They're asking to not post about this on high-traffic places like the hearthstone subreddit yet since they wouldn't be able to handle the server load, but http://www.heartharena.com/ is up and it's pretty sweet. It's basically a drafting assistant - you tell it your options for each pick and it scores them for you based on a base list of values and a ton of other factors regarding what you've already picked. I think it's a really good basis for learning how to draft arena well.
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Hearthstone Arena
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I sympathize with the sentiment but I don't agree.
For quite some time there have been pick orders ("tier lists") that people have used to make arena draft decisions for them. These haven't ruined arena, even though I'm sure they contribute a lot to some cards getting picked only very rarely and therefore to some homogeneity in decks you face in the arena. What they have done is raise the level of competition. Because of these lists, new arena players get to start out with some semblance of an idea of what to do, and they aren't at as much a disadvantage vs experienced players. The experienced players get some more fun (but still easily beatable) opposition and new players get to stop feeling completely lost sooner. And as they get more experience they can start making their own judgments about what picks are better in particular situations. This site is a more advanced progression of that. It still doesn't know how to do the draft perfectly, it just helps new players get up to speed. And unlike the tier lists it is more likely to get new players to make a variety of decks, understanding that different cards are better or worse in different situations, as compared to tier lists' blind preference for the cards that are better on average. New players are still going to have a lot to learn, but they will catch up to the baseline more quickly because this site explains why instead of just saying what is "better". And of course, players who don't follow its advice blindly will still do better. If it ever gets to the point where arena drafting is considered "solved", that's a problem with the game itself and not a problem with this site. It will be because people figured out how to draft best. Until then I'm happy for any efforts to spread the accumulated knowledge of good players down to everyone else and everyone who's having to start fresh. It raises our collective expertise and understanding of the game, and helps the disadvantaged, and makes arena matches more likely to be fun and fair contests.
Making arena more difficult isn't my objection - people make a lot of play errors anyway. To use a chess analogy, I view it as the difference between knowing general game principles (the tier lists and strategy articles) and having a computer engine choose moves for you. It feels like cheating to me, in a way that checking a tier list does not.
Piloted shredder decided to liven up this game a bit:
![[Image: Hearthstone_Screenshot_12192014211308_zpsa363ccfe.png]](http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Molach73/media/Hearthstone_Screenshot_12192014211308_zpsa363ccfe.png.html) ...not often he gets to play these days. Also got good value from the commando team - good use of a poor draft pick. And a protip for my opponent; DO you really wanna "inner rage" kill my 2/1 loot hoarder when I have a windfury minion on the board.... ![[Image: Hearthstone_Screenshot_12192014211750_zpsc4d893c4.png]](http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Molach73/media/Hearthstone_Screenshot_12192014211750_zpsc4d893c4.png.html) Granted, I had lethal already but he didn't know that. Maybe he gave up? Druid deck up to 3/1 now, but last two opponents were pretty bad at playing (last one left my cult master alive on the board while killing another 4/2 for some reason...)
Played: FFH PBEM XXVI (Rhoanna) FFH PBEM XXV (Shekinah) FFH PBEM XXX (Flauros) Pitboss 11 (Kublai Rome)
Playing:Pitboss 18 (Ghengis Portugal) PBEM 60 - AI start (Napoleon Inca) (December 19th, 2014, 09:21)uberfish Wrote: Making arena more difficult isn't my objection - people make a lot of play errors anyway. To use a chess analogy, I view it as the difference between knowing general game principles (the tier lists and strategy articles) and having a computer engine choose moves for you. It feels like cheating to me, in a way that checking a tier list does not. It's more like learning chess openings. It helps you to not be screwed from the start, but you still have to play and win the game with your own skill. 
We've also already had programs like HearthArena before(such as ArenaValue), though probably not as advanced. Honestly, though, this program seems really bad, worse than a tier list or the previous programs: For example, even when it became very obvious halfway through the deck that this was a midrange deck, the drafter stalwardly insisted it was an aggro deck essentially just because I picked a Rogue and because of this kept wanting me to pick Reckless Rocketeer. It doesn't explain much reasoning behind the picks and when it does it usually is rather asinine, such as saying we need to not pick too much big game when I am only picking up my 4th 4-drop or not to pick up too much early game when it is my 4th 2-drop like halfway through the deck.
I like programs like this (I agree with Jowy's assessment), but this one seems bad. EDIT: Also, it seemed unable to comprehend that my Tinker's Sharpsword Oil were not 4-drops. EDIT2: At the least, they seem to be aware the archetype detection is messed up and are trying to fix it. 
Finally got my first 12 Arena run! A 12-2, but I'm not complaining!
 It was with... Warlock, of all things. Here's the deck: 1: Argent Squire 2: Bloodfen Raptor, Bluegill Warrior, Dark Bomb, Dire Wolf Alpha, Knife Juggler, Mad Bomber, Micro Machine, Ship's Cannon 3: Illuminator, Imp Gang Boss (x2), Imp Master, Spider Tank 4: Mechanical Yeti, Piloted Shredder (x2), Sen'jin Shieldmasta, Shadowflame, Spellbreaker, Voidcaller 5: Bane of Doom, Floating Watcher (x2), Spiteful Smith 6: Boulderfist Ogre, Frost Elemental, Sunwalker 7: Stormwind Champion 8: Foe Reaper 4000 I didn't think much of it at the time, but looking back, there's not a single bad card there. Only Illuminator is perhaps below average, but it served well enough. The draft offered me the option of an even lower curve (Leper Gnome vs. Spellbreaker, Young Priestess vs. Sunwalker, 2nd Dire Wolf Alpha vs. Shieldmasta, etc.) which may have been the stronger option, I don't know. I wasn't in the mood for taking risks. The MVP of the matches was Shadowflame, no doubt about it. Not surprising, as it was my only board clear. Still, the ability to Shadowflame a Smith or Ogre and destroy multiple 5+ mana cost cards, with random Imps to clean up the leftovers, was very powerful. The Shredders were good, but sometimes a liability - I rolled Explosive Sheep twice! And I only managed to get a Voidcaller into Watcher combo to stick once - which is more than I can say for Foe Reaper! The Ranked meta might grow stale, but I think Arena will keep me entertained for a long time. Edit: My rewards? 500 gold!! And a Target Dummy and golden Gnomeregan Infantry from the pack. 
Fired up an Arena for the first time in a while, and got an unexpected 12 from this solid, if unspectacular, Warlock deck:
http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/09e8fd Dark Peddler came through more than once for the final Soulfire/Power Overwhelming for lethal. Very good card IMO. The Rag didn't do anything - I think I played him twice across the whole run. |
