beginner noob question

[Baristan]

I just started getting into Hearthstone and have a question. Apparently I'm really horrible at building decks in the arena. and keep going 0 for 3.
My question is, are there cards that are "must takes" when/if they pop up? Or is there a class that is easier/more beginner friendly? I usually choose priest if it's available.
Basically what i'm asking is if anyone has any tips or general rules for building arena decks.

Thanks in advance

[medievalman1]

May I present you with http://www.icy-veins.com/hearthstone/arena-guides

They go through class-by-class and give explanations for why they think a card is good or not. I'm not saying its perfect, and this being a game and being on the internet you will always have people that agree or disagree, but its pretty much work that I don't have to do and will answer your questions nicely.

[Baristan]

awesome! thank you for the quick reply.

[rda]

http://www.heartharena.com/

Classes that are easier in arena: mage / pala. Worst: warrior. (Yes, arenas are imbalanced that way.)

[Lotus Victoria]

I recommend that you watch some streamers/youtubers like Trump, Kripparian and others (Totalbiscuit! He's funny as hell, but not as much as a good player as the one I talked before). You can learn some amazing tricks with them.

[Mormolyce]

Generally speaking, you want to pick cards that have good stats and board stickiness rather than crazy combos (a la constructed) because you have much less chance of reliably setting a combo up. Also, your opponents have less chance to counter your minions perfectly so slower cards that aren't viable in constructed are more so in arena.

[Deleted]

May I present you with http://www.icy-veins.com/hearthstone/arena-guides

I would also suggest checking out trump's youtube channel; does a lot of arena and does a lot of explaining and analyzing about his choices during drafts.

[haxartus]

Generally speaking, you want to pick cards that have good stats

Yeah, and to clarify, good stats means a bit more health than it's cost (not much), for example 4/5 for 4. Mostly because it trades with 5 cost cards, and a lot of 5 cost cards don't have 5 attack because they tend to be gimmicky so it usually takes 2 cards to take it down. It also avoids pretty much all AOE.
1 more damage than it's cost is also good but not that much, because it trades with lower tier cards (4/3 for 3 can trade wit a 2 drop that is 3/2) so for such a card to be good it has to have some passive effect that is good.
You also want removal, aoe spells, etc. Not that much tho, even if you have 5 flamestrikes you need to somehow survive up to 7th turn and not be on 3 health.
Sticky cards are also good, for example Piloted Shredder drops a 2 cost minion when killed, so they have to use 2 cards to remove it completely.
As for legendaries, you want ones that have immediate effect, which means it does something before the opponent has the chance to kill it the next turn (or it does something when it dies). It's rare that someone will have BGH in arena so you can sometimes bend this rule.

[Anzen]

http://www.arenavalue.com/ - helps you pick the best cards, pretty annoying because you'll play against someone that will repeatedly make misplays but has a deck of high value minions so you can tell a lot of people actually use it (it takes a lot of flack from streamers also).

But my general advice:

1. Value is the name of the game, cards that are good stats wise should usually be chose. Chillwind Yeti? Perfect, 4/5 will kill most 2/3 drops and survive. A standard 2 drop that is 2/3, also amazing, the effects are a bonus (I prefer cards with higher weighted health). Bootybay Bodyguard, not so great, it'll die to a 3/4 drop.
2. Curve, you can't just draft the best cards out of all the picks, you have to deliberately pick shitty cards so you curve nicely. I tend to draft like a third of the deck as just 2 drops and just curve downloads (with about 2-3 big minions). You don't want to have no play on turn 1,2,3 or you will just lose so make sure you have at least 5x 2 drops.
3. Synergy & Extra's, you will need to see if you have any synergy in the deck, if you have 3 secrets in the deck, pick the mad scientist over the yeti. If you have 6 mechs in the deck, consider taking tinkertown. Also whilst I personally don't like healing in arena because of the tempo loss, having one heal in the deck is fairly nice, the same will go for taunts, whilst not fantastic value statswise, you will need a couple to start you being aggro'd down.
4. AoE & Broken Cards, long story short, always pick unless you have two already (and even then you can take more than two of each, games are often won just on the value of these cards). Mage - Flamestrike, Fireball - Paladin - Consecrate, Truesilver Champion, etc.

Then it's just learning to play better.