I've did about 5-8 runs and I can say with confidence this is not something I'd enjoy in the long term (hell after a week this will be extremely tedious to experience).
I for one initially liked the idea of getting rid of rarities and having it based on the card's *relative* powerlevel.
But right now the major problems I see are:
1. So many Legendaries in the game. If you check HSreplay Tarim is in 15% of all Paladin decks, Tirion in 18%. Lichking is rampant everywhere too. This is like a 4x increase in legendary cards, imagine this in nearly all spectrums of Arena. You'll be facing insane decks at low wins nearly constantly now because of it.
2. The same premium cards appear in the choices over and over again, often times the *exact same 3 cards* will appear in a slot. There is little skill involved in this. You can pick the wrong card for your deck and still be rewarded as the same picks will be offered again and again, in the same 3 choices.
Don't get me wrong, I love seeing bad cards less, but now it's premium cards on steroids. There's also a very samey feel to each Arena game. People who enjoy Arena are typically players who didn't want to experience Constructed with the same decks over and over again. Arena right now feels very close to Constructed, sometimes on steroids. Nearly every Paladin deck will have a steed/vinecleaver. Every mage will have a meteor/glyph/fireball. Every shaman will have an unstable evolution/volcano/jade claw. I understand drafting now takes more thought but at the end it rarely ever matters because you're not punished for picking the wrong cards, as having enough premium cards carry the game.
Something clearly needs to be changed. But what are other people feeling?
The idea is solid from blizzard but they need a massive (and I mean massive) overhaul on the occurrence of 'bad' cards. I've drafted two decks so far...they were both insane, completely bonkers by old arena standards, and seriously approaching constructed power level. The mage deck I drafted had 2 firelands, 2 meteor, 2 blizzard, 3 fireballs....it was just insane, and the rogue deck I did wasn't much worse.
Everyone I played, even at 0 - 0 had similar insane decks, the runs were boring, and I quickly realised that getting a good deck isn't going to be exciting like it used to be as we all have amazing decks.
This isn't what anyone wants from arena - it's where cards of lower power levels should get a chance to shine. They need to force way more bad cards into the draft - fuck the whiners who can't cope with having to pick bad cards, making the most of underplayed cards is what arena is all about!
What is happening now is very close to what many ppl suggested in the past that would "fix" the arena, if each draft had a guaranteed number of cards from each rarity, which you technically do have now.
I always said such a change would basically kill the arena, or at least the spirit of what arena is supposed to be and we can see already that it is becoming true. Im all for testing new things and there has to be experimentation for any meaningful progress to be made, so lets just power through this and hope something good will come out at the end, but they do idd need to tone done the power level of the decks, cause the current situation is beyond insane.
Drafting these decks doesnt feel good, playing these decks doesnt feel good, losing or even winning with/vs these decks doesnt feel good. Just the entire arena experience is bad in all aspects. There is no enjoyment, you just win with a busted deck or you lose vs a busted deck, there is no room for clever plays or utilizing abilities of bad cards in a way that can give you an advantage, nothing.
Tachii, I was curious to hear your thoughts on this and I pretty much agree with everything you said. The thing that keeps arena from feeling boring/samey to me like ranked play is the variety and 10/4 has nearly eliminated that. The fact that at every level of arena whether it is 0-0, 10-0, or 1-2, you can expect to run into game breaking legendaries and the same high power level cards over and over makes the game feel even worse than ranked play because you still miss out on deck building synergies like Dragon synergy or big spell synergy. Overall, it's been an interesting experience but after only a few days I'm already starting to dislike the drafting and gameplay experience. Also, when you get to 3-0, 4-1, or 5-2 or higher, all wins/loses feel more luck of the draw then they used to because you just know every deck is going to be bonkers in terms of overall card quality. I hope Blizz makes further changes soon. Even sooner than the release of the next expansion, though I doubt this will happen. To me this is even worse a roll out than the first two "synergy picks" where we had eggs and book wyrms in every deck.
I really hope Blizz somehow does a hotfix or patch that at least changes up the formula for new arena at least a little. Arena to me was always the place where cards that might not be strong enough for constructed found a spot to shine. Constructed-like decks are filling arena now and takes away from the arena that likely many arena focused players found enjoyable.
Tried two runs of the new arena. On average the power level of decks was massively improved, many of the cards played were constructed-level.
The games felt pretty uneven, whoever played their power card(s) first won hard, with virually no way for the opponent to catch up. This translated into the matches being a coin toss of who gets their fancy legendary first. Previously these power cards were not this common and blowout matches were therefore much more rare.
If if want to play with the best cards, I go to constructed. The allure of arena was trying to make worse (or truly bad) cards work somehow. Now it is too similar to constructed, everyone has the same good cards.
To end on a positive note: the idea of having the card pics between cards of similar power level is good - before patch often times you had 2 useless epics vs a good epic and the card pick was not really a choice. Having to make meaningful decisions is what makes drafting fun. If they balance it so that the average power level of picks is not as high as it is now it should work out fine.
