Arena

The Arena is a seasonal tournament that is held in Castle Age. The arena provides an added feel of competition between players in PvP form. With the introduction of War, the Arena tab was removed from the Battle page. When the new season started, the Arena tab was reinstated.

There are 4 tournaments that were introduced with the 4th one being currently held.
 * Season 1: Legends - Began on March 24th and ended on April 12th of 2010
 * Season 2: Vanguard - Began on July 28th and ended Mid-August
 * Season 3: Annihilator - Began on January 5th and ended on January 26th of 2011
 * Season 4: Wrath - Currently being held and starts from July 28 until August 18 of 2011

Players are given an opt-in option to ensure that they want to participate in the Arena or not.

General Overview
In the Arena, competitors fight against each other in a pretty similar manner to that of the classical 1v1 battle style. However, victories in the arena don't count for the classical Battle Rank. Instead, the winner earns a number of Arena Points which determine the Arena Rank by percentiles. At the conclusion of the Arena Season, the higher your rank is, the better your prize, and the more prizes you receive.


 * Season 1 used the standard battle format of invading and dueling. The cost per attack is 5 stamina.
 * Season 2 used the war format and introduced the token system. The cost per attack is 10 tokens.
 * Season 3 used the guild battle format and combined both stamina use and token system. The cost of entry for a battle is 20 stamina and the cost per attack is 1 token.
 * Season 4 will use the same format as Season 3.

The Arena is also different that it pits players of the same or near ranks against each other. This ensures healthy amount of competition, especially for Season 3, as players would be more likely to battle active opponents like themselves. This also ensures that players can gain more Arena points per attack in the case of Season 1 and Season 2 as Arena points won are based on the rank of the opposition in comparison to the attacker. More points are being gained by participants this way, edging serious competitors to keep pace with the current point rank cut-offs.

In Season 1 and Season 2, a few lower ranks are occasionally thrown in to the battle list to give not-so-hardcore builds a chance to gain points and advance especially when most participants in their ranks are incredibly strong and unbeatable to them.

Rules

 * Minimum level to opt into the arena is level 80.
 * Each Battle requires 5 Stamina.
 * Your character will be automatically healed periodically and summoned forth into battles, even if you are not logged on.
 * Your rank will be given to you at the end of each day.
 * Your rank is based on the number of Arena Points relative to all other Arena participants.
 * The higher your Opponent's Rank relative to yours, the more Arena Points you receive for winning; opponents of lower rank will yield fewer Arena Points per win and also result in more Arena Points lost per loss.
 * At the end of each day, you will be awarded a rank relative to all Arena participants.
 * Your current rank at the end of the Arena season will determine your final rank and your rewards.
 * You will receive rewards for your rank as well as all ranks below it.

Arena Guard
Your Arena Guard will give you advantages while battling in Arena. Your Arena Guard will not provide any benefits outside of Arena. Each Arena Guard will stay with you for 24 hours.

Arena Guard Classes
When Arena Guard members join you, you collect cumulative boosts to your base stats.

Tiers and Rewards

 * Tier 1 - Brawler (Top 81 - 100%) - 3x Stamina Potion
 * Tier 2 - Swordsman (Top 61 - 80%) - &#91;Armor&#93; (Attack - 25, Defense - 12)
 * Tier 3 - Warrior (Top 41 - 60%) - &#91;Amulet&#93; (Attack - 18, Defense - 12)
 * Tier 4 - Gladiator (Top 21 - 40%) - &#91;Magic&#93; (Attack - 25, Defense - 12)
 * Tier 5 - Hero (Top 6 - 20%) - &#91;Weapon&#93; (Attack - 44, Defense - 22)
 * Tier 6 - Legend (Top 0 - 5%) - &#91;Soldier&#93; (Attack - 100, Defense - 100)


 * Meat Cleaver was originally named as Zarevok's Meat Cleaver when Season 1 was held. It was changed later to only Meat Cleaver due to it's long name causing minor formatting issues during regular battle duels.
 * Meat Cleaver and Genesis, the Earth Elemental were BIS items when Season 1 was held.
 * Meat Cleaver was superseded by Celesta's Devotion as BIS defensively when Goblin Emporium was released. Both were demoted from the top by Soulforge when Alpha Mephistopheles was released.
 * Genesis, the Earth Elemental was superseded by Ragnarok when Arena Season 2: Vanguard was held.

