Norn Arena is way overpowered.

I was victorious with spirits... Shadowsong (anti melee) and Dissonance (interuptor) were essential to my success, i'm certain. The massive damage of Magni was harsh the first time I used this plan, but I added Shelter into the mix (cast it before walking into the arena), and that cut his 350dmg hammer swings into a more manageable 50dmg - well worth it.

I also noticed the NPC healing advantage (for my foes). A pain, to be sure, but clearly I managed to get past it.

heh against norn bear, i just ran around in circles until it wore off. anyways, for eles, blind and weakness work wonders.

and to Nomme Moon, is 800 gold really that hard for you to come by?

Spirit spamming used to be FUN, that's why it no longer works. Leave it to Anet to strip away any kind of advantage or enjoyment a player could have.

So what if it was cheap, unimaginative and easy? It was refreshing to win quickly. It felt good. It's still a goldsink, 100g every time you want in. No worse off than DoA or The Deep or FoW in the build department. either. Still using a "cookie cutter" build, just like you have to do in those areas.

But no, the line had to be crossed, quite literally even. Soon as you're across that door's threshold, here come the gank. The so-called casual, average player is going to die, get frustrated, get mad and give up. They're going to loathe the changes to the arena that make it just like every other aspect of the "Elite" areas. Difficult. Aggravating. Unenjoyable.

And you know what that's going to hurt in the long run? ...Sales of Guild Wars 2. ...Prices of yet another minipet.

Not everything has to be elite, super-hard and require either hours of grinding or deep insight into every nuance of every skill. If anything, the one change that would make it fun again is the reduction of the enemy aggro circle. Don't make them charge a player right from the get-go. Sure, let them cast attunements or forms or other passive/defense skills. But the circle... the bubble, doesn't need to be 100' wide. It's an advantage players can't have and an advantage "normal" NPC's shouldn't possess.

(I used 'normal' in regards to type, Magni and the other combatants aren't supernatural creatures, they're not Shiro or the Lich, tainted by a mad god's corruption, they're just humans [or humanoid].)

Put the hard stuff in Hard Mode and let the average players get back to doing this.

Personally, I had no trouble with the arena, and I'm not a very good solo build player either. Soloing most of the harder areas is beyond my skill level at this stage. So take it from me, this arena is not that difficult. Just keep trying.

"Norn arena is way overpowered" =======> UNTRUE

There is already a thread about how to kill Bison + players giving their build. I gave mine as well = an 100% pure W/either build. Please note that I dont consider myself as a Roxxxor I am a middle-class player.

If you have the ability to equip yourself with 4 weapons its even easier. I keep my AB set of 4 swords + 4 shields.....VS each damage....vs BLUNT damage is the one when fighting Bison.

the idea of pve 1vs1 fight is great....the design is poor.
u win more from exploits (usual trappin,spirit spammin) than skill.
and i dont understand why u should pay for entry :/

If you have trouble with Meloni, just wait till Avatar of Dwayan runs out.

any caster: go */rt, and load up with spirits.
warrior: go riposter with grenths
sin, derv, paragon: dunno
ranger: i hear trapping works

edit: in page 2, AP stated it's a bug with the healing. The thing is, you can use it to your advantage, but it's a bit tricky. If you lure your opponent to the *VERY* middle of the ring, they will be out of range of healing. Then if you stand closer to a side, you can get healed yourself.

I made my own build during the preview and it could take down each and every opponent without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately, it's a shutdown/degeneration build and it can't deal with audience members healing for 180 health a pop. (They do heal me as well.) I guess I'll wait for the bugfix before going after Zho.

Oh my, 100g per time? How on earth will you manage to earn that? Sounds like you are just lazy to me. What do you do, leave everything thats ever dropped for you lying on the ground where it falls?

It's supposed to be a rare minipet, not easily obtainable. I had to do the tournament over twenty times for Zho to spawn. Don't suppose you've ever tried to skill cap in Tyria with random boss spawns? Oh, and did I mention, it's a minipet? It's not like it actually DOES anything other than walk around and look cute. So um, why the frustration?

Sorry you can't beat the big bear. from the many people on here that have posted builds that have beaten him, and from all the monks I see walking around with Norn apparel on, it has been done.....a LOT. Hell, I was going with a guildie through Sorrow's to finish the Alkar(?) quest, after he took down Zho, TWICE, the previous hour. With a straight warrior. Man up, buttercup.

And complaining about 100g monopoly money? I earn more than that going from EotN to Gunnar's.

The Norn Arena is a fun challenge. I will try a build ...if I lose...adjust it and try again. I don't have a lot of trouble (so far) getting to bison. But it seems that the builds that are good against all the others don't work well against him for me and vice versa. (Ranger primary by the way)Time to /ponder builds.

I'm enjoying it immensely. In fact, in general, I'm finding eye of the north major fun.

OK... I just ran my "total kill" "any class can use it" "spirit spam" build for the Norn Fighting Tourney and was yet very successful again. Even though they rush you you can still instant kill Bison and the others. You can do this "Insta kill" and have them NOT near any spectator that heals. You have plenty of prep time and things die in 3 seconds or less. It does NOT matter if they rush you or not. It does not matter the class that uses the build, what matters is the all Ritualist skill build, and your offhand Items.

I don't understand people that hide their skillbar...

It's probably a standard Spirit Spam bar with Summon Spirits; If you summon all the spirits inside the starting area, you don't draw aggro. From there, you run through the door just enough to start the match, and cast Summon Spirits immediately, bring all the spirits through the door before it closes. Then you kick butt and win.
It's what I've been using, and based on the position of the spirits in the screenshot, I'm pretty sure it's the same deal. Even if all the spirits were cast in the exact same location, after using Summon Spirits, they end up arranged like that.
I'd imagine it's the same generic Pain, Bloodsong, Vampirism, Shadowsong, Agony, Dissonance, Offering of Spirit {E} bar otherwise.

The arena itself is fine, a good challenge. It's the healing spectators that royally piss me off sometimes; some battles are just not winnable because you're fighting someone who's continually being healed by players you can't touch.

Norn tournament is easy. Beaten it countless times with my warrior to finally have Zho to spawn after GWEN release (he didn't give his book in the GWEN event).
Have now an ugly crown and 2 old dwarf beer.

Hehe. Nice job Mercury. Way to own the "I'm blacking out my skill bar 'cause I'm l337" guy.

Sigh... I hate touch rangers lol. Everyone was saying how hard it is with rangers and sins, BTW I did run around until bear form wore off but I think I could have won without it.
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