Hearthstone Arena

[Peelyon 416]

A little background first:

 

The arena in hearthstone requires 150 gold coins in order to enter.  You can purchase arena entry by using real money as well if you wish.

 

You then have an option of picking a hero (one of three) and creating a deck on the spot, one card at a time through a variety of choices (picking one card out of three) until  you have your 30 card deck.

 

This means you cannot pre-craft your hero / deck prior to entering the arena.

 

You then fight other players (who are also in arena mode).

 

For every game you win you increase your rewards (gold / dust / card packs).  If you lose three games (in total) then your arena journey ends.

 

There is currently debate as to whether purchasing card packs or playing arena is the most viable for rewards at the moment, I haven't played enough in the arena to give my own opinion as of yet.

 

So what are everyone's arena experiences so far?

 

Mine have been a little mixed, playing both a mage or a druid I have created what I thought to be very solid decks, yet I have found them lacking in actual play.

 

I'm not sure if my deck composition is poor or if I am just proving a little unlucky drawing cards.

 

I have managed a 4 win streak since the beta "wipe" with my lowest just being the 1 win (for which I received 15 dust 10 gold and an expert pack).

 

I have read that druids are fairly powerful in the arena at the moment, anyone else faired better than myself?

 

 

[Omaric 246]

I've had very mixed results as well.  I'll start off 3-0 and my deck will seem like an absolute beast, but then I'll start getting my ass handed to me by patchwork decks.  I generally don't make too many misplays, so it's frustrating when RNG just slaps you in the face.  My best so far is 7 wins.  I think I've played through about 10 arena runs.

 

My biggest problem has been priests for the most part, especially in arena.  Your deck might seem awesome, but every priest is scouring their cards for the Shadow Word spells, Mind Control and Thought Steal.  It's so frustrating to have your own deck used against you.  The best tactic I've been able to enforce is keeping their board clear while keeping creatures with 4 attack on the field.  They're always holding onto Mind Control for your big plays, so you can't play them unless you're a mage (Counterspell).  Just maintain board advantage and keep pecking at his health. (not easy)

[Peelyon 416]

I decided to go back in after my post - made a mage deck and struck out!  So I have a new personal worst!

 

From the 0 wins I still received 1 x expert pack and 20 dust.  So even though a total failure, I basically paid 50g for 20 dust - which depending how many cards you already own and the quality of the expert packs you open - not that bad a loss!  

 

I've used 100g to buy an expert pack, come away with 4 commons which I've disenchanted (20 dust) and a poor rare before now.

 

Perhaps players could post their arena rewards and we may start to get some idea of encouraging the "100g expert pack Vs 150g Arena entry" discussion?

 

From what I have gathered if you reach 7 wins you receive at least 150g and an expert pack right?  The maximum number of wins available are 9 from what I have read as well.

[Omaric 246]

I'll try to start tracking my Arena exploits here.

[Peelyon 416]

3 wins - Reward Pack, 30gold 15 dust

[Tarazet 144]

1 win - 5 dust, 25 gold, and a card pack. I had someone with a lot more experience in card games than I guiding me in the deck build and strategies, and just kept getting bad pulls against good ones.

[Omaric 246]

5 wins - 45 gold, 45 dust, 1 pack

[Damien 1,514]

I played only twice in Arena so far.

First time: 2 wins got me 10 dust, 20 gold, and 1 pack.

Second time: 3 wins got me 25 dust, 35 gold, and 1 pack.

[Damien 1,514]

I completely messed up my Mage deck, but still managed to win 1 game: 15 Gold, 15 Dust, and 1 pack.

[Peelyon 416]

It's obvious there are some variations between the rewards for the same number of wins (which is good).  Would be a bit dull if the rewards where 100% set for 1 win 2 wins etc.

[Paladin2013 5]

Well, the first time I play the Arena, I chose Druid, I got 0-3 though. The reason maybe I chose too many cards with high mana cost.

[Tarazet 144]

You can get away with stacking high-mana cards if you have a premade with Wild Growth, Innervate, and Nourish, plus a bunch of card-drawing minions. In arenas you need to be more neutral and think in terms of bang for your buck, since banking on synergy is risky with random pulls.

[Peelyon 416]

Not played arena for a few days.  Made a paladin deck, got up to 4 wins and 2 losses then came up against a mage.

 

Thought I was doing ok until the pulled out BOTH Ysera AND Archmage Antonidus......bit annoying really when my own deck didn't even include one epic card.

 

 

Anyone else came up against something similar in arena? :)

[Damien 1,514]

At 8 wins, I got 255 gold and a pack of cards. Apparently, for gold gains, losing at 8 wins is optimal.

[Vlad 411]

After many, many failed attempts to reach 9 wins in arena, I've finally done it! My decent-but-not-awesome Paladin deck got there with relatively little difficulty. Won the first game to an afk opponent, then smashed through 7 others to get to 8 wins and 0 losses. Then I received a pretty harsh beating from a Mage, and then one from a Priest, before winning my final game.

 

My rewards were pretty good: 2 packs and 220 gold. That would actually have been better if I didn't have more or less every card in the game (everything I got in the two packs got disenchanted), but it's still quite good.

[Omaric 246]

I didn't realize you could get more than 1 pack from Arena, that's pretty awesome!

 

I'm still chasing after that 9 win dream.  Grats to you sir!

[Peelyon 416]

Not managed anything past 7 myself. Think I'm struggling a little picking my deck. I'd like to think I'm being unlucky with my options but its probably my own composition thats letting me down.

[Damien 1,514]

My third 8/3 in two days... I'm getting there!

[Damien 1,514]

9 wins, finally! 1 pack, 1 Golden Doomguard, 45 Dust, and 160 Gold. I'm really disappointed about the gold earnings.

[Omaric 246]

Disappointed with the amount or the inconsistency?  In Blizzard-speak, I believe they value gold cards very highly.  I agree with that as well, because having a hand full of gold cards feels pretty awesome.  :)

[Vlad 411]

I think the solution to this is simple, and it should be implemented before live release. Let us choose the type of Arena rewards we like, in the same way that you could choose your daily quest rewards on Isle of Thunder. For instance, one option could be gold-only (for players who just want more gold to re-enter arena/farm), another could be all card-collecting stuff (cards, packs, dust), and the third could be the mixed bag we get now.

[Omaric 246]

I like that, although I think one of the 5 rewards should always be a pack.

[Damien 1,514]

Disappointed with the amount or the inconsistency?  In Blizzard-speak, I believe they value gold cards very highly.  I agree with that as well, because having a hand full of gold cards feels pretty awesome. 

I meant to say that for 9 wins, I expected to get more gold and less arcane dust.

[Vlad 411]

I like that, although I think one of the 5 rewards should always be a pack.

 

I have a problem with that, which is that I have all the cards in the game (with the exception of a few legendaries). This means that the card packs are pretty useless to me, they're basically just a bit of dust, which in no way helps me get back into Arena.

[Omaric 246]

I have a problem with that, which is that I have all the cards in the game (with the exception of a few legendaries). This means that the card packs are pretty useless to me, they're basically just a bit of dust, which in no way helps me get back into Arena.

 

Yeah, you definitely have a point, I'm just a sucker for a shot at gold cards I guess, haha.