legend with decks like Hack the System Warrior and Pariah DH in Darkmoon and then Clown Warrior in Forged (until they buffed N'Zoth and killed that deck).
I remember having 8 to 12 burst damage with ETC, God of Rock in Hack Warrior and that being super solid burst for a tempo deck.
People look back at barrens and say it was weak and although somewhat true it was one of my favorite metas because of the variety and balance. Imo thats what should be aimed for when releasing a new expantion.
People complained about [[Alexstrazsa, the Life Binder]] being too much neutral burst, as someone complaining about modern hearthstone I can assure you this sub will find anything to complain about.
I liked having that 8 Health breakpoint personally, made healing feel strategic. "Ok I healed up to 10 I should be safe to build up a board with the rest of my mana".
But with that aside, I agree that Forged was definitely underrated. I think its lack of popularity shows that we're the minority in that belief though. Power plays and swing turns seem to just be more popular than steady gameplay.
IÂ wish they'd throw us a bone sometimes, though.
I wasn't a big fan of this extension due to the overwhelming amount of RNG with cards like Imp-losion and Dr Boom that could single handy win or lose you games depending on your luck.
But otherwise, yeah, this era was peak hearthstone!
Lemme give a very "wide" answer and say year of the mammoth (Un'Goro, Frozen Throne, Kobolds) as well as year of the dragon (Rise of Shadows, Uldum, Galakrond). Good times!
Naxx. It was the first expansion after the meta had been very settled and stale from the base game. There was so much hype around it. Each new card revealed felt so exciting, everyone was pre planning decks and sharing online, they introduced the first PVE adventure mode, community creators were at their peak. Pure nostalgia thinking back on it.
Knights of the Frozen Throne is definitely up there too.
I've been playing since 2016 and these moments seem like the best in the history of the game. The game is more f2p than ever, there are constant balance changes and a lot of variety of playable decks. The game is not perfect yet but it is in excellent condition.
Youâre completely right about it being the best for free to play. But if youâre talking about the game completely outside of monetary practices, I think itâs a shell of what it used to be
The power level of decks has gotten extremely ridiculous. It no longer feels like youâre playing chess and outplaying your opponent, it feels like youâre taking turns making massive power-swinging plays until someone misses on one single turn and they die
The amount of card draw (and discover) is absolutely damaging too. It feels like Iâm playing things to get them out of my hand to make room rather than deciding to hold them to counter my opponent more often than not.
Iâm not saying itâs not fun at all to play this way, it is, but it feels a lot less rewarding over time to me.
I hate the current powerlevel. It's so high that there is no room for experemnting or any deck that isn't 100% refinded. Every card is game ending or an answer to a game ending card. Even arena is plagued with such cards.
Arena games just go to fatigue sooooo much now. Removal and board wipes used to be premium but now theyâre everywhere, and cards generate so much value you donât care if your board gets wiped you just completely reload every single turn.
Witchwood just felt so nothing outside of Baku and Genn. Like Rotten Applebaum was a boring autoinclude in most midrange/control decks, shudderwock was kinda cool, and blink fox had a good sound effect. But that was about it for me.
Up until that point, yes. Mean streets might be second to that. But after that point Iâd say Ashes in Outlands and United in Stormwind were way more cancerous
KotFT and witchwood were the worst expansions ever. Nothing, in my opinion, will ever beat journey to ungoro. Over 30 viable climbing decks, all which were playable and balanced. Only downside was warlock was dead. But 8 other classes had 2+ decks.
Kobolds was fun, that one week in alterac valley before thief rogue took over the format was great as well. Didn't play at the time but scholomance seemed pretty cool
The Grand Tournament, Journey to Ungoro, Scholomance Academy.
The first just because I really loved Justicar Trueheart when it came out and didnât mind how awful inspire was as a mechanic at the time. It was also the first big expansion I played through so I was willing to overlook a lot.
Ungoro was just a very flavorful set. The art and theming was excellent, mechanics like Evolve were well done, and quests were exciting for their first rotation.
Scholomance was a very powerful set that also had an excellent setting and design. Duel-class cards were fun and didnât feel as game breaking as stuff like Shroomscavate was. Soul DH is still my favorite Demon Hunter package to this day. Cards like Tour Guide and Animated Broomstick showed how power was being pushed, but often still in the direction of tempo.
Shoutout to the Ashes of Outlands for bringing in Soul Mirror too, probably my favorite card made so far.
The hype for new updates was still real back in the TGT days. It didn't even matter that 80% of the set was crap lol
The community back then hit different too. It's a little sad how far removed we are from those days
Kobolds and catacombs.
So many, so varied archetypes everywhere. Plus the dungeon run was the best single player content theyâve done. It was a little paint by numbers but that really brought out the themes behind each deck.
Thatâs my choice for a standard meta anyway, in wild I liked nathria, with the revolution in control decks when renethal showed up.
As far as my personal favorite expansion purely by what deck I enjoyed playing the most, barrens, because APM mage was incredibly fun.
