These are my arena win percentages so far from a total of 37 arena runs.
As you can see, while the sample size isn't huge, I've had pretty similar results with most classes. My general feeling is that Rogues and Paladins belong to a god tier slightly above the rest of the classes, mostly because of their hero powers. Priests require a very specialized deck so I think it's possibly as good as the others once we understand how to pick.
I honestly cannot fathom how some people place Warriors as one of the better classes though. The Hero power is just super terrible in almost any situation. It's difficult to make an aggressive warrior deck because the hero power adds absolutely nothing. Comparing it to an aggressive hunter deck, I use neither hero power for the first 4-5 turns, but after that the hunter hero power can be used to deal the last 8-10 damage, barely surviving, while the warrior hero power just gives me some armor while I wait for my opponent to play out his entire hand and smash me. Even in the best of cases such as when against a hunter, the hero powers just cancel out. It's even more difficult to make a controlling warrior deck. You need a ton of 2-3-drops since the hero power cannot be used to defend yourself (unlike rogue/mage/druid/paladin). This leads to a weak late game, especially since warriors don't have any good card drawing spells.
It's really great that you did stats on your games. I am well impressed with your paladin win rate, which I was only able to achieve on Rogue or Mage so far.
Can you tell us a little bit more about your mindset going into the draft? Are you focusing on taunt minions with healers and fat late game monsters? On smallies with blessings? Or do you go for as many divine shields as possible? What does your curve look like on a typical "winner" deck?
It's really great that you did stats on your games. I am well impressed with your paladin win rate, which I was only able to achieve on Rogue or Mage so far.
Can you tell us a little bit more about your mindset going into the draft? Are you focusing on taunt minions with healers and fat late game monsters? On smallies with blessings? Or do you go for as many divine shields as possible? What does your curve look like on a typical "winner" deck?
I haven't really been doing much special at all apart from the obvious stuff. Aura buffs like Raid Leader are better, and the need for 2-drops is significantly reduced because of the hero power. I never really go for "theme decks" with any class, just tune my picks a bit in order to fit with the rest of the deck.
The paladin class is really hit or miss with the class cards. There are a bunch of cards that are completely terrible and should almost never be picked: Blessed Champion, Divine Favor, Holy Wrath, Hand of Protection, Holy Light, Blessing of Wisdom, Eye for an Eye, Humility, Noble Sacrifice, Redemption and Repetance. This is 3 out of 4 rares and 8 out of 16 commons that are almost unplayable.
On the other hand, there are some cards that are excellent. Aldor Peacekeeper, Equality, Blessing of Might, Hammer of Wrath, Light's Justice, Argent Protector, Blessing of Kings, Consecration, Guardian of Kings and Truesilver Champion are all pretty awesome. Consecration might be the best common spell in the game.
I think it's a lot about the hero ability also. Other hero abilities do 1 damage once while the paladin ability creates a token that can deal 1 damage several times. It's also a lot more reliable than other hero abilities, for example the Druid hero ability is good sometimes, but if there's nothing with 1 toughness on the board it's not great.
I have tried and tried with the mage deck. I was even able to pick up 3 Fireballs in my latest attempt. I skipped out on the +1 Spell Power folks and tried to get some stallers and little minions but the rogue and hunter decks just tore me apart. I was also out maged.
I suppose some decks just click with people much like actual classes do in WoW.
Mages just don't seem to be for me. :(
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Fee. Fi. Fo. Fum. From the Beta days is where I'm from.
Hey Berlitz, thanks for sharing your experience of your mage draft. My experience recently has differed a lot from yours, so I thought I'd share some deck ideas here. (I'm currently in my second mage draft in a row, the first one went 9-0, the second one I'm 7-0 in)
My strategy going into the Arena as a mage is to focus on control. The most important cards are AoE damage and Polymorphs. AoE damage in order to get card advantage wiping the enemy's board (typically, you want 2, max 3 Flamestrikes, and Blizzard if it ever pops in your draft). You want to pick those above everything else.