Rules

 * To participate in Arena, each Duel will require the use of Arena Tokens. You will be granted an Arena Token every 6 minutes. Additionally, you can win Arena Tokens from Battles, War, and battling Alpha Mephistopheles, Red Plains, Azriel, Alpha Bahamut, or Bahamut for a chance to receive more Arena Tokens.
 * Each Battle requires 10 Arena Tokens
 * Win War Duels on the Arena Page to earn Arena Points
 * Your character will be automatically healed periodically and summoned forth into battles, even if you are not logged on
 * Your rank is based on the number of Arena Points relative to all other Arena participants
 * The higher your Opponent's Rank relative to yours, the more Arena Points you receive for winning
 * Opponents of lower rank will yield fewer Arena Points per win and also result in more Arena Points lost per loss
 * At the end of each day, you will be awarded a rank relative to all Arena participants
 * Your current rank at the end of the Arena season will determine your final rank and your rewards
 * You will receive rewards for your rank as well as all ranks below it
 * Minimum level to opt into the arena is level 80
 * Add Reinforcements for additional bonuses in Arena. Each Reinforcement bonus will last for 5 days.

REINFORCEMENTS Arena 2
 * Bonus 1: +10 Arena Tokens!
 * Bonus 2: +10 Arena Tokens!
 * Bonus 3: +10 Arena Tokens!
 * Bonus 4: +10 Arena Tokens!

Quickly filling your Reinforcements:

Go to this page: http://apps.facebook.com/castle_age/army_member.php for viewing your army. Try to find 4 members who are most active players (who send gifts to you everyday and accept your gifts and requests). Remove those 4 people from your army by clicking the Remove Member [x] at the right part.

Then you should go back to your Arena, fight 1 battle so that the Reinforcement part appears. Click on "add", then find those 4 names that you just removed. Send them the requests and wait until they accept it.

If you don't remove them from your army, their name won't appear on the request list.

Tiers and Rewards

 * Tier 1 - Brawler (Top 81 - 100%) - &#91;Helmet&#93; (Attack - 15, Defense - 15)
 * Tier 2 - Swordsman (Top 61 - 80%) - &#91;Glove&#93; (Attack - 9, Defense - 9)
 * Tier 3 - Warrior (Top 41 - 60%) - &#91;Amulet&#93; (Attack - 20, Defense - 15)
 * Tier 4 - Gladiator (Top 16 - 40%) - &#91;Armor&#93; (Attack - 28, Defense - 14)
 * Tier 5 - Hero (Top 6 - 15%) - &#91;Magic&#93; (Attack - 28, Defense - 17)
 * Tier 6 - Vanguard (Top 3 - 5%) - &#91;Helmet&#93; (Attack - 35, Defense - 35)
 * Tier 7 - Alpha Vanguard (Top 0 - 2%) - &#91;Soldier&#93; (Attack - 105, Defense - 105)


 * The initial prizes for Vanguard and Alpha Vanguard were Ragnarok and Alpha Ragnarok respectively. Due to player feedback however, Alpha Ragnarok was removed and Ragnarok was upped as the Alpha Vanguard prize. Vanguard Helm was put up to fill the prize at Vanguard rank. Also, Whirlwind's stats were also updated from 30/15 to 28/17.
 * Whirlwind, Vanguard Helm and Ragnarok were BIS items when Season 2 was held.
 * Whirlwind was superseded by Divine Blast when Corvintheus was released.
 * Vanguard Helm and Ragnarok were demoted by Vanguard Doomhelm and Gehenna respectively when Arena Season 3: Annihilator was held.

ARENA SEASON III
Arena Season III will be done in a Guild Battle format. However, unlike guild battles, you will be placed on a randomized team depending on your rank. Two teams will battle against each other in a 1 hour battle. You will be placed randomly in one of the four towers created. Each team will consist of a maximum of forty (40) members, with ten (10) members in each of the four gates. If there are less than 40 members on a team, the team shall be distributed evenly amongst each gate (e.g. 36 team members will result in 9 members in each gate). Each team shall be comprised of individuals within the same Arena Ranks as you. You will also be matched against an opposing team of similar strength.

Your Class for an Arena Battle is determined by the one selected within the Character Class page at the beginning of the Arena Battle. You CANNOT change your Class for the current battle once it has started. However, you can change your Class and have it take effect on the next Arena Battle. Also remember to set your Class Ability from the Character Class page.

RULES

- Each action in the Arena Battle will require the use of Arena Tokens - You will be provided a full charge of Arena Tokens at the beginning of each Arena Battle - You will recharge an Arena Token every 5 minutes - An Arena Battle will start every two hours on the hour and you will be placed onto a team with other participants based on your Arena Rank - Win battles within an Arena Battle to earn Arena Points - The battle portion of an Arena Battle lasts 1 hour or until all players on one side are below 200 health - If either team is unable to eliminate all other players on the opposing team, the winning team is the one with the higher percentage of members still above 200 health - The Arena Battle must be over in order for you to collect your reward whether that means all members of the opposing team have been eliminated or the time limit has expired - You will have up until five (5) minutes prior to the start of the next battle to collect your reward - You must collect your reward during the collection period to be awarded your Arena Points - If you do NOT collect your reward within the collection period, your Arena Points for that particular battle will be forfeited - Members of the winning team collect a 25% bonus to their Arena Point total for that battle (e.g. win 1000 Arena Points within an Arena Battle; reward is 1250 Arena Points) - Members of the losing team receive a 25% detriment to their Arena Point total for that battle (e.g. win 1000 Arena Points within an Arena Battle; reward is 750 Arena Points) - If the winning team defeats the opposing team within 30 minutes of the start of the Arena Battle, the winning team will receive an additional 10% bonus to their collection of Arena Points (e.g. win 1000 Arena Points within an Arena Battle; reward is 1350 Arena Points)