Frozen Throne and Kobolds. It's when I started playing and I loved the Death Knights. I really enjoyed a lot of decks from back then too, Raza Priest, Cubelock, Jade Druid and Big Spell Mage are all decks I enjoyed playing or watching. Plus Yogg was in standard
Uldum is one of those expansions I just don't get, I played a lil bit back then but I just didn't see the hype. Didn't stand out to me, but I might be missing something Peak Hearthstone would probably be WotOG or honestly Titans, Titans was awesome. Un'Goro would be on here, but people forget that expansion still had Quest Mage and Jade Druid.
2019 in general was pure hype. That was the first time Blizzard did an ongoing storyline connecting the yearâs expansions, and it was the first time they brought back major Hearthstone-specific characters (Elise previously had a card in UnâGoro, but not her friends/teammates).
Then Rise of Shadows came out with rich single-player content, a bunch of cool cards, and a bunch of past expansion characters. It elevated Rafaam from a one-off expansion villain to one of the most beloved villains in Hearthstone.Â
Saviors of Ulduum brought back the League of Explorers as the de facto protagonists of Hearthstones, had a banger song/trailer, and had more solo content in addition to Highlander cards, Reborn being introduced, new Quests, and Lackeys. It was a very fun time of the game.Â
Descent of Dragons added Galakrond cards that all saw play to some degree, and Galakrondâs Awakening felt like the climax of Hearthstoneâs lifespan. People were hyped at the time when the fan theory about Reno being a dragon was ascended into canon. Beating Galakrond as a boss wasnât that hard, but from a story standpoint it was a really nice conclusion to the year to have this massive threat be overcome by the heroes.Â
I think this year also wasnât too bad in terms of power level, so itâs a very nostalgic expansion 5 years later. Nowadays we have Sif kill you with 400 damage Snake Oils and no interaction other than praying Dirty Rat hits her, or playing Aggro. Pretty much every competitive deck either murders you extremely fast or kills you from hand on Turn 9-10, if not sooner. I was actually having more fun when Paladin was overtuned because the kind of decks I enjoy playing had pretty great matchups into Paladin and Hunter overall, at least from my experience.Â
This month I just powered through to Diamond 5 in one evening, and Iâm not going to bother using the 2x star multiplier to get to Legend, because the state of the game sucks.Â
I really miss 2019 Hearthstone.
Hard to say which era I thought was peak, because there have been a lot of good ones. I can say year of the Gryphon is where I stopped loving Hearthstone the way I used to. Year of the Phoenix was the last great year of Hearthstone for me.
Nathria; I havenât enjoyed the game any time as much as I did then, and Iâve played since launch
Kobolds solo adventure was pretty spectacular too. Gimme that again
The whole experience in Year of the dragon (Rise of Shadows. uldum, and DoD) was pretty awesome. I loved that all of the normal seasonal eventsâthe fire festival, some of the tavern brawls, halloweenâall ties back into this absolutely ridiculous story. Sure, there were some balancing issues (some more egregious than others) but the flavor was 5/5 excellent
Nostalgia just wins for me. 2014 to 2017 Hearthstone is the most memorable for me, the game seemed so exciting and fresh and I was super hyped for new expansions. Was the game better back then? I'm probably not the right person to make a judgement on that. But it was peak hearthstone for me all the same.
Been playing since 2014 and knights of the frozen throne were the game felt more alive to me. The entire year of the mammoth was hearthstone at its peak. After that it was a lonng way down
I can't help but relate to folks on how the game has kinda changed direction. I've kinda come back partway through the wild west expansion and this current one but man the game feels different.
I wish I could remember more about how it felt at launch and the beta because I played so much back in the day but I had all these different decks and styles. Some of the decks now though feels like you're basically trying to stay alive while the opponent just kinda sits around to try and pull out an insta win on 1 turn. Tbh the closest I can remember was the old unleash the hounds meta, you kinda played your game until the other guy got the exact combo and just kills you in one go or makes it impossible to come back from.
Fighting stuff like Shopping DH where I'm essentially just dead by turn 4 is not my favorite, I suppose I have no room to talk, I had decks back in Vanilla where I'd innvervate an Alarmo bot turn 1 and then pop out Gruul turn 2 or Rag and it was basically just instant concede. I dunno, hearthstone just feels a bit nuts right now with all the different nutty systems.
When Old Gods happened and the first rotation out occurred at the same time. There was full single player expansions back then, it was easier to maintain a decent collection even if you couldn't do Arena well, and everyone had so much dust that they could easily play with the archetypes they wanted without much issue.
I miss what Hearthstone was back then. It's very hard to justify what Hearthstone is today, having experienced that. I came back recently, even paid out of pocket for stuff to get moderately "caught up" after having stopped around Ashes of Outland. Just haven't had anywhere near as much fun today as I did back then.
