Talk:Codex Arena

In-game Codex Arena Skill List
Coming soon I guess. The following options were added by the 18th Jan update.
 * Display All Codex Skills
 * Display Equippable Codex Skills

--Zora 03:19, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * where did you see that? Infested Hydralisk  03:23, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * From gw.dat. --Zora 03:29, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I noticed this too, they must have something in the works. &mdash; PmaN  03:56, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Should we
continue adding the lists (so List of codex skills still works)? – alistic 05:21, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The problem is that it will require 3 new lists per day. It was nearly impossible to get someone to do it once a day, I don't have any illusions of being able to do 3. -- Wyn [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon2.png|19px ]] talk  05:24, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, I could probably get the 11AM - 5PM, 5PM-11PM ones, I dunno what page they should be created on though. – User Balistic Pve B d-dark.jpgalistic 05:26, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Doesn't ANet post each codex somewhere? Doesn't seem like it'd be difficult to write a script/template to feed that info onto a page on gww--TahiriVeila 05:47, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * "The problem is that it will require 3 new lists per day" - Every 6 hours means 4 lists per day..?
 * "Doesn't ANet post each codex somewhere?" - Not outside of the game. That was our job ;)
 * If you want to keep posting the lists, I can change the script to work with multiple lists.. poke | talk 08:20, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I think it would be worth keeping the lists, but two things should happen: first, we need to stop archiving them. It's going to get out of hand and grow into monolithic proportions without much time.  Second, somebody needs to ask ANet if we can just use a bot on the test server to do it, since the skills are the same.  That would save a lot of time.  I'd ask myself, but they're already mad at me for leaking  botting  trolling being a dick.  –Jette 09:22, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't know if constantly updating is as necessary as it used to be, since one can view all the in-game skills from only 1 character. -- -Chaos- (moo) -- 15:03, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I think that was the point of doing it that way, based on the update notes. I'd say that it's no longer necessary to track the skills. Of course, I've never played Codex or done any work to maintain the lists, so... -- FreedomBound [[Image:User_Freedom_Bound_Sig.png|19px]] 15:11, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
 * When Codex came I played it a ton, but then it kinda died. If I had time in school I always checked the skill list from GWW and made some build ideas which I worked on when I came home. Safe daily routines :> -- -Chaos- (moo) -- 13:30, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Times
what are the most active times? cause i went in around midnight EST and it was empty 66.231.144.19 04:57, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Codex arena is pretty much dead, it's almost never active. At peak hours you might find 2-3 teams playing--TahiriVeila 05:10, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

This arena SUUCKS !!! Tiberium 15:12, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

I like hero battles. They should bring it back and get rid of this! -User:Randomuser
 * They know what they need to do to fix this ...Lindsey already mentioned that it was being considered (adding Random grouping). Yet they didn't do it in the last Codex update.  Until they do that, it will remain a ghost town where newbs give up on it too soon -- ilr [[image:User_ilr_deprav.png]] 00:09, 28 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Codex Arena is just a bunch of cripples/amputees fighting each other. Every few hours Anet randomly decides what sort of amputees are allowed in the arena. No surprise there are few participants. 60.48.225.254 15:40, 13 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Tbh I'm pretty sure that the same attitude which condemns Codexx is the attitude that condemns people for being different, even though positive. Personally I just think the dev's have a better attitude than the player base, but that doesn't matter, since the player base is the target they want to please. -- -Chaos?- (moo!) -- 20:45, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Attunements needed?
With the exception of lead attack and offhand attack always available, attunements are much more important and practically required for ele builds... If you took out charm animal or minions you'd still get rangers and necros. Eles are literally never in the arena, but they probably would be if attunements were available. Greep 07:16, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
 * There's alternative forms of energy management. We've ran a bsurge with Pdrain and WNWN, etc. We've also ran a Mind Shock without attunement, it just had to drain a high set and hope the match ends. -- -Chaos- (moo) -- 09:49, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay that is true, if you get bsurge/mondshock, you're gonna use it. I'm saying I'd brather see 5%+ eles than 1%, and of more variety than RA elites.  Still less than averga,e but there.  This'd do that. Greep 10:03, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Always having all 4 attunements would make build cookie-cutting way too easy -- ilr [[image:User_ilr_deprav.png]] 19:25, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
 * People rely on the attunes too much in my honest opinion.--Wingsy 00:11, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Still the point is you pretty much never see eles in Codex. To Ilr, that's really not true to any extent, there's very few skills per skill area to allow for cookie cut builds of any type in codex.  Eles even with attunement even need non-elementalist skills with their limited choices.  Or be rather silly and do two elements, which would work once in a blue moon with fire and water if steam is available.   Greep 13:12, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Ele's aren't a good arena prof, but they're played on the occasion. -- -Chaos?- (moo!) -- 22:57, 27 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep codex, and bring back Team Arenas

