Hearthpwn

So, is anyone still building new arena decks? If so, can you let me know when the OP decks are gone?

Quote from freekvd >>

So, is anyone still building new arena decks? If so, can you let me know when the OP decks are gone?

People talk as if the legendarys was the most important thing in arena and not the way you build the deck, it's funny :D anyways, I hope and believe these changes are for the better, enjoyed the new arena format but certainly some tinkering was needed. Excited to try it with the Witchwood cards!

It's not the legendaries but premium removals and high tier cards all over the place being the problem.

'fewer legendaries', not 'less'

It's da` sound of da` police !!! woop woop !
The grammar police has arrived and is now in full effect.

It's da` sound of the police !!! woop woop !
The grammar police has arrived and is now in full effect.

Well, we're supposed to be professional.

Ain't gonna get me, my rock's stampeed with horses four fourty

Stannis approves

 Quote from Dinomaniak >>

It's da` sound of da` police !!! woop woop !
The grammar police has arrived and is now in full effect.

 Quote from originlname2 >>

"the police", not "da"

Maybe Blizzard do listen to the community?!

It's really hard to tell.

Blizzard do listen to the community sometimes, but only when it is truly the majority and not the perceived majority of people complaining 

Well, hello there.

Hi,

I am actually curious to know : why do you consider good to have more bad options in drafts ?

In my opinion: having lots of bad cards promotes a single old strategy : play minions on curve and make better trades than opponent. There aren't many elements of surprise and the guy who got more lucky, drawing better curve, usually wins and there's not much the other player can do about it.

But when there are more quality cards, one needs to know not to overextend into AOE or be aware of burst damage and other interesting things that simply can not exist with bad cards.

What's your opinion about this ?

-Making the best out of sub-optimal drafting has always been part of the Arena experience, and provides the distinction between mediocre and good Arena players. Much like with the Synergy modifier they eventually rolled back, this high-quality state results in high-variance with little strategy to it; it is both a no-brainer to draft the Lich-King when offered and a significant spike in deck quality when you manage to do so. With ~10% of Arena decks drafting /this one legendary/ there is clearly an issue, much like there was when DKs were rampant.

-Ranked already exists, and all this high-quality drafting did was highlight cards already getting a ton of play in Ranked. Having Arena highlight less played cards is part of its charm.

While you do have some valid points you haven't answered any of my 2 points:

1) Bad cards are usually pile of stats that are uninteresting to play or play against.

2) (with bad cards) There is no big strategy involved: Let's say you have drafted Lich King . If the decks are usually bad, then he is pretty much an auto play on turn 8 because it's unlikely the opponent could deal with him. BUT, if there are more good cards, then you should be more careful when you play him, because the opponent might just have a good hard removal waiting for him and you need to consider that.

I'm not saying Arena decks should be ranked quality. But having games where half the cards played are neutral minions is kinda boring.

I am one who also likes less powerful cards.  My favorite arena was back in classic and GvG.  I understand why you think vanilla stats is boring, but to me there's so much strategy and thinking that can happen even in minions with no card text.  /Especially/ with weaker cards.

For instance, the decision between playing a 4/4 or a 3/5 on turn 4 may seem like a "boring"decision, but actually has tons of depth.  What is the board state, and would he be able to trade into the 4/4 with one card? Will you need the one attack next turn or the one health?  Do you need to bait a removal out?  Are you against a mage who might ping it, and do you want him to ping it, which causes loss of tempo?  Decisions like these will give you an extra 1/1 or minion out there,  which snowball games into wins and losses. 

But getting an extra minion doesn't matter when the opponent has Liche King and three board clears. Skill doesn't matter when cards get so strong and can be autoplayed.  Strong cards also overshadow the weak cards so much that making mistakes with those weaker cards doesn't matter.  Screwed up the first 5 turns and have no board control?  Doesn't matter,  i have two dragonfire potions to fix it. 

Quite simply, the weaker the cards, the more skill matters.  Right now, arena is all about the RNG of the draft.  It sucks.