I agree, with the new offering rates, everyone has nearly constructed-level decks. That means it is less skill (outplaying, smart trades, or going face in the right situation), because the decks are teeming with mass removals, single removals and Bombs. It devolved to a 'who draws his answers first', dropping my average win to 3.5 (from around 6). My Warlocks still do get around 5 wins, but everything else I tried ended with 1-4 wins....
To end on a positive note: the idea of having the card pics between cards of similar power level is good - before patch often times you had 2 useless epics vs a good epic and the card pick was not really a choice. Having to make meaningful decisions is what makes drafting fun. If they balance it so that the average power level of picks is not as high as it is now it should work out fine.
Not entirely true, the point to that was, that you had to (or should) watch your curve, so later in the draft, you would often pick a lot worse card just to fill your early curve over a late game value card, just so you could actually get to that late game. Such decisions were there already to an extent, decisions that they r trying to bring with these new changes. But they r actually failing, since with how much power cards you get offered now, you almost dont even have to watch your curve, so the only decision you make now is if you pick a proactive or a reactive card, but both are busted.
Based on HSReplay stats the arena population has doubled. I see a lot of constructed streamers and standard players trying arena, so I would like to hear their opinion after a week. A lot of constructed players praised the power level increase in dual class arenas.
I don't hate the new arena meta yet, I love the challenge of adapting to a new meta.
I made a 10 win Big Spell Mage deck. It had artificer x2, ice barrier, plated beetle, pyros, blizzard, meteor x2, firelands x2. All it needed was Jaina LUL. I find it funny that I made artificer and ice barrier work in arena.
But there needs to be a separation between the gamemodes, this new arena feels too close to constructed. Some people come to arena to play with mediocre and bad cards, because they are unplayable in constructed. Arena was a place where players could experience all of the cards in an expansion.
Got a hearth arena card score average of 49.2 going into the 'increased power level arena' just lost to mage that played multiple firelands portals, 2 flamestrikes and 2 secrets both for free.... Yeah it's great. Probably won't be bothered finishing the arena run till some time after the next patch.
long time infinite arena player here. I should say it's a worst state of arena in 4 years of HS. Quitting playing it till something will be changed in a positive way.
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I've smoked a lot of ganja dust so I'm forever not2fast.
Garbage.. arena is fun because you don't know what you gonna end with, you gotta create a deck based on random offered cards. Sometimes you get amazing decks sometimes average and some skill is actually involved. At the moment it is getting a constructed level of predictability with insane decks.. I'll save my money and golds until this abomination doesn't change
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I've did about 5-8 runs and I can say with confidence this is not something I'd enjoy in the long term (hell after a week this will be extremely tedious to experience).
I for one initially liked the idea of getting rid of rarities and having it based on the card's *relative* powerlevel.
But right now the major problems I see are:
1. So many Legendaries in the game. If you check HSreplay Tarim is in 15% of all Paladin decks, Tirion in 18%. Lichking is rampant everywhere too. This is like a 4x increase in legendary cards, imagine this in nearly all spectrums of Arena. You'll be facing insane decks at low wins nearly constantly now because of it.
2. The same premium cards appear in the choices over and over again, often times the *exact same 3 cards* will appear in a slot. There is little skill involved in this. You can pick the wrong card for your deck and still be rewarded as the same picks will be offered again and again, in the same 3 choices.
Don't get me wrong, I love seeing bad cards less, but now it's premium cards on steroids. There's also a very samey feel to each Arena game. People who enjoy Arena are typically players who didn't want to experience Constructed with the same decks over and over again. Arena right now feels very close to Constructed, sometimes on steroids. Nearly every Paladin deck will have a steed/vinecleaver. Every mage will have a meteor/glyph/fireball. Every shaman will have an unstable evolution/volcano/jade claw. I understand drafting now takes more thought but at the end it rarely ever matters because you're not punished for picking the wrong cards, as having enough premium cards carry the game.
Something clearly needs to be changed. But what are other people feeling?
Regular NA Arena Leaderboard player.
Reached #1 in NA arena leaderboard in May 2018 with a 9.07 average!
The idea is solid from blizzard but they need a massive (and I mean massive) overhaul on the occurrence of 'bad' cards. I've drafted two decks so far...they were both insane, completely bonkers by old arena standards, and seriously approaching constructed power level. The mage deck I drafted had 2 firelands, 2 meteor, 2 blizzard, 3 fireballs....it was just insane, and the rogue deck I did wasn't much worse.
Everyone I played, even at 0 - 0 had similar insane decks, the runs were boring, and I quickly realised that getting a good deck isn't going to be exciting like it used to be as we all have amazing decks.
This isn't what anyone wants from arena - it's where cards of lower power levels should get a chance to shine. They need to force way more bad cards into the draft - fuck the whiners who can't cope with having to pick bad cards, making the most of underplayed cards is what arena is all about!
