With the death of WSVG, Gameroit has stepped up to the plate as the possible provider of Arena tournaments.

Source: Introducing Gameriot WOW Tournaments from World of Ming | GAMERIOT

I personally like the idea a lot. Hopefully this will do away with the extraordinarily amount of idiotic disqualifications, as well as provide more opportunity for people to play. Those who couldn't afford the trip to a WSVG because they didn't have a sponsor won't have to worry about money this time around. I also like the idea of using your own UI. Mine is not heavily modified, but there are things I have done with it which I would be unable to do with the Blizzard default, such as enemy cast bars, Gladaitor, unit frames/bars.

I think 5v5 format is fine, but I believe it should be the top 3 teams from each BG. Also, I'm really curious as to how they're going to set this up on PTR. It would be much easier to do on a private server, especially if people decide to be assholes and queue up to mess up this thing (wouldn't be a surprise). I think that it could turn out to be quite a hassle. Other than that though it seems like an all around great idea to me.

Thoughts?

Without a dedicated server separate from the PTR and normal realms, I really don't see this happening (nor the acceptance of WoW as a legitimate E-Sport) for several reasons.

1.) Trying to organize a tournament on a PTR where anyone can queue up and potentially hinder your tournament from being run is a bad idea.

2. ) Trying to run a legitimate tournament taken seriously by the community, over the internet, is a bad idea. It's still far too easy to cheat, and it's nearly impossible for the organizers to be 100% certain that the person playing a given toon is who they are supposed to be. In its hey-day CAL was at least a feeder for the CPL, lending it legitimacy and the allure of real prizes, backed by a truly professional company. None of which Gameriot has right now.

3. ) The price for admission into a serious competition is simply too high. Any player of any other E-Sport can fire up their game and be capable of playing in a tournament from the get-go. Due to character development and gear acquisition, it takes a minimum of several months for a potential WoW player to even approach that point. The argument of skill development being a factor is a non-issue, since any game will require a significant investment of time to be competitive at the highest level. WoW requires several months of play before you can even start on top-tier skill development. Along with this is the gear differential present when you allow players to use their own characters rather than those provided by the tournament. Players with access to legendary items immediately have a leg-up on the competition. The last thing you want in a gaming tournament is an uneven playing field, which is what you're harboring by allowing the players to use whatever gear they can get their hands on -- until this becomes a legitimate sport with legitimate teams and salaries and corporate backing, a non-level playing field is a problem.

4. ) Ming is the spokesman for the tournament. They're going to need someone with more professionalism, and more respect from the WoW community to get it rolling. When you're trying to run a tournament that can easily be ruined by your detractors (of which there are many), you're setting yourself up for more trouble and a very tumultuous tournament at best.

I think the biggest problem is the fact that they would have to do this on PTR without the cooperation of Blizzard.

However, if they got their own private server they could design premade characters with PvP in mind. Also, they could possibly have spectators frapsing the tournament from inside the arena (I'm assuming GM powers could let you do something like this). Releasing streaming videos to Gameroit is something that would probably be pretty popular.

There are obvious flaws to this type of system, but I think that if enough effort gets put into this and it actually succeeds, then there could maybe be a future in eSports for WoW. I agree with you on the point of Ming hosting this being a bad idea. I would much rather see someone like Dahis who more or less blogs about things actually relevant as well as interesting in WoW.

I don't really like the idea of using your own characters, especially when legendaries and shadow resistance come into play. As far as the time put into it, I don't really think it would hinder anyone really serious about the tournaments. I know high end FPS and RTS players practice for hours on end, so why would WoW be any different?