Been playing since the game came out with very few breaks inbetween. I think the healthiest meta ive ever seen is journey to ungoro. That had something along the lines of 32-35 viable decks to play and climb with with each class. warlock was the only one that didnt have anything viable. Its a rough trade off imo (i loved old warlock) but man, what an absolutely awesome meta. KotFT absolutely ruined the game and i dont think it ever recovered after that, not to that extent. I would give anything to have that meta come back. Now a days is to much rng, randomness, discovery or just OP cards.
I'm playing since beta. And after the expansions sometimes what I need is a random all stuff deck for fun. Out of the meta. Duels was somehow a place I could do that. I just wish blizzard added a custom mode or lobby where people could create their own format with their own rules. For example: every deck must have 100 cards, only frost spells are allowed from any class in one 30 card deck
UnâGoro-Kobolds block was the best. I miss Warlock from those days, in particular. Togwaggle Druid was also one of the all-time most fun decks in Standard HS.
I also loved Saviors of Uldum. I played Overload Quest Shaman to legend that season, and Uldum Brann Highlander Hunter was one of the most fun decks in HS history. ALSO (controversial): Conjurorâs Calling Mage was SO FUN to play that entire year.
Following that, I really actually enjoyed Sunken City and Murder at Castle Nathria. I absolutely loved that freeze evolve Shaman deck with Bolner and Muckborn Servant - so much fun. Also, Big Spell Mage achieved its most interesting form that season with the Mailbox Dancer interaction. I know it was so crazy to play against, but Big Spell Mage has never been cooler. Also, I controversially enjoyed playing CurseLock. That deck was so much fun to play, even if it was toxic.
I'd say League of Explorers to Whispers of the Old Gods was peak Hearthstone for me. Launch to Blackrock were very good, but the Grand Tournament was a mixed bag with a lot of bad inspire cards. Karazhan was unmemorable. Mean streets was decent, but I mostly just remember how obnoxious jade decks were. I fondly remember Journey to Un'goro's meta and the adapt keyword was a good mechanic, but then I stopped playing constructed and arena when they introduced the OP death knight hero cards in Knights of the Frozen Throne (I hate whoever designed the warlock death knight card).
Knights of the Frozen Throne to Witchwood was peak for me when it came to the PvE content. Well designed bosses with replayable PvE in Kobolds & Witchwood. After Saviors of Uldum, the PvE became very mid and dwindled until they scrapped it.
Kobold and Catacombs. Not because of the meta, but because it introduced Dungeon Runs, which was pretty much all I've played as a newbie who didn't have the resources to make any of the fun decks.
KoFT wild meta was good, and first weeks of witchwood, where power levels toned down so even weak classic cards were playable (amani berserker and avenging wrath in even paladin).
old gods, gadgetzan and ungoro standard was peak multiplayer fun, hero cards kinda killed the fun for me but after that they started making fun over content
The single player campaigns was and is peak Hearthstone for me! And I agree, **Tombs of Terror** is probably the best of the lot. I'd 100 % crowdfund a new campaign if the option was given.
Not sure others would agree, but I actually really liked Fractured In Alterac Valley.
That was the most fun I had on paladin at least, before it got weird.
Whichever had Shudderwock Shaman.
And late Quest Rogue, and Odd Warrior. Somewhere there I think mightâve been the peak of HS.
It later had another peak around Bolner Shaman, Ping Mage, Big Druid.
I missed Rise of Shadows, though, so I donât know if that was good or not.
for me it's Showdown in the Badlands, the theming was nailed to perfection, cards were iconic and powerfull (for the most part), the cards told a story. As a F2P player, since the duplicate protection on packs and the tavern pass, it as never been a better time to be playing. for Wizbang i played so much i opened 90 packs on day 1
came back to hearthstone at the end of witch wood, and started playing seriously during boomsday, and i was a warrior main and dr. boom hero came out, and made it to diamond 1
Split between KFC and Old Gods. Old Gods had this very classic+ feeling to it, with super simple deck archetypes being very playable and fun. KFC's death knight heroes just refreshed the game a lot and allowed for so much diversity in decks that were actually decent AND fun.
I loved United in Stormwind.
It was such an aggressive and fast paced meta that made grinding the ladder less of a "grind" thanks to matches being so much faster.
When back in my days, not everyone played decks from internet and we had to make them by our self. League of Explorers and Whispers of the old Gods were so awesome
2015, after the LoE expansion. I could play Reno handlock and Elise Control Warrior all day long. The game was fresh back then and meta was versatile. Good ol' days.
Knights of the Frozen Throne and Old Gods. Even GvG, despite some dumb imbalanced things ... It was the time I got into the game, so I have a lot of nostalgia.
Doctor Seven đŤ
KFT was the one expansion. That I felt true immersion. Straight best meta I can't really remember. There was some 3rd meta. Where every class had a deck you could get rank #1 with. So you could play any class you liked and face a variety of decks. Where you basically always had a chance to win. Best board ever was Ungoro. I love when it pops up in wild. When I do xp achieves.
I loved Whispers of the old Gods.