Teams...
I think it should be listed as to whether you can choose your own teams or if it's random selection. :/ Taka Ragranok 21:37, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Question
So why hasn't this just fallen to RR day also? is it impossible to reisgn or something? Yay Killing Charr talk 17:57, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I've been wondering that about HA and RA and stuff, too. -- Tha Reckoning 17:58, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * As far as I know it's because ANet says it's ladder manipulation or something. Of course, that's never stopped anyone before...  –Jette 18:04, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * /ninjaban! -- Tha Reckoning 18:05, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Codex? Ladder?  ...I laughed so goddamned hard...   wait, still laughing... -- ilr [[image:User_ilr_deprav.png]] 04:46, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Because you'll never get a group of cats agree to do anything. There's always that ONE GUY who'll ruin everything. If you were out in the woods with That Guy and told him "don't make a lot of noise, or the bears will find us" That Guy would yell and shout and then you'd both get eaten by bears. -- 20:14, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Friday the 13th
No one is in codex arena....................--Drug 02:31, 14 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Monday 16th, Nobody is in codex. I honestly don't see why they put it in. How is having a limited number of mostly unused skills better than having an organizable 4vs4 arena... I think they should just add TA back in and keep codex. It's not like GW2 isn't coming out in a few months, so why not add it back in to keep the remaining fans happy until release. --Kenny7220 23:40, 16 August 2010 (UTC)
 * They put it in because at this point having totally random skills is more balanced than the game at present. What they didn't realize is that 95% of the playerbase doesn't want a balanced game, because that makes it harder to get titles and money.  –Jette 12:32, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
 * No they wanted a balanced game... But codex ended up being even more unbalanced than RA or Battlenet Ladder on it's worst days with the pro guildy teams all on Vent being matched up against total newbies pugging it. Linsey later said they'd try to improve the matching system but nothing ever came of it. -- ilr [[image:User_ilr_deprav.png]] 15:33, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Skilled players familiar with each other were defeating unskilled, uncoordinated players? Mother of God!  What kind of arena is this!?  –Jette 16:49, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
 * I still think it's retarded cause there's god mode skills, meaning it's limited deck, not sealed deck. -- Tha Reckoning User- Tha Reckoning Another Sig.png 18:15, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Only days people play codex is on bonus weekends that only has soso people and yet it's still hard to get 5wins + like seriously?--Drug[[Image:User_Drug_Image-User_Drug_sig.png‎|19x19px|]] 20:37, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
 * This sucks... 22 August 2010

