podfog

Great thread Brice...it's time I contribute my knowledge to arena newbies 101 .  A few suggestions/tips I'd like to make are below:

One item can make all the difference.

In some no move tourneys, similar sets will be run. Sometimes, two players can run the exact same setup, except for one item. That item is crucial...if you run armor/damage on it, and you're up against another armor set, that will be the item that wins you the round. But at the same time, that item can also be the item that keeps you from beating a defense set by a slight margin (an attack rune would've made the difference). A normal arena setup will always have multiple sets (except for a few of the epic heavy low levels), and most likely will have a few filler items that are not part of sets. Choosing the right filler items is very important.

The more sets, the merrier.

This rule does not always apply, but in many situations, you want to have at least 3 full sets equipped, if not four. There should be no surprise to this; it's clear that sets (with set bonuses) give far more stats than individual items, except for epics. These sets should always contribute to either attack/armor/damage, or attack/defense/damage. In no move arenas, no particular stat should be significantly higher. You want a good blend of all three, if possible.

Having dots to spend helps, but is not essential.

Unlike most other arena players, I actually run on a very low budget. I currently have 136 FSP, which is decent, but not a significant amount. Many of my items are unforged, and a couple are even uncrafted. I only have three combat sets, eight combat move sets, and 88 BP space (only 30 are filled with arena items). Most of the items I use are guild tagged (I buy them, but no BP space and I'd like others to share the items, so I tag them). While that does slow me down a little, and make my moves a little more predictable, it is still quite possible to do well in the arena without a thousand dots. I've titan hunted some of the epics I needed, and I get the rest of my gear off hunting (20 FSP per hunt), and selling items from the arena tokens I have. That, by itself, is enough for me to buy the items I need, albeit often unforged.

If any of you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I'm all for promoting new players into the arena .

I'd also like to mention that, the reason I quit FS myself in 2011 was because the arena got no attention at all, and the arena was gradually declining in interest and profitability. The reason I finally decided to come back is because I was told the arena was finally updated. Not all players have interest solely in the arena like I do, but HCS has attracted at least one player by fixing up the arena. If anyone from HCS actually sees this, just note that my interest, and possibly a few other players here, lives and dies with the arena.

I understand why you would think that more moves would be better but trust me, the arena is already complicated enough as it is haha. More moves added wouldn't help make it any easier for newer players to try it out. 

 

There used to be a guide by Trackxyj (2nd in Arena wins, was first for a VERY long time) but for some reason when the cows started the new forum, his thread got lost in the process. I learned a lot from it even as a somewhat intermediate player. If I ever find the link to the google docs page, I'll be sure to post it in my bio. 

I remember that google doc. Lemme go look for it. -looks-

Found it:

https://docs.google....?hl=en_US&pli=1

I never found it as useful as some of the other players, but there's no denying the usefulness of this guide, especially to newbies. He and venomsheru we're probably undeniably the top two arena players at the time (Yes, I've been around since the very beginning of the arena...stopped playing for more than two years).

I also agree that the arena is as complicated as it needs to be. It's fairly hard as a newbie to understand all the tricks to it, but increasing the number of moves definitely WOULD NOT help the newbies in any way.

I would like to suggest increase Token/Gold rate 4k seems too low... we used to play arena with  200k-500k gold rewards

 

It would help players to join arena if its worth changing tokens for gold

Definitely agree...I think the Token/Gold rate is too low as well.

One thing you have to realize though, is that HCS is unwilling to make the total token's worth output exceed the amount of gold input. To HCS, the arena is probably one of the biggest gold sinks out there. Ex: 8 token arena for 8 players, 10K arena cost, 8 to winner, 4 to runner up, 2 to the 3rd and 4th. Thats 16 tokens total, which is 64K gold's equivalent. HCS takes in 80K. The tradeoff to the runner up system is that no one person really earns much higher than the entrance fee, unless HCS decides to give out more than it receives in the arena.

Changing the arena rewards to tokens is all well and good, but it doesn't solve the base problem... That the players with the best, most expensive equipment dominate the action. The average player has little chance against the arena masters. 

That's only partially true. There's no way to win without the best gear in non-move arenas, but I've won plenty of move enabled arenas with unforged gear, etc. Those are more about finding right combinations of items and moves.

I really don't like how tourneys are now only 100, 500, 1000, etc. It limits the creativity of sets used in arenas significantly, and allows less room for growth in terms of finding good combos.