Your product is suffering because of alchemy format choices + ignoring the degrading state of the client
tldr; somewhat of a rant but I'm a historic whale that has spent over 1000 this year alone, who doesnt appreciate the choices being made regarding alchemy and the client. I'm not buying anymore. my time is spent on historic which is now magic with hearthstone mechanics, which isn't what i want to play. you ignore serious issues in the client or are unable to maintain it properly. you need to hire some senior level software professionals and product owners who are capable of understanding how to build out a proper product for a global entity. at least consider hiring contractors to come in and fix your client. honestly i bet a dedicated team of 3-4 qualified engineers could come in and fix many issues within 12 months and then you could have whoever is working on it now (unpaid interns i imagine?) maintain it again. sorry that my tldr needs its own its just frustrating to see such incompetence from a company of your stature.
i was so excited when arena came to mobile. i work as a software engineer and so i try and spend my free time away from a desk so i was finally able to join the fun. over the last year I've spent much more than most on arena absolutely enjoying building jank and competetive decks. it's been a blast!
however, no one can deny that it client has severe issues, just looking here there are very serious bugs that have been around much longer than they should... it boggles my mind since i design and write software for a living that any global company would be okay with the quality of their product.
with the introduction of alchemy i thought id give it a go... its still magic right? but it isn't the same. i play and buy A LOT of paper product, having spent thousands this year purchasing collectors boxes and doubles masters... and i enjoy arena because it let's me play a digital version of paper during a period when it's hard to gather people for it otherwise.
I'm mostly historic(missing less than 30 cards in each set due to the amount ive spent, no shame), and since alchemy has been introduced, it doesnt feel like magic anymore. the digital mechanics frankly suck. i didn't like hearthstone. i dont like alchemy. im no longer excited to play a product that emulates paper but with a special twist.
additionally, your policies concerning altering non-alchemy cards is horrid and disrespectful of your customers time and money. how can you think its okay to suddenly start nerfing peoples purchases without compensation of some sort. i know if any of my primary cards had been hit id be seeking a refund. and looking out for anyone attempting a class- action lawsuit so i can join. luckily i play off-meta so wasnt hit.
due to all of this, I'm not giving you anymore money for this product. if you correct course, maybe again in the future but i honestly I'm not hopeful you even care and so why should i.
you need to hire better product people for your digital products. id hazard a guess that your product people don't know the digital space well, as any good product owner would prioritize the outstanding client issues rather then pushing digital mechanics crudely and without understanding the customer base.
I'm happy for anyone enjoying alchemy, but for those of us that don't we lost out. id consider mtgo but ive seen the client... and well i guess you guys just don't care about usability given the ancient mtgo client and the excessively buggy arena client.
if you want to become hearthstone you need to realize that having a premier digital product means having to care about user experience. but for that to happen you would need to invest in your talent and hire senior level product, architects, developers and sdet people who know how to create a digital platform. and yeah, good talent costs money but you'd make it back due to a happier and growing user base. my friends phones can't run arena but when they can.. well that's a group who i will be steering away.
the only thing that gives arena any competitive edge is the core mechanics from paper. lose that by pushing these digital only mechanics and all your product is is hearthstone with a terrible buggy unoptimized ui. that isn't going to draw players away from hearthstone when blizzard can make a decent user experience