Second, you need polymorphs, and you need to save those for super-high HP minions that will wreck you (Legendaries / anything 8/8, etc.) It's very important you get at least one of those, and as many as 3 or 4 won't hurt you.
So those 2 first types of card you need to pick in top priority.
Then you move to Fireballs, because yeah, it's an awesome card, very versatile, and I can't count the games I've won on a normal attack + 2 fireballs for the win.
What about minions then?
First rule: get taunt minions.
Second rule: get more taunt minions.
Seriously, the reason you get smashed by Rogue or Hunters is because by the time you get to flame strike their board, you're almost dead. The only way to break them is to constantly oppose their force with taunt minions so that they can't bypass you. Get Shieldmastas in priority, but don't underestimate the 1/4 taunt ape either. There is no limit to the amount of taunt minions you should have - beside luck in the draft - so feel free to go nuts there.
Whenever possible, get the "good" healers. The 3/3 that heals 3 for 3 is very versatile. Darkscale healer isn't bad though. Again, pick taunt minions higher.
Get the minions who can give taunt to your minions when you find them.
Don't rush into a low curve. Your hero power lets you deal with early threats until turn 4 in most games. Do not underestimate cards like cone of cold and Frozen elemental. They are very nice ways to gain some tempo back.
So, in short, pick by order of importance: Blizzard > Flamestrike > Polymorph > Fireball > Pyroblast > High hp taunt minions > Acidic Swamp Ooze if you don't have any = low hp taunt minions = healer cards > freezing cards.
For play: keep your cards as much as possible. Deal with the opposing threats while trying to remain above 20hp. Save a polymorph in hand at all times for end game threats. Focus on using the least amount of cards to remove the opponent board. Use your power often. The goal is to exhaust your opponent's cards before yours, then kill him with a couple minions (yeah, a control deck).
Very interesting read and very different in places of my own experience.Let's have a look at the biggest differences.
Druid not being on top and mage one notch down. Druids are so reliable, ofc if you draft super heavy you will die early on but get some early game and have a stand of till late game for your big boys to come out to play and you will stomp most. Lucky rogue draws and hunter combos is what I in general lose to with a ok drafted deck, with a good drafted deck it's 9-1 9-2 most of the time(202 wins).Draft smart and you'll have a good time as a druid.
Mage is very good but I personally find Druid and rogue to be higher.
I'm jumping a bit up and down but how you have priest over warlock and warlock so far down is puzzling. Warlock is the perfect aggro deck in arena that will not fail unless you run into a lot of board clears(2+). The only thing scary or what looks scary is that your hp will drop more or less at the same speed as your opponents most of the time but you are in control till the end. Priests belong alone in the bottom tire, only reason warriors shouldn't be there with them is weapons, if you get non then you're deck is bottom tier imo.
Shaman and hunter I find very RNG in arena, in the drafting section, it can be oh so good or omg so bad
Paladins I find good and if you get a truesilver or 2 or the game winner sword of justice with a BoK or two it goes up a lot.
My list looks like this:
1: Druid,Rogue
2: Paladin,Mage
3: Warlock,shaman,hunter
4: Warrior
5: Priest
Glad to see different opinions tho, makes the game fun^^
I have 250+ wins on arena and i always pick middle hero.
So my list looks like this:
1) hunt
2) mage pal druid shaman
3) warlock rog war
4) priest
Imo hunt is the easiest one. My first hunt play on arena was 7-2 my 2nd game was 9-0 :) (i got 3guienas 3companions 3 double shots and some random beasts for the rest).
and most of my 9wins was for hunt.
