The proposed changes to the PvP Arena rewards are finally here in the hopes of discouraging bot users.
The PvP Arena, or Emir’s Arena for the Al’Kharid citizens, is what Jagex has designed as a replacement for one of the most controversial pieces of PvP content in Old School RuneScape. The decision to remove the Duel Arena was partly because of the amount of OSRS GP that was laundered through it and its massive involvement in real-world trading of the so much desired OSRS gold. For some time, OSRS players have had to rely on other activities such as LMS, Castle Wars, PvP worlds, and the wilderness for some PvP fun. Thankfully, the wait seems to be coming close to an end as Jagex is announcing a new change to the rewards system for PvP Arena.
The Features
The arena will feature a controlled PvP environment where up to 64 players can test their skills at the same time. You will be able to try a bunch of different setups against players of a similar skill level as yours as the arena will have a ranking system to keep it fair and fun (stumping someone is no fun on either side of the coin). While getting OSRS GP as a direct result from the arena has always been a no-go meant to discourage the same bots that have infested LMS to infest the arena as well. If they don’t gain anything from it, they won’t ruin the fun for the actual players. But Jagex wanted to add more variety to spice up the PvP in Old School RuneScape without directly giving a monetary advantage in the form of OSRS Gold.
Regarding the Proposed Rewards
The main aim of the proposed rewards was to give a substantial downside to wearing the proposed armor sets. At the same time, the armors should not increase your max hit or damage bonus but should act as a way to increase your accuracy while sacrificing defense. Jagex also aims to make the PvP arena rewards fit into the current meta and not recreate the meta. As such, Jagex reworked the Calamity armors so that they will give you better stats without bonuses or special effects. At the same time, they’ll reward/punish you more for choosing the correct/incorrect style to use the combat triangle. Magic is weak against range and strong against melee, range is strong against magic and weak against melee, and melee is weak against magic and strong against range.
Abandoned Rewards
The Wristband and the Centurion Cuirass are two very controversial rewards from the PvP arena. This is because their stats are close to the OSRS items currently locked behind non-PvP content like the Recipe for Disaster quest (RFD) and the Barbarian Assault minigame (BA). Because of this controversy, Jagex has chosen to abandon the cuirass and modify the wristband completely.
Headwear
The rewards from the PvP arena are intended to only work against other players in PvP scenarios such as PvP minigames, the wilderness, or PvP worlds. You’ll be able to get one of the nine possible pieces of headgear, or if you’re both a PvPer and a collector, you could get all of them. But be aware they do have different requirements to wear. The melee version is the Maoma’s headgear with the med helm (1 defense, 70 strength to equip), full helm (40 defense, 70 strength), and great helm (70 strength and defense).
The range version is the Koriff’s headgear with the headband, cowl, and coif. You’ll need 70 range and 1, 40, or respectively 70 defense to wear them—finally, Saika’s headgear for magic with the hood, the veil, and the shroud. Similarly, you’ll need 70 magic and 1, 40, or 70 defense to equip these goodies.
The Calamity Armor
This convenient armor will allow you to swap your headpiece, similar to the Void armor. The Calamity armor covers the chest and legs slot and comes in three varieties. For all of them, you’ll need 70 strength, magic, and range plus various levels of defense. First, you’ll be able to get the calamity chest and breeches at one defense, then the Superior Calamity Chest and breeches with 40 defense, and finally, with 70 defense, the Elite Calamity chest, and breeches.
Fighter’s Wristwraps
This OSRS item fits the gloves slot and is the modified wristband version, but you’ll need to attach them to one of the various gloves you can buy from the Culinaromancer’s chest. You will have to at least partially complete RFD to use them. If you die wearing them, you’ll drop 100 thousand OSRS GP. They will add plus nine attack bonus to slash, stab, crush, and range plus 3 to magic while removing all the defensive stats. You’ll also be able to earn other rewards that can be helpful but won’t translate into direct OSRS Gold, such as imbue scrolls, sacks with runes for wave and surge spells, and a few pretty nicely designed ornaments.
