Dragon Arena

Arena map (click to expand)

The Dragon Arena is the seasonal battleground found during the Dragon Festival. It is accessible from Captain Li Sah in the Shing Jea Monastery and from the Great Temple of Balthazar. In this arena contestants engage in 6v6 PvP battle using a specialized skill set and have a pre-defined amount of Health and Energy. Upon entering a match, each player is placed under the Spirit of the Festival effect, setting maximum Health to 100, Energy to 60, all attributes to 0 (though the effect desription states that it sets primary attributes to 0 only), and removing both Energy regenration and the ability to attack. The first team to score 20 kills is the winner. Dead players are resurrected every 30 seconds at a shrine. There is no Death Penalty in this arena.

Upon entering the arena your skill bar will be the following:

Dragon Blast

Imperial Majesty

Trade Winds

Resurrection Signet

Resurrection Signet

Resurrection Signet

Resurrection Signet

Resurrection Signet

You get three Lunar Tokens/Victory Tokens as a reward for winning. You also gain 40 Balthazar Faction points per unique kill, as well as 50 Faction points per team win. The winning team stays to face the next team of challengers. For each 5 consecutive wins, you gain an additional 50 Balthazar Faction. Winning in the arena gives you 5 points toward the Gamer title track.

Notes

• It has been reported by many that you must have Factions unlocked on your account to access the arena.
• This match is between 2 random teams of 6 players.
• Dying in the arena does not increase your character's death tally: it is safe for survivors to play. Prior to the 2007 Festival, this was not the case.
• Dragon Blast kills instantly, so do your best to dodge it with Trade Winds.
• The Imperial Majesty skill says Kowtow, which refers to a Chinese/Japanese person kneeling down in an Imperial Court.
• You do not receive Gladiator points in the Dragon Arena.
• This arena is the Imperial Isle guild hall modified to section off most of the "base" areas at the ends, leaving the open central area. Since the 2007 Festival this is no longer the case.
• A tie will send both teams back to the outpost with the message "Guild challenge ended prematurely."
• The mechanics of this game are loosely based on Dodgeball.

Tips for winning

• Always ensure the speed boost "Trade Winds" is on you. This means casting it every 5-10 seconds. The best idea is to cast it when no one is able to hit you. So before it wears off, retreat a bit to renew it.
• If someone just resurrected you in combat, this is the first skill you want to use over anything else, since otherwise it's too difficult to dodge, and you'd be way too easy of a target.
• However, if you have been resurrected in a position where target(s) is/are deep within cast range such that you have a high probability of scoring a kill, do so immediately by casting Dragon Blast on nearest target (no need for Majesty->Blast or w/e). Making a trade kill is better than plain dying due to lack of a speed boost upon resurrection.
• Do NOT resurrect in combat. The problem is that your ally does NOT have a speed boost upon resurrection, and is therefore an easy target. Casting the spell once resurrected also makes him an easy target (although it's not as bad). Lastly, the 3-second activation time of resurrection signet makes the caster a very easy target as well.
• Working in pairs can be extremely beneficial, one player plays 'bait' and the other gets ready to cast Dragon Blast on anyone who stops to cast on the bait, since they will be stationary while casting the chance of a successful hit is high.
• When attacking, any good player will be able to dodge multiple blasts cast at the longest range. Therefore, if you want to make a kill, move up more before you fire. It's best to ensure all nearby opponents have used their attack recently before you do so, ensuring your safety for a few seconds while you get close.
• While camping on the raised area or in the starting room will often result in victory, it is typically considered degenerative play and will often make matches take longer. Since there are no real bonuses for consecutive wins your average gamer points/tokens per period of time will remain about the same. Also, because Dragon Blast is a skill and not an actual weapon attack there is no additional range bonus for being higher than the target.
• Use the mouse to move your character as it always makes your character run forward, which is faster than sidestepping or walking backwards. NOTE: novices should not do this as they seem to always stall at crucial moments and end up increasing team deaths. Be sure to be aware.
• If you want to attempt to dodge the projectiles, try running forwards in a perpendicular direction to the opposing player. With trade winds on, the chances are that you will be moving fast enough that the projectile will miss.
• Join spiking: The current queueing mechanism allows a group of people to join the same game together with their friends. This is commonly done by cancelling the timer at 2 seconds and clicking the enter mission button to enable a swift join. There are unsupported claims that this method bypasses the queue and allows people to queue into the game at the same moment. The success rate is still high compared to an unsynched join.

Trivia

• This game was originally created by players and called dodgeball.