Needs better rewards
I'm largely a PvE player, but lately I've been exploring PvP a lot. Of all the formats, Codex is possibly the one that interests me the most, except when it boils down to it, the rewards are just not attractive for a format that takes as much work as this one does. You have to find people, then explore the skill pool,everyone must come out with a build... and then you get what? some 200 balth per win and 1 title point if you make it to five in a row? It's just not attractive enough for you to stop doing something else and come to Codex instead. You might as well just do some FA, or even leave PvP and go advance a campaign or something. My two cents that should be in the feedback portal (actually... might go there now) - VileLasagna 10:22, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * The biggest problem is how much it sucks - PvP formats don't need a reward, the reward is playing against people in a fun game environment. Look at every FPS game (or rather, every good FPS game). You play to have fun and to shoot people in the head, not to max out a title or anything. Titles are just filler bullshit put in by ANet to appease the PvE crowd. If Codex was fun enough, people would play it regardless - sort of like how all PvP formats worked for the first year or so of the game. (Heroes' Ascent has been the only PvP format with tangible rewards, but ANet took the biggest one away several years ago when they tied favor to PvE grinding instead of PvP prowess).
 * Basically, I disagree. The reward of PvP is PvP itself, not a title you get for grinding out wins in a boring arena. If the arena is boring, you could offer a max Voltaic Spear for every win and it would do nothing to make the arena less boring. If you are having a hard time feeling enthusiastic about playing in the arena, it's probably because the arena sucks, not because the arena doesn't offer enough shinies. - Auron 10:38, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I get what you're saying and I DO find Codex a very fun arena. But I'm usually a somewhat objective minded player so you get to that point where: "Okay, should I try and rally a team for doing some codex now or should I just keep advancing X in campaign Y so I can get more skills/areas/etc..etc..". And even when you want to rally people to do codex, they'll often ask themselves the same question and it's hard to convince them of it. I might be the only person that actually likes codex the way it is. I think it needs some small tweaks maybe, but nothing major (or stupid) like making it random or whatnot. It's just that this thing of reward X effort does come in play often - VileLasagna 10:55, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Rewards play an important role in getting people to try out the arena - one reason Heroes' Ascent did so well for years was the amount of "publicity" it received. Every 12 minutes, a team would win halls and every player would see the announcement. Higher ranks came with flashy animal emotes, and the halls chest dropped nice items. Many people went to HA to try it out because of all that, and they stayed and played because the arena was relatively well designed.
 * But rewarding a flawed arena can only do so much. I do understand that Codex is completely dead, which is unfortunate, but it's not something that a bigger reward can fix. It's honestly expected in a game as dead as Guild Wars. Most of the PvP crowd left in 2007 and the rest has been leaving in droves ever since. The best thing ANet can do for the arenas is publicize them more. There's a large chunk of PvE players that don't know GW has PvP, and an even larger chunk that have only tried Random Arenas once or twice then called it quits (despite RA being one of the worst arenas in the game). Anet should have implemented some way to inform PvErs about PvP, and aided in letting them participate (for example, a pug GvG system - you could enter a queue alone or with a couple friends, and it would put you together with other players in order to form a full party).
 * On a totally separate note, do you know what Codex was supposed to be? I can talk about the theory behind the arena if you wanna hear it, it's an interesting attempt at a great PvP idea but it was very poorly implemented in Codex. - Auron 11:04, 3 November 2010 (UTC)


 * *butt's in* Lets hear it. And Codex has no rewards worth playing an RA clone for. Only difference i can see is that you have to form a team instead of beeing put in one, and elitist pugs act as if they were in HA DemonicFahrirDesecrate_Enchantments.jpg 11:22, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I'll try to make it short. The arena was supposed to be pure Sealed Deck, which means you get a random drawing of skills and make your party around it. This was supposed to be done for 8v8 format, so each team would get a random drawing of elites, tier 1 skills, tier 2 skills, etc, and the team would pick professions based on that. Sealed Deck would still have the default skills (a single spirit for rits, basic attack chain for assassin, etc), but it was never intended to be a 4v4 arena and definitely not one where each class got a random drawing of skills every 6 hours. A big part of sealed deck play is the team deciding what professions to bring. If there are no good monk elites but Energy Drain is available, then one of the healers will definitely get it. If there are some good rit support skills but no offering of spirit, they might have to bring mes secondary and take pdrain or drain enchantment or something. The end product is some really wonky, off-the-wall skill bars, but the entire process of build crafting and then playing the match adds together to be a very exciting process.
 * In theory, sealed deck is the highest form of play - you have to make do with random skills and outplay your opponent. It's popular in stuff like MtG, but rather difficult to pull off in MMOs. Guild Wars, however, uses a different skill system than most MMOs, so it could have worked if they had put real effort into it.
 * In addition, Sealed Deck goes a long way toward downplaying skill imbalances - you can't just bring visions of regret or wounding strike and kill everything. This makes balance a bit easier for the company, as they just need to make sure they ban the really broken shit from tournament play (which you see in MtG among other games). ANet tried to do this with their own short ban list (removing VoR was a pretty good idea), but there are too many useless skills, too many broken ones still available, and the whole "building the build" aspect was given a backseat with the skill selection being reduced to a per-player basis. All in all, a typical ANet attempt that fell far short of its potential because quality PvP was no longer a concern of theirs. - Auron 13:37, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 8v8 & unique random skill bar distributions from a single "Deck" probably would have helped core PvP'ers enjoy it more... but even Linsey admitted at one point that the format needed a Random rank Matching system like RA.  If you rely purely on appealing to Core PvP'ers, you get the same situation that's happening to GvG right now:  The team with less than 3 monk primaries (or bad monks) loses by default and the whole format slowly dies b/c it's incapable of attracting and retaining casual players.  Costume brawl doesn't have these problem which is why everyone won't shuttup about turning Codex into CB 2.0 :p -- ilr [[image:User_ilr_deprav.png]] 19:02, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I sure hope codex and CB stay the hell away from each other because CB fails. I still like codex. I do not think it should be made into random teams, that would just seal its fate I believe. Having it working as a true "sealed deck" format where only one player of each party can use any particular skill would've introduced yet another difficulty factor. It might've been interesting, no doubt, but chances are it would keep even more people away. It would basically turn CA into an even more elitist place, since it's already very newbie-unfriendly by requiring people to, OMG, actually make their own builds based on the general codex situation. The more random you introduce in a format, the less attractive it becomes, I believe, for someone who wants to take the format seriously. It's one thing to make any build and hope for a couple of wins in RA, but Codex feels more about "How well can you and your people manage under THESE restrictions?", and that requires team effort in comprehending and exploring the current codex - VileLasagna 11:12, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I'd love to see you take three primary monks when you only have one copy of Gift of Health and Healing Breeze as the only healing spells in the deck. That is the point of shared deck. Your whole team can't go /mo to make sure there are 4 copies of Patient Spirit. The decks being on a per player basis was the largest mistake they made. When we organised sealed deck there was always a bit of a fight to get the good skills on your bar. I don't think 8v8 is a requirement(we played with however many people we could get), but the shared deck really is. Sealed deck by its very nature cannot use random teams. Misery  11:23, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

