Support NeoGAF

[MThanded]

I just had 2 disconnects in back to back arena games. What in the hell.

I couldn't even relaunch client to get back in. Just kicked me straight to the main menu.

Had a good deck too.

 

[Pooya]

We all know conceal was removed because of auctioneer + conceal being too good. I don't think that means stealth is a bad mechanic overall but certainly having conceal around forever limits their ability to produce other cards that giving stealth to for a single round could be considered too good.

I don't think they just plan to rotate cards because they think the card is too good either.

it's not just auctioneer, edwin and questing aren't supposed to have stealth either. That's just not ok.

 

[MThanded]

Uh arena is jacked up.

I went 2-1 due to the disconnection issue. Won the 3rd match and then it still told me I lost and quit out of my arena run. What in the world?

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

it's not just auctioneer, edwin and questing aren't supposed to have stealth either. That's just not ok.

They're all okay with having stealth. Conceal is not some new card. It's existed for years now. They're removing cause they don't want that to always be a thing in standard. They're too good to exist in standard forever, not too good to ever have existed.

 

[MThanded]

Ah something is actually wrong with the servers right now. I see there is a notification on the launcher. They should really put that in the client. Wasted some good arena runs due to the issues.


this is the 4th glitched or disconnected arena match. Guess I am done for the night.

Wish there was a way to get gold back.

 

[SilentRacoon]

I just had 2 disconnects in back to back arena games. What in the hell.

I couldn't even relaunch client to get back in. Just kicked me straight to the main menu.

Had a good deck too.

I was watching krip just a few mins ago, he lost in ranked twice due to a disconnect just as the game was about to begin, something is fucked with their servers.

 

[Glass Shark]

4-1 tonight with Zoo Warlock

It's alive!

And yeah, I've had a few disconnects tonight as well. Thankfully the only one on my end I got reconnected and won.

 

[manhack]

4-1 tonight with Zoo Warlock

It's alive!

And yeah, I've had a few disconnects tonight as well. Thankfully the only one on my end I got reconnected and won.

Yeah Zoo can still pull off some pretty good stuff. As long as you don't live and die by the Meta Reports it is a perfectly viable deck for completing quests and laddering.

 

[Pooya]

this was the hardest month on ladder for me ever. You just can't reliably win and games get decided by match making and whether you draw patches or reno pretty much... I started NA a few days ago, climbed quite fast with reno mage to 6 but boy I did stop there, damn...

one blow out win to another blow out loss... I switched renolock, same story. These jade curves can get quite out of hand, or I lost to pirate warrior after reno, because he just had life tap and frothing I couldn't kill lol... this reno mage got jarraxus from kazakus and beat me with it. lol.

In the end switched to mid jade shaman and win streaked to 5 in no time. Thanks Thrall, I don't know why I wasted time playing something else, it's not like it was fun exactly. With jade shaman in some games, you just open with pirates and become full face shaman, it's hilarious when it happens.

After nerf it's likely the best deck, the amusing part is that you can replace all the nerfed cards with some other bonkers cards or specifically tech to beat rogue or reno. So many options.

 

[BannedEpisode]

I really enjoy Jade Druid but I feel like I'm either not pulling my Jade Cards, I have a Fandral but no "OR" cards, or I justs get zero curve out of the gate. It's frustrating.

 

[Yaboosh]

I really enjoy Jade Druid but I feel like I'm either not pulling my Jade Cards, I have a Fandral but no "OR" cards, or I justs get zero curve out of the gate. It's frustrating.

It's one of those decks where when you play it you never get the cards you need and when you play against it they always seem to have the cards they need.

Any curve heavy deck tends to feel like that a lot.

 

[Hycran]

4-1 tonight with Zoo Warlock

It's alive!

And yeah, I've had a few disconnects tonight as well. Thankfully the only one on my end I got reconnected and won.

The Kripp meta strikes again.

 

[bjaelke]

Update 7.1 Arena Changes
Arena will change from Wild format to Standard
Changes to Card Rarity Distribution
More Spells in a Run
Neutral Classic Cards Show Up Less

 

[bigkrev]

Update 7.1 Arena Changes
Arena will change from Wild format to Standard
Changes to Card Rarity Distribution
More Spells in a Run
Neutral Classic Cards Show Up Less

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME

 

[The Lamonster]

Yeah Zoo can still pull off some pretty good stuff. As long as you don't live and die by the Meta Reports it is a perfectly viable deck for completing quests and laddering.

