The arena thing is great and all but in order not to destroy the economy, it has to only be accessible during PvP events (pvp tournaments etc.). It can't be something players have unlimited access to.

I asked cinco about this a while back and he said its a good idea but problems that need to be ironed out include:
1. Class imbalance
2. What stats (granted by the free gears) would be considered 'fair' for each class