Some ideas to improve the Arena experience

[memimemi]

Okay, first some disclosure.  I grind the Arena.  A lot.  On all levels - Bronze to test deck ideas out, Silver for easy rares, Gold/Plat for sheer  .

I like the Arena, as it's one of the ways EtG uses it's status as a virtual CCG - try setting up an Arena-type competition system for M:tG at your local comic shop!

However, with that said, I think there are a few ways in which the Arena could be improved:

1) Improve the  reward for Bronze wins; possibly scale  earnings to the level of the player playing Bronze.

Spoiler for reasoning:

When I first started out, the Arena was difficult.  Suddenly, I was playing against decks that were well-crafted, fast, and full of nasty tricks and tactics that I'd never seen before when playing against Elders and Half-Bloods.  It was a whole new world; one I wanted to explore.

Unfortunately, I was only winning maybe 1/5 of my first matches there, at a cost of 20  per match - and the one I'd win would only net me 4-10  reward!  So I'd have to continually switch back to my Elder farmer to gain back the funding to go for an elusive Lobotomizer for the RoL/Hope deck I so desperately wanted.  It was a frustrating way to gain my education, at first.  I'd like it if new players could make some better money, for risking their patience and sanity with no rares and no upgrades.

The reason to scale the earnings is that, once I had a few rares, and some upgrades, Bronze became ridiculously easy, and farming Shards was the new goal.  The  didn't matter - I could just use one of my growing arsenal of FG killers to get some more.  I almost felt bad, stomping all the poor little Bronze decks, knowing that some new player's Arena deck was just kicked out of competition.  And so, I think it'd be fair for the  rewards for wins in Bronze to be lowered, either according to your own level, on the number of rares/upgrades in your deck, or by some other metric that allows Bronze to stay mostly a place for newbs to discover and learn some of the possibilities in EtG.

2) Allow some way to reward creative decks that you defeat.

Spoiler for reasoning:

There are some really creative deckbuilders, who do the best they can to use their Oracle card to it's fullest potential.  Unfortunately for them, sometimes the Oracle just hates you, and gives you Holy Light, Parasite, Heal, or some other such card that is hard to base a deck around.  So you stomp them.

But wait, what?  Did he... no... oh, ok, the AI just wouldn't target his Dolls with that Holy Light... whew, good thing, or it would have won!  Man, what a cool deck.  Too bad it's out of the Arena, now, and the creator doesn't have a forum account for me to congratulate hir...  I sure wish I could do something to show my appreciation!

furballdn suggested a good way to do so.  Another that comes to mind is a chance to donate a portion of your  winnings to the deck's creator.  Or, even, a way to send a message, from within EtG itself.

The point is for players to have a way to show their appreciation to those who take the time to improve their EtG Arena experience, by building fun and creative decks to play against.

3) Allow players to customize the AI to suit their decks; even allowing a player to set a "use card x only on card y," or a "use card x if condition y" rule, when building decks, would allow for more creative combos that the AI generally doesn't know to use.

Spoiler for reasoning:

I envision one, or a set of up to three, drop-down menu(s), at the side of the "Your Deck" screen, allowing players some simple customizations to the way the AI plays the deck.  This would make the Arena closer to a true asynchronous PvP, as you'll be playing against a deck being used the same way as the actual deckbuilder would.

Disclosure: I [expletive deleted] hate playing against GotP in Platinum.  Too bad it's one of the few strong combo decks that the AI can manage, without derping it up beyond belief.  Wouldn't it be neat to see some new builds, now and then, that are played properly?

I don't know the first thing about programming, so I don't know whether these ideas are feasible.  They sure would be nice, though.

[eaglgenes101]

1. As far as I can see, Bronze is purely for rares. This is another reason why I am a supporter of giving tips about better deckbuilding and playing to newbs ingame.

2. Already suggested, I'm too lazy to fetch the thread.

3. http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37272.msg468039.html#msg468039

[memimemi]

1. As far as I can see, Bronze is purely for rares. This is another reason why I am a supporter of giving tips about better deckbuilding and playing to newbs ingame.

2. Already suggested, I'm too lazy to fetch the thread.

3. http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37272.msg468039.html#msg468039

1.  I'm all for that, too. 

2.  The thread is linked in the spoiler.

3.  Sorry; hadn't seen yours, or I'd have credited you as well.