Next Arena Season Rules

[STUDxDOG]

In my opinion, removing certain birds and bonus cards has really unbalanced the games and taken away some of the enjoyment. Historian, Photographer, etc. all give you more flexibility in what you can play, as the designers originally intended. Without some of those bonuses in play, you can easily draw 2/3 bonus cards with significantly less odds of those bonuses working together. Now you may very well have to get stick nests and rock nests, and just pray enough wild nests come up so you can get both. Also, removing certain cards like the Ravens, but leaving other cards like the Wood Duck, further throw off the balance.

For example: a player can get Wood Duck, play it in the Forest, and build up so they can take food AND the high value cards in the same turn, while other players can't balance it because other powerful cards have been removed.

I love Wingspan and play the board game at home all the time. I was so excited to see it come to BGA, only to have the arena ruin the fun with house rules that throw off the balance.

My suggestion for future arena seasons is to leave all the birds and all the bonus cards in place. If players don't like playing with those cards, then they are welcome to not play in Arena mode.

[Jaky Hostinec]

If players don't like playing with those cards, then they are welcome to not play in Arena mode.

Works the other way around, too.

Arena settings are voted by players (the gurus), so you get to play what the majority wants.

[STUDxDOG]

If players don't like playing with those cards, then they are welcome to not play in Arena mode.

Works the other way around, too.

Arena settings are voted by players (the gurus), so you get to play what the majority wants.

I get that. That's why I stopped playing arena. But who are the gurus who get a vote? As someone who plays, I'd like a chance to offer my thoughts to the "gurus" and have a vote on what is decided.

[Jellby]

https://boardgamearena.com/faq?anchor=f ... agamegurus

[bananasplay]

Arena settings are voted by players (the gurus), so you get to play what the majority wants.

The gurus are not the majority of players; it is incorrect to say that we "get to play what the majority wants".

[Jaky Hostinec]

Arena settings are voted by players (the gurus), so you get to play what the majority wants.

The gurus are not the majority of players; it is incorrect to say that we "get to play what the majority wants".

The majority of those who vote. I hope you're happy now. I just wanted to point out that it's not the BGA board who makes the settings for Arena, but actual players.

[Fletcheese]

In my opinion, removing certain birds and bonus cards has really unbalanced the games and taken away some of the enjoyment. Historian, Photographer, etc. all give you more flexibility in what you can play, as the designers originally intended. Without some of those bonuses in play, you can easily draw 2/3 bonus cards with significantly less odds of those bonuses working together. Now you may very well have to get stick nests and rock nests, and just pray enough wild nests come up so you can get both. Also, removing certain cards like the Ravens, but leaving other cards like the Wood Duck, further throw off the balance.

For example: a player can get Wood Duck, play it in the Forest, and build up so they can take food AND the high value cards in the same turn, while other players can't balance it because other powerful cards have been removed.

I love Wingspan and play the board game at home all the time. I was so excited to see it come to BGA, only to have the arena ruin the fun with house rules that throw off the balance.

My suggestion for future arena seasons is to leave all the birds and all the bonus cards in place. If players don't like playing with those cards, then they are welcome to not play in Arena mode.

The currently banned cards are on a power level well beyond any other card in the base game. Yes Wood Duck is good and there are other "better than average" cards - that will never change. But the bans have to stop somewhere and I think this is for sure the right balance. The publisher of the game needed to explicitly approve the power-bird free variant of the game for it to make it onto BGA. That seems like as good an endorsement as any that maybe those birds were a mistake or at least diminish the competitiveness of the game.

The bonus cards you're referring to were banned specifically because of issues/confusion around translations. I suspect they may be re-added in the future once those issues are ironed out.

[cosmosis]

If players don't like playing with those cards, then they are welcome to not play in Arena mode.

Works the other way around, too.

Arena settings are voted by players (the gurus), so you get to play what the majority wants.

I get that. That's why I stopped playing arena. But who are the gurus who get a vote? As someone who plays, I'd like a chance to offer my thoughts to the "gurus" and have a vote on what is decided.

Gurus are the most active players of their respective games. I've become a guru of certain games occasionally just by playing them a lot. It makes sense to me too that the most active players decide the arena rules.

As for the cards that were removed, I also think that the ravens and gulls are quite far beyond the wood duck. It would be interesting to see statistics on how many times certain cards guarantee a win, but I feel like it's pretty widely acknowledged how good they are. I mean, the Steam version has a reward called:

Better Luck Nest Time: Score at least 80 points in a game when one of your opponents has a raven in the same habitat as a Franklin's Gull or Killdeer.

[jinncarry]

The balance feels right. Wood Duck doesn't always triumph (needs Northern Mockingbird/Gray Catbird and either Pileated Woodpecker or Chipping Sparrow/Mourning Dove/California Quail to totally dominate) and crow builds are starving for eggs without a sparrow or two (or cowbird, I guess). What's really formidable is Spotted Towhee + Canada Goose or Sandhill Crane. That combo is nearly impossible to beat if it's ready to go before round 4 begins. But these engines each require 2-3 specific or semi-specific cards out of 170 and crucial setup time, so the balance is pretty much there.

If anything, bonus cards are overpowered, with the exceptions of Bird Feeder and Breeding Manager, which are underpowered.

[michaelHastriter]

If anything, bonus cards are overpowered, with the exceptions of Bird Feeder and Breeding Manager, which are underpowered.

What bonus cards are overpowered? All of them with the exception of those 2? If a majority of the cards are overpowered doesn't that just make them all average?