Someone link me to a current and powerful Zoo deck!

can be standard or wild

 

[MThanded]

Update 7.1 Arena Changes
Arena will change from Wild format to Standard
Changes to Card Rarity Distribution
More Spells in a Run
Neutral Classic Cards Show Up Less

In addition, the cards Abyssal Enforcer and Flamestrike will show up approximately 50% less in Arena.

 

[bjaelke]

In addition, the cards Abyssal Enforcer and Flamestrike will show up approximately 50% less in Arena.

Priest is the real winner here.

 

[Pooya]

kabal talon priest needed a rate nerf too.

 

[MThanded]

kabal talon priest needed a rate nerf too.

I'm betting right now they don't see that in the stats. Everyone was probably drafting warlock and mage if they could.

I assume those cards were targeted due to the amount of 12 win decks that had those cards. Or duplicates of those cards.

 

[Yaboosh]

Update 7.1 Arena Changes
Arena will change from Wild format to Standard
Changes to Card Rarity Distribution
More Spells in a Run
Neutral Classic Cards Show Up Less

The effects this will have on arena are effectively random. This could be great or make it way worse.

 

[Dahbomb]

About time we got some Arena changes.

Can't wait to see ADWCTA/MERPS break down the math on this. Although we really need exact numbers before saying anything for sure.


My gut instinct says that Mage is still going to be top class. More spells in drafts helps them most. More Rares mean more Blizzard and Volcanic Potion. You still have Firelands Portal occurring at a higher rate than before with higher spells/less classic neutrals.

 

[Yoshichan]

like, holy shit. Is Blizzard really doing so many changes in so little time? I like this new Blizz.

In addition, the cards Abyssal Enforcer and Flamestrike will show up approximately 50% less in Arena.

JESUS

 

[Yoshichan]

-

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

We heard about arena changes coming from like... 5-6 months ago?

 

[Pooya]

It's not really random, whichever class that has better class cards in recent sets will be stronger in arena... just like in constructed lol.

With this change, rogue could become a lot worse in arena as their standard cards are not very good currently, priest could be really good as you get to draft a bunch of shadow words and even dragon fire portion more often now. Shaman and warrior have generally excellent class cards. Paladin has garbage card pool right now, you get more spells and paladin spells are mostly horrible, you can't get muster anymore either. You can predict to a decent degree how this changes the game.

 

[luoapp]

No mentioning of comprehensive class balance makes me sad. Hunter and Warrior are still fucked, and Mage is still top of chart since they have the best spells (maybe Warlock too).

 

[manhack]

So many people threatening to quit playing Hearthstone because Arena is changing to Standard Format. Not sure if they understand how jacked up the mode is and how stale it has become despite being the best way to play Hearthstone at the moment

Sure there might be some more creative solutions to make Arena better, but right now these changes are needed. Since the release of the game they have only made 1 change to Arena, by removing some cards from the pool, so let us enjoy something new.

 

[Pooya]

No mentioning of comprehensive class balance makes me sad. Hunter and Warrior are still fucked, and Mage is still top of chart since they have the best spells (maybe Warlock too).

I don't know about that, hunters can get call of the wild far more often now. They have the highest value drops in the game which they get to draft more of now, even their spells aren't exactly that bad. Now paladin will be the worst class probably lol....

 

[QFNS]

Arena changes sound good. I might be willing to jump back in now. Haven't played an arena in probably the better part of year.

Standard vs Wild doesn't matter much IMO, but it does seem silly given the way they used to allow you to embrace all the weird stuff in the game. I wonder with all the other changes if leaving it Wild just meant too much disparity when some people got to draft from Naxx/GvG and everyone else got Grand Tournament & beyond. Either way, I don't see it as too much of a problem, just strange they would change their mind on that.

The rest of it sounds awesome. Abyssal Enforcer & Flamestrike showing up less is wonderful. Priests gonna be very happy about that. More spells overall is V. Good. Less neutral, no-text minions is ALSO great. Will be interested to hear the exact rates but for now this seems awesome.

 

[bangbang i'm a timpani]

what idiot at blizzard really thinks that switching arena from wild to standard is a good idea?

 

[Fersis]

what idiot at blizzard really thinks that switching arena from wild to standard is a good idea?

I understand your passion for the game but let's not insult the devs.
As the article says, they'll be looking for the results and will make changes as necessary.

 

[Nirolak]

Generally it's best to embed the full changes for those who can't reach them at work:

47 min ago

In our next update, we will be making a few changes to the Arena that should make it more interesting for our players and offer a much different experience with each set release.

