The Arena of Champions

I can remember when I first loaded up the expansion, zoned into Qeynos Harbor and made my way to the Isle of Ro and was incredibly immersed by my surroundings. Though deserts are often quite bland, I could see the Isle was extremely well done. Unfortunately, I was not level 45 so I made my way quickly to the city of Maj'Dul on a magic carpet ride.

I love wandering around cities, for it is one of my favourite things to do in any MMORPG and Maj'Dul didn't disapoint. Contrary to Qeynos and Freeport, there was actually people in Maj'Dul, many who were familiar to me. Couple that with the robust NPCs, the guards from the different factions, and the city really felt alive.

But I'm not here to discuss Maj'Dul.

I am, and always will be, a player versus player fanatic so the first thing I did in Maj'Dul was I made my way to the Arena and boy did it not disapoint, either. Upon arriving, I talked to the NPC outside and he offered a variety of different "Arena Champions" that I could purchase: I bought the Fear Knight and Tae we Hunter.

Though I did not bring them into battle immediately.

I first saw if any battles were being faught and fortunately enough two level 50s were fighting it out and I went in as an observer.

Inside the Arena it was simply gorgeous. It was not just a gravel-laden place, but it had stairs and platforms and the like, which definitely is helpful in the long-run when it came to player strategy. I could just imagine what my Ranger or even Wizard and Warlocks would be able to do in large-scale player versus player scenarios.

It did not take me long and I found the two combatants: a fighter and a priest. These battles were not quick by any means but quite long and at the end of the day it was the fighter that prevailed. Combat was quick and decisive, it was a lot of fun to watch to say the least.

I often thought throughout that particular battle how could the fighter recover from his wounds? Well throughout the arena there is "bottles", so to speak, containing health and power so they were incredibly helpful not only to the non-healing classes, but the priests as well.

After watching a couple more fights between these two combatants I decided to leave the Arena and enter into a match of my own where I could use my Arena champion - at first the Fear Knight and later the Tae we Hunter - and it did not disapoint either.

Like I had observed in the fight I watched, combat was fast and furious and required quick reactions to say the least. Not only that, but often times the battle swayed in my favour, and my enemies. To put it more simply, just because you had a great start didn't mean you had a great finish.

Unfortunately, when I started to gain the upper hand my foe left and I was alone. These things happen I guess and I left the Arena for the time.

Past that first day I noticed (at least on Befallen) that the Arena was used sparingly, probably because everyone is still exploring the Isle of Ro and enjoying the bonus to experience (I was guilty of that too).

Regardless, the Arena of Champions was one of the most fun experiences that I've had in PvP, in any MMORPG, for the longest time and it certainly didn't disapoint. As I had mentioned, the battles were fast and furious - though not twitch - and that is exactly what player versus player, especially in EverQuest II, needs.

The other thing that caught my eye as well, indirectly, was that the players I was fighting against (I was on my Bard) were substantially higher than me, maybe 15 or 20 levels. I didn't realize this before, at all, but this is something that player versus player desperately needed, and something I hadn't seen since the days of Asheron's Call.

In games such as Lineage II and World of Warcraft (pre-battlegrounds) you needed to be at least a certain level to not only participate in player versus player, but have any chance of success as well. Often times, to those who don't have a ton of time to play or are slow levelers (me!) this has created a less than desirable effect when it comes to enjoying the player versus player content that is evident.

Not so in the Desert of Flames.

The Arena Champions, the whole idea, is a really good one on the side of the developers. It allows players who are lower levels, for whatever reason, to actively participate in player versus player content without feeling the need to race to the maximum level, or near it, just so they can enjoy that content.

With all of that said, in regards to player versus player altogether, there is room for substantial improvement.

One of the things I've always loved about playing EverQuest II is the exceptional community that we have here. Though underpopulated at times that doesn't take away from how good it really is. So with that said, I expect the community to make the player versus player experience a lot better than it currently is.

What do I speak of? Tournaments, plain and simple.

One of the other things that us advocates of player versus player love is meaningful player versus player and that is something the community can help fill in the void. Now if the community can pull together and put forth meaningful tournaments every week or two, it will certainly bring the entire community together and take player versus player to the next level.

I certainly hope this happens.

Put all of that aside, the player versus player addition is one that is well overdue and that is welcomed. From all reports that I've received is that classes are balanced and not one class dominates over others. This leads to, inevitably, the most important concept of the most skilled players will have the most success.

Player versus player is here folks! Let's enjoy it.

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