What I'd like to see is the Codex Area extended into PvE/P, with a Random Arenas Style, a 10 player team and corresponding dungeon. Ten players so that there must be one of each class present. Codex so everyone will be able to run a decent build, I'd even set attributes like in EoTN and also equipment and armor. The Random PUG Style keeps it fun. What you would do is enter the Outpost with your char, make a build from the available skills, grab a Challenge Weapon from the rack and then click enter the challenge. Once there is two of each class waiting to go, they form 2x10 and the challenge begins. Could make it give Zaishen Coins for victories and mobs with Ecto/Rare Material drop chance. Would be cool to have an end part of the instance a 10v10 brawl against the other team, the winners of which go to the last room which is a fight to the death against impossible odds, defending a position from lvl26+ mobs from throughout the game. Deaths here do not count towards /deaths count. Should also be observable. Best 10 teams for the week get their names displayed on their Profession Plaque in GTB. And maybe an Aura that assists their party in the challenge, or even heralds to announce them. Something fun that people can do, that will help them with their HoM. Something that doesn't involve endless grind but gives a chance at Rare Materials. To make each player rely on their skill and the innate abilities of their class in a balanced group. 120.153.64.56 18:45, 26 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Beshaba's undying love for me has left me with absolute hatred for everything random - VileLasagna 22:40, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I think the best idea is to simply make it a permanent costume brawl style of game. WHere you can make your teams. Not more than one of each class, preset builds that change every so often. The problem with Codex arena is simply not everyone wants to create a build. They want to play, not spend 15 minutes nitpicking over what skill to bring. Or have; a compromise between the two, several preset builds per class, and for those who want to build, put all the skill available into a library. I really like Codex arena how it is now, except people simply to lazy to make a new build every 4 hours. I can't blame them (Frizz 11:25, 16 January 2011 (UTC))

Biggest joke to date.
Still can't get over the fact that they trashed TA and devalued the gladiator title to the point where it's a "I-had-this-many-monks-in-my-team" or "I-synced-RA-this-many-times" statistic just to have it replaced with this rediculous waste of time and server-space. Honestly. I'd laugh if only it weren't so sad. Kay  - 13:23, 26 December 2010 (UTC)


 * PvP guilds farming TA are what devalued the gladiator title, this did nothing to it; so removing TA was actually the solution to your complaint. If all you know how to do is play builds that other people make and tell you how to run, stay out of places like codex that expect players to be something more than mindless drones. -- [[Image:User_Kirbman sig.png]] Kirbman 23:59, 17 March 2011 (UTC)


