Oof, we're shipping today so this has definitely missed this release. We'll fix it for the next one though, thanks for posting here too. #wotc_staff

This is a great question! Since people have responded positively to hearing about what makes Arena tick, I figured the answer would also be of interest.

The server is tasked with running an accurate game of Magic as fast as possible, pausing only when it must wait for a player to make a decision. The server has no idea what a game of Magic looks or sounds like; it does not know that a tapped permanent gets turned sideways, or that Gilded Goose honks when it enters the battlefield. Generally, limiting the server's responsibility is good since there are infinite ways that a game of Magic could be actualized, and trying to accommodate all of those possibilities is unfeasible. (As a fun thought experiment, imagine if the server mailed you a packet of postcards each time you needed to make a decision, and you mailed back the postcard representing your choice--a silly but equally valid way that a long-distance game of Magic could be played!)

The Arena client happens to be...

Thats not good, I've sent a request in to take a deeper look at the codes to make sure this is not the case, and if so, to fix! -Mishy

Hello! Mishy here hopping onto the Community Team's Reddit account (I can't believe they let me have access to this!)

Anyway, we have two different types of codes that are being rewarded in the Creator Program. Personal codes and community codes. Personal codes are gem codes, and these are meant to be redeemed on your personal account. A limit of 10 redemption should not be correct, but may have happened on accident. Thanks for reporting that during this beta as we are testing things, we'll get that fixed!

The community codes are ICRs, and those are limited at 10 redemptions per account (we are looking at renewing the 10 redemptions every set release), these are for community giveaway items. So, if you are not giving those away and are redeeming to your own account, you will have a 10 code cap.

Hope this helps, and again, thanks for reporting so that we can work on making this program better every day!

Friends list is certainly only a start with friend messaging coming very soon. Direct Challenge keeps evolving as we add more functionality to it...starting tomorrow in fact with some draft-friendly changes.

We're getting to the basics, but we want to take it further through 2020.

- Cao

We have been working with our fellow WPN group on a variety of experiments around linking the two aspects together. Recently, we had in-store events that awarded Arena sleeves. We learned from that event and others like it, and we're using those learnings for new experiments in 2020.

- Cao

What our devs focus on is very dependent on their job responsibilities. For example, our client health team is very focused on game client health and optimization (special shoutout to u/wotc_beastcode).

This has been a blast Reddit, thank you so much for all of your questions. We appreciate your dedication to this game we all love, and we will continue to make it the best game it can be. And again, a big thank you to the awesome moderator team here, we couldn't have done it without you.

We want to keep the conversation going, so please continue it here on Reddit, our social channels and our forums. We also asked you some questions, so please answer those as well :) We'll see you in-game tomorrow after the update goes live!

Thanks!

Yes, by far the #1 correlation with a person saying if they had fun is… if they won :)

More seriously, it let's us look for trends across events and match types. For example, with the perf problems from the summer, correlating the surveys and the frame rates we were seeing let us understand who was experiencing better games as we worked. We can also look at deck match-ups, roping, and other game behaviors that trend based on the survey.

It's a simple question, but it gives us context for other data.

- Cao

We find that events where we provide precon decks get much higher player participation than events that require bringing your own deck (like 2x-3x). For now we're thinking of the Workshop events as precon-focused, but that could change.

Overall, we're trying to find the right balance of events with & without entry fees. We're not there yet, but we'll keep experimenting.

It's actually a bit of both. Better bots means better drafts. At the same time, we saw more engagement with variety of play. Specifically, more folks came back and played regularly when the scheduled was varied.

- Cao

We're planning for human drafts to work similarly to MTGO leagues, where you'll be playing against other human "drafters" outside of your specific pod.

Bot drafters will play against other bot drafters, human drafters will play against other human drafters. No crossing the streams!