• Arena will change from Wild format to Standard
As more cards are added to the Arena pool, having each game feel meaningfully different actually becomes harder to accomplish. Many of the cool synergies between cards, such as Jade Golems or Mechs, live within each individual set release. Attempting to create decks that utilize these meaningful synergies in a wide and diluted card pool will become more and more difficult as the Wild card pool grows larger. Arena runs then becomes less about card synergies and smart deck choices and more about being fortunate enough to be presented with the best card from each set. This change should put the focus back on the player for good, synergistic Arena choices and make Arena decks feel more cohesive.

We’ll be monitoring using the Standard format in Arena carefully, and we may add additional changes or formats in the future if it doesn’t meet our goals of having Arena feel interesting and different with each set release.

• Changes to Card Rarity Distribution
We’re making a change to the frequency in which Common and Basic cards show up in the Arena. Common cards were about 78% of all Arena cards, and we felt that number was too high considering that many of the cards that focus around individual class identity and power level rely on the common cards of any given class. After this change, the number of Common and Basic cards that show up overall should be lower, giving more room for fun Rare, Epic, and Legendary cards to show up in an Arena run. In addition, the cards Abyssal Enforcer and Flamestrike will show up approximately 50% less in Arena.

• More Spells in a Run
Spells have the power to swing a board state, generally more than minions do. Obviously, there are some exceptions to this. When the distribution of spells to minions is too low, the game usually ends up in the favor of the player that gets out their minions faster and more efficiently than the other player, because there aren’t enough cards that punish overextending. Bringing the distributions of spells and minions closer together allows for more room to have an Arena game that is more strategic and facilitates more plays and counter-plays to occur.

• Neutral Classic Cards Show Up Less
A lot of neutral Classic cards tend to be minions without any text that lack interesting effects. While they are great for introducing newer players to Hearthstone and providing baselines for power level comparisons, they don’t make for compelling Arena run choices. This helps make more room for spells, class cards, and expansion cards to show up at a higher rate.

These changes will occur in an upcoming update near the end of February. We’ll see you in the Tavern!

 

[joelseph]

Someone link me to a current and powerful Zoo deck!

can be standard or wild

Kripp going on a streak and someone confirming it with their own 5 game evidence doesn't mean the deck is in a good place. IMO. Many matchups can deal with all but the most busted draws zoo has to offer.

 

[obeast]

what idiot at blizzard really thinks that switching arena from wild to standard is a good idea?

The only other choice that I can think of is to create a custom arena card pool of relatively fixed size, drawn from all sets.

It's already a bad idea to play around most cards in the arena (really, almost everything but autopicked class commons and power cards with offering bonuses, and the former is increasingly debatable), which makes the experience feel a lot like solitare with random swings. It would become a joke in a few years, when the card pool will nearly double, and you'd have to play generically around broad classes of cards, or, more likely, around nothing at all.

Something like this had to happen, and while I think you could probably make a more interesting environment with a hand-picked arena set, it's more elegant and much friendlier to newer players to sync constructed's pool with arena's.

Also, as I believe the Blizzard post noted, this will let you actually experience in-set synergies in a meaningful way, as opposed to the current environment, in which you see that sort of thing once in a blue moon.

 

[ZealousD]

Oh sweet, I made it into a Kibler YouTube video. I bet y'all are jealous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtUNlQyNAIM

 

[bangbang i'm a timpani]

I understand your passion for the game but let's not insult the devs.
As the article says, they'll be looking for the results and will make changes as necessary.

so far any promises they've made to making changes as necessary means they're going to ignore it for 6 months until the community is screaming at them from every possibly venue and then they'll announce they're doing something and not implement for a month. this is not a design team with a stellar track record.

 

[wiibomb]

Oh sweet, I made it into a Kibler YouTube video. I bet y'all are jealous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtUNlQyNAIM

get oozed zealousD...

Spoiler

I'm jealous

 

[ZealousD]

get oozed zealousD...

Spoiler

I'm jealous

I was the sub notification, not the opponent. =P

 

[wiibomb]

I was the sub notification, not the opponent. =P

...
...
...
get oozed zealousD...

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Completely random-based Tavern Brawl. I dropped two Eydis on T1 and a Nat Pagle on T2 and just went face, while my opponent saved up his Offensive Plays to play 3 Mimiron Heads on one turn. Too bad I had lethal the next turn.

 

[Fersis]

I was the sub notification, not the opponent. =P

...
...
...
get oozed zealousD...

get subbed zealousD

 

[soulslayer]

so far any promises they've made to making changes as necessary means they're going to ignore it for 6 months until the community is screaming at them from every possibly venue and then they'll announce they're doing something and not implement for a month. this is not a design team with a stellar track record.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't give them a chance. They're the DEV team that made this game you love to play after all. In terms of card games, Hearthstone is still quite young. Yeah they've made some bad decisions the past year, but they'll get better. If they don't? Then we can always stop playing and look to other card games.

