Ideas for balancing Arena

General Discussion
1

WARLOCK

Demonic Assault is Warlock’s by far the best and the most op midgame card yet it’s in 50.7% of decks. Which means one of every two people has it in their deck. Also, since the draft appearance rate of this card is too high, people usually have more than one Demonic Assault in their deck which is more broken. The appearance rate of this card must be so much lower.

PALADIN

Same for the Alliance Bannerman. Almost everytime I draft Paladin, I’m offered a Bannerman. And sometimes I’m offered more than one Bannerman. Once I drafted 4x Bannermans and it was an easy 11 win run. I felt really sad for my enemies. But this is literally the only way to get high wins in this stupid broken arena meta. I also feel really sad when my enemies play 3x bannerman which happens a lot actually, not that rare. Because Bannerman is in 50.7% of decks, which is the same appearance rate with Warlock’s Demonic Assault. So, Bannerman’s appearance rate must be so much lower. Because this card is so broken and not fair.

WARRIOR

Let’s talk about Warrior. Instead of only 1 card, Warrior has several op cards with high appearance rate. I’m talking about Dragon Roar, Stormwind Freebooter and Sword Eater.

Dragon Roar is in 53.7% of decks. The spell is so op, whoever picks Warrior, their main purpose is getting offered Dragon Roar for sure. If not, they’re trolling.

Also Stormwind Freebooter is in 44.4% of decks. This minion has 3/4 body which is perfect for 3 mana. You would even get it just for the stats and be happy for it being in your deck as a 3 drop. But no, not enough, because it also gives your hero +2 attack which means a free minion clear for you. It’s ridicilous to see a card like this with such a high appearance rate in arena. Think about Rogue’s SI:7 Agent, it deals 2 damage but it’s a combo card which means at least it requires doing something to deal that 2 damage. It even has worse stats than Stormwind Freebooter which is also ridicilous. It must have lower appearance rate.

Same for Sword Eater(in 38% of decks), it’s a taunt minion with 2/5 body that equips a 3/2 weapon and it only costs 4 mana. It basicly equips a Fiery War Axe. So, Fiery War Axe costs 3 mana, Sword Eater costs 4 mana. Then it means we literally play a 2/5 taunt minion that costs only 1 mana. This card is one of the most broken cards in arena and must have lower appearance rate during draft.

OTHER CLASSES

Other than these, imo Demon Hunter and Shaman are balanced and shouldn’t be touched.

But I can’t say the same for Druid, Mage, Rogue and Priest. The best thing to make these classes balanced just like Demon Hunter and Shaman is to reduce the appearance rate of the worst cards during draft. For example, I’m entering Arena, I have to pick between Mage, Rogue and Priest. I pick Rogue for example. And then during the draft, I have to pick between Arena Fanatic, Murloc Tinyfin and Anubisath Warbringer. Come on, pity me, pity us Blizzard. The possibility of getting offered these cards must be really low to boost up these dead classes just a bit. Literally every Druid or Mage or Rogue or Priest I face at 7+ wins have a ridicilous op deck that they can only draft once in 10 drafts. A mage with bunch of discovers who play tons of removals and secrets with good elemental synergies for example. This kind of deck is really rare and it’s most of the time impossible to win against. I’m not complaining about seeing these kind of rare decks. They will always exist. I’m complaining about seeing ONLY these kind of rare decks at high wins when I face these four classes.

EDIT(About Quitting the Game for Good) :

Just lost against a player who has made tons of mistakes but when I had a huge board and lethal they played Zephrys and killed all my minions, then they won the match because I have no card in my hand, I already played everything, I already suppose to have the lethal on the board, I already win the match if they don’t play Zephrys. This is all just a paradox.

So yeah, I forgot about Zephrys. This legendary needs to go too. It gives you whatever you need. You need lethal? Okay it’s yours. You need board clear? It’s yours. You need to buff your minions? It’s yours. You need a minion that kills a pirate and gains stats? It’s yours. You got it! YOU WIN! BECAUSE YOU WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO DRAFT ZEPHRYS. BECAUSE BLIZZARD LETS IT HAPPEN!

