Arena Tournament Update
by Amanda Dean 
Apr 29th 2008 at 9:00AM
Bornakk recently provided some news on the official forums that may be of interest to Arena combatants. While not giving a release date for Patch 2.4.2, he indicated that the patch will affect the Tournament realms when it goes live. Buffs, nerfs and item changes may have an impact on composition and strategy. He also announced that there are currently no plans to add the Stormherald to the tournament server, as "We haven't added any items that require a profession to use them." (Unless you count Heavy Netherweave Banadages and ring enchantments.) He said that such items may be added in the future. Original poster, Zanyu of Malfurion, believes that adding this item would balance out the presence of Rogues and Warriors in the Tournament. I see it as very unlikely that a change would be made while the tournament is active.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chais Apr 29th 2008 9:48AM
of*
Amengeb Apr 29th 2008 10:08AM
To hell with Blizzards ego stroking mini-game. Let it stay right where it is on a PTR style server and get it out of WORLD of WARcraft.
I miss the days of warlord/marshal teams. Take away the 4,827 different vanity titles from every little quest chain and make High Warlord and Grand Marshal be an impressive accomplishment and a feared sight.
This just proves Bliz can separate out arenas, but refuse to because it is where they, not the paying customer, want the game to end up.
I would gladly give back my S1 gear if they would give me back my rankings and gear from pre-SiFi TBC.
Well back to leveling my alt.
Balasan Apr 29th 2008 10:12AM
Grand Marshall and High Warlord have never been impressive titles. It's only obtainable by people who skip work or do not work at all, especially on a high pop server.
Ryan Apr 29th 2008 9:55AM
I hope they add it, WoW PvP really needs more random stuns.
Badger Apr 29th 2008 10:01AM
Amanda: There's something about today's update that I don't quite understand.
At the beginning of the second paragraph, you stated: "While not giving a release date for Patch 2.4.2, [Bornakk] indicated that the patch will affect the Tournament realms when it goes live. Buffs, nerfs and item changes may have an impact on composition and strategy."
At the conclusion of the same paragraph, however, you noted: "I see it as very unlikely that a change would be made while the tournament is active."
Which is it? Will they issue patches and hotfixes that address class balance and combat issues while the Tournament is still raging on, or will they wait until after the conclusion of the Tournament to adjust classes, talents, spells, etc. ?
Amanda Dean Apr 29th 2008 10:22AM
They're two separate issues, sorry for being unclear. If patch 2.4.2 goes live during the tournament, it will affect the TR. Scare beast and all.
However, I don't believe that Blizz will make a change to the TR item list while the current qualifying round is active. Thus, no Stormherald.
Badger Apr 29th 2008 10:34AM
Aaaah ... Okay, so there's a distinction between skills and items. I didn't pick up on that. Thanks for clarifying!
Dan Apr 29th 2008 4:17PM
Judging by the number of comments the arena tournament stories generate, I'd think that the tournament is not generating the sort of response that blizzard had hoped for. It seems that most people either don't care, or think it's a great idea to move arena permanently to it's own realm and out of the live servers.
Den Apr 29th 2008 9:10PM
WoW insider is a very PVE/Soical/Off topic driven forum - most of the posts about PVP have very few comments. PVP has never been a big thing here :-/ (at least in my eyes). The sad part is that the PVP posts that do get comments are driven by PVEers complaining about Arena.
krat2 Apr 29th 2008 6:33PM
I wonder if this is something of a preview of what people can expect when the season 4 rating requirements on items go live?
I'm operating on the assumption that many of the "lesser" teams (like mine) will see nothing but futility in Arena play, and will leave since there is little point in playing if there is no chance for reward. Over time, this will lead to only extremely competitive teams going at it -- the sort that we are likely seeing on the tournament realm. However, once only the toughest teams are left, even the "bottom feeders" will be threatening. In such a situation, as we are seeing on the tournament realm, few teams (if any) will be able to top 2,000 ratings.
I'm not on the tournament realm, but I think it will be an interesting test bed for Arenas. We'll see where team ratings end up, and see if that approximates what happens in the live realms.