Feedback:User/Greep/Making Codex Viable

Abstract: add ladder, increase faction, add attunements, add drawbreaker.

Codex Arena is a great idea, but remains dead for a number of reasons, all of which will I will try to address here with a remedy, in order of importance. I think if these suggestions would be well worth the time to implement, as they should revive this arena. I understand it was pretty popular in the first month before it's decline, and I'm saddened I never got to play then because I was inactive.

Popularity
People mainly play for some sort of incentive. In GvG this is for the ladder, title, and tournaments. In HA this is for rank, emotes, and the HA chest with prizes potentially worth millions. Both also have an observe mode. Codex has none of these, except a title people don't really take seriously.

Codex needs:

A) A ladder and mATs for guilds. This would boost activity enormously, for competetive guilds should find it very easy to come up with 4 players at a given time.  This is the most important reason why codex inevitably fell apart.  Don't add a ladder, and you may as well just throw it out at this point.

B) Increased balthazar for newbies. While a ladder provides incentive for mid-high level players, newbies will not care.  However, more balthazar would encourage newer players to switch from RA to Codex.  65 balthazar is high enough to greatly encourage the arena, but just low enough that balthazar faction would not be reliable "farming" compared to other methods.  HA balth might even be better due to increased party size.

Class Balance
Several classes hardly ever get used because they are just plain bad without certain skills. Also, many classes have good skills that are helpful for their playing style but are not specific to any team build, and implementing them will not create any "meta."

A) Elemenentalists are absurdly rare in the arena, and it's because they need all attunements except air. Air magic can be played without an attunement if the elites are good, but none of the others can.  Throw in air attunement even if you want too.  Because elementalists are damaged based and can normally only effectively go one element (they >>need<< 12 atts and decent energy storage), adding attunements STILL forces eles to be creative because that one element will never be enough to fill a bar the way codex works.  Chances are they will go heavy one damage element with an attunement, and either minor in another without attune on it or go support healing. Alternatives: Eles always get Glyph of lesser OR eles always have "Glowing X" and shock arrow.

B) Necs need para bond. Hexes are just too expensive to be used on days with hex removal.  On days with strong hex removal, necs will always be nigh worthless.

C) Monks need either cure hex or holy veil. On days with no hex removal and things like soul bind or whatnot, it's almost best to go without a monk.  Sometimes it easily is.

D) Warriors need frenzy and either sprint or rush or both for obvious reasons. Dervs and paras also need their increased attack speed.

These will make it so that there is usually only one dead primary on a given day, as opposed to two or even three.

Arena Balance
Of absolute important in the long term, Codex arena needs a modifed "Victory or Death". '''On days without much pressure or spike damage, bringing monks and secondary support healers UTTERLY DESTROYS the arena. You may as well not even play that day'''. This is something that should have even been added to TA on day 1, as the builds there degenerated into dual healers being common (effectively four monks in GvG!). In codex, on good healing/no spike days, you can see as much as a healer and two support healers, effectively drawing all matches. Victory or Death the way it was used isn't very good, as it promotes spike builds, so this is why it's modified (note, each time there is no increase in damage, just decrease in healing):

A) Up to Five minutes in, no VoD

B) At 5 min VoD is added: 10% less healing

C) 5 more minutes in VoD increases effectiveness to 25% less healing.

D) 2 more minutes in the match ends with a winner, for a total of 12 potential minutes.