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I understand that Arena can sometimes produce extremely powerful decks, and part of the fun is adapting to those high-roll situations. I’m okay with the fact that sometimes you face a deck so strong you barely have a chance. That’s part of the Arena experience.
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However, the current state with the imbue mechanic feels like it has gone beyond any sense of balance. Mages constantly dealing ping damage and summoning hordes of wisps is manageable. Paladins chaining dragon portals endlessly is frustrating but beatable. The real issue lies with Priests generating what feels like infinite free, discovered cards.
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It creates a game state where no amount of planning or tempo can keep up with their value engine, and it makes matches feel more about surviving waves of random resources than playing skillfully. This is particularly overwhelming in Arena, where resource generation should be more limited and every card should matter.
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I really appreciate all the work that goes into the mode, I just hope some attention is given to these mechanics to help restore a healthier balance.
Good sir, this is the last Patch of the “current” arena game mode, they are going to Revamp it, so have faith on the new Patch
I get that the new Arena mode is coming, but that doesn’t excuse how bad the experience has been since the release of the last expansion. It would’ve been simple to just exclude the imbue mechanic to avoid making things frustrating. They’ve done this before, like back in early 2016 during the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion when they banned C’Thun cards from Arena (there, it was the other way around, they excluded them because they were useless without the C’Thun card itself). They can make changes if they want to, so it’s disappointing that they let it drag on this long. Unless they think it’s fun… but then, what am I even talking about?
Within 48 hours of playing the new Arena season I made the following comment:
If we look at HS Replay’s current list of best classes for Arena, the top 5 classes are:
1). DK
2). Priest
3). Shaman
4). Druid
5). Mage
4 out 5 of the best Arena classes have access to Imbue. Priest is the best Imbue class, because it only takes 2 Imbue cards for Imbue cards to be a good strategy and value for the class in Arena, but priest has cards that can steal or copy an opponent’s Imbue cards, plus the Imbue hero power itself can discover more Imbue cards for Priest.
I thought DK would be a good class this season, but I was not sure if it could out perform the better Imbue classes. One reason for why it might be leading right now is because of how easy it for DK to discover multiple Reska during a match from cards like Frost Strike, Dark Gift cards, excavate cards, etc… It’s not uncommon for DK to play 3-6 Reska in a match.
According to HSReplay the best Arena classes are now:
1). Priest (which is what I expected)
2). DK
3). Shaman
4). Druid
5). Mage
My initial class preferences (in order of best to worse) were Priest, Mage, DK, Shaman, Druid and Rogue, but the ban of Reckless Apprentice in Arena greatly lowered how well Mage performs now, since it was possible to get two or three of them before the ban. A few of my drafts were force retired when Reckless Apprentice got banned.
Imbue Priest is oppressively good in Arena right now due to how easy it to discover and playstrong cards using the hero power. It’s also a sick class with the ability to steal spells or copy an opponent’s best cards. Draconian studies often offers up Fyrikk the Blazing (it’s battlecry casts 20 mana of random fire spells)
DK is nearly as oppressive as Priest, because it can:
1). Flood the board in the early game
2). Put easily put 3-5 minions in play on turn 4 and beyond.
3). Has boards in the mid and late game.
4). Can discover and play multiple Reska in a match.
5). Has access to a lot of dark gift cards which can yield a Reska or a Fyrikk the Blazing (it’s battlecry casts 20 mana of random fire spells).
Priest and DK are capable of a lot of healing as well.