Are Goblin Vs. Gnomes and Curse Of Naxxramas gone?

Question

I discovered that some time ago Heathstone had two adventures that are "gone" from the game, Goblin Vs. Gnomes and Curse Of Naxxramas. Blizzard removed those adventures, and, from what I read and what I think I understood, those adventures are now the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion.

I have some questions about this.

1. Could people who bought those adventures have cards that do not exist in the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion? (which could create an advantage for those users.)

2. The Whispers of the Old Gods is free, right?. I mean that when we refer to the term "expansion" we are just refering to the collectible card-packs of Whispers of the Old Gods, or is there something else comprising this expansion?

Answer 1

First of all, only Naxxramas is an adventure, Goblins vs. Gnomes is an expansion. The former provides several challenges against bosses, which reward you with all cards from a small pool, the latter allows you to buy packs, which grant 5 cards from a large pool. Old gods is an expansion just like GvG, yes, it consists entirely of the cards.

Both of these have been retired, as the new Standard Format only allows you to use cards released in the last 2 years, i.e. in 2016 you can use cards from 2015 and 2016. So neither Naxx nor GvG is available for purchase anymore. Nor are they free, they are completely unavilable. Once 2017 hits, League of Explorers, Grand tournament and Blackrock Mountain share the same fate.

Yes, you can still use the cards in the wild format, but this is not the focus of play anymore. You are still able to craft all the cards from GvG and Naxx though, if you really want to use them.

Answer 2

1. No, they are removed because they have gone wild. Whispers of the Old Gods introduced standard battles which allow non-core boosters and adventures up to one year before the season year. The oldest card pack you can use in the standard is The Grand Tournament, and the oldest adventure is Blackrock Mountain. So you don't have to worry about Goblin vs. Gnome owners having an unfair advantage against you with old cards. Screw you, Dr. Boom!
2. It is "free" in terms of you can play with people who own Whispers of the Old Gods packs, sure. However, unless you have obtained the packs for free by some means, you have to pay for the booster packs as usual.