Make Arena more enjoyable
For the love of <insert religious figure here> can we please make Arena more enjoyable? I love this game, but it has some huge flaws, some of which are very actionable.
The economy is terrible. Needed to be said, even if it's not going to change...
It's a combative game by nature, and with most things, you tend to enjoy winning more. This is very hard to do when you're winning at most, around 55% of the time. So, what can we do to help enjoy this more? You possibly enjoy losing if it's a fun game. Let's look at some ways we can improve the fun.
A). Reduce the timer in non-ranked ques. As the game starts, people don't need something like 2mins to select their deck and play their turn 1. Speed this up dramatically. They lose nothing if they forfeit coz they went AFK, but means ppl like me don't spend forever just waiting for matches to start. I want to play the game, not sit there waiting for ages because me opponent went to get a drink. It's non-ranked!!!
B). You've nearly put a lifegain deck in the format. These decks are virtually jank, as you have to contribute to the board, and need both life gain and payoffs to come together, so this comment is true for many Teir 2 or lower decks, or jank decks in general. Putting me against 75% board wipe and and massive-interaction decks is no fun. I don't have a chance, but you force me to play for 10mins against a deck I can only win against, if they stumble massively? It's not fast, and it's not fun. And my only option is to forfeit something like 70% of games once I see their plays (after often waiting 2 mins for them to actually choose their deck and start playing). Reconsider matchmaking so janky/ non-tier decks can actually be played, rather than just smacked in the face repeatedly by decks that, for all intents and purposes, they have no chance of winning against. This should be a rare match up, rather than a huge percentage of the matches I play. I'm sure 75%of people aren't playing control... Could people, actually say, have some fun playing non-tier decks against each other. If people want to play control, let them play each other forever and shoot it out. That's the type of game they want to play. I don't particularly enjoy long slow games where I lose, just so you can up the winrate of someone else who's lost too many mirror matches in a row.
C). Reduce griefing. If people want a 'tournament' experience, let them do it in ranked play. But let's keep things moving in the 'Play' ques. Do people need to be able to use 4 rope timers when they have nothing to do, just because they're salty? Do people really need a total of 3 mins to play Turn 2, when it's not tournament play? Reduce the wait time on early turns, or where board states are pretty simple (in non-ranked play). Again - more playing = more fun. Less people griefing = more fun.
D) In draft, why am I forced to take a card after 20secs, then wait 30 secs to even see the next pack? This seems to happen because someone further up the chain is taking the full time on picks 1-3, slowing down everyone's draft experience. Either speed them up, or allow me to get bonus draft time on later picks, rather than the program choosing for me, then sitting there for minutes, waiting for the last 5 picks to come my way. I shouldn't be rushed, if there are no cards waiting for me to look at.