Then they lose to more focused damage armor/dmg setups 
each setup lose to another so its all about your luck on who are you doing to meet
Example on how arena setups work
lets say each letter is kind of setup Y,X,Z,S...
X beats Y
Y beats Z
Z beats X
S beats X and Y
Z beats S and X
It's all about possibilities on what kind of setup you are going to meet ..
Work out on making your unique kind of setup 
excellent post, i have been playing arena for quite awhile and i have never seen anything really unfair about how it works, yes there is a bit of luck on the variance, the match-ups, the timing of when you join as to who is in the tourney, i dont have the best gear, but i can win, and that part is good because if the best setup always won, you would have very few players in arena... the 2% rule works fine to me, sometimes in my favor, most of the time not in my favor ( probably the case for most players) - but still fair to all
fatigue was a great idea as it does help favor the better setup, but does not automatically lead to a win for the better setup and usually keeps the matchup from going to a judges decision
i cant remember the last time a matchup went to a judges decision after 100 rounds ( i still thought it was 60 rounds) so the rounds dont really come into play unless i am missing something
and we all get to choose our own setups and combat move setups - that is why arena is so great ( you never really know how the outcome will be)
Edited by yodamus, 30 September 2015 - 18:16.