Pardon my bad english spelling.
krattos ,youre idea sounds ok for those who don't think in a bigger perspective , lets say if I was a captive/Slave id just go offline if they wanted me to do something ,and in effect destroying their event/bragging riths and just w8 for those 2 days to be set free besids why would I want to demene myself by beaing their captive some of us have oure pride, Or go play an alt.So that Idea is down the drain.
My Idea of an Arena is completely diffreant its elaborate yes ,but simple at the same time.
Ok Big cities have arenas and matches are instanced, w8 w8 don't get upset here ,its to alow more then one match to play oute at the same time
and not make players w8 "in que" to fight.I imagine things like these thers thes big place(an arena ofc) and a gate and a NPC next to it sitting behind a desk ,if you want to fight in the arena (solo or as a team) you click on him and set youreslf to fight vs a random team/player or a set premade match or set youreself "w8ting for a chalanger", you are then free to walk araund while you w8 for the que to pop up ,if you leave the city area during que youre que gets canceld(to prevent travel exploits).
Wen it pops up you get the name of youre chalanger or/a the persion you are randomly selected to fight you acsept or decly, then you get ported in to the cage(loading scren since its instanced) and get 8min , yes 8min till the fight starts ,the reson is as following, to set youre gear/wep etc.
Now if youre a spectaitor or want to watch/bet you go to teh arena wer the gates are and you click on the gates and a scren pops up on the arena matches like : in progres ,ended and in preperation(yes the 8min w8ting time befor the match starts). You enter the "in preperation" matches a timer pops up untill the match starts so you see how much time you have to bet ,well you anter thrue the gate(loading) you see a nps who takes youre bet and who and how much and then you move up to the stands to w8 and watch wen the fights ower you have lets say 4min to go back to the beting npc to pik up the money till the instanc resets in witch case you get ported outside (and lose any money you mith have won).
If you click on the "in progres" (Ofc you see the names of the players fighting in that match) you can still enter those and watch them but cant bet on them since they alredy started.
Ofc the set of minor rules are likerandom matches sets players of similar skill lvl against each other,no colour marking if you kill a player in arena and no pvp on the stands ,we wouldn't want an angry mob killing each other ower the lose of their champion
Some matches would be announced in the open infront of the arena to alert the players that they can bet on an upcoming match.
Aswell the match making NPC would have an option for the training ring wer you'd fight against creatures and if you win you get some money oute of it aswell if you win an arena match ,but not so much as to be exploited to farm money.
Guilds could have their own arena and their own events and rules for them ,like "BG" arena events ,thes idea requiers more time will come back to that.
OK, NEXT
The AH marketing thing, yes AHs in conventioal MMOs are boring hard preset and for me persionaly anoying.
Id propose that a more fun AH system is set like you throw youre "junk" to thes Buyer NPC in a market aeria you set youre price like in a usual AH, but then the stuff gets divided amongs the npcs in the market to defined traders like : SwordsMerchant , Apothecary ,etc and if you want to buy something you go to those npcs. And if something you gave to the AH npc gets sold you get a sertain % of the money deliverd to you in the mail. Thes system is ment for thoe who don't want to showt all day to sell something or sit in the corner like a hobo with some stuff to sell.
Ofc Id add a "store" system aswell for those who like to buy sell buy sell and so on, id advise that guilds do that and no to any solo individuals.
You "rent" a store wer you have a NPC selling youre still similaur to a convential AH only that you don't bargain with it only Buy/sell ,the prices are controled via a ledgebook in the store witch is controled by the player curently owning the store ,prefer if more ppl regulate that(a guild) ,you rent the store becous if you stop paying the rent then another player can take ower.You can name youre own store and advertise it via a chate system.
Also something to add the things you just sell at the regular price to various NPC traders are also given to the varisous traders in varisou markets in the game but thes items disapear from inventory of the NPC trader and the selling player doesn't recive any money if the item is bought by another player.