Would anyone be upset if Blizzard changed their Ranking system from 1-25 to 1 to 100?
There are, what?, 20 million Hearthstone players, and 75% of them are in the 25-15 range. That strikes me as a ton of players who have to play each other who have vastly differing decks and abilities. I would love it if they expanded the Ranks so that the matchmaking works better.
If you’re going to do that it might be better to have a matchmaking rating rather than a level system, since that gets to what you’re trying to accomplish much more directly while reducing the grind needed to play at a high level. You would have to have big streak bonuses or fewer wins per level or a long season or something - it’s a big enough chore leveling up from 20 every month. Either that or have longer seasons.
I’ve started playing Hearthstone again, with a new deck. I call it “Jaraxxus Hits Stuff”. The deck basically does two things of note:
It’s at Rank 18 so far.
I’ve never seen a weapon Jarraxus before, sounds interesting! Isn’t it too slow though?
Not so far. Jaraxxus is the only card above 6 mana, and even that’s negotiable when you have Summoning Portals. Time will tell how far up the ladder it can go.
Phone versions are out!
I’ve played a few games on my iPhone 6, and it’s pretty good. Not preferable over the iPad mini, but only just a smidge behind.
Has anyone been playing arena since BRM came out?
I’ve been doing a lot better this weekend. I’m at a 7 win average compared to a normal 4 and I’m 9-1 so far on a warlock deck. Some of the BRM commons really seem to be shaking things up. (Imp Gang Boss on 3 into Hungry Dragon on 4 is just unfair)
And I’m seeing way fewer mages than normal (~15% of opponents) and just faced a hunter at 9 wins!
I haven’t played arena in ages, but BRM seems to have introduced the kind of cards that would be good in arena, all the tempo. GVG was more about the combos and mechs.
I’m surprised about the lack of mages though, Flamewaker and Dragon’s breath sound like good arena cards to me!
I haven’t run across a Flamewaker yet, and I’m not sure Dragon’s Breath is any better than a Frostbolt/Fireball. One mage I faced did use a 1 mana Dragon’s Breath but still ended the turn with a few mana to spare so the cost reduction didn’t really benefit him.
If I were offered the choice between all three spells in a draft I’d probably go with a Fireball (or Frostbolt if I had a high curve).
Just faced a warrior who used the grim patron combined with the card that lets you draw a card for each damaged minions. I couldn’t quite stamp out that grim patron plague, and using two of those cards I think he generated about 10-12 grim patrons and 10 cards in 3 turns. He had all sorts of cards that could slightly self damage and filled up his board with grim patrons at will.
I just started playing arenas again, probably my third arena run in 2 months. I put together a decent beast hunter deck - no legendaries, nothing great, no explosive traps - but I did manage 2 scavenging hyenas and 4 release the hounds cards, as well as a couple of kill commands and 3 animal companions.
I blasted my way to go 6-0 - most of the games ended with me at 25+ hp, not even close. Total domination. Lost one at that point. Won another 5 to end up 11-1. Then lost one. So I was 11-2 - and I was worried my first shot at a 12 arena run was going to end up falling just short. But no, I won that last game and got my first 12 win arena run.
Rewards - 215+75+35 gold (325), a golden goblin blast mage, and of course a deck. The deck had a golden arcane nullifier x-21, but nothing else good.
The rewards are a little meh - I’m under the impression legendaries from such runs aren’t uncommon - but it’s a nice accomplishment to have gotten a 12 win run. I wonder what percentage of hearthstone players have done that. Anyone here?
If every game is a 50/50 tossup I believe it’s a bit over 0.5% of arena runs that go to 12 wins. Obviously a good player would do better but an average player would have to do a lot of runs before they could expect to get to 12.
I haven’t tracked all my runs from the beginning but I have one 12 win run and four 10+ win runs that at least took me into the ballpark. Blizzard says I have 363 arena win total (~90 at my average win rate from the last two months) so I’m either a slightly above average, or slightly lucky, arena player.
I wish there was a 12 win cardback though. Is it really any easier than hitting legend in one season?
Sweet! I’ve never gotten a 12 win streak before.
I do believe the pack is just an ordinary pack with an ordinary chance at a legendary though. But IIRC, one of the rewards is a guaranteed gold card, so there’s that.
The pack is always a normal pack, but at 12 wins you have three “random reward” slots, one of which could be a legendary.
Did they change the arena matchmaking? My last runs have been 5, 6, 5, 12, 5, 4 wins. And currently on a run on win number 8. Seems easier. Still makes me angry that they give out goblins and gnomes decks for 6 months now rather than giving out a redeemable deck token. Aside from legendaries I have everything I need from that deck. I don’t even like the arena rewards.
Just had an arena game, following sequence of events:
I pass (no 1 cost unit)
He drops a zombie chow
I drop an amani beserker
He drops the 2/1 murloc that charges, and attacks the amani berserker with it. Who then becomes 5/1. I emote “well played” and he quits.
Apparently he dug himself too deep.
Phone players. Let’s just say many of them are minimally skilled … and many are playing in places where they sometimes need to hit the Boss key.
They’re not having any noticeable effect on the ladder but I’m seeing lots of inexplicable concedes / time outs / plays / decks when I play Casual mode to try out decks.
Hey, I resemble that remark! >.>
I might actually make it to legend this month, Rank 3 as of this post. Woot!
Didn’t actually expect this, but I have to say, back when I thought I could have made legend if I just had a bit more time? Nope. Clearly a case of “you don’t know when you’re lousy”.
Have been watching a good number of arena runs of twitch,trying to get a handle on things. It boggles my mind how well these guys can consistently do. I understand the strategies well enough, but I just don’t have the meta-understand necessary for really high-level play, I guess.
Got to keep watching and playing, I guess.
Keep in mind that the top level players put in a huge amount of time … it’s a full time job for them. Some streamers are on 40 to 70 hours a week – and that’s just actual online streaming time, not time spent researching and thinking about the game.
I’m almost up to 1600 dust. I guess Rag is still a safe craft. I’ve been thinking of Antonidus, since it really puts a finisher on a mech mage deck. But neutral legendaries end up getting more potential uses. Sylvanas is also still in the running. Hmm.