Bluetracker
Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.
Major arena update: MCT Gone, Rhastakan 50% bonus, removed cards back in Arena, buckets update.
Link here, would've included in the other link if this didn't happen minutes ago.
I'll include my card bucket thoughts later since I got work to do. Rejoice everyone.
Iksar
Our flow now is to do bucket changes, collect data for a week or two, then do a microadjustment update. There is some weirdness in the timing right now because a lot of folks are leaving for the holidays to visit family and what not, so the balance microadjustment update might not be for 3-4 weeks after this bucket update. In any case, this patch did not include adjusted microadjustments, when we do that, we'll let you know in the notes.
Iksar
The only weirdness here is that when we opted to make balance changes, we didn't have time to update the blog file. We adjusted Nourish and Wild Growth down a few buckets but that isn't reflected in the notes. If any of you find any bugs outside of those two cards please let us know. We'll update the file for Wild Growth and Nourish soon (tm). Thanks!
Iksar
I'll check on Wyrm and the 4 classic cards you mentioned. The way our bucketing works, it's possible the bucket adjustment for Wyrm was overwritten by the new bucketing. Will have to check Giggling, too in the case. Will look at the four new cards as well.
For Banshee, buckets move based on pick rate and not win rate. I can double check, but I would guess Keening just doesn't get picked at the rate it 'should' because the average arena player reads that text box and sees it as a bigger downside than it actually is.
We'll add the new buckets for the 'old' cards next time we update the CSV. I'd like to collect everything that is off and update the file all at once.
Iksar
Hasn't been decided yet. These changes live on the server, so if it turns out we're tired of having the bonus or players are unhappy with it for some reason we can change it pretty quickly.
Iksar
We just use pick rate data. We could use power level data but the point is to have the perception of the power level be the same so it's an interesting pick for the average player. If you somehow have a deeper understanding of cards that are good in practice, or good for your deck, that is an advantage you have over other players.