Snowball Arena!

^^ that's my best... my team ended up having to go

man this is fun

Rangers get a snowball variation of Barrage also.

The snowball arena is hilarious, Thank you, ANet.

Also, this is the best place to wear pumpkin hats and the candy cane weapons/sheilds. Armor/sheilds/weapons do absolutely nothing in the snowball arena.

Happy Wintersday!

You cant say yellow snow is useless and avalance is good, if you get hit by avalanche you use yellow snow and your cured so that way avalanche is useless

Pets are very useful in the arena, although friends that have Rangers couldn't get the pet to trigger and start attacking, while my W/R had no trouble getting the pet to start doing damage. I was consistently seeing my pet doing 40-50 damage. Very nice way to add some extra dps.

ok time to remove charm animal from snowball arena..

teams/ players are packing beastmastery and bringing pets... and spiking..

pets are hitting with enough damage to actually do an effective spike..

always someone working an angle..

the point was to have a total balanced "fun pvp"

not figure out a way to abuse it..

Very fun Arena, even though I really suck at it still. Great Christmass game.

...
now you did it

But what's up with all those people leaving in there, on my last party:
1 left at once
another left after about 1minute 30
the other left after 2 minutes

I mean, it's not about winning in there people! (ok, I do admit that winning is nice )

This is lots of fun! Thanks Anet! THis has added several more hours of fun to a game that has already provided hundreds.

I like the necro's suicide sacrifice. It is great for killing someone who thows up a snow fort.

So I said Cry instead of Blues..Same Effect.

From what I think:
Mesmers - are pretty useless, unlike most PvP. Their special sucks bad.

Monks.. - also not as useful unlike most PvP. Their special...doesnt even compensate for the necro special..

Warriors - Very useful. Their shout can make them run, but also charges their Mega Snowball - so their good interupts.

Ele - Very Useful. Not so much for present running, but on defense. their slowing ice is almost as useful of Dwayna special.

Necros - useful. Since Death means nothing, your even auto rezzed THAT SECOND with no penalty, saccing 100% isnt all that bad of a cost. The dmg can hurt them, and accurate placement of the wells has won matchs..

Rangers - By far the best and most overused here. Firstly, they get Flurry of Ice, which is basically another spammable snowball like Snowball (most of the other specials have costs or long recharges), so their DPS is high. but more important..Their pets can come. Pets can divert the enemies attention (focusing on killing pet), or act as an effective "sheild" in the small map..I've dropped presents plenty of time and been able to pick up because my pet was behind me, blocking people from getting into melee range.

As for Team Spells:

The condition caused by Yellow Snow doesnt last long enough for anything really, Yellow Snow is basically a cure for the cripple of Dwayna's special. PROBLEM IS: YOu'd only need to cure it if your present running, and if your present running..you dont have the 2 or so secs it takes to cast yellow snow..You'll be mega balled again..or worse..before you even finish casting it.

Now for spell to spell on the "all people" spells.

Snowball - Everyone will spam this. Its the only real spammable attack for some classes.

Mega Ball - Saved for Present Runners, free stop and chance to grab present

Down Shirt - The melee range person chasing the present runner will put this on, so if they try to do anything funny they'll be interupted. Also good for counter-defense, if your team is runing the present, put it on the people that rare chasing them.

Hidden rock - Your basically going to prep with this anytime you are getting rdy to hit someone - unless your spiking them with multiple hits to kill them (then dont waste the time).

Ice Fort - For gods sake stop spamming this people..This is only for a defensive stance, if you are getting rdy to die and its not a critical situation - DONT WASTE THIS - you are just going to be rezed right back. A good place would be if your getting spiked and your the defender for the present runner and he is nearing your base.

Mmm...Snowcone - This should only be wasted up in ONE SITUATION - You are the present runner and your nearing the avatar - it gives that little time you need to get there...Otherwise JUST DIE PEOPLE - Its not important eonugh to waste this (the recharge is horribly long DONT WASTE IT).

Personally, as a PvE player I was drawn out by the Snowball Arena to jump into a PvP fight and then some Primarily because it would be hilarious fun, but also because it was a less "serious" PvP than the regular arenas. Now I've had a taste of it, I might brave the regular arenas!

I forget how many I won in a row. I personally got sick of it, since the only time I won is when I was the one doing the present running, since everyone easily got caught up on a single runner and forgot about the other presents spawning everywhere.

I often wish I could just play a regular match rather than screwing with trying to accurately click the mouse on a tiny present icon before someone else does. I feel sorry for people that don't know how to use the Alt key.

The skillsets allow for some surprisingly tactical, fun gameplay. The huge advantage Dwayna has wouldn't be there if it was pure combat. Good fun, I hope it stays around for a long while, one way or another. I'll be sad to see it go, whether or not it stays as a relic run map.

I've had a blast with this arena. It's fun and easy to play, and great if you can get some teamwork going. I had a few 5+ runs where another warrior or I would call out where the presents were and buff whoever got there first with "Let's Get 'Em". Also funny to walk around in there naked, unless you have pets nipping at your rear.

How can one bring charm animal into the snowball fight? That aint possible...

