Improving the Arena Death Match event

[NTJedi]

Sending someone to the arena... means that unit has to be equipped to win otherwise you're just marching a unit to his death.
No matter how well a unit has been equipped an opponent may have a unit or pretender which is more powerful and wins. (especially during MP)

Thus the amount of equipment spent on sending a unit into the arena is usually not worth the value of the prize.
(prize= trident and experience)

The arena event would be LOTS more tempting and interesting if the prize included gold and/or gems and/or something else. Hopefully the next patch will make the arena event more worthwhile to attend.

Originally posted by SurvivalistMerc:

The arena will sometimes even tell you the magic picks of your opposing pretenders. Not a bad thing at all.

Whether or not you send someone to the arena any player is able to watch the battles and view the stats of pretenders and other units in the arena. Hopefully the patch will make the arena event more worthwhile to attend.

[ January 22, 2004, 19:57: Message edited by: NTJedi ]

[Lord Hammer]

I agree that there must be a better reward for the risk involved. I almost always send my Pretender, or lately my Prophet, and may skip a match or two until i have good items. I always research construction first in every game no matter what race i'm playing and have only lost once . My suggestions are as follows...
1) A Blessed/Sacred Trident
2) A new level for Pretender or Prophet (priestly)
3) A giant shrubbery

[velk]

For a really easy to implement suggestion - how about the champion's trident gets an extra affect of having 1 gladiator melee unit show up per turn.

It makes sense from the point of view of them coming to learn from the greatest fighter in the world.

Alternatively have the trident give experience to troops in the province, or troops that are under command of it's owner...

[Saber Cherry]

I think you should get a pony...

And again, I think there should be a prelim round, where entrants have to beat a gladiator to enter the competition proper. Otherwise nasty people send one-shot booby-trapped assassins...

Alright. I'm trying to understand the argument of "Much more reward for the risk"

You get a weapon and can't change it out yes. But winning the Event gets you.

Quickness (the best 'ability' out there)
and 4 Stars of Experience (if they started with none) and a good percentage of the time a place in the HoF (if they were not in it already) so a HoF ability.

That is +4 Att, +4 Def, +4 Prec ...

I don't know if I want an event that has a reward so good that if I don't throw my pretender at it, that I have drastically weakened my position. As it is, the winner can pick an already decent supercombatant and put him in the Arena and have him come out even better and potentially much harder to kill.

If he had Sacred, or Always Blessed (like a Prophet) even better, but I don't think a big pile of gems or gold would be an answer for it.

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Zen:
Alright. I'm trying to understand the argument of "Much more reward for the risk"

You get a weapon and can't change it out yes. But winning the Event gets you.

Quickness (the best 'ability' out there)
and 4 Stars of Experience (if they started with none) and a good percentage of the time a place in the HoF (if they were not in it already) so a HoF ability.

That is +4 Att, +4 Def, +4 Prec ...

I don't know if I want an event that has a reward so good that if I don't throw my pretender at it, that I have drastically weakened my position. As it is, the winner can pick an already decent supercombatant and put him in the Arena and have him come out even better and potentially much harder to kill.

If he had Sacred, or Always Blessed (like a Prophet) even better, but I don't think a big pile of gems or gold would be an answer for it.

Well, for a start, that weapon is stuck on your commander, and replaces anything he might already have. It also forces you to go into the next arena.

But the real reason I never send anyone is that to win, you have to beat the AI's favorite SC. And I play at impossible, which means they have had extra design points to build them, and there are 16 of them to beat. Believe me, nothing short of a very well designed SC (or a very, very lucky, tough prophet that gets only fight against banishable pretenders) is going to win against them, and usually I don't have one on hand (I don't use SC pretenders). Even if I did, he'd have to be decked in something as good or better than the trident, and he could make xp (and kills) quite easily with no risk on the battlefields....
Anyway, I don't even have to send him to see most of the AIs SC die : there can be only one winner

Of course, that's solo play against 16 impossible AI's. I am sure MP play against two human opponents (or easy AIs) is far different.

I send the best (unequipped) commander I can spare. Usually the nation equivalent of a Knight, who can sometimes get the drop against a powering up SC and kill him. But I have never come even close to winning.

The reward is good, yes. But to have a fair chance of winning I have to risk a lot more. The reward is just nor worth it...

[Wendigo]

I always send someone to the Arena, and I am talking multiplayer here.

The Arena is one of those small details in the game that add to the fun & immersion, it doesn't need any boosting with game-wining rewards.