*sigh* Grand Tournament is such an awful expansion for Arena, for three main reasons:
1. There are way too many cards now for one consolidated pool--is there any weighting to which sets show up more, or is it all completely random? As an example, I'm going through a mage run now, and I didn't see a single Fireball or Polymorph, while I'm sure the crazy 2 Fireball 2 Polymorph decks still exist (I know I was getting some of those in GvG at least). This means that there's still a ton of variance between different drafts, and since as far as I know there's no universal cardpool lots of deck will be stronger than others. That's the key with Magic: the packs may suck, but they suck for everyone, and there's still a relative balance.
2. Jousting is one of the worst mechanics I've ever seen in a card game, and considering Hearthstone certainly didn't need randomness (especially post-decision randomness), it's especially bad here. To be fair, Magic did mostly the same thing with Clash, and while it wasn't great there, it was much more controllable (since it used the top of the library and you could choose whether or not to keep the card) and there much smaller effects (as opposed to the Taunt/Divine Shield guy where the joust is the main reason to play the card, for example).
3. All of the power is shifted to the late game, aggravating topdeck wars. A lot of this comes from Inspire, but that's not the main problem (given the inherent problems with hero powers in general, Inspire is a fine mechanic); the problem is swingy effects coming from Inspire. As a simple case study, look at the 5 mana 4/4 Inspire +2/+2: I'd argue a split card of 5 mana 4/4 or 7 mana 6/6 would probably be a fine card, and that ignores a lot of things (the value of the hero power itself, the ability to delay/repeat the pump effect, the ability to trigger multiple Inspire effects). An easy fix would be that you can't trigger Inspire on the turn you play something (just like how summoning sickness in Magic stops tap abilities, which are also mostly once per turn), but that obviously isn't happening. Of course, Inspire isn't the entire problem; Blizzard needs to stop printing so many efficient big creatures, especially at common (that 9 mana 9/7 Battlecry deal 4 damage is a complete joke--every class does not need Fire Elemental)--if you're going to ensure consistent mana you need to have a flatter cost-power curve in limited.
I just wish Magic could have a decent online client so I didn't have to slum in Hearthstone--even Magic Duels (which became a F2P Hearthstone copy) runs like crap. I'm seeing the trend with a lot of Blizzard games though--LoL is a much better game than Heroes of the Storm, but the awful design decision of last-hitting in LoL creates a skill floor that has been pushing me to HotS (though ironically the technical problems are on Blizzard's side of the fence this time--the program uses way too much memory even at low settings, the F2P grind is horrendous, communication outside of Ranked (which I haven't unlocked yet) is either non-existent or toxic, and a surrender option needs to be added yesterday as long as the maps remain so snowbally).
1. There are way too many cards now for one consolidated pool--is there any weighting to which sets show up more, or is it all completely random? As an example, I'm going through a mage run now, and I didn't see a single Fireball or Polymorph, while I'm sure the crazy 2 Fireball 2 Polymorph decks still exist (I know I was getting some of those in GvG at least). This means that there's still a ton of variance between different drafts, and since as far as I know there's no universal cardpool lots of deck will be stronger than others. That's the key with Magic: the packs may suck, but they suck for everyone, and there's still a relative balance.
2. Jousting is one of the worst mechanics I've ever seen in a card game, and considering Hearthstone certainly didn't need randomness (especially post-decision randomness), it's especially bad here. To be fair, Magic did mostly the same thing with Clash, and while it wasn't great there, it was much more controllable (since it used the top of the library and you could choose whether or not to keep the card) and there much smaller effects (as opposed to the Taunt/Divine Shield guy where the joust is the main reason to play the card, for example).
3. All of the power is shifted to the late game, aggravating topdeck wars. A lot of this comes from Inspire, but that's not the main problem (given the inherent problems with hero powers in general, Inspire is a fine mechanic); the problem is swingy effects coming from Inspire. As a simple case study, look at the 5 mana 4/4 Inspire +2/+2: I'd argue a split card of 5 mana 4/4 or 7 mana 6/6 would probably be a fine card, and that ignores a lot of things (the value of the hero power itself, the ability to delay/repeat the pump effect, the ability to trigger multiple Inspire effects). An easy fix would be that you can't trigger Inspire on the turn you play something (just like how summoning sickness in Magic stops tap abilities, which are also mostly once per turn), but that obviously isn't happening. Of course, Inspire isn't the entire problem; Blizzard needs to stop printing so many efficient big creatures, especially at common (that 9 mana 9/7 Battlecry deal 4 damage is a complete joke--every class does not need Fire Elemental)--if you're going to ensure consistent mana you need to have a flatter cost-power curve in limited.
I just wish Magic could have a decent online client so I didn't have to slum in Hearthstone--even Magic Duels (which became a F2P Hearthstone copy) runs like crap. I'm seeing the trend with a lot of Blizzard games though--LoL is a much better game than Heroes of the Storm, but the awful design decision of last-hitting in LoL creates a skill floor that has been pushing me to HotS (though ironically the technical problems are on Blizzard's side of the fence this time--the program uses way too much memory even at low settings, the F2P grind is horrendous, communication outside of Ranked (which I haven't unlocked yet) is either non-existent or toxic, and a surrender option needs to be added yesterday as long as the maps remain so snowbally).