Do you honestly believe the "forum warriors" will actually back up their claims of Uber-l33t-ness in these arenas?
The whole idea of arena fighting, a test of player skill and strategy if you will, is pointless unless there is a specific cap on item properties, or you can only duel with basic weapons and armour. Fighting someone "richer" or "poorer" when it comes to item properties is no challenge. All that becomes apparent is how much better kitted out a player is, or can afford to be.
PvP in UO is a joke now. Is it any wonder that this side of the game is so sparsely populated these days? Those claiming UO has "the best" PvP in an MMO are sorely mistaken, whilst they also prance around in their shiny outfits.
This is coming from someone who's main focus of play wasn't particularly PvP, but who lost interest when the game became item-centric and any form of skill or balance flew out the window.
So sure, they look nice and are well presented, but the current game mechanics don't really lend themselves to anything particularly skilled coming from them.