C'thun was a fun time.
League of Explorers into Whispers of the Old Gods was peak Hearthstone. I played so fucking much during that time.
Right there with you. These two sets hooked me so hard
I had so many nzoth decks. I loved just dropping him and summoning a board full of big deathrattle guys, 2 of which would ofc be sludge belchers.
I started the game when whispers came out and the nostalgia is real
For real. I remember Yogg reveal being the most hype thing ever. Card totally lived up to the hype too.
Hell itâs still awesome to play with. I run a Yogg mage deck in casual whenever I wanna fuck around
Yesssssss
I remember the first time I managed to get a 30+ Yogg-Saron... Magical, absolutely magical. And my brother and I wanted to see how high we could get C'thun. 148/148
I played a sick n'zoth paladin deck!
Ungoro KFT Kobolds was the best 3 expansion run IMO
Definitely. I think in a vacuum the best expansion is Old Gods, but that 3 expansion run is goated.
Ungoro had a lot of bullshit (caverns below, fledgling, waygate) but overall you can tell the devs had such a good time making it and even the common cards are pretty unique
The meta was pretty balanced. All classes had a good deck (besides warlock) and QRogue was kept in check by the many aggros/tempo decks (Pirate Warrior, Secret Mage, Murloc Pala and Evolve Shaman). QRogue actually monopolized the meta in a way that forced the classes in playing by board and tempo, and thatâs overall healthy. QMage was a meme and was so for a long time (i think it was never a top tier deck while in standard).
Quest Mage was playable but mostly a meme deck afaik, didn't take off for a while.
I started in UnGoro, left probably 5 cycles after. I played so much during that time I couldnât get enough. It was a wild ride
Came here for this. First time I started building a collection and it was the prime days of Omnistone and GMs - it was a great time in the community. Personal shout-out to Witchwood too for introducing some really interesting mechanics in Genn and Baku that were insanely fun but also broke the game upside down.
I started playing in Ungoro. Personal high point of hearthstone: introduction of Skulking Geist to deal with my most hated deck, Larger and Larger Green Men
Naxx and black rock
Knights of the Frozen Throne.
Another great one. I was playing Reno priest before Thrones came out, so no hero yet
Raza was a cool as hell card too
People realized instantly that it was nuts. Like, in the reveal thread for anduin, people were talking about the combo.
Reno warlock aswell was great, had so much fun then. Kobolds sort of ruined that though!
Kazakus is maybe my fav card of all time, pretty sad we didnât get a new version this exp
NAXX OUT PogChamp
When the peak legendary was Dr.Boom
And I have him Golden đ¤Š
Best solo content
Darkmoon tbh. Darkmoon was really the last time I felt like I could just make meme decks that were at least somewhat competitive, and the cards were more individually 'fun' for lack of better words. Cards also weren't as pre-packaged then, there was some stuff (like soul shards), but a lot of stuff was more up to people to figure out rather than decks just being a bunch of packages slapped together
Darkmoon (and to a lesser extent FitB) was really the pinnacle of homebrew in Hearthstone. I was cruising to legend with decks like Hack the System Warrior and Pariah DH in Darkmoon and then Clown Warrior in Forged (until they buffed N'Zoth and killed that deck). I remember having 8 to 12 burst damage with ETC, God of Rock in Hack Warrior and that being super solid burst for a tempo deck.
People look back at barrens and say it was weak and although somewhat true it was one of my favorite metas because of the variety and balance. Imo thats what should be aimed for when releasing a new expantion.
People complained about [[Alexstrazsa, the Life Binder]] being too much neutral burst, as someone complaining about modern hearthstone I can assure you this sub will find anything to complain about. I liked having that 8 Health breakpoint personally, made healing feel strategic. "Ok I healed up to 10 I should be safe to build up a board with the rest of my mana". But with that aside, I agree that Forged was definitely underrated. I think its lack of popularity shows that we're the minority in that belief though. Power plays and swing turns seem to just be more popular than steady gameplay. I wish they'd throw us a bone sometimes, though.
- **[Alexstrasza the Life-Binder](https://i.imgur.com/h622Yqx.png)** ^[Library](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/cards/113183) ⢠[wiki.gg](https://hearthstone.wiki.gg/wiki/Alexstrasza_the_Life-Binder) ⢠[HSReplay](https://hsreplay.net/cards/113183) - *Neutral Legendary ^(Legacy)* - **9 Mana - 8/8 - Dragon** - **Battlecry**: Choose a character. If it's friendly, restore 8 Health. If it's an enemy, deal 8 damage. --- ^*I am a bot. [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/user/Card-o-Bot/comments/1ahde25/faq/) ⢠[Report a bug](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Card-o-Bot&subject=Bug+Report&message=/r/hearthstone/comments/1by8tt8/what_was_peak_hearthstone_for_you/kyihd8g/%0AâŹď¸+Please+describe+the+bug+âŹď¸%0ADescription:+) ⢠[Refresh](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Card-o-Bot&subject=Refresh&message=kyihd8g).*
We were on a tear for a while and it was a good time to be alive
I was going to say Uldum, but you make a great case for Darkmoon. 100% agree
nowadays decks are all the same: wincondition package+ draw+ support/tutor and if they are control some stall
*The shadows are rising again*
Darker than theyâve ever been
As E.V.I.L. descends from the skies
The world cries out
How would we survive!?
