However, instead of writing yet an article with a strongly negative tone and ranting about various related topics, I instead wanted to highlight Hearthstone's Dungeon Run that was added in the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion since, while my opinions are that original in this regard, I think it's great single player content that helps to address issues with the game. I also think there's some useful concepts that can be derived and used to drive content development in games like WoW.
A Brief Description of Dungeon Runs
Dungeon Runs in Hearthstone currently consist of choosing a class to battle eight bosses in succession. Players start with a premade deck based on their class and receive a set of three cards after each match based on one of three thematics that the player chooses from. They also receive a treasure every few matches that consists of either a high-power card or a passive effect. To make each run different, each match draws from a large pool of bosses that, depending on how progressed the player is in the run, will be of a suitable power level. The run concludes with one of five end bosses that players can more consistently plan ahead for.
Dungeon Runs currently don't provide much in the way of a reward but can be played for free with cards the player may not own.
What Dungeon Runs Provide to Hearthstone Players
When it comes to benefits that Hearthstone players enjoy from Dungeon Runs, the first thing that comes to mind is that it serves as an always-present, free way to play with a full collection of cards. While deckbuilding is not as open as creating a deck from the collection, some restrictions such as how many duplicates of a card are allowed are relaxed much like in Arena, resulting in insanely powerful decks such as any decks that summon Jade Golems. This fact in addition to treasures allows players to go on a power trip for a brief time without frustrating a human opponent, though that doesn't mean there isn't great adversity that may bring that fun to an abrupt end.
Fortunately, much like with Play Mode, players can participate in Dungeon Runs to their heart's content, which in itself is great since a feature like this in some other games may be gated by a lives system or the like. Instead, Dungeon Runs seem to rely on the replayability provided by the variance of cards and treasures offered to the player as well as the different boss encounters and sequences to encourage player participation.
What I can ultimately conclude is that Dungeon Runs most benefit players who have a small collection. This includes newer players, players who play sporadically, and players who spend little to no money on the game. However, I think all players benefit in some way even if they have a complete collection since there's a fairly exclusive experience to be had from Dungeon Runs, as I've described above.
Concepts to Derive for Other Games
The replayability of Hearthstone's Dungeon Runs that is provided by its somewhat procedural generation of content, which in itself shows random elements can lead to a positive player experience, is something that I could see adding to a lot of games. Doing so should improve the gameplay experience without much downside and while it may require meticulous planning to put such a system in place, once that is done various aspects can be tweaked to alter the experience and provide even more variance. For example, Dungeon Runs vary card offerings, card set offerings, treasure offerings, and bosses. Replacing or adding new entities to each of these parts effectively renews the experience, even if the replacements and/or additions are small in scale.
When it comes to adding such a feature to an existing game, an easy way to provide a similar type of replayability is to add a set of modifiers to existing content. For example, WoW does this with Mythic+ dungeons by using affixes that are present at specific difficulty level thresholds. These affixes add a specific mechanic or otherwise modify enemies in the dungeon based on the name of the affix and two are drawn from a pool of many while the third toggles between two specific affixes. Even though there's some arguably unfair combinations, the 11 affixes as of this writing that are used, in addition to the toggling third provide 220 permutations to choose from, so there's plenty of room for making Mythic+ dungeons at a high level feel different. The affix system also allows for further tweaks much like with the numerous variables that can be tweaked in Hearthstone's Dungeon Runs.
Another concept I think could be derived and used from Dungeon Runs is the idea of expressing generosity as an investment to improve player retention through fun. While Adventure Mode could technically do the same in Hearthstone, it's a bit more collection-reliant and there's only one set of encounters that are free to access. Meanwhile, Dungeon Runs require no collection, let alone much of an investment, to enter yet allow the player to effectively play with a whole collection. The sandbox experience is a bit of a bonus that may ultimately provide many, many hours of entertainment.
When it comes to adding such a feature to an existing game, an easy way to provide a similar type of replayability is to add a set of modifiers to existing content. For example, WoW does this with Mythic+ dungeons by using affixes that are present at specific difficulty level thresholds. These affixes add a specific mechanic or otherwise modify enemies in the dungeon based on the name of the affix and two are drawn from a pool of many while the third toggles between two specific affixes. Even though there's some arguably unfair combinations, the 11 affixes as of this writing that are used, in addition to the toggling third provide 220 permutations to choose from, so there's plenty of room for making Mythic+ dungeons at a high level feel different. The affix system also allows for further tweaks much like with the numerous variables that can be tweaked in Hearthstone's Dungeon Runs.
Another concept I think could be derived and used from Dungeon Runs is the idea of expressing generosity as an investment to improve player retention through fun. While Adventure Mode could technically do the same in Hearthstone, it's a bit more collection-reliant and there's only one set of encounters that are free to access. Meanwhile, Dungeon Runs require no collection, let alone much of an investment, to enter yet allow the player to effectively play with a whole collection. The sandbox experience is a bit of a bonus that may ultimately provide many, many hours of entertainment.
I think this concept best applies to games that have a strong emphasis on the collecting aspect since it's easy to fall into the trap of encouraging players to spend money to build their collections to take advantage of one's desires to complete or, more importantly, compete. Features such as Dungeon Runs would instead attempt to "manipulate" players with an enjoyable experience that may result in them spending money out of a show of support instead of perceived necessity. With that said, I think Hearthstone is far from perfect in regards to accomplishing this goal.
Conclusion
I think Dungeon Runs are a big step forward in terms of making Hearthstone a game that can be enjoyed by more players. It's a free experience that can provide numerous hours of entertainment that has high replayability that helps to combat the fatigue of repetition. However, I still think other parts of the game need improvement such as the card collecting aspect, which is why I wish to see my suggestions or at least similar suggestions from another player, make their way into the game. I also think Dungeon Runs can be expounded upon further with additional bosses and other additions that increase the permutability, as well as the replayability, further.
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