Developer Insights: Boomsday Arena Update with Kris Zierhut
The Arena is receiving updates with the next Hearthstone patch. Read on for more information!
Quote from BlizzardWelcome back for another inside look at updates coming to the Arena! Your feedback helps shape our approach to this game mode, so we’ve been following the Arena-related conversations closely in the community.
Card Variety
Just like how we want to keep win rates per class within a percentage range, we also want to maintain variety in Arena card selection. Each class had a group of cards that appeared almost twice on average per Arena run, and we focused on reducing this appearance rate in the coming 12.0 update.
We also looked at the appearance rate of class cards, spells, and weapons. We think it’s valuable for these cards to show up often for several reasons: they make playing each Class feel unique, they change the pace of a match, they help create more skill-testing situations, and finally, many of these cards offer opportunities for a player to catch up from behind, which results in more interesting games.
That, the appearance bonus for these cards is currently too high, causing them to appear so frequently that they can make Arena matches feel repetitive. To solve that, we’re reducing the appearance rates of these cards as follows in the upcoming update:
- Class Cards: +100% -> +50%
- Spells and Weapons: +75% -> +50%
Note that these bonuses multiply, which means that spells and weapons will have a net 125% increase in appearance rate, instead of their old 250% net increase.
Rarity
In our last blog, we also took a close look at card appearance by rarity. Each class had a group of Rare-quality cards that showed up more often than desired. Reducing the appearance bonuses for class, spell, and weapon cards helped that problem somewhat, but it didn’t fully resolve it.
Additionally, when Rare cards are offered side by side with Basic and Common cards, they get picked more often, which can result in them being selected and played more frequently than their appearance rate would suggest.
For those reasons, we’re lowering the appearance rate of Rare and Epic cards. Picks 1, 10, 20, and 30 always offer Rare or better cards and will continue to do so. For all the other picks, Rare cards will appear about 11% of the time, and Epic cards about 5% of the time.
Appearance Rates
As part of our effort to better explain how Arena works, we’d also like to share with you the current appearance rate for all cards. For each class, we ran a simulation of 100,000 Arena drafts. The spreadsheet linked below reveals how often each card showed up for each class. We hope this gives some insight into the chance of seeing various cards. These rates will change over time, but this one-time look should give you a clue as to how the system works.
What’s in the Bucket?
Since our last blog, players have also been requesting a glimpse into the contents of each bucket in the Arena draft system. Today, we’ll give you a one-time look at that as well. Remember that card promotion or demotion is almost entirely due to a very high or very low pick rate (how many times picked divided by how many times offered). One notable exception is Mind Control Tech. That card is being picked a reasonable rate for the typical card, but still often felt oppressive, so in the 12.0 update, it will be promoted anyway.
Thanks for tuning in, and we hope this look behind the curtain was illuminating. The Arena system will continue to evolve, so keep your feedback coming. We’ll see you in the Tavern!
I can finally play arena again. I have played less than 5 runs ever since they turned it into constructed. Blizzard clearly made this change in response to the declining arena population.
finally we can see some skillbased 12-0 arena decks Kappa
Ha, the update is already in full swing and deck quality has gone to sh....allows.
http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/d5gu24
A whole Mage draft with a minuscule amount of spells, only one of them a decent choice.
Maybe I'll start playing more arena now :)
good update
ppl ALWAYS complain about EVERYTHING Blizzard does...
REMINDER: changes in the arena result as a FREE ticket if you have an arena running while patch, don't forget to launch an arena and stop at 2 defeats on the 7th (I'll stop mine on the 6th to be more careful).
Happy "free" PACK !
A friendly and appreciated reminder, ty
Edit: patch 12.0 is online right now :sadface:
I love his name "Zierhut". In German this means "decorating hat" xD
The problem I see with these changes is that while it's gonna be fresh at first, it will STILL eventually lead to a "different" kind of repetitive. How do I say this?!? In my opinion, I think card appearance rates should....differ from time to time. Of course, I do realize that will create another kind of problem, where it's harder for players to know what cards to play around.
I just wanna be able every 5th draft or so to get a deck like this one: http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/g4y8gb
Yes, it's an absolute ridiculous deck with synergy and legendaries. It was also one of the most fun decks I have ever played in Arena. Obviously, you can't have a deck like this one appear too often, it will drive players insane. But I think it can be fun to get something like this once in a while.
Here's an idea. Let's have an event where players get to draft from sets of 3 cards, just like in the dungeon runs. Let's see how that works out.
P.S.
Wait.....WHAT???
Oh, you mean it's gonna go in one of the rarer buckets.......right?
It means exactly what it says - that it's gonna go into a higher bucket.
FINALLY
Took them forever to realize that neutrals and commons needed to have a bigger influence on Arena.
I for one approve the effort to find middle ground between pre-standard and current Arena.
Commons and neutrals being more common give you better chance to plan and know what to expect. It also makes knowing what to do with bad or suboptimal cards and strategies very important.
Arena right now is too "did you draft 4 flamestrikes?", "do you have enough ultimate infestations?", "are you playing the same broken classes over and over?". This should even our the field
It's not about neutrals having a bigger influence on Arena, it's about the fact that Rare offering rates were broken and they were offered far too often.
I remember the KFT meta where every deck consisted of Hyldnirs, Bonemares, Chain Gangs and Scalebanes and that was definitely the opposite of good balance, you didn't even feel like you were playing against different classes.
Regarding the csv files? You can open them in MS Excel to make them easier to read.
If the files just open up in your browser as a text page, you can save the page as a csv file under something like File > Save As (differs across different browsers).
So if I understand it correctly, I could use the Card Buckets file to learn how to pick good cards in Arena and draft a good deck? Ofc taking into account mana curve and possible synergies
No, You can't do that. These buckets are cards that are offered together, so You will never be offered the choice between sth from buckets 2 and 5 eg. This is just a glimpse into how arena works, and what to expect from a draft. It gives a lot of useful information, but not in the way You might think.
The data on a site like HearthArena is WAY more useful for learning how to pick good cards within each bucket.
1,Neutral,Arcane Dynamo,Rare
What is that?
Arcane Dynamo