Also PERFECT INTERRUPT COMBO FOR RANGERS---

Snow Down the Shirt+Flurry Spam-since flurry has no reload the opponent wont b able to throw a single snowball, make a single prep, or anything, the only thing they could do is heal with snowcone or buff with lets get em cuz they have no cast time...

OMG i luv it when a noob tries to kill me cuz i'm protecting the runner and i do this combo on them...they keep attacking even after seeing every one of their shots is screwed-hehehehehe

YES! That what I do! With that combo, nobody can take on a Ranger one-on-one(my victims only start to run away after the fourth or fifth time in a row I interrupt them ). I can see the crys for nerf now.

thanks anet! snowball fights are a real blast. i hope they stay around all year long =) it would be sad for them to spend so much effort only to have it end with the holidays.

i've had the good fortune to end up on mostly good teams w/ intelligent players. our best was 14 before we all had to go. our last team just gave up on us hehe.



i love weilding my candy cane sword and shield and running around barefoot in the snow! my mesmer chooses to mesmerize by running around naked hehe.

about pets, you don't have to be a ranger to bring a pet. just have charm animal skilled before you go in, and make sure you got a pet to bring. uh oh.. i can see it now.. every team w/ 4 pets.
oh, and to attack w/ your pet, just hit spacebar like in the regular game.

here's my breakdown of the class only skills (skill #6 in the bar) as i see them:

warrior: let's get them - a skill like charge elite, has aoe effect for running

ranger: snow flurry - a skill similar to barrage elite, hits up to 4 targets at once

ele: icicles (i think) - similar to water ele hexes, slows target to 66% of speed

necro: holiday blues - a skill combo of death nova, degen wells and hp sacrifice, 45 sec of -15 degen, good for slow or defending targets at the cost of your own life =) good to use it you're almost dead anyway hehe

mesmer: snow blizzard (i think?) - interrupt/blind combo will interrupt target and blind them for 10 sec. i think it needs fixing as the blinding didn't work at all when my mes used it. i mean the enemy is "throwing" snowballs after all, they should miss. although someone has stated they are spells and not attacks... i see it as a bug.

monk: ice breaker - a skill combo of healing breeze/shield of judgement, great for regen and prot. gives ally +5 regen and for 10 sec any enemy attacking will be knocked down. i always throw this on the person carrying the present, and it's so funny to watch hte enemy get knocked down. they can't grab the present when they're knocked down, so my teammate can just grab it again. it's almost as funny as watching idiot teammates die from smites after telling them over and over, don't wand/staff/sword the smites thru soj.


although dyawna's skills are easier to use for inexperienced players getting accustomed the arena, any good team of good players should be fine on either side. greneth's yellow snow takes a bit more thought and timing (use it to remove annoying hexes). ice fort is useful, but i see a lot of people moving as soon as they cast it.. i don't know what the point of that is. but nothing is funnier than watching the enemy team chase the present carrier as 2 others are fortified and killing the oncoming enemy =)

snow arena is great for when you just want some laid back pvp style fun.
you get a dwayna's winter gift for each win, and a greneth exploding gift for each loss =)

The only problem I've had so far is that the warriors don't even bother running for the presents or help out the runner since they have the speed boost skill. My 2nd team was like a pro at this but after that it went down hill for me.

I love "LETS GET 'EM" always use it to help me and my allys run presents to the little children or to the imps to DESTOY .

I had my first experience with PvP tonight in the Snowball arena, ignoring the plaintive cries of my significant other, the presents that still needed to be wrapped and a phone call from my mother (I think I'm in a bit of trouble over that one).

It was blast, my team won five matches in a row. Darn family gatherings! I don't know when I'll be able to play tomorrow.

How can anyone think that Yellow Snow is useless or that Avalance is so much better? If you're crippled by Avalance, use Yellow Snow and *poof* you're no longer crippled. Yellow Snow is pretty much the counter to Avalance.

People really need to learn to read skills more carefully. Many have more than the obvious use.

I like Yellow Snow for that counter reason, but I prefer to use that Rock prep. *Knockdown* *Steal Gift* *Run like crazy!*

got 8 in a row earlier, if you saw a group spamming something about Candy Cane Warriors or some such, I was the one shouting "Gaze upon us and DESPAIR!"

Heh, good times, I hope this arena sticks around for a bit ^_^

Yep, same here. I had played PVP only once back when I first started playing the game, but I got stomped upon and decided it wasn't any fun . But last night I went into the snowballfight arenas and I had a blast! (Won a lot, too, so I got me some neat presents.)

Warriors with "Let's Get 'Em!": you rock, especially when you use it on a present runner.

Opposing teams: don't start bragging about your twelve consecutive wins before the match starts, because we will flatten you 5 - 0 . Brag afterwards.

I do wish Rangers weren't allowed to bring pets; one of my teams had one drop-out prior to the start of the match, so it was effectively five against three.

Heh heh.

This arena in itself is a great idea... however mixed in with the "we must take everything seriously, yes even a snowball fight" community we have its a horrible place, never before have i heard so many people argue and fight during a snowball fight... Guild Wars has single handedly killed all my snowball fighting spirit, GW community strikes again... I wish more people were able to have a little fun every now and again and did not have a care in the world about winning every match.

snowball arena was really awsome the first few hours, but now im burned out and its boring as hell, i blame all the caffeine i drink