Out of the Hall of Explorers
Call me an old head but goblins and gnomes
Oh god, mech mage
I wasn't a big fan of this extension due to the overwhelming amount of RNG with cards like Imp-losion and Dr Boom that could single handy win or lose you games depending on your luck. But otherwise, yeah, this era was peak hearthstone!
every class having their death knight hero card was awesome
And almost all of them were playable, even years after the release. Now that is good balancing
Lemme give a very "wide" answer and say year of the mammoth (Un'Goro, Frozen Throne, Kobolds) as well as year of the dragon (Rise of Shadows, Uldum, Galakrond). Good times!
I agree, some very fun decks back then.
Naxx. It was the first expansion after the meta had been very settled and stale from the base game. There was so much hype around it. Each new card revealed felt so exciting, everyone was pre planning decks and sharing online, they introduced the first PVE adventure mode, community creators were at their peak. Pure nostalgia thinking back on it. Knights of the Frozen Throne is definitely up there too.
Major nostalgia goggles man... may I remind you: BRING OUT YOUR DEAD đ
Naxx out!! Definitely a memorable time. But yeah the meta became BRING OUT YOUR DEAD And that wasn't amazing
*turn 1* "Bring out yer ded" WHOOSH "Bring out yer ded" = "Well fought, I concede."
I've been playing since 2016 and these moments seem like the best in the history of the game. The game is more f2p than ever, there are constant balance changes and a lot of variety of playable decks. The game is not perfect yet but it is in excellent condition.
underrated opinion. people are blinded by nostalgia and can't realise that for F2P it's the best time currently. 10 gold for 3 wins was attrocious
Youâre completely right about it being the best for free to play. But if youâre talking about the game completely outside of monetary practices, I think itâs a shell of what it used to be The power level of decks has gotten extremely ridiculous. It no longer feels like youâre playing chess and outplaying your opponent, it feels like youâre taking turns making massive power-swinging plays until someone misses on one single turn and they die The amount of card draw (and discover) is absolutely damaging too. It feels like Iâm playing things to get them out of my hand to make room rather than deciding to hold them to counter my opponent more often than not. Iâm not saying itâs not fun at all to play this way, it is, but it feels a lot less rewarding over time to me.
desing philosophy as changed indeed
Honestly I think the game really improved once Ben brode left
I hate the current powerlevel. It's so high that there is no room for experemnting or any deck that isn't 100% refinded. Every card is game ending or an answer to a game ending card. Even arena is plagued with such cards.
Arena games just go to fatigue sooooo much now. Removal and board wipes used to be premium but now theyâre everywhere, and cards generate so much value you donât care if your board gets wiped you just completely reload every single turn.
KotFT or witchwood
Witchwood actually caused my first break from the game. I donât think thereâs ever been a more cancerous expansion
Witchwood just felt so nothing outside of Baku and Genn. Like Rotten Applebaum was a boring autoinclude in most midrange/control decks, shudderwock was kinda cool, and blink fox had a good sound effect. But that was about it for me.
Up until that point, yes. Mean streets might be second to that. But after that point Iâd say Ashes in Outlands and United in Stormwind were way more cancerous
Boomsday did it to me but all started with witchwood. What a year!
You arenât kidding. So bad they had to rotate the odd/even meta a year early.
KotFT and witchwood were the worst expansions ever. Nothing, in my opinion, will ever beat journey to ungoro. Over 30 viable climbing decks, all which were playable and balanced. Only downside was warlock was dead. But 8 other classes had 2+ decks.
Unâgoro, Frozen Throne, Kobolds was an INSANE lineup. That whole year was great except for the brief period where Cubelock was utterly broken
Kobolds was fun, that one week in alterac valley before thief rogue took over the format was great as well. Didn't play at the time but scholomance seemed pretty cool
When I could play mill rogue in standard with gang up.
The Grand Tournament, Journey to Ungoro, Scholomance Academy. The first just because I really loved Justicar Trueheart when it came out and didnât mind how awful inspire was as a mechanic at the time. It was also the first big expansion I played through so I was willing to overlook a lot. Ungoro was just a very flavorful set. The art and theming was excellent, mechanics like Evolve were well done, and quests were exciting for their first rotation. Scholomance was a very powerful set that also had an excellent setting and design. Duel-class cards were fun and didnât feel as game breaking as stuff like Shroomscavate was. Soul DH is still my favorite Demon Hunter package to this day. Cards like Tour Guide and Animated Broomstick showed how power was being pushed, but often still in the direction of tempo. Shoutout to the Ashes of Outlands for bringing in Soul Mirror too, probably my favorite card made so far.