I just keep losing against Ysera, Zephrys or some other legendary cards. Or 3x bannermans. Or 3x demonic assaults. I just can’t do it anymore. I love this game in general and I have nothing against the idea of this game being mostly based on rng. But, there are still ways to make arena more skill-based. Without these kind of changes, without the removal of op legendaries, without the nerf of the appearance rate of some cards(like demonic assault,bannerman,dragon roar), I can not play this game anymore.
Because when I lose, it doesn’t feel like I am the one who’s losing. I am not losing. It’s not me. The game was over from the beginning. You know what Blizzard, you can literally tell me if my opponent has Ysera or Zephrys in their deck at the start of games and I will literally concede at the beginning. This way you will not be wasting my time.

I can’t do it anymore. I can’t. Like I said before, I wanna lose because of bad draws. Because of my bad trades, mistakes. Or when I have a huge board, opponent plays Flamestrike and I lose the game. I’m okay with all of these. As you can see I am not crying about losing a huge board against a board clear spell okay. But I’m crying about a legendary card(zephrys) that gives you WHATEVER YOU NEED.

I won’t play this game anymore. This is not for me. I need a game that I can show my skills. Not my luck in drafts.

2

Speaking about balancing arena is kind of pointless. People only play it because of random free tickets and it’s complete rng fiesta what you get offered. Not worth the development time I’d assume.

3

“People only play it because of random free tickets.”
Not me. I’m a full-time arena player. If I lose 10 times in a day, 9 of these losses are against an op legendary minion like Ysera or someone who played 3x Dragon Roar in a match.
I usually play without a single mistake, I’m a skilled player and I only want to lose when I draw badly(bad luck) or when I make tiny mistakes(it’s very rare) or when my opponent makes insane plays(I never get mad against a skilled player.)
But sometimes my opponent makes some mistakes during the whole match and then they play Ysera and boom!, doesn’t matter how many mistakes they’ve made before. They have the value now. It’s just so stupid.

4

But sometimes my opponent makes some mistakes during the whole match and then they play Ysera and boom!, doesn’t matter how many mistakes they’ve made before. They have the value now. It’s just so stupid.

Agreed. I used to play exclusively arena, because I wanted to get away from the same few powerful cards played in constructed. Why have so many fun cards when only 10% are viable? Arena used to be much more interesting with nearly all cards being played. You had to think on your feet to properly use them, play combos no one ever had played before and defend against plays you had never seen!
But then they changed the offering rates, so that the same few powerful cards get offered much more often and arena became as boring as constructed, just with a higher luck factor.
I gave up on hoping they would change it back and simply stopped playing. I just came back to try out mercenaries.

5

I totally agree with you and feel your pain.

6

CARDS THAT SHOULD BE REMOVED;

NEUTRAL;
Ysera the Dreamer
N’Zoth, God of the Deep
High Inquisitor Whitemane

HUNTER;
Venomstrike Bow

DRUID;
Greybough

These cards are game-breaking. These cards should be removed from arena just like Ramming Mount. But also all the removed cards including Ramming Mount should be removed from the Discovering Pool.

CARDS WHOSE APPEARANCE RATE SHOULD BE NERFED;

WARLOCK;
Demonic Assault

PALADIN;
Alliance Bannerman

WARRIOR;
Dragon Roar

These cards have insane value but they are not game breaking. But because of their high appearance rate during drafts, people are able to draft the duplicates of these cards. For example, having 1x Alliance Bannerman in a deck is not game-breaking, but having 3x Alliance Bannerman is. So nerfing the Draft Appearance Rate of these cards would solve the problem.

Currently, Demonic Assault is in 50.9% of all arena decks.
Alliance Bannerman is in 50.6& of all arena decks.
Dragon Roar is in 53.7% of all arena decks.

Personal Additions: I’m a skilled full-time arena player and if I lose 10 matches in a day, 9 of the losses are because of these cards. Either someone plays Ysera and gets unbelievable value from nowhere, or they play 3x Alliance Bannerman. Instead, I wanna lose against people who make better trades than me. I wanna lose because of bad draws. I wanna lose because of my mistakes. This mode suppose to be based on skill as much as possible.