Rest are also ok. 2) i did 9wins with them but they didn't feeled so op as hunter. 3) 8 wins only. and for rogue i really don't like him. Very few aoe and it's hard to come back if you are back by life and board control. 4) very luck based, need combination of 2-3cards to be powerful. i did 6wins with priest but i totally fon't like him in arena. Though on ladder shadowpriest is super fun to play
Our initial tier list changed obviously since the patch. We need more playtests to provide you guys with a first draft. I'll sync with Nodata about that, maybe before the end of the month. :)
Please, keep feeding us with your own argumented lists. This is the best form of feedback this kind of thread can receive. ^^
Also, a question for you guys: with Miss Moneypenny, we're wondering if you'd be interested in our thoughts on Legendary cards in the Arena, and what to choose. Of course it's deck dependent, but we frequently struggle with choices like "Ragnaros or Alextrasza?" "Sylvanas or Onyxia?" etc. We think you may be asking yourselves the same questions, and we're looking for a solid way to answer them. Let us know if this something you'd like to see, or if you think it's idiotic, or if you have any ideas / suggestions about the format, etc.
So, in short, pick by order of importance: Blizzard > Flamestrike > Polymorph > Fireball > Pyroblast > High hp taunt minions > Acidic Swamp Ooze if you don't have any = low hp taunt minions = healer cards > freezing cards.
Well thats good and all, but I played arena with mage, got 1 blizzard, 1 flamestrike, zero fireballs and pyros and zero sheeps and to top it off minimum of weaker taunts and other cards were mostly just the usual common, universal junks. I hadnt had a single card, that could deal with late minions and my only late minion (sort-of) was the manipulator.
So yeah, strategy advice is fine, but more than anything, you need to adjust to the draft you get rather than try to pick for a deck, that you just might not get with a little bit of RNG.
So yeah, strategy advice is fine, but more than anything, you need to adjust to the draft you get rather than try to pick for a deck, that you just might not get with a little bit of RNG.
indeed you have to adept to cards you are given i managed to make 9 wins with shaman without bloodlust flame/earth eles, any lighting or rockbitter only good shaman specific card i had is 2 flametongue.
After a long weekend of Arena with a total of nearly 60 runs (then went out of gold due to bug), my current class selection is: First Place by far: Mage any time I can pick it. Every run was 7+ wins, no exception. Wins even with not so much spells. But AOEs and Pyros raise winspeed alot here. Second Place: Hunter and Warlock Warlock makes swarm decks pretty easy to construct. Hunters have their internal Countdown to Endgame. Nearly guarantes 5+ to make even, 7+ not impossible. Third Place: Paladin and Shaman Both play out well if you go turn 10+
Rest: Well, it just depends to much on RNG to play decent, at least for me. So I prefer to play the "good" ones and keep making gold.
Honorable mention to warriors though. If you can grab 6+ weapons (or cards giving you one) you have already won.
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I do tons of runs too. ^^ I'm really surprised by your results with Warlock. It's really one my worst champ. I'd like to have a more detailed view of what you pick generally and what you avoid. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, and I'd like to increase my ratio. :)
I'm also surprised by your results with Shaman. It's like auto-6/7 wins for me. Here again, if it doesn't bother you too much ^^, I'd like to have your pick strategy. Maybe this time (just maybe) you are doing it wrong. :)
Hey guys, I won't add this to the tier list itself, because it's not statistical data, just personal feeling, but class picks in tier one go like this for me:
Shaman first pick, always. Second is Mage, close enough. Hunter and Paladin come after.
What makes Shamans and Mages so strong compared to the rest of the field, enough that it could warrant a future nerf?
For Mages, Kirin Tor Mage + Secrets is too fast, too hard to deal with. Mage is by default a control class, and that combo just isn't on script. Flamestrike is super strong, but it requires you to hold on until late game. KT Mage + Mirror Entity on turn 3 is really tough to play around. If you drop a small minion to play the ME, you lose card advantage to the KTM. If you drop something to deal with the KTM, Jaina gets it too. :/ I've won and lost many games on the back of that play. The rest of the class is strong, but balanced imho.
For Shamans, the problem is more complicated. The class is insanely powerful atm because it has everything. Cheap weapons, minion generation (better than paladin for control decks), universal minion removal (Hex), great minions (Windspeakers, Fire Elemental), fantastic rares (Earth Elem, Feral Wolves, Lightning storm)... So what to do? A couple of things: I'd consider allowing Hex (and Polymorph) to be silenced so you get your big minion back. It's also interesting to note that the 2 classes affected by such a nerf would incidentally be the two best (according to me, of course, Blizzard may have data to show otherwise). Fire Elemental is a little too good at 6/5 and should be 6/4 imho, so that he can be dealt with Eviscerate / Heroic Strike (ouch) / Swipe / Shadowbolt. Currently, it's too ofter 1 card for 3 cards, and it's too much for a common.
