Hearthpwn

Arena is not only about profit, but about the fun of the format

That's a good point I shouldn't have overlooked.  It is my favorite format.  But for me, I don't have any accounts right now that have all the cards I'll ever want, or even close, so the rewards are still an important part of it for me.  In my main account all I want is TGT and I was psyched to play Arena to get it, but I had to scrap that plan and just grind and buy TGT packs, and it's really hurt my enjoyment of the game in that account.

There's only one niche that makes Arena worth it right now, and I exploit it -- an experienced player building up a new account.  You can use the cards from any set and you stand a chance to get some wins.  It is an inefficient waste otherwise.

It would be interesting.  I was thinking of alternating mana, starting at 1, then 10, then 2-9-3-8 ...  Or start at 10 first.  I think we'd see some interesting strategies turn up.

I was about to post the same last night.  I needed to quest for Priest, and I won 4 of my first 5 games.  Then I lost 10 times in a row.  My biggest revelations were:

• RNG for portals means a lot of course, and it can be more subtle than you think.  Sometimes it's pulling legendaries, sometimes it's tempo, but it's easy to underestimate.
• What seemed much more important though was RNG for the spells you get in your deck.  I assumed they were a constant, but they absolutely are not.  When I was crushing I was getting lightbombs, novas, shadow death, you name it.  When I lost I was getting crap.  4 games in a row I got Mindgames.  In a deck with no minions, thanks.  How about a card with a giant middle finger on it that says "You can never play this."
• Let's be honest, this must be the biggest reason: I started going through the motions and I got stuck in a rut where I would always favor playing a portal and hoping for good RNG vs. playing a minion.  For instance whenever I had 2 mana I'd play portal instead of a 1-cost minion in hand that could have stabilized board.

ps: I always coin portal.

Something's got to be wrong with Brawl internally right now, either they didn't build it flexible enough to support more ideas, or they simply can't put resources on it.  The recycling is a real disappointment.  How about just starting us at 40 life once?  Fresh ideas that seem simple to do are everywhere, it's almost shocking that we're getting this.

What are they?  Maybe we all and the HearthArenas of the world should be revisiting them.  Because while it does not happen every game or certainly every draft, I've seen plenty of games the spiral out of control in a way that seems broken because of 2 or 3 murloc knights or holy champions.  Making those rare would be such an elegant fix.

And the reason it's a common is because it's a simple card to understand.

I think you're right, I remember Ben Brode talking about how Epics are epic because they are complicated.  But that might be one of the most broken pieces of logic out of all.  Basing rarity on simplicity is a slap in the face of earning or buying cards to make better decks, not to mention Arena balance.

Same for Murloc Knight and Holy Champion, those being common can break Arena games, how did they not see that coming?

anymore ideas for new game modes i would like to hear

I think you are 100% on target.  Current Casual is where I go to quest, which means I'm playing fairly polished decks, but that aren't quite good enough to win in ladder.  A new casual that is filled with more experimentation is perfect.  Add that to Arena, Brawl, and Questing and I'd be pretty darned happy.

More in general I read all these complaints about netdecking, OP cards, and nerfing.  I do understand all those issues and I'm only left to wonder why in the world anyone plays ladder.  To me the true cancer is how the game gets people to throw their hours and money at something so frustrating, so flawed, and apparently so not fun.  Just to call yourself "legend" and earn fancier pixels that do the same thing?

I'm getting worse too, which of course is to say there are more good players in there than there used to be, since we shouldn't really be playing worse on our own.  Early in the year I would go 3-6 wins routinely and now 1-3.  Some trends I feel like I've noticed but not proven out yet are: 1) Skew a little more toward early-game than HearthArena suggests, 2) Skew a little more toward Taunt than HearthArena suggests and 3) don't overdo it on spells (just by looking at the Hearthpwn thread of 12-win decks, almost all have limited spells).

But hey, what do I know, I'd love to know some tips from those still having success.

My biggest gripe is that the "flavor" text Blizzard uses for the emotes changes the meaning.  I don't like emoting "Oops" and saying "That was a mistake", it can really twist the intention.  I wish they would just emote the one word I press, there's plenty of flavor elsewhere.

In general I only greet when greeted, say sorry when RNG falls heavily in my favor, say well played when it was truly a close game (regardless of winner).  When I'm salty I don't threaten, it makes me feel like a helpless idiot, but extensive roping will do when I just can't contain myself.