Return to the World Map
Exits:
- Up: N/A
- Down: The Gladiator's Steps
- Left: N/A
- Right: N/A
Exit Unlocks:
- Up: N/A
- Down: Must be opened from the other side
- Left: N/A
- Right: N/A
Quests Starting: Daily Quest Your Daily Exercise
Quests Progressing: Querying the Arena
Quests Completing: Daily Quest Your Daily Exercise
Puzzle Size: N/A
Custom Items: N/A
Notable NPCs: The Shopkeeper, Gord, The Fight Promoter
The Battle Arena[]
While working on the tutorial you'll see in the castle courtyard a green teleporter with a banner overhead saying 'Battle Arena', this leads to the staging point of the arena, reachable once you hit level 6. Once transported there for the first time, you can simply open the world map and fast travel straight to the arena without needing to pass through the teleporter again.
Upon arrival, you'll see three people.
The Shopkeeper
This is where you go to purchase - with the arena tokens you'll gain from competing against other players (and the daily quest) - various miscellanious custom items, with a handful of trophies to be placed in your house thrown in. While the items get progressively more expensive, only a few have actual impact on the world in any way other than cosmetic.
Gord
This will most likely be the second of the Daily Quests you'll unlock, to win a single match in the arena, which will reward you with a little XP and 3 Arena Tokens. This Daily Quest will respawn after 20 hours.
The Fight Promoter
The man you speak with to enter the battle screen to try to find a match against random opponents. In here you will see if any of your friends are online and inside the arena as well, as well as their personal stats if they are. While it is possible to ask a friend to fight you, those matches do not result in an increase in either tokens or points so are essentially useless. Lastly you can see the arena rankings (the button in the top right) of both the top 5 players who have ever played, as well as how well ranked all of your friends are... or are not.
There is also a gate at the bottom, but it will remain unusable until you reach the other side via progress through the game.
The Challenge[]
In the most laidback version of PvP I've personally seen, you will find yourself on a single screen, competing against another player on who can destroy the most bushes before the 45 second timer runs out.
To make things a little more complicated, not only are there 3 different types of bushes that appear - a tiny one that gives 1 points, a slightly bigger one that gives 2 points, and a large person sized bush that rarely appears that gives 6 points; occasionally ballons will appear that give powerups that are accessible by clicking on the box at the bottom of the screen - there is the apple, which when used will stun your opponent for roughly 3 seconds; a speed boost that will make you literally fly across the screen to steal bush whacks from your opponent from right under his nose; and the lightning spell, which instantly destroys all bushes on the field at once giving you all the points immediately.
It is both possible to win by a landslide, and also possible to have victory snatched from you at the very end by a stroke of luck. Although it can be challenging to try and compete against those who have played the game and know the tricks, the rewards make it worth doing.
A Reason to Win[]
Above and beyond it being a Daily Quest that will give you a little XP every day, the Battle Arena is worth doing for the sole purpose of saving up enough tokens to buy at least one of the three weapons on sale in the shop for the sole fact that these are the first weapons you'll ever see or, possibly, get your hands on that will affect drop chance percent.
The Gladius - Slightly increases your chances of winning mana.
The Kriss - Slightly increases your chances of winning gold.
The Crusher Sword - Slightly increases your chances of winning power.
Note: I can personally attest that though the increase might be slight, having the Crusher Sword equipped will change the likelihood of power being dropped noticeable, to the point of refilling my power bar to my requirement for use within 2-3 speed whacks.
Method of Winning[]
So far I have identified 2 different ways to compete in the Arena.
The legitimate way.
Simply put, to compete and win against other players and gain the points that way. While this is the method the game is designed to be played, the fact remains that as this game does not have any AI bots to fight against, that you must compete against other players, and that those players have to be actively searching for opponents at the same time you are, this can be a slow and frustrating path to go.
The friend path.
Through either open messaging or private chat, you ask a friend who's also playing BW Classic to search at the same time you are, and chances are you'll both find opponents to compete against. If you use private chat, obviously, chances are the only people to be searching will be the two of you, allowing you to not only control who's in the match but also... who might win.
Side note: If at any time you find yourself clicking the 'leave match' button at the top right of the screen, you will be penalised with -100 arena points and 0 tokens lost. Your opponent on the other hand will find the game acting as if they won it properly, gaining the full 100 points and 3 tokens. So don't click that button unless you mean to.