That's what I would consider. What do you think? What balances changes would you look at if you were on the dev team?
I'd like to have a more detailed view of what you pick generally and what you avoid.
Maybe this time (just maybe) you are doing it wrong. :)
Sorry, haven't seen earlier :(
Mage and Warlock are my favourite classes, maybe that's the only reason. You do better with shaman than me, so it might fit.
As for picking priorities: I follow some basic rules and lots of draft experience from MTG and other draftable cardgames. BREAD should be well known already as a baseline. For mages I tend to pick Enrage minions, tauren warriors served me wonderful in arena. Something I never would play in constructed with a mage. Warlock I pick nearly everything creating tokens (huntress etc.; murloc tidehunter big exception) or benefiting from it (Knife Juggler), same goes for paladins. Since arena plays much slower than constructed I don't play taunt heavy. Taunt usually costs extra compared to similar non-taunts and most of the time everything on the board is traded to minimize board control anyway. But don't get me wrong here, I take my share of taunts if possible, it just isn't my first pick. With any class weapons are first pick until having a decent amount of them (with this 1/4 paladin thingy an exception). Great removal at usually low costs.
Hearthstone still having a somewhat limited cardpool helps a lot, too.
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It's interesting how players shying away from aggro classes (mostly due to the drop in Rogues) is now responsible for an even bigger shift towards heavier, more controlling decks.
As such, Priests are much stronger in this meta, since the only viable strategy against a mind control-heavy deck is to kill them by turn 8-9 max.
The current tier list needs an update to reflect the Meta.
Probably just because it's my favorite (and most comfortable class), but I've gotten Grandmaster 4 times this week...3 times with Rogue, 1 time with Mage.
These are my arena win percentages so far from a total of 37 arena runs.
As you can see, while the sample size isn't huge, I've had pretty similar results with most classes. My general feeling is that Rogues and Paladins belong to a god tier slightly above the rest of the classes, mostly because of their hero powers. Priests require a very specialized deck so I think it's possibly as good as the others once we understand how to pick.
I honestly cannot fathom how some people place Warriors as one of the better classes though. The Hero power is just super terrible in almost any situation. It's difficult to make an aggressive warrior deck because the hero power adds absolutely nothing. Comparing it to an aggressive hunter deck, I use neither hero power for the first 4-5 turns, but after that the hunter hero power can be used to deal the last 8-10 damage, barely surviving, while the warrior hero power just gives me some armor while I wait for my opponent to play out his entire hand and smash me. Even in the best of cases such as when against a hunter, the hero powers just cancel out. It's even more difficult to make a controlling warrior deck. You need a ton of 2-3-drops since the hero power cannot be used to defend yourself (unlike rogue/mage/druid/paladin). This leads to a weak late game, especially since warriors don't have any good card drawing spells.
It's really great that you did stats on your games. I am well impressed with your paladin win rate, which I was only able to achieve on Rogue or Mage so far.
Can you tell us a little bit more about your mindset going into the draft? Are you focusing on taunt minions with healers and fat late game monsters? On smallies with blessings? Or do you go for as many divine shields as possible? What does your curve look like on a typical "winner" deck?
I haven't really been doing much special at all apart from the obvious stuff. Aura buffs like Raid Leader are better, and the need for 2-drops is significantly reduced because of the hero power. I never really go for "theme decks" with any class, just tune my picks a bit in order to fit with the rest of the deck.
The paladin class is really hit or miss with the class cards. There are a bunch of cards that are completely terrible and should almost never be picked: Blessed Champion, Divine Favor, Holy Wrath, Hand of Protection, Holy Light, Blessing of Wisdom, Eye for an Eye, Humility, Noble Sacrifice, Redemption and Repetance. This is 3 out of 4 rares and 8 out of 16 commons that are almost unplayable.