- NOTE: This was changed during the season. The 30 minute cutoff was removed. In other words, if there was a winning team and the opposing team's score was 0/40, then the winning team earned the additional 10% bonus.

- Ties deducted 25% from both team's scores.

- Your rank is based on the number of Arena Points relative to all other Arena participants

- At the end of each day, you will be awarded a rank relative to all Arena participants

- Your current rank at the end of the Arena season will determine your final rank and your rewards

- You will receive rewards for your rank as well as all ranks below it

- Minimum level to opt into the Arena is level 50

- Add Reinforcements for additional bonuses in Arena. Each Reinforcement bonus will last for 5 days.

REINFORCEMENTS

- Bonus 1: +5 Total Bonus Damage! - Bonus 2: +10 Total Bonus Damage! - Bonus 3: +20 Total Bonus Damage! - Bonus 4: +50 Total Bonus Damage

Tiers and Rewards

 * Tier 1 - Brawler (Top 81 - 100%) - &#91;Glove&#93; (Attack - 8, Defense - 8)
 * Tier 2 - Swordsman (Top 61 - 80%) - &#91;Armor&#93; (Attack - 10, Defense - 15)
 * Tier 3 - Warrior (Top 41 - 60%) - &#91;Weapon&#93; (Attack - 30, Defense - 19)
 * Tier 4 - Gladiator (Top 16 - 40%) - &#91;Amulet&#93; (Attack - 30, Defense - 26)
 * Tier 5 - Hero (Top 6 - 15%) - &#91;Magic&#93; (Attack - 25, Defense - 20)
 * Tier 6 - Vanguard (Top 3 - 5%) - &#91;Helmet&#93; (Attack - 45, Defense - 45)
 * Tier 7 - Alpha Vanguard (Top 0 - 2%) - &#91;Soldier&#93; (Attack - 110, Defense - 110)


 * Vanguard Doomhelm and Gehenna were BIS items when Season 3 was held.
 * Vanguard Doomhelm was superseded by Helm of Arcane Energies when Ambrosia was released.
 * Gehenna was topped by Valhalla when the Castle Age Festival opened.

ARENA SEASON IV
Arena Season IV: Wrath will use the same format as Season III: Annihilator but with a few but major balancing changes.

- Players can only participate in a maximum of five (5) battles per calendar day. The limit will be reset at 12 AM midnight PDT (7 AM GMT).

- There is a maximum of one (1) Arena Token recharge per battle, whether it is purchased with favor points or an Arena Potion is used.

- Arena Potions can be attained via rewards from monsters.

These changes will make Season IV a bit more tactical rather than a refill fest that happened in Season III. With limited tokens available, player will have to make the most points out of them if they want to keep up and climb the ranks. Also, the limit of 5 battles per day has the players evaluating battles more if they want to obtain maximum Arena Points haul as a winning battle potentially get more points than losing ones.

REINFORCEMENTS

- Bonus 1: +5 Total Bonus Damage! - Bonus 2: +10 Total Bonus Damage! - Bonus 3: +20 Total Bonus Damage! - Bonus 4: +50 Total Bonus Damage

Tiers and Rewards

 * Tier 1 - Brawler (Top 81 - 100%) - &#91;Amulet&#93; (Attack - 12, Defense - 10)
 * Tier 2 - Swordsman (Top 61 - 80%) - &#91;Shield&#93; (Attack - 16, Defense - 18)
 * Tier 3 - Warrior (Top 41 - 60%) - &#91;Armor&#93; (Attack - 24, Defense - 22)
 * Tier 4 - Gladiator (Top 16 - 40%) - &#91;Helmet&#93; (Attack - 32, Defense - 36)
 * Tier 5 - Hero (Top 6 - 15%) - &#91;Weapon&#93; (Attack - 28, Defense - 47)
 * Tier 6 - Vanguard (Top 3 - 5%) - &#91;Glove&#93; (Attack - 22, Defense - 18)
 * Tier 7 - Alpha Vanguard (Top 0 - 2%) - &#91;Soldier&#93; (Attack - 125, Defense - 125)


 * Vanguard's Power Glaive and Typhonus the Chimera are BIS items.
 * For some reason, the devs decided to name another glove as a glaive despite the term referring to an actual weapon.
 * Hero's Greatsword is a BIS defensive weapon and is Top 2 offensively.
 * Gladiator's Crown is a Top 5 Helmet for both offense and defense.
 * Warrior's Battleplate is a Top 8 Armor on offense and Top 9 on defense.

