Just joined an arena this morning thinking oh lovely, I have just about 1000 gold and while I drink my morning coffee I’ll be able to play some games! Queue the cheese factor.
Proceeded to get the WORST team ever, as per usual, and then got annihilated by these ridiculous teams that I never even have the option of picking.
I played one match where I literally was just laughing because the AI beat me in three “turns” and never gave me a single match of any color that I used. Only green, the one color I wasn’t using. Each turn I scrutinized the map, GREEN, only. And only three of them. The AI just matches four after four, skull after skull, creating even 4 skulls for themselves of course, and twice, no less.
Anyone see a problem here? Devs may have sorted this out on pc/mobile/ios, not sure, but this is a veritable nightmare on xbox. Sorry, love the game, but it is.
I ran into that on the pc platform over the weekend. Every move I made brought down a set up of match 4 or skulls for the AI. I was told it was just a run of bad luck. First arena I scraped my way to 7 wins but the second I only got 2.
I used to be able to get 8 wins in the arena, maybe 6 if I did poorly. For some reason today I’ve “completed” 4 arenas, 3 of which were outright losses that were two immediate and successive defeats. The arena I won I got I think 3 trophies This has been happening more and more recently. Not sure if I’m just getting matched against people in guilds with like 30+ masteries or what is going on but it’s brutal. Kind of the worst part about it is the troop selection. I’m not sure how these people get the perfect synergistic team every time and I’m stuck with motley crew hehe!
This might help you some. I didn’t re-read it to see what might be still in effect vs changed. But I remember reading it back when I first started and agreeing with most of the advice. I pretty much “grew up” in the arena because originally souls were how we progressed our kingdoms in the game. Specifically the advice on team picking is really helpful. I hope it helps!
The worst part about arena (at least on console) is definitely the troop selection. There is a high degree of variance in both relative and synergistic power for cards even within the same rarity. For example, Rock Worm and Fortress Gate are polar opposites on the power spectrum, but both are common rarity and both can be options in the arena.
Across the other rarities, the gap gets even more pronounced. For example, Frost Giant is almost always a top-tier pick. He has 1:1 boost ratio with skulls on the board AND the card doesn’t remove skulls. Considering the low health/armor of level 10 cards, Frost Giant makes quick work of targets. Now lets use Black Beast as an example. Black Beast is an awful card to pick in the arena. It reduces your mana spread potential, indirectly increases the damage your team takes from spread/AoE damage (since now there are fewer targets), and doesn’t actually provide you with any more total stat points than you had previously.
Another issue, in my opinion, is the power scale for true damage and being stuck with level 10 cards. I often find myself in situations where the opponent’s true damage can 1-shot at least 1 ally on my team before I can even make use them. Once one ally/enemy falls, it generally causes a snowball effect and the rest are soon to follow (another reason why Frost Giant is so useful).
This probably belongs in a more detailed post, but there are great number of issues at play in the arena. If you get some poor draws as options in each tier, getting defeated with the “lucky” constant mana/skull drops from the opponent is a slap in the face.
The update hasn’t hit XB1 still, so my comments are all based on the pre-1.07 console update, but I’ll also note that the impending forced weapon selection sounds like another awful change in a mode that is in dire need of some TLC.
So after I thought it couldn’t get worse, I pulled out an amazing victory for my 5th win in the arena, thought I’d go to all 8 and WHAM, frozen. Never came out of it. I load GOW back up, and voila, would you look at that, it shows I lost the match. No 8 wins for me, just a frozen screen bug and 4 wins. Disappointing to say the least @Razlath Not so much of an “I need a beginner’s guide” issue, and more of a wth issue
Great post, well put. Very much this…please read devs. I’ll put together a full list of issues when I have time. I agree with everything you’ve said. The Frost Giant bit gave me a giggle. Spot on. Cheers.
Arena gets easier as you start to unlock better hero weapons; both from events and getting masteries to 40. Especially dual colored weapons, since they make it easier to cover all the mana types. The hero is usually the champion of the arena, and most times it doesn’t matter what troops you pick if you focus on filling the hero over and over.
I can’t speak to consoles, but on PC and Iphone, I haven’t lost a single arena in probably over 100 arenas.
One problem, as of the the latest update to consoles they’ve added a random (Epic?) weapon selection on top of all the troop selection.
I will say this, I’m glad troops are randomized as it creates variance not just for you but for all opposing teams as well.
Understanding what picks are better than others and how to synchronize them are very important aspects in arena. For example, picking a purely red troop like Scale Guard or Pride Hunter, then picking Vampire Lord is bad synchronization. Vampire not only uses red to power up his high mana counter, but also drains the board of all red gems. Very bad for Red Common troops which solely rely on them.
[quote=“Zelfore, post:18, topic:2219, full:true”]…a random (Epic?) weapon selection on top of all the troop selection.
[/quote] ^^huh?
Another thing. Just loaded up an arena. Backed out of it to see what kingdom I was using. Womp womp wahhhh, when I entered back into the arena I had a completely different (moreover, awful) team. @505GamesSupport
For me arena matches aint bad, what is bad is the rewards you get after completing it. The soul gain have been nerfed and it was the main reason why one would still give arena a shot. Now you get 200 souls and 3 glory keys which in my opinion is a considerably worse reward than the previous 2 iron keys. The gold gain is too useless since you can get more than twice amount of that if you fight 8 PVP battles. And all this with a random team which sometimes can suck a lot.
I really think the devs need to address arena rewards system change soon - either return back to usual soul gain or make players gain more rare traitsones depending on the number of battles thought etc. Because right now arena rewards just isnt attractive enough.
This has been happening more and more recently. Not sure if I’m just getting matched against people in guilds with like 30+ masteries or what is going on but it’s brutal. Kind of the worst part about it is the troop selection. I’m not sure how these people get the perfect synergistic team every time and I’m stuck with motley crew hehe!
