Arena

[Jim151]

What the heck is going on with the Arena? Every single opponent I face is level 45/10 with top notch set items, and diamond or platinum banner items. And I’m in the wood league. What the heck are those opponents doing in the wood league? I’ve long given up hope of getting to platinum or diamond, let alone finishing first in diamond, but I figured I could at least get the “complete any league in first place” achievement. No such luck. The opponents are so tough that the coin flip is 95% of the reason of who wins. I’ve yet to be able to get all of the day’s goals before I lose three flips and am done for the day. In the Wood League!!

Does anyone do this anymore, and if so, why?

Topic

[Jim151]

Just to clarify, I am 45/10 with all birds, with every set item at level 41 or higher. My banner is not top notch, but again, Wood League!

[firedragon]

You may know this is a second season, don’t you?
Even I have been in Diamond, I was brought back to wood on the new season.

[Anonymous]

This is probably one of Rovio’s money making scams in my opinion. I’ve noticed this too.

[Jim151]

You may know this is a second season, don’t you?
Even I have been in Diamond, I was brought back to wood on the new season.

And? I’m not upset I’m in the Wood league. I’m upset that it is near impossible to get out of the wood league. There can’t be that many players stronger than me, and yet, I can’t win a battle in the friggin wood league 4 weeks in, unless I win the flip. What the hell is the point?

[MVNLA2]

@jim151 — I hear your pain. I hope you know how to reset your opponents? Easiest way for me (I’m IOS) is to start an unranked battle with Piggy McCool, and exit as quickly as possible.
I’m now in silver,but having a hard time completing the daily challenges; yesterday I didn’t complete any before I lost 3. Today I’ve completed 2, but haven’t found an opponent that seems reasonable for completing the 3rd, and I’ve already lost 2.

[Jim151]

I hear your pain. I hope you know how to reset your opponents?

I do. Do you get anything other than 45/10 when you do? I don’t, and have given up trying.

[MVNLA2]

@jim151 — I’ve found that the first few (3 to 5?) opponents are reasonable. After that it takes many opponent resets to find a reasonable one. I think my birds are comparable to yours. You need to look at the individual stats for the banner and birds. The Rovio rating is very unreliable.

[Jim151]

@jim151 — I’ve found that the first few (3 to 5?) opponents are reasonable. After that it takes many opponent resets to find a reasonable one. I think my birds are comparable to yours. You need to look at the individual stats for the banner and birds. The Rovio rating is very unreliable.

OK. I appreciate all your advice and all, but again, what’s the point of the arena? To get lucky and win the flip, or reset the game multiple times and get slightly weaker opponents? If that’s what it takes to advance, then no thanks.

[Tman]

I feel your pain. With the second season, the way that Rovio implemented, it isn’t very fair to people that never made it to the highest leagues, as they started in wood with platinum opponents.

Last week I finally made it to silver, but I was so outclassed I got sent back. This week is starting out good, but all I need is some bad objectives and I’ll be stuck.

[Jim151]

The point I’m trying to make is, the first season, one would face like level opponents with mastery levels from 5-10, but now, I face only mastery 10 with top notch set items. Are these people in my league, or are they randomly generated opponents based on my level/mastery level, weapons level? Are the people in gold and higher people who never lose a coin flip?

[Mighty Red]

@jim151 The opponents are from leagues, but not necessarily from the one you’re in. The opponents are chosen randomly, and from ALL leagues, so there’s no telling what kind of opponents you’ll get: strong, weak, or of the same level as you.

[MysticBurn]

Yeah arena hasn’t gotten any better, this is a stupid unnecessary manipulation from rovio. I also started few weeks after start arena season 2. And stopped again, after I noticed this.
First few opponents are reasonable, more in line with the actual players who are in that league at that time. Then only fixed opponents and worse thing about that, constantly the same opponents, doesn’t matter what time of the day I played. If you’re (rovio) going to do that, at least make it a 50-50 split (50% fixed, 50% actual) or something. There’s no fun in playing the arena, at least for me. I don’t get that others still find the energy to keep playing this messed up part of the game.

[Neomerlinmagic]

I’m in Gold, but I turn wifi off right at the beginning of the load screen to get computer generated teams, until my daily objectives are met. Then I play normally from there. After that, I tailor my team for advantage as much as possible. My default team is Druid, Rain Bird and rogues matched with the Blessed set/vampiric emblem. I will change this a bit to match my opponent. I avoid enemies with Weakened Healing emblem especially.

[KerrAvon]

@jim151 I don’t play the arena with my level 45 team. I got to the platinum league in season 1, and that was enough for me. It was simply too much effort to continue playing with a level 45 team. A full 12 week season is just way too long. I also don’t understand why Rovio have now made the battles so hard. I think both of these factors have contributed to a big drop off in numbers playing in the arena.

I do play with my level 19 team, which now has mastery levels of 6 and 7. This is much more enjoyable. There is a big variation in opponents. I play against teams ranging from level 17 to 26, with a range of mastery levels and banners. There are a small number of teams who have mastery ranks of 10, but most have mastery near my level. The battles are also currently more difficult at this level compared to in the past. But I have been able to get to Diamond in the current and the previous season. Also, cheating is not very prevalent at my level.

When the arena started, all the talk was about teams that could do a lot of damage. But when everyone has a similar high damage team, then the winner is often determined by the coin toss. Or by a Wizard waking up, launching a Rage attack and turning the tide of the battle. I have found that moving to a more defensive team and protecting yourself against losing the coin toss is a more effective strategy.

