Arena Tournament announced

thevidon · 02/14/08, 8:45 PM

Big news. I am incredibly excited.

We have some exciting news to share with the world’s most skilled Arena System combatants. This year’s regional World of Warcraft Arena Tournaments will feature two sets of qualification rounds played out on special tournament realms in each region. These rounds will culminate in live regional and world finals events, with a mooncloth bag’s worth of cash up for grabs…to the tune of a total prize package of more than $200,000.

If you have (or are able to form) a formidable 3v3 Arena team, and you’re not allergic to cash, then we recommend you check out the full announcement (Blizzard Entertainment - Press Release) and FAQ (WoW -> PvP -> 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament FAQ) for further details.

This tournament will be on special servers with instant 70's (3 allowed per person). All gear, gems and enchants will be provided. This tournament will be about skill only - what a great idea!

Lookit · 02/14/08, 9:03 PM

Very cool. $20 to gain access to the Arena servers, where you can create up to 3 level 70 premade characters with access to any arena gear, any enchant, unlimited gold, and a selection of raid gear. $75,000 to the champs, $15,000 to each regional champ.

I'm a bit surprised by the decision to go with 3v3 instead of 5v5, as they've always hinted that they primarily balance classes around the 5v5 format. Perhaps they felt 3v3 works a little better as a spectator sport, with the action a little easier to follow.

crimsonsentinel · 02/14/08, 10:39 PM

This is exactly what the people wanted. I have high hopes for this tournament. I hope they have some form of spectator mode especially for the regional/world finals.

Colan · 02/14/08, 11:08 PM

"No, the tournament realm and the tournament itself are completely separate from the Arena seasons. Players who wish to compete in the Arena seasons for the coveted in-game prizes can continue do so as normal. The World of Warcraft Arena Tournament and the dedicated tournament realms are primarily intended for professional-level players seeking to prove their skills against the best teams in the world and compete for cash prizes."

Wow that is FANTASTIC! Finally there's a pvp realm, I just hope it doesn't turn out like the PTR

and I'm unsuprised that they went with 3v3, it's a much easier bracket to follow than 5v5 and in my opinion it's much more balanced. 3v3 has so many more playable combos for higher end than 5v5.

Also: Anybody know if you are able to make a 2v2/5v5 team on the realm for non tournament play? The FAQ does imply that we'll only be allowed to play 3v3, but it also says that the tournament is exclusively 3v3 not the entire realm.

Psychodays · 02/14/08, 11:53 PM

Looks like a good idea. I couldn't imaging a better way to create an environment for high end arena. If only blizzard can come up with a way to generate video replays of matches.

$20 though..
That doesn't seem like the correct deterrent to restrict the server to the serious competitive players. I would pay $20 right now just to go mess around with fully customizable epic'd characters!

♦ Kurisu · 02/15/08, 12:12 AM

I think the cost is to get around the laws that caused state/country issues last time, since they are paying to compete it wouldn't be considered gambling and they basically wanted a small but accessible cost.

Hellcry · 02/15/08, 1:08 AM

Im shocked. Never thought they would go through with it. Was tempted to relvl for arena and made a half assed attempt but gave up, the honorgrind would have killed me anyways.

For the future maybe we might even see some differences in spells/talents/racials etc. between live and arena realms (ie fixing PvP without breaking PvE).

This tournament solves alot of Arena-issues, just hope it wont just be this one time but something atleast semi-permanent.

From a business standpoint this is brilliant aswell, alot of ppl who got bored no longer have their original accs and might buy a battlechest+tournament fee just for this. I know me and alot of my (wow)friends will reactivate our accounts.

Grunge · 02/15/08, 2:27 AM

So... 3v3. Without class limits. I mean didn't they learn anything from Dreamhack?
How hard would it be to make it a 5 players/1 class per player. Would limit countercomping QUITE a bit.

syeren · 02/15/08, 8:49 AM

A Counter-comp fest, sure sounds like fun :/ At least they're making progress I guess.

Pallypoeper · 02/15/08, 8:55 AM

Originally Posted by Grunge

So... 3v3. Without class limits. I mean didn't they learn anything from Dreamhack?
How hard would it be to make it a 5 players/1 class per player. Would limit countercomping QUITE a bit.

You're saying everyone will create an countersetup for the team they get pwnd by?

Deris · 02/15/08, 10:11 AM

Yea thats what happens when you allow everyone on a team 2 toons. Run with Druid/Lock/War, and Priest/Mage/Rogue, and swap it up from there. Counter-comp ahoy. Then it becomes to who has created a Counter Comp for all of the Counter comps. Not very fun.

Pallypoeper · 02/15/08, 10:40 AM

Hmm sounds very crappy.. anyway, is this competition for US only? Or also for europe?

Aadar · 02/15/08, 11:56 AM

Expect pvp talents and gear to be tuned around 3v3 in the future. It will be much easier to ensure that one type of team (PMR for instance) doesnt dominate if they just tune the classes for 3v3. I mean it would be a bit dull if 80% of the teams were one combo, and the other 20% some sort of anti for that combo.

fractaled · 02/15/08, 12:00 PM

Sounds pretty good.

I wonder if you have to have an active (non-Arena) subscription to play though. 20$ per 6-week qualifier is pretty close to 15$/month.

Support for 2v2/5v5 would be nice too.

BrTarolg · 02/15/08, 12:38 PM

Even though i'm not going to play on this server, it does in fact, sound really cool, and I think will help the game a lot.

Oh, and the fact that they are switching focus to 3v3 is a good thing, as it will definately sort out a lot of (cough) class imbalances around atm.