Tavern Contracts less monotonous.

It'll be nice if the tavern fights were not just fights and a random chance to get a reward. Perhaps adding one more step before the fight would be interesting.

For example, a attribute roll that if failed will give a penalty during the battle. I think I once saw one quest saying that there were traps around the area and stuff. If I use that as an example, it will be something like this.

"Your gladiator approaches the thug's den.
*Dexterity Roll*
Your gladiator triggers a tripwire and darts fire out from the walls.
.
.
.

So your gladiator has to fight the battle with let's say... a bleeding wound from the very beginning.

The scenarios are endless. Your gladiator gets knocked down by swinging log trap and begins the fight prone or maybe even finds a bonus chest at the end which requires intelligence to unlock.

I believe this makes the tavern battles a bit more exciting as the outcomes will begin to vary more.

What do you guys think?

I like the thought, but the idea of a trap really just sounds like a free attack against your gladiator at the beginning of the battle with a bit of fluff. It's not going to make much of a difference when we fight 40 of them per day and no one really pays attention anyway since they're almost guaranteed wins (unless you're rage).

I'd rather see contracts spiced up in a different way. Maybe more of a choice in what contracts to do?
examples:
*A "mega-contract" could be taken, using up all 5 of your daily contract options, giving less overall xp but a greater chance at a rare item.
*Dangerous contracts could be offered, which are more difficult by offer greater rewards. Death is allowed
*Simple contracts which do not require any combat, provide small xp and large gold return, etc.

i quite sythion's idea. choice = good

I guess the 'achievement system', as announced a couple days ago by Nate, will remove this monotony. Hopefully we will be having dungeons, castles and ruins to explore, which would offer linked and timed quests which would be rather strategic to choose as against the present-day 'click-n-win' tavern contracts.
More fun could be when the quests require us to encounter each other at times, during their exploration, rather then fighting only NPCs!

I'm guessing the achievement system is going to be more focused on rewarding players for specific tasks completed, such as a certain# of wins in the arena, etc. Could be wrong. I think the PvE stuff is going to be a seperate system which is still in the works.

But yeah, it would be cool to run into each other sometimes, especially if there's a risk of death/injury.
Oh &#@# it's a Recycler!

I personally would like a do all available work contracts button. I never read my tavern stuff anymore, and all achievements will eventually be completed on a random basis, just give it time. Anything to make it less tedious to play many gladiators.