What is happening now is very close to what many ppl suggested in the past that would "fix" the arena, if each draft had a guaranteed number of cards from each rarity, which you technically do have now.
I always said such a change would basically kill the arena, or at least the spirit of what arena is supposed to be and we can see already that it is becoming true. Im all for testing new things and there has to be experimentation for any meaningful progress to be made, so lets just power through this and hope something good will come out at the end, but they do idd need to tone done the power level of the decks, cause the current situation is beyond insane.
Drafting these decks doesnt feel good, playing these decks doesnt feel good, losing or even winning with/vs these decks doesnt feel good. Just the entire arena experience is bad in all aspects. There is no enjoyment, you just win with a busted deck or you lose vs a busted deck, there is no room for clever plays or utilizing abilities of bad cards in a way that can give you an advantage, nothing.
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No, it is shit, arena is in its worst state ever.
Don't waste your gold (or real money) on it people...
Tachii, I was curious to hear your thoughts on this and I pretty much agree with everything you said. The thing that keeps arena from feeling boring/samey to me like ranked play is the variety and 10/4 has nearly eliminated that. The fact that at every level of arena whether it is 0-0, 10-0, or 1-2, you can expect to run into game breaking legendaries and the same high power level cards over and over makes the game feel even worse than ranked play because you still miss out on deck building synergies like Dragon synergy or big spell synergy. Overall, it's been an interesting experience but after only a few days I'm already starting to dislike the drafting and gameplay experience. Also, when you get to 3-0, 4-1, or 5-2 or higher, all wins/loses feel more luck of the draw then they used to because you just know every deck is going to be bonkers in terms of overall card quality. I hope Blizz makes further changes soon. Even sooner than the release of the next expansion, though I doubt this will happen. To me this is even worse a roll out than the first two "synergy picks" where we had eggs and book wyrms in every deck.
I really hope Blizz somehow does a hotfix or patch that at least changes up the formula for new arena at least a little. Arena to me was always the place where cards that might not be strong enough for constructed found a spot to shine. Constructed-like decks are filling arena now and takes away from the arena that likely many arena focused players found enjoyable.
Tried two runs of the new arena. On average the power level of decks was massively improved, many of the cards played were constructed-level.
The games felt pretty uneven, whoever played their power card(s) first won hard, with virually no way for the opponent to catch up. This translated into the matches being a coin toss of who gets their fancy legendary first. Previously these power cards were not this common and blowout matches were therefore much more rare.
If if want to play with the best cards, I go to constructed. The allure of arena was trying to make worse (or truly bad) cards work somehow. Now it is too similar to constructed, everyone has the same good cards.
To end on a positive note: the idea of having the card pics between cards of similar power level is good - before patch often times you had 2 useless epics vs a good epic and the card pick was not really a choice. Having to make meaningful decisions is what makes drafting fun. If they balance it so that the average power level of picks is not as high as it is now it should work out fine.
I agree, with the new offering rates, everyone has nearly constructed-level decks. That means it is less skill (outplaying, smart trades, or going face in the right situation), because the decks are teeming with mass removals, single removals and Bombs. It devolved to a 'who draws his answers first', dropping my average win to 3.5 (from around 6). My Warlocks still do get around 5 wins, but everything else I tried ended with 1-4 wins....
- Click Here To Join Us On Discord! -
Based on HSReplay stats the arena population has doubled. I see a lot of constructed streamers and standard players trying arena, so I would like to hear their opinion after a week. A lot of constructed players praised the power level increase in dual class arenas.
I don't hate the new arena meta yet, I love the challenge of adapting to a new meta.
I made a 10 win Big Spell Mage deck. It had artificer x2, ice barrier, plated beetle, pyros, blizzard, meteor x2, firelands x2. All it needed was Jaina LUL. I find it funny that I made artificer and ice barrier work in arena.
But there needs to be a separation between the gamemodes, this new arena feels too close to constructed. Some people come to arena to play with mediocre and bad cards, because they are unplayable in constructed. Arena was a place where players could experience all of the cards in an expansion.
4x Top 150 arena player
#95 June 2017 6.80, #108 Aug 2017 7.67, #127 Feb 2018 Wildfest 7.7, #33 Nov 2018 7.53
HCT Challenger Finals qualifier: 2018 Season 1, 2, 3
Got a hearth arena card score average of 49.2 going into the 'increased power level arena' just lost to mage that played multiple firelands portals, 2 flamestrikes and 2 secrets both for free.... Yeah it's great. Probably won't be bothered finishing the arena run till some time after the next patch.
long time infinite arena player here. I should say it's a worst state of arena in 4 years of HS. Quitting playing it till something will be changed in a positive way.
I've smoked a lot of ganja dust so I'm forever not2fast.
- Click Here To Join Us On Discord! -
Garbage.. arena is fun because you don't know what you gonna end with, you gotta create a deck based on random offered cards. Sometimes you get amazing decks sometimes average and some skill is actually involved. At the moment it is getting a constructed level of predictability with insane decks.. I'll save my money and golds until this abomination doesn't change