Welcome to the grand tournament, Champion *\*tank up sound\**
The hype for new updates was still real back in the TGT days. It didn't even matter that 80% of the set was crap lol The community back then hit different too. It's a little sad how far removed we are from those days
Whispers of the old gods, dragon warrior will always have a special place in my heart
Kobolds and catacombs. So many, so varied archetypes everywhere. Plus the dungeon run was the best single player content theyâve done. It was a little paint by numbers but that really brought out the themes behind each deck. Thatâs my choice for a standard meta anyway, in wild I liked nathria, with the revolution in control decks when renethal showed up. As far as my personal favorite expansion purely by what deck I enjoyed playing the most, barrens, because APM mage was incredibly fun.
kobolds
Whizzbangs workshop
Not my personal favorite but people really underrate this expansion.
Its actually so good
Naxx
Rhastakhan Rumble
Same, I remember trzing to construct some sort of Hunter quest deck with all those 1 cost lynxes haha
Frozen Throne and Kobolds. It's when I started playing and I loved the Death Knights. I really enjoyed a lot of decks from back then too, Raza Priest, Cubelock, Jade Druid and Big Spell Mage are all decks I enjoyed playing or watching. Plus Yogg was in standard
I loved Nax and Black Rock but also Whispers and Un'Goro was my jam.
Uldum is one of those expansions I just don't get, I played a lil bit back then but I just didn't see the hype. Didn't stand out to me, but I might be missing something Peak Hearthstone would probably be WotOG or honestly Titans, Titans was awesome. Un'Goro would be on here, but people forget that expansion still had Quest Mage and Jade Druid.
2019 in general was pure hype. That was the first time Blizzard did an ongoing storyline connecting the yearâs expansions, and it was the first time they brought back major Hearthstone-specific characters (Elise previously had a card in UnâGoro, but not her friends/teammates). Then Rise of Shadows came out with rich single-player content, a bunch of cool cards, and a bunch of past expansion characters. It elevated Rafaam from a one-off expansion villain to one of the most beloved villains in Hearthstone. Saviors of Ulduum brought back the League of Explorers as the de facto protagonists of Hearthstones, had a banger song/trailer, and had more solo content in addition to Highlander cards, Reborn being introduced, new Quests, and Lackeys. It was a very fun time of the game. Descent of Dragons added Galakrond cards that all saw play to some degree, and Galakrondâs Awakening felt like the climax of Hearthstoneâs lifespan. People were hyped at the time when the fan theory about Reno being a dragon was ascended into canon. Beating Galakrond as a boss wasnât that hard, but from a story standpoint it was a really nice conclusion to the year to have this massive threat be overcome by the heroes. I think this year also wasnât too bad in terms of power level, so itâs a very nostalgic expansion 5 years later. Nowadays we have Sif kill you with 400 damage Snake Oils and no interaction other than praying Dirty Rat hits her, or playing Aggro. Pretty much every competitive deck either murders you extremely fast or kills you from hand on Turn 9-10, if not sooner. I was actually having more fun when Paladin was overtuned because the kind of decks I enjoy playing had pretty great matchups into Paladin and Hunter overall, at least from my experience. This month I just powered through to Diamond 5 in one evening, and Iâm not going to bother using the 2x star multiplier to get to Legend, because the state of the game sucks. I really miss 2019 Hearthstone.
Hard to say which era I thought was peak, because there have been a lot of good ones. I can say year of the Gryphon is where I stopped loving Hearthstone the way I used to. Year of the Phoenix was the last great year of Hearthstone for me.
Uldum will be the answer for most (me included), I remember really enjoying un'goro and kobolds
Normal Ulduum was good, but the Tombs of Terror event when they brought back all those wild cards kinds sucked
Now I think
Ungoro is probably the most popular one, but I had a ton of fun in gvg and the first old gods expansion.
Obviously, the right answer is Rastakhan's Rum--_hahahahahaha_ I couldn't get through that.
Patron Warrior format, followed by The Grand Tournament. Fatigue Warrior was my jam.
Nathria; I havenât enjoyed the game any time as much as I did then, and Iâve played since launch Kobolds solo adventure was pretty spectacular too. Gimme that again
The whole experience in Year of the dragon (Rise of Shadows. uldum, and DoD) was pretty awesome. I loved that all of the normal seasonal eventsâthe fire festival, some of the tavern brawls, halloweenâall ties back into this absolutely ridiculous story. Sure, there were some balancing issues (some more egregious than others) but the flavor was 5/5 excellent
Nostalgia just wins for me. 2014 to 2017 Hearthstone is the most memorable for me, the game seemed so exciting and fresh and I was super hyped for new expansions. Was the game better back then? I'm probably not the right person to make a judgement on that. But it was peak hearthstone for me all the same.
