I got BDO in 2016 and played it off and on for a few years, only to finally pick it up as my "main" game for the past 2-3 years. Since then I've invested hundreds of hours and roughly a $1-2k on various things during sales, mostly permanent things like tent, weight (multiple characters until I settled on a couple mains), inventory (multiple characters), outfits (that I use, not melt), pets, and value pack/kama blessing/old moon book. I've never spent real money for enhancing but made quite a bit of progress with my gear that I never expected to reach. I have two PEN Blackstars and I managed to grind out the infinite potions before the pity piece update so I have the fancy title and ancient potions which I felt was kinda cool.

All of this time and money was invested with the thought that once I get high enough gear I can participate in this awesome looking PvP, which I did get to dabble in on Season Arsha a fair amount, and also admittedly enjoyed, but I never considered it the "real" experience. Finally today I get to play BDO's PvP in the most equalized and balanced manner it can possibly be experienced and needless to say it hasn't been a good experience. I've only managed to win a single game and it was a match where the other team had a Shai and my team had a level 65 Ranger vs their 61-63 players. For whatever it's worth I've been playing awakening Nova, which feels pretty garbage with how her Accel mechanic works and the fact that you don't start the match with a full bar, leaving me feeling like I'm playing 75% of a class for the first chunk of every match.

I also had managed to get some friends interested in BDO prior to the Arena of Solare patch because they were always put off by the grinding aspect of the game so this was my chance to actually maybe get them interested in the game and have us play together. Right off the bat we can't actually play together, disappointing but not entirely surprising. However, they personally weren't impressed with the PvP either and felt like it was impossible to tell what was going on and didn't enjoy being killed almost immediately without being able to do anything to fight back. Between my own personal experience and everything my friends were saying I feel like maybe I've just been a complete dumbass this whole time and all the time and money I've sunk into the game was foolish. It's gotten me pretty down and depressed honestly because this was like THE game for me. I really loved the time I'd spent developing my character over these past few years and I loved exploring the world, loved the fast paced action combat, loved how much I could customize my character's appearances to be just the way I wanted them.

I don't really have time to play any more games tonight before I have to get ready for bed and go to work but the whole thing has me pretty depressed and questioning whether I should continue investing myself into this game. I've put so much of my focus into this, at least as far as my time spent playing video games goes, that I'm not sure what I'd even fill it with. I plan to try playing the Arena more when I get a chance but I'm not feeling optimistic about it anymore. I don't like to make a huge post whining like this, it feels pretty embarrassing for me but I'm gonna do it anyway. Hoping someone can maybe help change my perspective.

Kinda funny they managed to create a mode which is more AIDS than regular PvP XD

This is where you start to see the damage difference between the classes.

My Succ Valk can't 1,2 or 3 combo anyone there is just no damage. With the bug currently no healing works or pots so everything that is usefull with the Valk is pointless.

Get CC by an ninja and almost 1 combo'd.

Musa,Tamer,zerker,ninja, drak all do a massive amount of damage basically all the OP FOTUM classes are top dog in solair.

Again the class balance is a major issue and this disparity between classes only stacks and gets worse the higher gear you get. Why do you think node war and siege are such a shit show even at 710gs if your not playing a OP class you are simply content for other players.

Your points are valid and unfortunately I don't see PA taking any interest in this forum,these discussions or anything serious. It's almost a waste of time for me to type this out and I have WAAAY more time and RL cash into BDO than you.

They just are not interested in the long term player they are only interested in new players that can purchase everything or they would actively listen to veteran players.

Anyway, the problem is : what type of balance could we get from this arena, as the stats are artificially tweaked while playing in it?

I mean, equalizing gear, putting some stats at +5, hp/mp regen equivalent to a cheer 5, OK.

But other stats reduced, guard jauge equalized? And on classes that can work really differently, depending on their gear, and that can be underwhelming with this level of gear? 

Anyway, the problem is : what type of balance could we get from this arena, as the stats are artificially tweaked while playing in it?

I mean, equalizing gear, putting some stats at +5, hp/mp regen equivalent to a cheer 5, OK.

But other stats reduced, guard jauge equalized? And on classes that can work really differently, depending on their gear, and that can be underwhelming with this level of gear? 

Shai self buffs dont seem to work even after hotfix on AOS, nor heals.
One player believed a buff connected but none ever appear on hotbar.

So as-is shai is once again left out.

I always find it funny how BDO is a PvX game that leans decidedly PvP for endgame; is a game that has no raids to design, dungeons to balance, etc... and yet said PvP is a complete, almost unmanageable cluster that incorporates all the worst and most abused mechanics from other MMORPGs, and has never been even remotely balanced or fair. 

PA would argue that the current event showcases their flagship activity. I counter by saying "erm, are you sure you want to draw attention to that?"