As it stands currently Arena is basically a condensed "Adventure" Mode. It encourages running and cashing chests.
It needs to be a new game mode entirely instead with PVP and scoring as its focus.
I propose "Arena Fortress Defense"
8v8
One team spawns on a Man-o-War Ship
The other team spawns on a big fortress
Points are scored by defeating players, landing hits with cannons, sinking ship, destroying fort defenses
The main objective is to destroy and capture the zone inside the fort for the "offensive" team. Their ship gets limited lives of about 3. If it sinks 3 times the "defense" team wins.
Also if a certain score is hit lets say 500 for either side then they win the battle.
Points Breakdown:
Sink Ship 150
Destroy Fort Tower 75
Defeat Player 10
Land hits/damage on ship/fort 5
Mechanics:
Introducing a new ship type: Man-o-war/ship of the line. Has an extra deck of 4 cannons (below deck). Available exclusively in the Arena! Alot of people have been requesting Rare make this ship type in Adventure mode. However others worry how it would be balanced. If its only in the Arena that solves both problems. It also serves as an added incentive to play Arena. Getting to sail a new ship with a large crew. Since this is Arena only it has same turn speed and top speed as galleon. Spawns in with 2 harpoon Rowboats and a supply of kegs.
Fortress:
Has 8 defensive towers and a central area. 4 towers are out in the water (like a Skelly fort) and 4 are attached to the island. The towers have "health" and take damage from fire bombs, barrels and cannon fire. They are also destructible and once destroyed can not be repaired.
In addition the ship team can not just sail away and chip away at the fort while parked far away. The map zone is just big enough so any part of the map SOME of the Fort cannons can reach. If the ship team sails too far out they enter the red sea. Red Sea also depletes Player health and rowboat health.
To go along with this update new weapons would be added:
Weapons have 3 categories for melee: Fast, Normal and Heavy.
Fast weapons like Daggers and Rapiers deal less damage but can combo and strike quicker. Normal weapons work like our cutlass but you also can use an Boarding Axe. Heavy Weapons are stuff like bigger Axe, clubs and swords. They are slower to swing but deal more damage. Every player has access to an unskinned version automatically for balance reasons but you can pick any combo of 2. Dagger and pistol, Dagger and Heavy axe etc
My main reasoning behind this suggestion is to recapture the most fun and intense moments from Adventure which was IMO the OG launch Fort Battles. Pure chaos of several ships fighting over the fort. This is a condensed easy to hop into and fun slice of that.