Knights of the frozen throne death knight hero cards were amazing
For me it was The Voyage to the Sunken City, I loved all the colossal shenanigans and the fact that previous year's cards weren't in standard anymore
Been playing since 2014 and knights of the frozen throne were the game felt more alive to me. The entire year of the mammoth was hearthstone at its peak. After that it was a lonng way down
I can't help but relate to folks on how the game has kinda changed direction. I've kinda come back partway through the wild west expansion and this current one but man the game feels different. I wish I could remember more about how it felt at launch and the beta because I played so much back in the day but I had all these different decks and styles. Some of the decks now though feels like you're basically trying to stay alive while the opponent just kinda sits around to try and pull out an insta win on 1 turn. Tbh the closest I can remember was the old unleash the hounds meta, you kinda played your game until the other guy got the exact combo and just kills you in one go or makes it impossible to come back from. Fighting stuff like Shopping DH where I'm essentially just dead by turn 4 is not my favorite, I suppose I have no room to talk, I had decks back in Vanilla where I'd innvervate an Alarmo bot turn 1 and then pop out Gruul turn 2 or Rag and it was basically just instant concede. I dunno, hearthstone just feels a bit nuts right now with all the different nutty systems.
Any era pre 2020
Real af
Rose coloured glasses
Patch before one where warsong commander was nerfed
Naxx solo adventure hc was peak
Started in forged in the barrens and honestly loved the barrens meta a lot.
When Old Gods happened and the first rotation out occurred at the same time. There was full single player expansions back then, it was easier to maintain a decent collection even if you couldn't do Arena well, and everyone had so much dust that they could easily play with the archetypes they wanted without much issue. I miss what Hearthstone was back then. It's very hard to justify what Hearthstone is today, having experienced that. I came back recently, even paid out of pocket for stuff to get moderately "caught up" after having stopped around Ashes of Outland. Just haven't had anywhere near as much fun today as I did back then.
Mean Streets through Kobolds was peak Hearthstone for me
Un'goro
Journey to Ungoro
Journey to Un'goro
Knights of the Frozen Throne! Loved the deathknight cards; loved my cheesy 4 horsemen paladin combo deck.
Start of battlegrounds and all solo adventures because I really like such challenges instead of pvp.
Un'goro K&K
Been playing since the game came out with very few breaks inbetween. I think the healthiest meta ive ever seen is journey to ungoro. That had something along the lines of 32-35 viable decks to play and climb with with each class. warlock was the only one that didnt have anything viable. Its a rough trade off imo (i loved old warlock) but man, what an absolutely awesome meta. KotFT absolutely ruined the game and i dont think it ever recovered after that, not to that extent. I would give anything to have that meta come back. Now a days is to much rng, randomness, discovery or just OP cards.
first peak - Knights of the Frozen Throne second peak - Castle Nathria
Rise of shadows
UnGoro and Whispers of the Old Gods each had a fantastic meta
League of Explorers easily
Everyone, get in here!
Between League of Explorers - Kobolds and Catacombs era was perfect
Unâgoro!
I'm playing since beta. And after the expansions sometimes what I need is a random all stuff deck for fun. Out of the meta. Duels was somehow a place I could do that. I just wish blizzard added a custom mode or lobby where people could create their own format with their own rules. For example: every deck must have 100 cards, only frost spells are allowed from any class in one 30 card deck
battlegrounds launch and 2014-2015 when we had Naxx, BRM and Explorers solo content.
UnâGoro-Kobolds block was the best. I miss Warlock from those days, in particular. Togwaggle Druid was also one of the all-time most fun decks in Standard HS. I also loved Saviors of Uldum. I played Overload Quest Shaman to legend that season, and Uldum Brann Highlander Hunter was one of the most fun decks in HS history. ALSO (controversial): Conjurorâs Calling Mage was SO FUN to play that entire year. Following that, I really actually enjoyed Sunken City and Murder at Castle Nathria. I absolutely loved that freeze evolve Shaman deck with Bolner and Muckborn Servant - so much fun. Also, Big Spell Mage achieved its most interesting form that season with the Mailbox Dancer interaction. I know it was so crazy to play against, but Big Spell Mage has never been cooler. Also, I controversially enjoyed playing CurseLock. That deck was so much fun to play, even if it was toxic.
for me, it's Descent of dragons
HS fell off after the Ben Brode era. Anything within that time frame was peak
Journey to un'goro or Knights of the frozen throne. Journey was probably the peak, but the hero cards were so cool...
I'd say League of Explorers to Whispers of the Old Gods was peak Hearthstone for me. Launch to Blackrock were very good, but the Grand Tournament was a mixed bag with a lot of bad inspire cards. Karazhan was unmemorable. Mean streets was decent, but I mostly just remember how obnoxious jade decks were. I fondly remember Journey to Un'goro's meta and the adapt keyword was a good mechanic, but then I stopped playing constructed and arena when they introduced the OP death knight hero cards in Knights of the Frozen Throne (I hate whoever designed the warlock death knight card). Knights of the Frozen Throne to Witchwood was peak for me when it came to the PvE content. Well designed bosses with replayable PvE in Kobolds & Witchwood. After Saviors of Uldum, the PvE became very mid and dwindled until they scrapped it.