My point is this: try out this new change first before getting angry. After all, they did state they're testing this out. Let's see again after a few months.

 

[Yaboosh]

Glad to have my pack and be done with that brawl. No fun.

 

[Htown]

Moving Arena to standard eliminates half the fun of the format.

If I want to play standard, I'll go play standard. All we need is for arena to have exactly the same balance problems that constructed is inevitably going to have. Right now Shaman is the best constructed class, and Warlock is the best arena class.

Imagine if it was Shaman both places. You could never escape.

This is going to be very bad for the game.

 

[wiibomb]

Moving Arena to standard eliminates half the fun of the format.

If I want to play standard, I'll go play standard. All we need is for arena to have exactly the same balance problems that constructed is inevitably going to have. Right now Shaman is the best constructed class, and Warlock is the best arena class.

Imagine if it was Shaman both places. You could never escape.

This is going to be very bad for the game.

I don't think arena can end up like constructed if I can't chose the cards I want in my deck.

I also don't think shaman will be the best in this new arena, I think mage has more chance since the spell rate is going up

 

[Tagyhag]

I like most of the changes except the new Standard format, I hope that eventually they just have both Standard and Wild Arenas.

 

[obeast]

Moving Arena to standard eliminates half the fun of the format.

If I want to play standard, I'll go play standard. All we need is for arena to have exactly the same balance problems that constructed is inevitably going to have. Right now Shaman is the best constructed class, and Warlock is the best arena class.

Imagine if it was Shaman both places. You could never escape.

This is going to be very bad for the game.

I would be very, very surprised if balance problems in a given constructed meta made their way into arena in any analogous way, even if the card pools are identical. The gameplay is just so different when you can't guarantee broken synergies by picking from the full card set.

For example, imagine if arena currently used the standard pool. What balance issues would translate? There'd be no "pirate package," no reno decks or kazakus, really nothing in the arena meta, balance-wise, that would mirror any issue in constructed. Small-time buccaneer isn't even particularly good in arena in non-rogue classes (and it's hardly broken even in rogue).

 

[Mulgrok]

this was the hardest month on ladder for me ever. You just can't reliably win and games get decided by match making and whether you draw patches or reno pretty much... I started NA a few days ago, climbed quite fast with reno mage to 6 but boy I did stop there, damn...

one blow out win to another blow out loss... I switched renolock, same story. These jade curves can get quite out of hand, or I lost to pirate warrior after reno, because he just had life tap and frothing I couldn't kill lol... this reno mage got jarraxus from kazakus and beat me with it. lol.

In the end switched to mid jade shaman and win streaked to 5 in no time. Thanks Thrall, I don't know why I wasted time playing something else, it's not like it was fun exactly. With jade shaman in some games, you just open with pirates and become full face shaman, it's hilarious when it happens.

After nerf it's likely the best deck, the amusing part is that you can replace all the nerfed cards with some other bonkers cards or specifically tech to beat rogue or reno. So many options.

Yep, I used to be able to get to rank 5 with any deck, but since this meta started I have to use cheese decks to not take forever past rank 12.

 

[Glass Shark]

Priest decks make me want to jump off a bridge

 

[Fersis]

I like most of the changes except the new Standard format, I hope that eventually they just have both Standard and Wild Arenas.

It would be cool if in the future they can have combinations of cards like: Standard + GvG or Classic + LoE, etc.
So that way you could have a new "arena meta" every month.

The only way i would play Arena is if that you could draft like 50 cards and then choose 30 of those to make up your deck.

Iksar with the real talk

One of the most difficult draft problems for us to overcome is the ever-increasing card pool. Something I'm relatively sure of is that when a new set comes out, it would be cool to go to arena to draft that new set and check out what its synergies are all about. It becomes difficult to accomplish that when there start to be 1500+ cards available to draft. We want there to be realistic synergies to draft in arena, and we want drafting the set that just came out to be a fun way to discover the latest and greatest new cards.
That said, making arena standard is just one way to do this. I would not consider these current changes to be forever ones. The main takeaway for me in this development time was that smaller card pools lead to more interesting draft experiences, standard-arena specifically was a simple way for us to accomplish that. I could definitely see us rotating older sets in and out of the pool at some point, but for now I'm curious how these current changes will play out. Looking forward to getting feedback once the changes are released.

Team 5 is so hot right now.