On the other hand, there are some cards that are excellent. Aldor Peacekeeper, Equality, Blessing of Might, Hammer of Wrath, Light's Justice, Argent Protector, Blessing of Kings, Consecration, Guardian of Kings and Truesilver Champion are all pretty awesome. Consecration might be the best common spell in the game.
I think it's a lot about the hero ability also. Other hero abilities do 1 damage once while the paladin ability creates a token that can deal 1 damage several times. It's also a lot more reliable than other hero abilities, for example the Druid hero ability is good sometimes, but if there's nothing with 1 toughness on the board it's not great.
I have tried and tried with the mage deck. I was even able to pick up 3 Fireballs in my latest attempt. I skipped out on the +1 Spell Power folks and tried to get some stallers and little minions but the rogue and hunter decks just tore me apart. I was also out maged.
I suppose some decks just click with people much like actual classes do in WoW.
Mages just don't seem to be for me. :(
Fee. Fi. Fo. Fum. From the Beta days is where I'm from.
Hey Berlitz, thanks for sharing your experience of your mage draft. My experience recently has differed a lot from yours, so I thought I'd share some deck ideas here. (I'm currently in my second mage draft in a row, the first one went 9-0, the second one I'm 7-0 in)
My strategy going into the Arena as a mage is to focus on control. The most important cards are AoE damage and Polymorphs. AoE damage in order to get card advantage wiping the enemy's board (typically, you want 2, max 3 Flamestrikes, and Blizzard if it ever pops in your draft). You want to pick those above everything else.
Second, you need polymorphs, and you need to save those for super-high HP minions that will wreck you (Legendaries / anything 8/8, etc.) It's very important you get at least one of those, and as many as 3 or 4 won't hurt you.
So those 2 first types of card you need to pick in top priority.
Then you move to Fireballs, because yeah, it's an awesome card, very versatile, and I can't count the games I've won on a normal attack + 2 fireballs for the win.
What about minions then?
First rule: get taunt minions.
Second rule: get more taunt minions.
Seriously, the reason you get smashed by Rogue or Hunters is because by the time you get to flame strike their board, you're almost dead. The only way to break them is to constantly oppose their force with taunt minions so that they can't bypass you. Get Shieldmastas in priority, but don't underestimate the 1/4 taunt ape either. There is no limit to the amount of taunt minions you should have - beside luck in the draft - so feel free to go nuts there.
Whenever possible, get the "good" healers. The 3/3 that heals 3 for 3 is very versatile. Darkscale healer isn't bad though. Again, pick taunt minions higher.
Get the minions who can give taunt to your minions when you find them.
Don't rush into a low curve. Your hero power lets you deal with early threats until turn 4 in most games. Do not underestimate cards like cone of cold and Frozen elemental. They are very nice ways to gain some tempo back.
So, in short, pick by order of importance: Blizzard > Flamestrike > Polymorph > Fireball > Pyroblast > High hp taunt minions > Acidic Swamp Ooze if you don't have any = low hp taunt minions = healer cards > freezing cards.
For play: keep your cards as much as possible. Deal with the opposing threats while trying to remain above 20hp. Save a polymorph in hand at all times for end game threats. Focus on using the least amount of cards to remove the opponent board. Use your power often. The goal is to exhaust your opponent's cards before yours, then kill him with a couple minions (yeah, a control deck).
Hope that helps ! :)
Very interesting read and very different in places of my own experience.Let's have a look at the biggest differences.
Druid not being on top and mage one notch down. Druids are so reliable, ofc if you draft super heavy you will die early on but get some early game and have a stand of till late game for your big boys to come out to play and you will stomp most. Lucky rogue draws and hunter combos is what I in general lose to with a ok drafted deck, with a good drafted deck it's 9-1 9-2 most of the time(202 wins).Draft smart and you'll have a good time as a druid.
Mage is very good but I personally find Druid and rogue to be higher.