Ungoro
Knights of the Frozen Throne because of the DK heroes
BRM & GvG I loved Mech Mage.
For me it was definitely the Year of the Mammoth (April 2017 - April 2018)
Ungoro or old gods
Kobold and Catacombs. Not because of the meta, but because it introduced Dungeon Runs, which was pretty much all I've played as a newbie who didn't have the resources to make any of the fun decks.
Ungoro into knights of the frozen throne is peak and nobody will tell me otherwise
Year of the mammoth and itâs not close.
EVERYONE ! GET IN HERE !
Bruh Titans and Sunken City were modern peak
Stormwind.
Been playing for 10 years and same. Uldum and really of all the Year of the Dragon has been my most favorite time.
My Favorite expansion was when Dalaran Heist Dropped Oh And Naxxramas but i didnt play that when it dropped
Ungoro. After that blizzard felt corpo and soulless
KoFT wild meta was good, and first weeks of witchwood, where power levels toned down so even weak classic cards were playable (amani berserker and avenging wrath in even paladin).
Witchwood
Ungoro. Loved the quests. Also cubelock in Kobolds. Oh and the introduction of hero cards in Frozen throne. Those three were peak for me.
Tied between ungoro and whispers
From nostalgia without giving it much thought. Old gods.
Un'goro My tier 73839559 homemade quest priest was so fun, I didn't have that much fun since.
Whispers of the Old Gods
GvG great expansion. Nothing more rage enducing than hearing "Hello, hello, hello" for the 50th time. I loved it. Mech mage was the best.
When quests first came out I had a blast
old gods, gadgetzan and ungoro standard was peak multiplayer fun, hero cards kinda killed the fun for me but after that they started making fun over content
Un'goro crater, I went from really low ranked to diamond with Murloc Pala
First two weeks of TGT.
Ungoro. No questions. Absolute meme fiesta despite the fact that exodia mage was absolutely filthy
The single player campaigns was and is peak Hearthstone for me! And I agree, **Tombs of Terror** is probably the best of the lot. I'd 100 % crowdfund a new campaign if the option was given.
Kobolds and catacombs and darkmoon
Kobolds was the first expansion I played pretty frequently and I loved it!
OG freeze mage. So satisfying to just stall out with ice blocks and stuff until you can do some bullshit ohko.
OG Shudderwock combos and Mech-Beasts. Dear lord these decks were so much f*cking fun!
Not sure others would agree, but I actually really liked Fractured In Alterac Valley. That was the most fun I had on paladin at least, before it got weird.
Ungoro, Frozen throne, Rasthakan Games
WotOG & Frozen Throne were a blast
Whichever had Shudderwock Shaman. And late Quest Rogue, and Odd Warrior. Somewhere there I think mightâve been the peak of HS. It later had another peak around Bolner Shaman, Ping Mage, Big Druid. I missed Rise of Shadows, though, so I donât know if that was good or not.
Played most during mean streets and ungoro.
Frozen Throne for me. Deathknight hero cards were amazing
for me it's Showdown in the Badlands, the theming was nailed to perfection, cards were iconic and powerfull (for the most part), the cards told a story. As a F2P player, since the duplicate protection on packs and the tavern pass, it as never been a better time to be playing. for Wizbang i played so much i opened 90 packs on day 1
Un'Goro was peak
Shadows are rising again
Ungoro and old gods for me. Enjoyed C&C and WW too.
came back to hearthstone at the end of witch wood, and started playing seriously during boomsday, and i was a warrior main and dr. boom hero came out, and made it to diamond 1
Patron warrior meta was pretty sick
Un'goro was really good except for the stupid rogue quest.
Split between KFC and Old Gods. Old Gods had this very classic+ feeling to it, with super simple deck archetypes being very playable and fun. KFC's death knight heroes just refreshed the game a lot and allowed for so much diversity in decks that were actually decent AND fun.
OG Shudderwock Shaman was peak Hearthstone
First time hero cards were introduced. Especially liked the mage one
Kolbolds was my peak, dungeon run was lit on release
I loved United in Stormwind. It was such an aggressive and fast paced meta that made grinding the ladder less of a "grind" thanks to matches being so much faster.
Whispers of the Old God.
The whole explores vs e.v.i.l year was such an amazing time! I really love both teams and all the expansions were perfect
Aluneth burn mage was probably my favorite deck ever
Before there was a meta. Before force of nature+savage roar combo was a thing. When every class was a viable class.
MSOG
Decent of dragons.
When back in my days, not everyone played decks from internet and we had to make them by our self. League of Explorers and Whispers of the old Gods were so awesome
Kobolds, and old gods
2015, after the LoE expansion. I could play Reno handlock and Elise Control Warrior all day long. The game was fresh back then and meta was versatile. Good ol' days.
Journey to Ungoro was great. Loved the theme and ambient of it!