User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Episode 169: Wendy vs. Chelia, Review/@comment-121.54.8.130-20130218044138

if you noticed, the battles from the previous Fairy Tail arcs are more epic than the Grand Magic Games battle. This is because in the past arcs, they were against dark guilds where their lives are on the line. The grand magic games arc is mainly a competition of magic where official guilds participate.