At first certainly. But I don't think on the long run... unless the allowed number of players will be a surprising high one. In the long run, players are looking for big numbers and gameplay on a large scale, the numbers of LWO vs LWB testify for that.
IMHO the really large arena aspect of AH was always one of it's greatest strengths, putting the massive into MMO.
Of course, when it's new, the shiny will be on it and people will go to check it out. It's gonna be running at capacity for the first week or so for sure.
I agree with your points, Lusche. However, I'm going to present a slightly different interpretation. Your interpretation is the one I hope for, the one I'm about to present is the one I fear. You've been around a lot longer than me, maybe you know a bit better what motivates the general playerbase based on what's gone before. I'm making some assumptions on how it's going to work here, but nothing too outlandish I think.
People head for the arena with numbers. The reason they fill up an arena is they're looking to get into a fight quickly, it's easier to do when there's numbers. Based on a lot of the board reading I've done the last little while, there's a decent number of people who want small, controllable fights. 1v1, 3v3, 5v5 type stuff.
If I'm a duelist, am I going to want to log into a populated arena, or am I going to want to log into a player arena where <insert big name player name here> is looking for a 1v1? Or if I'm into small scale squad fights, am I going to grab a squaddie or two and head over to fight where <insert big name squad here> is looking for some 3v3 action?
Or am I going to want to log into a 16v16 or 32v32 server that's using that new supercool map inside the caves with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere to get in the way that some guy made for small scale fights? (c'mon map builders, you know it's a good idea)
etc etc.
I've seen some of the racing maps people have set up. I'm really, really looking forward to that now and again, it looks like a blast and a nice change of pace from time to time.
I'm just afraid that people will go looking for their 'bite sized fights' in the player arenas and if there are enough that have that mentality instead of the desire to seek unpredictability in an open arena, the open arenas will become a ghost town.
Really depends how they set it up. A lot of people are used to the idea of 16v16 or 32v32 being the norm due to a lot of other online games like Halo, Counterstrike, and stuff in that vein. It might be a more familiar, more palatable thing for them to use. I'm worried the mentality that 'the only place to find a good clean (no HOs, no picking, yadda yadda yadda) fight is in the player arenas' will become the norm, regardless of whether it's true or not.
Now, the utopian vision is for the people who want fair fights to go to the player arenas and still leave enough people in the open arenas that are actually looking for unpredictable fights that the whining will stop completely.
...I have my doubts this will come to pass.
Wiley.