The current PvP Arena is system is just faulty. It tries to turn the game into a pseudo-MOBA by attempting to equalize everyone to the same level and no equipment.
The problem is, this is an MMO game. The time invested, how much you levelled a character, and what equipment you wear MUST be part of the PvP experience. Yes, it’s meant to be unfair, because people who played more deserve to be better/stronger. That’s how MMOs work.
The whole concept of the current arena is faulty. It allows things such as Wugushi poisons that can kill anyone to work without restriction, but at the same time you’re not allowed to use dispellers/detox that would easily save you from being 1-shot. It nulifies a bunch of interesting mechanics in the game, such as building around elemental resistances to counter certain classes, or having multiple armor sets against different kinds of foes.
It’s impossible to build around certain mechanics that can only be attained with equipment, such as AoE Defense Ratio and Magical Defense/Tanking. You’re removing half of the game’s features and then wondering why everything is unbalanced and broken.
The current Arena has to be go. Completely removed. It just doesn’t work at a conceptual level. Match-like PvP should be party-queue only, have full access to gear, and be objective based. As for more casual, traditional PvP, just give players what everyone MMO has: An open access map that’s all PvP all the time, with no rules. Several access gates so people don’t get spawn killed.
As for the balance itself, some skills obviously need to work differently in PvP than they do in PvE. Instant 15 seconds Sleep from Wizard3, 15 seconds Stun from Quarrel Shooter3 without ANY sort of limiters, Cataphracts Impaling enemies and carrying them while keeping their absurd speed, impossible to resist knockdowns from Falconer Hovering. All of those things are balanced around PvE but totally unfair in PvP. Rather than nerfing them, they should just have different limiters and modifiers against player character. The half-freeze duration on Cryo skills was a step in the right direction, but you guys have to go much further.
Or else PvP just becomes a game of who can completely disable the other guy faster.