I'm jumping a bit up and down but how you have priest over warlock and warlock so far down is puzzling. Warlock is the perfect aggro deck in arena that will not fail unless you run into a lot of board clears(2+). The only thing scary or what looks scary is that your hp will drop more or less at the same speed as your opponents most of the time but you are in control till the end. Priests belong alone in the bottom tire, only reason warriors shouldn't be there with them is weapons, if you get non then you're deck is bottom tier imo.
Shaman and hunter I find very RNG in arena, in the drafting section, it can be oh so good or omg so bad
Paladins I find good and if you get a truesilver or 2 or the game winner sword of justice with a BoK or two it goes up a lot.
My list looks like this:
1: Druid,Rogue
2: Paladin,Mage
3: Warlock,shaman,hunter
4: Warrior
5: Priest
Glad to see different opinions tho, makes the game fun^^
Almost agreed to your list except I'd switch Warlock and Warrior or drop Warlock to the Warrior level.
Nozdormu wins you every game where you opponent has to go to the bathroom on turn 9.
I have 250+ wins on arena and i always pick middle hero.
So my list looks like this:
1) hunt
2) mage pal druid shaman
3) warlock rog war
4) priest
Imo hunt is the easiest one. My first hunt play on arena was 7-2 my 2nd game was 9-0 :) (i got 3guienas 3companions 3 double shots and some random beasts for the rest).
and most of my 9wins was for hunt.
Rest are also ok. 2) i did 9wins with them but they didn't feeled so op as hunter. 3) 8 wins only. and for rogue i really don't like him. Very few aoe and it's hard to come back if you are back by life and board control.
4) very luck based, need combination of 2-3cards to be powerful. i did 6wins with priest but i totally fon't like him in arena.
Though on ladder shadowpriest is super fun to play
Our initial tier list changed obviously since the patch. We need more playtests to provide you guys with a first draft. I'll sync with Nodata about that, maybe before the end of the month. :)
Please, keep feeding us with your own argumented lists. This is the best form of feedback this kind of thread can receive. ^^
I have an opinion on almost everything. :)
Updated for the current patch! (on October 9th)
Also, a question for you guys: with Miss Moneypenny, we're wondering if you'd be interested in our thoughts on Legendary cards in the Arena, and what to choose. Of course it's deck dependent, but we frequently struggle with choices like "Ragnaros or Alextrasza?" "Sylvanas or Onyxia?" etc. We think you may be asking yourselves the same questions, and we're looking for a solid way to answer them. Let us know if this something you'd like to see, or if you think it's idiotic, or if you have any ideas / suggestions about the format, etc.
Laterz!
Well thats good and all, but I played arena with mage, got 1 blizzard, 1 flamestrike, zero fireballs and pyros and zero sheeps and to top it off minimum of weaker taunts and other cards were mostly just the usual common, universal junks. I hadnt had a single card, that could deal with late minions and my only late minion (sort-of) was the manipulator.
So yeah, strategy advice is fine, but more than anything, you need to adjust to the draft you get rather than try to pick for a deck, that you just might not get with a little bit of RNG.
indeed you have to adept to cards you are given i managed to make 9 wins with shaman without bloodlust flame/earth eles, any lighting or rockbitter only good shaman specific card i had is 2 flametongue.
After a long weekend of Arena with a total of nearly 60 runs (then went out of gold due to bug), my current class selection is:
First Place by far: Mage any time I can pick it. Every run was 7+ wins, no exception. Wins even with not so much spells. But AOEs and Pyros raise winspeed alot here.
Second Place: Hunter and Warlock
Warlock makes swarm decks pretty easy to construct. Hunters have their internal Countdown to Endgame. Nearly guarantes 5+ to make even, 7+ not impossible.
Third Place: Paladin and Shaman
Both play out well if you go turn 10+
Rest: Well, it just depends to much on RNG to play decent, at least for me. So I prefer to play the "good" ones and keep making gold.
Honorable mention to warriors though. If you can grab 6+ weapons (or cards giving you one) you have already won.
Please report toxic behaviour and unwanted threads, so the moderators can deal with them.
