What is the time table for when the Arena Gear 2.0 is supposed to come out? I want to know whether I should save my points or pick up more gear next recalculation.

Can't seem to find any information posted anywhere. :[

There is no timetable, we currently have to plan our gear with zero information.

I believe a gm somewhere said they would announce 1 month before the season ends, although I dont hold there word on that im pretty sure the season end wont be before patch 2.1. Luckily im making 1.4k points a week so not much planning required for me but I still find it quite annoying they havent announced a date.

I heared rumors like that too, but they only concerned the end of the season. But I am not so sure if season 2 will bring arena gear 2.

I think it would be kind of bogus if they allowed Season 1 points to buy Season 2 gear.

I think that will almost certainly be allowed. That's why they let you store up to 5k points.

The reason it seems kind of bad, in my eyes, is that it basically gives a huge advantage to teams that are already doing well, and means that new players/characters joining subsequent Seasons will be squashed almost immediately.

If there's no "stop" point to the seasons there isn't a lot of point to them at all. In sports, a team that won 100% of its games the previous year doesn't automatically make it to the World Series (etc) the next season. Moreover, the WORST performing teams get the top draft picks, not the best teams.

There is a reason these teams are doing well, and it was not because they had a gear advantage 3 months ago when it started. So I don't really see the problem

And Nihlim and other top raiding guilds will not progress through black temple and Hyjal faster because of their massive gear advantage?

You are not competing against other players in PvE.

Hey, it's Blizzard's game and I understand the desire for loot, but from my position as a bit of an also-ran in both PvE and PvP, it seems kind of demoralizing to realize that I'm starting off in the back of the pack even at the beginning of a new season.

The "seasons" in other Blizzard games like WC3, Starcraft, and Diablo all don't have carry-overs from previous seasons...

Of course you're in direct competition with other players in PVE. Do you not think that the #1 position on a server gives you a serious recruiting advantage?

The point to season is for people to progress to the regional tournaments, award netherdrakes, etc. The problem with the idea of "resets" is this. Let's say you're a 1700 team. You've been working all season but 1700 is your limit. Let's say 1700 gives 500 arena points a week.

Now we reset everyone back to 1500. Now you have to play 2000+ rating teams, who are clearly out of your league, but you lose points as though they were a true 1500 rating. Now this knocks you down to 1300 rating for the first 2-3 weeks until these teams stratify themselves again, thus for 2-3 weeks you only got 200 arena points instead of 500. And now you have to slowly progress back up to the rating you were at last season. Does it still seem like a good idea to reset the ladder?

You can start season 2 at 1500, drop to 1300 over 2 weeks while the teams stratify and then start a new team and be at 1500 again. It's not great, but there's really no "working your way up" if you're below 1500.

We certainly won't get Arena 2 gear before 2.1.0 is released... and the date of that release is a huge question mark (2 weeks - 3 months?). Not having any particular Arena skill or willingness to respec weekly, I'm at ~1450 on a 2v2 team, so I can just save my points forever (new gear will almost certainly be released before I hit the cap). I don't think it's safe to say that the gear will be a minor upgrade. Looking at the Hyjal/BT gear, I think the new shield will be 1k+ more armor.

I also wonder about upgrading PvP epic cloak, neck, trinket, bracers, boots, and belt. Should we save our points here? I don't think Blizzard's community managers have given any reason for us to think they'll be buffed; however, since they're currently the fill-in slots for Arena gear, maybe it'll happen.

As someone just getting into the PvP scene I was wondering this myself. I've been stockpiling a good amount of honor to pick up the accessories and various non-arena slot rewards for when 2.1 lands. But now I'm thinking about just waiting to see if those items get a replacement next season too. Has anyone heard anything about this?

This is a thought... I suppose we don't have any gear found anywhere to compare it to, but I was thinking that given the PvE gear comparison, ie: Vashj's Fang vs. Malchazeen, we may well see daggers from arena that are ~92dps. An extra 5 dps and a stat point here and there is enough for me to want to wait one or two extra weeks to turn in my points. If it's going to be a couple months, though, I don't think I'll want to wait to get my offhand dagger. :]

Is 5k the cap? I thought I recalled them saying it would be twice the most expensive item, which would put it at 7500 using the cost of 2h weapons. Or was that for honor points not arena points?

That was honor Zrak, the cap there is 75k

It's a 5,000 cap and they said they'll announce the end of the season one month in advance, will have to see if i can dig up the post.

So it's safe to say we have at least one month until the next season, if they announce the change tomorrow?

Assuming they don't go back on what was said before yes, heres the original post http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...93969679&sid=1

Additionally, you'll have to consider the possibility S2 gear will first require the purchase of S1 gear. They can't increase the cost indefinitely or they will eventually have to change to formula by which you earn points or even the high ranked teams will be unable to purchase a piece. Check out these seemingly incompatible goals the designers will have to deal with:

1. Arena gear should be a reward, not the absolute arbiter of winners and losers in a given match. This statement was never explicitly made, but with the kind of "fairness" we are seeing at every level of Arena play, I think they want to make it possible for a group of new players to compete with the big boys if they are very, very good.

2. Arena gear needs to increase in effectiveness every season and still be less desirable than PvE gear for PvE encounters. It needs to increase both because they said it will, and also to entice the hardcore PvPers to continue to play. Or they have to keep the gear static but let them earn some other rewards - free flasks/enchantments/gems, a faction/serverwide buff for their friends for getting in the top 5, a huge exp buff to alt characters, access to otherwise difficult to access parts of the game (i.e., free and/or temporary attunement to some dungeons). It doesn't have to be the top five teams either, how about winning 3/5/10 in a row? How about beating a team that was way higher than you?