I think the single most valuable banner item is the Blessed head. I have a complete Blessed set, although my Blessed Head is very old (level 15, gold). The other important banner item is the Rage Shield. My banner health is around 4,000, but if I took the items that gave the highest health, my banner health would be up to 5,400. It is well worth sacrificing the banner health to get a good banner. My bird team is Paladin with Protector’s Aura, Druid with Nightmare set and Rogues with Save Me set. So I have a set up that adds health, reduces damage done to my birds, protects against rage attacks and, when I attack, I knock out opponent birds using poisons – which essentially gains you an extra turn. My arena score is 298 and I can frequently defeat teams with scores of 330-350.

@tigerussell also has an effective banner and team – mentioned somewhere on another thread. He has the Frozen set, Rainbird (Reborn), Druid (Nightmare) and Rogues (Save Me). So he uses stuns and poisons to take down opponent birds and has the protection of the revival sets.

In my case, although I still have to do a bit of selecting to get opponents, I am still able to continue to play arena battles. I always do the most difficult objectives first up, as the first few battles are the easiest. Otherwise I just have to substitute birds into my set up to achieve objectives.

Sorry for the essay. I certainly understand your frustration at the current arena and don’t blame you for just dropping it.

[t_russell]

@jim151 i do use the birds and banner as described for grinding. I accept every opponent offered and am 99% effective. Its best to only grind if you have at least 45 minutes to play. The first 25 or so you will get teams higher or equal in strength as yourself. You will then get a nice string of the computer generated teams weaker than yourself. 15 to 20 minutes worth. Good average points production. The objectives are of course another story. I used three banners yesterday just trying to finish one. I can elaborate further to my play stragety if you wish.

[Jamairoqui]

The tip to use a high healing/high protection team is a good one. Life became much more enjoyable in Arena once I followed @tigerrussell’s advice (from a separate thread). Of course, you have to play enough to get the Blessed set, which can take a while, and the Mighty set with a critical hit set (e.g., Blues with Ballista, Chuck with Lightning) still give me fits, but it is possible to actually grind through teams without being too concerned about getting flattened.

The thing I find odd about the Arena is the variability on competitiveness of leagues from week to week. Last week, my platinum league required at least 15,000 points per day to remain in the top four (the winner ended with 160,000, and second place had 150,000, the lowest score was in the 30,000’s). This week, it’s looking like around 7,000 points per day will be enough for a high placing (top three), and there are four people who haven’t played at all. Three and four weeks ago it was the same split, where the week three league was insane, and it took a lot of play to not get demoted. Three weeks ago however, you basically just had to fulfill your objectives to get into the top three.

But it is variable, and trying to fulfill objectives can be costly if the game wants you to fight with a bird team (or hat set) you’re not used to using, or do something that is intrinsically difficult (like winning without knocking out a bird). But consider this, if they made all the teams easy getting a high daily score would just be about having enough hours in the day to grind. That, I think, would be even worse because the only way to get separation would be to have gobs of free time.

[burbman]

@jim151 I am pretty much in the same boat as @tigerussell I have my favorite lineup that I use to grind, never decline an opponent, and win over 90% of the time. Daily objectives that cause me to deviate from my standard are usually the reason I lose the occasional battle. I came up with my lineup of Wizard with Reborn, Spies with Save Me, Sea Dog with Sugar Rush, and a Mighty Set Banner with Vengeance by watching which opponents I had the most difficulty with. Mine is a very offensively focused team as opposed to those described above that focus on defense. I am pretty sure there are plenty of other equally good combinations depending on your personal style of play.

FWIW – I am in diamond league again, and enjoying just meeting my dailies and keeping enough points to avoid being dropped back. Helps me catch up with the new levels in other AB games.

[Bubbley]

Does anyone have the Blazing eye set that works? I got it this morning for the first time only to find that it does not endow a 50% increase in rage generation. Thanks.

[t_russell]

@bubbley — Mine seems to work when I use it.

[Bubbley]

@tigerussell is yours new? Can you tell me figures for your paladin if you don’t mind. Thanks.

Just checked my figures paladin is supposed to deliver 2554 but with the blazing set 2809 exactly the same as mighty wings set. There should be a difference I believe.

It has occurred to me that perhaps it means regeneration of the chilli is 50% faster. In which case it might work but is disappointing. It’s the one banner I don’t like playing against and therefore I wanted it. Oh well!

[KerrAvon]

@bubbley Try going to the Epic Tips thread, scroll down to the arena section and follow the link to the arena set items. The set item data is all there.

For your information,
the set bonus for the Mighty Wings set is +10% to attack strength.
The bonus for the Blazing Cloth is also +10% to attack strength.
So the damage from Red will be the same with either banner set.

[Bubbley]

@kerravon yes It’s just my interpretation was different. But I usually get it wrong. Thanks.

[t_russell]

@bubbley — They mean the rage regeneration. If I use it with high power birds I can get a rage every other turn more or less.

[Bubbley]

@tigerussell I finally figured it out. Yes it regenerates very quickly. So I’m giving the banner a whirl. It makes a change and therefore adds a bit of spice. Thanks for replying to such a stupid question.

[t_russell]

@bubbley — No prob. My Sinister set is the most powerful one I have (both cloth and head are 45 platinum), followed by my blazing set (45 platinum cloth – 41 diamond head). I have taken a spin through my friends list with both and was impressed with the power but not the results.

My Frost and Mighty Wings sets are both 41 diamond. I just made it back to diamond this week so I looking forward to some more upgrades, or perhaps the blessed set which I don’t have either piece to. I had a 41 wood blessed blanket which got me to platinum in season one before they nerffed it. I still fall back to my tried and true frost set for grinding.

I will also say that of the few nesters I meet in the arena with the new adjustments to the draw you come up the most. Must mean you’re doing something right.