Next arena should be 7 players

[lalalahahaha1]

we should play the game as it's meant to be played

[Wonderful Plays]

As meant to be played? So not 7 players then!

In all seriousness, 7 players shouldn't be put on the box even, it's the only player count with so many problems.

[Ez0ah]

we should play the game as it's meant to be played

Arena mode is a competitive mode and there are very few games that are meant to be played competitively. Not to say they aren’t meant to provide a good competitive experience, just that it’s usually not the priority when designing a game. At the very least, I find it difficult to think that a family game like 7W was meant for competition.

Maybe it was meant to be balanced at 7 players. But you can’t really deny that it’s also a well balanced game for all player count (2p 7W is a mirage, it never existed). There has been lengthy debates about the most competitive player count but the community had very good arguments for 3-4 players and good arguments for 5p. Generally, the given reasons are:
-at 6-7 players, you have little to no interaction with the players farther away from you and you will see most hands only once
-having duplicates in the deck lower the importance of denying cards
In a competitive mode, you want a victory to be earned as much as possible, which means giving options to the players to beat their opponents. That’s why a lower player count was selected for arena.

[ElThoesen]

In a competitive mode, you want a victory to be earned as much as possible, which means giving options to the players to beat their opponents

Which is why 3P is by far the most "fair" as it pertains to reducing influence of luck during an individual game. However, I would find it quite boring to play that every arena season. Which is probably why they switch it up.

[cowboy_dan]

One of the other reasons for lower play counts is wait time in the Arena lobby. Getting to seven takes longer, and part of why this game is so popular is the short wait times.

That said, it is the best game that plays 7 and can be played in under 30 minutes.

[frogstar_A]

7 players has too much luck and variance for. Competitive format

As to “how it’s meant to be played” it’s a game fire 3-7 players - none of those player counts is the “real”

[btrieve]

I wish 7p could have at least one season (also, 6p). That way, players could try out different player counts, not just 3,4, and 5, year in, year out. It
could get stale with only those 3 player counts.

I play only 7p and it's not as chaotic or as random as others claim it to be. There are so many cards/info to track, and it is a challenge to do so, especially in real time, so much that players think it's too random (compared to fewer player counts). It's hardest to win in (you're competing with 6 other players) but 7p presents different kind of challenge.

[Wonderful Plays]

I could see 6P (there is a red triangle problem, but to be honest, which player count doesn't have it?), but 7P is a big no, no:
1. Games are quite boring, because everytime all the wonders are present. The strategic aspect is greatly reduced.
2. There is not enough brown resources, a lot of wonders heavily rely on access to double browns from 2nd era, in 7P your chance of seeing those are the slimmest, making it green/caravansery player count. Believe me I've done ELO climbs with 7 player. It's doable, but it's mostly luck and relying on opponents being bad
3. There are so many duplicate cards that the random factor significantly increases.
4. Still we could probably live with all of that, but the biggest problems is Queue times. There is a reason most games opt for the lowest playable player count -> it's faster to get a game. With 5P it's a challenge at higher levels now and with 7P I can only imagine the nightmare.
5. Swings, you can be blocked out in the game by pure luck, spite in 7P. Getting 7th in a game is a disaster, those swings wouldn't be fun for competitive mode.

I could talk more about balance of the wonders, but really it's just a recurring request of people wanting to experiment with arena, that's not what arena is for. People can play 7P in normal games, if it was such a great player count, more people would play it, it's as simple as that. Because they don't, competitive is kept to other player counts that it suits better.

[Ballistic]

Arena is a competitive mode, so please let's stick to that with 3-4-5 p.

[augustjologs]

I hope we get an Arena season for each player count. We get to olay competitively at different settings. It gets stale to see a 3p, 4p, and 5p over and over again, year after year after year.