Why Do People Play in Arena Tournaments, Rather Than Swiss?

For a 10|0 or 15|10 Swiss tournament, you might have to wait several minutes between rounds for the next game.

I'm really starting to hate arena. Fast games is fun, but the pairing is ridiculous.

The person who won the last Arena I was in had twelve games in a row with players who were lower rated then them. I checked his game archive.

I recall Danny Rensch explaining how Arenas work differently than standard tournaments, stating that it's not about how many wins you get, it's about how many wins you get in a row. But realistically, when you could get paired with *anyone* in the Arena, from 400-2000, it's really about who you get paired with.

I wondered for a while why higher rated players weren't winning more tournaments. i figure they were statistically more likely to come across lowered rated players, because there were many more lower rated players than higher rated players. But it doesn't matter. As soon as you get paired with anyone close to your rating or above, and you lose, your streak is over and you don't get as many points. So while these higher rated players were probably winning quite a few games, the medals wound up going to those middle rated players who coincidentally were paired with lower rated players consistently.

Arena sucks!

There is no point weight in arena, so if you win 12 games against lower players, you'll get full points for each win.

Assuming a 12 round arena tournament:

Player one wins 12 games against lower rated opponents.

Player two manages to win 6 games against higher level players and loses the 7th game, but win the next 5 games, he will lose the tounament, regardless of the remaining opponents ratings.

I agree that Arena has some advantages, but I think they need to tweak either the point system, or the pairing system to make it more fair. They could even give out medals in different ratings categories to that more people have a chance at winning something and are more motivated to play their best.

Problem still exists three years later. Pairings are so absolutely weighted that you can consistently lose the overall tournaments standing to much lower rated players. What's the point of calling it a tournament if it's not even fair? Screw players sensibilities. Tournaments are supposed to be more ruthless and balancing like this is trash design.

Too much trying to appeal to the masses here. What a massive disappointment. 

What's the difference between swiss and arena tournaments?

There are a couple of major differences.

In a Swiss event, you have to wait for each round to complete to get paired in a new game. In Arena, you get paired shortly after hitting Next Game

Pairings in Swiss events are done via score groups and rating order (top half of a score group plays bottom half) and Arenas pair closer to your rating, regardless of scores.

does swiss still give league points

Yes

hate arena