 * CA is useless trash. If you think it's better than TA, great, hurray for you, but that doesn't change the fact that nobody goes there. TA was a lot more popular before it was removed than CA is now presently regardless of whether or not the Gladiator Title was devalued or not. If the Gladiator Title held little value to guilds or groups when TA existed then it holds zero value today. It's currently 9pm EST and only 1 person is in the arena right now. Also I know of 3 or 4 TA guilds off the top of my head that went inactive when TA was removed, I don't know any CA guilds at all ever. -- 69.207.4.244 00:50, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Seriously? Why does it exist?
NOBODY likes this area. I mean NOBODY. There are never people there, ever. Unless it's for the Zmission and then again people are still saying how much it sucks in the outpost. 71.194.87.164 17:06, 9 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Most of the people who play are noobs who can't make a decent build if their life depends on it. That leaves the players who can actually make and play good bars, which is too few to keep codex going. -- [[Image:User_Kirbman sig.png]] Kirbman 23:54, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The major flaw of the Codex arena being that most players are simply too bad to enjoy it. 70.188.145.97 04:04, 13 April 2011 (UTC)
 * ....which by extension, means that it's still the matching system that's b0rked. If they were always playing against other BAD players, they'd have more fun.  But no, they get teamed up against a guild team that raeps their faces everytime... then they give up and leave  -- ilr [[image:User_ilr_deprav.png]] 19:23, 13 April 2011 (UTC)


 * For the record, I would just like to say yesterday was my first time going to Codex arenas, and it was most likley the best expierence of PVP I have went through since the release of prophicies. For ONCE everyone does not have some OP build that destroys their target gaurenteed in just a few skills with no skill what so ever. For once,(Since the start of pvp in guildwars) you're not seeing the same inane builds who often follow the same damn guide on how to play the OP build, rather being creative and finding their own build to work with and actually being somewhat of a individual rather then this mindless no skill drone. When I played RA, you knew in the first five seconds of the match who would win, because with the builds in RA, that's all it took for one team to win. There was no struggle, no actual competition, just a quick gang rape of the weaker team without any chances of comeback. There was just no fun or excitment in the game anymore and it made the pvp so dull! I am nothing of a pvper, nor have I ever gvg'd with any guild before. But with no more then 5 minutes and a with a want to adapt and learn, I threw out a build and DOMINATED the arena, well not exactly dominated, but we beat every single team up to twenty straight wins, until someone had to finally leave. I loved how the battles were so balanced, it was always up in the air who would win, it didn't matter if you did have a good build, but rather how good of a player you actually were. I loved this and I loved the fact that it wasn't a two hit K.O on any one player. It took time, patience and strategy to be the top team. The only complaint I would have about codex, if any at all, would be to change the alternating skill set times from six hours to every week. That way it gives time for the players to adapt to their builds and tweak it based on how they see fit. This would most likley attract more of the lazier players as not as much time and frustration to come up with a build would be wasted, but rather more time to hone you're skills and you're ability to adapt based on you're teams skill set. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.9.32.4 (talk) at 14:14, 8 June 2011 (UTC).
 * The Codex now changes once every 24 hours, not six hours. --Silver Edge 02:11, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Skill change time is wrong.
Apparently it's actually changing at like 6 PM. elix Omni 08:08, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Out-of-game Codex Arena Skill List
Is there a reason why this was removed? (ages ago by now, I'm sure) It's actually more annoying to actually have to start the game to look it up, especially since it doesn't give as good and easy overview as this page used to do. So again: is there a reason why this was removed? Surely it can't take up that much space and computating resources to warrant a removal of this feature on the wiki simply due to the implementation of an in-game listing. Could be I'm the only one who misses the online listing though.--iLLUSiVE 15:41, 19 June 2011 (UTC)
 * As far as I can tell it wasn't removed, just that it's a manual listing and nobody has bothered to keep it up to date. The wiki is edited and updated by volunteers, so if nobody thinks it's worth doing, it won't get done. -- Hong 15:53, 19 June 2011 (UTC)
 * See the section. --Silver Edge 17:38, 19 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Alright, thank you. I find that due to the fact that this is an official wiki, administrated and maintained by the people behind the actual game, it shouldn't be impossible or even difficult for them to have the database that is sent to the game servers logged and be able to be post it directly on the wiki at the same time in a comprehensive format. The website listing gives such a great overview that the current in-game overview can't compare to. Guess I'll just have to hope that one of the few employees that isn't working on GW2 feels the same way and synchronizes a feature like that... oh, I don't know... while eating breakfast some lonely monday morning in the GW-office.--iLLUSiVE 14:15, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Anet doesn't have anything to do with the wiki, beyond keeping the servers running. -- Hong 14:29, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * FWIW, Poke has still kept his Codex Bar Generator. -- R i ddle 16:24, 20 June 2011 (UTC)