@MSW112:
I do tons of runs too. ^^ I'm really surprised by your results with Warlock. It's really one my worst champ. I'd like to have a more detailed view of what you pick generally and what you avoid. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, and I'd like to increase my ratio. :)
I'm also surprised by your results with Shaman. It's like auto-6/7 wins for me. Here again, if it doesn't bother you too much ^^, I'd like to have your pick strategy. Maybe this time (just maybe) you are doing it wrong. :)
I have an opinion on almost everything. :)
Hey guys, I won't add this to the tier list itself, because it's not statistical data, just personal feeling, but class picks in tier one go like this for me:
Shaman first pick, always. Second is Mage, close enough. Hunter and Paladin come after.
What makes Shamans and Mages so strong compared to the rest of the field, enough that it could warrant a future nerf?
For Mages, Kirin Tor Mage + Secrets is too fast, too hard to deal with. Mage is by default a control class, and that combo just isn't on script. Flamestrike is super strong, but it requires you to hold on until late game. KT Mage + Mirror Entity on turn 3 is really tough to play around. If you drop a small minion to play the ME, you lose card advantage to the KTM. If you drop something to deal with the KTM, Jaina gets it too. :/ I've won and lost many games on the back of that play. The rest of the class is strong, but balanced imho.
For Shamans, the problem is more complicated. The class is insanely powerful atm because it has everything. Cheap weapons, minion generation (better than paladin for control decks), universal minion removal (Hex), great minions (Windspeakers, Fire Elemental), fantastic rares (Earth Elem, Feral Wolves, Lightning storm)... So what to do? A couple of things: I'd consider allowing Hex (and Polymorph) to be silenced so you get your big minion back. It's also interesting to note that the 2 classes affected by such a nerf would incidentally be the two best (according to me, of course, Blizzard may have data to show otherwise). Fire Elemental is a little too good at 6/5 and should be 6/4 imho, so that he can be dealt with Eviscerate / Heroic Strike (ouch) / Swipe / Shadowbolt. Currently, it's too ofter 1 card for 3 cards, and it's too much for a common.
That's what I would consider. What do you think? What balances changes would you look at if you were on the dev team?
Sorry, haven't seen earlier :(
Mage and Warlock are my favourite classes, maybe that's the only reason.
You do better with shaman than me, so it might fit.
As for picking priorities:
I follow some basic rules and lots of draft experience from MTG and other draftable cardgames.
BREAD should be well known already as a baseline.
For mages I tend to pick Enrage minions, tauren warriors served me wonderful in arena. Something I never would play in constructed with a mage.
Warlock I pick nearly everything creating tokens (huntress etc.; murloc tidehunter big exception) or benefiting from it (Knife Juggler), same goes for paladins.
Since arena plays much slower than constructed I don't play taunt heavy. Taunt usually costs extra compared to similar non-taunts and most of the time everything on the board is traded to minimize board control anyway. But don't get me wrong here, I take my share of taunts if possible, it just isn't my first pick.
With any class weapons are first pick until having a decent amount of them (with this 1/4 paladin thingy an exception). Great removal at usually low costs.
Hearthstone still having a somewhat limited cardpool helps a lot, too.
Please report toxic behaviour and unwanted threads, so the moderators can deal with them.
It's interesting how players shying away from aggro classes (mostly due to the drop in Rogues) is now responsible for an even bigger shift towards heavier, more controlling decks.
As such, Priests are much stronger in this meta, since the only viable strategy against a mind control-heavy deck is to kill them by turn 8-9 max.
The current tier list needs an update to reflect the Meta.
Soon. :)
Probably just because it's my favorite (and most comfortable class), but I've gotten Grandmaster 4 times this week...3 times with Rogue, 1 time with Mage.
Twice in a row I have gone Priest and gotten 0 MCs, 0 clerics, and 5 total combined Shadow Words... I gave up on Priest.
I find Shaman, Priest and Mage the strongest Arena classes, then Druids, Hunter and Warriors. Last the other 3.
http://www.hearthlog.com/u/BanderitaUSA