Hearthpwn

If your health is full, you won't be healing on turn 2 with hero power.

Angry Chicken + Knuckles = 6 mana 4/8: Enrage +5 Attack, After this attacks a minion, it also hits the enemy hero.

Would he enrage before dealing the damage to the hero???

Quote from Caddage >>

Turn 16 I don't draw the Farseer... I draw Tanaris Hogchopper and suddenly realize I have lethal--did I mention I had Faceless Manipulator in hand? Unreal. 3-2.

I think I would have played Mirage Caller differently.  My plan would have been to save it for the turn that I'm going to trade the assassin.  Playing it when your opponent's board is empty like that doesn't improve your position because he's not going to be playing 2 large threats in the same turn, in fact it really only succeeds in forcing him to use an early board clear.  In this case, SW:H really was just the perfect answer.  I probably would have played Stonehill Defender on turn 3 and saved mirage caller for a more opportune moment.

Quote from Lysenko >>

Quote from Drakbak >>

I came back for the Liadrin promotion, and was shocked by how idiot-proof everything was.  No need to train skills, it's automatic.  No need to know talent trees, they've been simplified.  No longer needing ammo, no minimum range to shoot your bow, no auto shot push-back from your other abilities....

 All that stuff you list is meaningless, peripheral to the gameplay.  Yes, forgetting to train skills could trip someone up, and the likelihood of a completely garbage talent build has gone down (although tbh I am pretty sure it can still be achieved.)  Removing minimum range for ranged weapons enabled more flexible groups for boss fights, since it allowed a hunter and a caster to fill similar roles.

None of that has anything to do with the real tests of being a good player in WoW, or what's enjoyable about it as a game.  Boss fights are still tests of proper attention and movement, and at mythic level are difficult to execute even for a focused group with a lot of practice.  Taking away the test of skill that is remembering to go to a trainer when you level up has no impact on the challenge.

The one area where they have definitely made things a lot easier is in the power curve as one levels up.  A lot of that has to do with choices about speeding leveling that are intended to offset the fact that there are now 110 levels, and their design decision to keep new expansions relevant by rendering older ones irrelevant through continual power increases for characters and gear.  That decision probably has had unexpected impacts, but, like the game, it's a 10+ year old design choice.

If reducing the pain felt by the bottom 5% of players (those who used to forget to visit trainers regularly) makes you feel uncomfortable about WoW being "dumbed down," you probably should ask why you're comparing yourself to them.

Quote from Lysenko >>

People complain about WoW being "dumbed down," or whatever -- there's no way you can compare vanilla's brutally soulless "kill ten boars" quest grinding, seriously unimpressive gear drops, and trivial boss mechanics to the play experience today and say that with a straight face.  What, if anything, people really mean is that content has become more accessible for people with less time to invest in it, which doesn't go over well with people whose in-game status is measured by metrics that demand total commitment.

Quote from Caddage >>

Totally disagree--Opponent had a secret in play, and to that point I had narrowed it down to Ice Block, Mana Bind, Counterspell, or Spellbender. No way am I playing Firelands Portal into that when I have other reasonable plays available.

Match 6 - It's not really a jinx if that's the state of arena right now =P.    You played really well, except I think for turn 17.  I would have pinged Owl, played Bruiser, and flamed  Gastropod.  You ended up burning the flame to kill the owl on the next turn, so would have saved you 3 hp at a crucial point in the game (arguably 4 health if he poly'd and pinged your bruiser that next turn).  At the very least you don't die to top-deck frostbolt and gives you a chance to draw some more of your late game cards that can turn the tide (2nd hogrider, 2nd bog creeper, pyroblast)

Get ready.  You're about at that point where you'll be swarmed by really good Mage and Rogue decks.

They refund nerfed cards, and most recently "refunded" cards that were moved to the "Hall of Fame" stack (Sylv, Rag, Azure Drake, etc)

I want a Linken!  Or Larion and Muigin

Match 5 - He had the answers and you had an awkward hand.  Don't fret on this one.

Pretty strong card for arena, but easily countered in constructed.

Match 2 - Turn 6:  You should play cleric and heal first to draw a card.  Those 4 remaining mana crystals might be useful depending on the draw.  Turn 10: Instead of playing SW:P, heal the kodo and use it to kill the 3/3, then play eldritch horror.  I'm guessing you forgot about the effect of pyromancer when you made your play.

Match 3 - Turn 8 is the big mistake I see.  You need to play 2 minions to challenge board position, and if it's me...I'm playing Shade and Maiden because he can't kill off his own Apothecary with a simple trade, which forces him into an awkward play where he has to play a spell to kill his own minion or take 5 damage for each minion he summons to challenge your board.  In his case, he'd have to kill your shade and play Dread Infernal to kill the apothecary....leaving him with 7 hp and unable to tap or he taps and can't play a minion.  Turn 12 you miss an opportunity by choosing to MC the infernal instead of using SW:D, then healing the berserker to reduce it to 3 attack, and playing tiger, this would open you up to killing soggoth with the tiger, playing kodorider and inspire to challenge his board, which is now weak, and you still have MC for whatever new threat arises (which may be below 5 attack).

Match 5 - Your deck played itself for the most part until turn 7.  The first play I saw here was the one you ended up making - playing mukla's and HP, running the buffed hyenas into the protector.  But I really didn't like the outcome of that play because it didn't do enough to challenge his board position...he can simply trade the prophet, keeps the manager in play and can use 8 mana to further build his board.  The play I was leaning towards was to run the unbuffed minions into the protector and killing it with arcane shot, then dropping the tiger since it's a larger body that can better contest your opponent's board.  I also considered dropping toad, using infest, then killing protector with hyenas and arcane shot, but again I didn't like the board position afterward and the random beasts you receive don't usually offer recovery options.  I don't know whether this would have won the match....ever since he played the protector he was in a winning position and he continued to play strong cards making it near impossible to push for victory.

Match 8 - There were a few things I didn't like this game, starting with the mulligan.  Without the coin, there's no way I'm keeping a 4 drop without having a 3 in hand...even with synergy.  Missing a turn can be a death sentence in arena.  Popping the egg on turn 7 doesn't make sense to me....I think you made the right play in going face.  Force him to activate his own egg.  The big mistake you made this game was using the kodo to kill the 2/1.  You should have hit the infernal and traded your own 2/1's into it...my initial thought was to play infest this turn to get immediate value, but I think playing the shieldmasta instead would provide better tempo.  Either way, your opponent has a lot of answers, but without that infernal, it's easier to overcome.  When you rewatch and see his deck....it's very high quality and would be difficult to overcome in any scenario.

Match 10 - I think your turn 6 could have been better.  I would have played cult master and traded both minions into the harpy because a windfury minion is very dangerous....especially with shaman.  I would then play the bear trap.  Having played the spider...I would have picked the Rhino because the charge effect provides the opportunity to make a comeback on the board.  Knuckles is just too slow and overpriced for what he provides in this situation.  I looked at turn 8 long and hard to figure out how to achieve lethal next turn lethal, but the cards were too cumbersome and he played very conservatively so there really was no way out.