Issues
All Arena Season had issues that resulted in some players disappointed and furious at the developers on both how the Arena formats were structured and how they handled the issues. A few issues were caused by both highly competitive participants and those that would abuse/exploit/cheat their way to the top.

Season 1

 * Some participants were enraged at how they were almost always dead and thus cannot hit their monsters. This created a divide between the community with the monster hunting players disgusted by how "they can't do anything in the game" during the Arena against the PvP loving players enjoying the relentless hits as how it was supposed to be in battles. In the end, the developers separated Arena health from "regular health" to appease the enraged monster hunting crowd.


 * Some people didn't like the Vengeance system of avenging the loss of a fellow army member by hitting the participants who hit them. Some saw this as a light form of hitlisting, which is frowned upon by most PvP-oriented players. The Vengeance system never returned in succeeding arenas or other battle forms.


 * Some people were annoyed by the Arena Guard feature. They didn't like filling up 2 forms or "guards". The Arena Guard was toned down in succeeding Arena as Reinforcements.


 * The Arena Season was shortened to due player feedback. It was concluded 1 week earlier than initially advertised. The change was announced in the game to inform participants beforehand, giving ample time for everyone to adjust their plans.

Season 2

 * Extra Arena tokens can only be obtained initially from monsters. Due to player complaining about the developers ignoring the PvP part of the game, Arena tokens were added as chance drops from battling for those who prefer to battle than hunt monsters.


 * The developers instituted a 5-hit rule which only allows players to only hit others a maximum 5-times before moving on in the early parts of the event. This is due to abusive players who are exploiting bookmarking (illegal) and refills to repeatedly hit another participant for points.  This goes against the spirit of the competition of "fighting everyone in the tournament" instead of making it to the top by hitting only one participant.  Dedicated exploiters still found a way to circumvent the rule but the hits were minimized (or at least the complaints quieted down) afterwards.


 * A major slip-up happened during the ending moments of the Arena season. The closing time was not coded properly and caused the arena to prematurely close, about an hour or so before it's scheduled end time.  Realizing the error, the developers decided to extend the season for an hour more to make up.  However, this screwed up players who were planning a last-minute push at the end.  Being locked out earlier and unaware of the extension, some of these players went down a rank or two and lost their target prizes.  A lot of players were furious at the developers for this.  In the end, the developers only promised to not repeat the same error again.

Season 3

 * Although most are fine with the guild battles, some participant didn't see it as a good format for an Arena competition. Despite having 12 chances to battle per day, casual players are at a disadvantage against those who can get online a lot in points accumulation without having to refill a lot of times.  This was tweaked in the current Arena Season 4.


 * A lot of players were dismayed at the fact that participants can use unlimited refills in battles. While this is a great equalizer for high levels (who can mostly only get 160 points a hit compared to lower levels who can get 200-240) to accumulate points, it also skewed the tactical approach of the guild battle and the spirit of competition as a whole.  Unlimited refills enables someone to solo a battle and "buy" a victory.  Refills also allowed weak build to claim the top prizes by continuously refilling and losing (losing still gets 100 points), thus potentially getting more points per battle than those who win but don't refill.  This ruined the concept of the competition as one can reach the top and not win a single duel or team battle.  This was tweaked in the current Arena Season 4.

`Season 4

 * Arena Season 4 aims to be a "redemption" of sorts of the heavily criticized and disliked Arena Season 3. It fixes some critical competition issues in Season 3 such as multiple refills and 12 battles per day. The developers limited it to only 1 refill per battle and 5 battles per day. Although these fixes solves the problems of heavy refilling to solo a battle or "losing your way to the top rank", it doesn't address the problems of higher levels who don't refill being at a points disadvantage by default. The randomized grouping makes it difficult for high levels to be put in against each other to gain sufficient points to keep pace with others without relying on refills.


 * Season 4 started very slow. According the developer Tass, it was caused by Festival battles starting at the same time as arena, causing loading issues. Both battle events have similar 2-hour time shifts (Festival Battles were based on Arena Season 3 which Arena Season 4 is a tweaked version of) so unless the issue is resolved, it is expected persist for the whole season duration.


 * Adding reinforcements becomes obsolete as a glitch prevents them from adding any additional damage.
 * Some players are prevented from reaching higher tiers as they find themselves receiving less than 5 battles (reporting as few as 3 in a day) while other players are encountering bonus battles with reports of being allowed up to 7 battles in a day. This was due to the time the number of battles a player has participated in is reset. some players profit from this because the time the system reset is around their midday allowing them to participate in additional. some lose out as a result too.