Blizzard names first round of qualifying teams for the North American 3v3 arena tournament regionals
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 2nd 2008 at 8:30AM
According to Nihilum, Blizzard has now sent out the first round of emails to the qualifying teams for the North American regional finals for the 3v3 arena tournament. They'll be barred for competing in ranked matches for the second qualifying rounds, but will be allowed to fight skirmish matches to pratice their skills. The following teams, according to Nihilum and the official ladder page, made it to the next round:
-
Dude I got it on FRAPS at 2,182 points. Their team consisted of 2 Warlocks, a Shaman, a Druid, A Priest, and a Hunter.
- duelist going for glad at 2,181 points. Their team consisted of 2 Rogues, a Mage, A Druid, and a Priest.
- Frag Dominant at 2,179 points. Their team consisted of 2 Rogues, a Druid, and a Warlock.
- Dynamo Gaming at 2,178 points. Their team consisted of a Warrior, a Druid, a Rogue, and a Warlock.
- In The Shadowplay at 2,178 points. Their team consisted of 2 Shamans, a Rogue, a Priest, and a Warlock.
- gc and his DAD at 2,178 points. Their team consisted of a Druid, a Warrior, and a Warlock.
As you can see, 3 teams tied for 4th, meaning they all get to go forward will participate in a special tiebreaker playoff to determine who goes forward. These teams will be joined by another handful of teams to be selected during the second qualification round, which officially begins on June 3rd for practice matches, with the qualifying games taking place from June 17th to July 15th. You can register for the US tournament realms at the Information page here.
Of course, the next thing to speculate on is how these teams will affect Blizzard's decisions on class balance in WoTLK. There are no Paladins on any of the teams, and only 1 Mage and 1 Hunter. On the other end of the scale, there are 6 Warlocks, 5 Druids, and 5 Rogues. Once the second qualifying round is over, it should be interesting to see if the class makeup of those teams is more of the same, or mixes things up a bit.
Edit: Blizzard has now posted the official announcement of the winning teams, including clarifying the fate of the 3 teams tied for the 4th place. They will participate in a special playoff in order to determine which of them will move on to the regional qualifier.
[Via MMO Champion]
Filed under: Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Ranking, Events, Blizzard, News items, PvP, Contests, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ninjasuperspy Jun 2nd 2008 8:59AM
Another PVP honor contest and no paladins. Big shock.
grofer Jun 2nd 2008 9:06AM
can't get good ratings with bubblehearthing
Kaylek Jun 2nd 2008 10:53AM
Yeah, I can really see how necessary all those nerfs were to holy paladins and their over-representation in arena.
@grofer
Old joke is old. Try again.
glaci3r Jun 2nd 2008 9:16AM
class balance was supposed to be focused around 5v5 (or so they said a while back), but with blizzard emphasizing 3v3 now...
Damon Jun 2nd 2008 10:08AM
Arena combat can be intense, but i prefer the visceral thrill of watching 50+ people tear into eachother at once in alterac valley. Although organizing a tournament where each team has 40 members would be pretty damn hard.
That said, it's no surprise to me that some classes are more commonly seen in these lower-number contests. Paladins, who simply can't dish out as much damage as other classes on their own, can't keep up with the "This batle took 10 seconds!? That's an eternity!" pace of many matches.
maarick Jun 2nd 2008 10:34AM
why do classes have be perfectly balanced?
they never were
someone who is good at their class could beat any other class
but you have to accept the fact that certain classes specd certain ways cant beat other classes specd certain ways... so what
and you cant be specd for pve and pvp at the same time and expect to be any good either, got to pick one.
like a restokin druid trying to fight a mana burning, innervate and hot dispelling priest...but if that same druid were specd and geared feral, he would eat the priest, that druid has no right to complain about being owned by 10 out of 10 priests cause he has the tools to destroy him if he went feral, but that feral druid will lose to the rogue, but that same rogue the druid owns as a restokin. you cant be specd to win them all, you have to be good at playing to be good in the arena, not just get the gear and the spec
people need to stop qqing and accept the fact your gonna have matchups that are unfavorable, just like the matchups you enjoy when your spec is in your favor
theyre all in my favor
its a pvp world
the dot class and the hot class
27/34/0 lock
8/11/42 druid
could WoW be any more fun?
Kaylek Jun 2nd 2008 10:58AM
This isn't running into some random guy on the road and PVP ensues, one knowing his class while the other doesn't.
Any good PVPer knows that any other good PVPer will have inherent and often game-breaking advantages/disadvantages associated with their class.
Deusmortis Jun 2nd 2008 12:31PM
Sure, perfect balance is impossible, but when a point is reached where no spec of a particular class can compete, changes must be made.
maarick Jun 2nd 2008 12:49PM
i must ask
what class cannot compete in any spec?
Dacool561 Jun 2nd 2008 1:46PM
w00t go gclol and hoodrych
matt Jun 2nd 2008 2:29PM
Top 6 teams is a poor sample, and useless for talking about class balance.
Looking at the top hundred or so teams might be a more accurate way of looking at class balance, specific to 3v3s and the current state of the metagame. It's still going to be strikingly different from 2v2s and 5v5s.
Xav Jun 2nd 2008 4:38PM
I really wish the armory would show you the specs used. For some classes, it'll be obvious what the specs are (warlocks are prob sl/sl or UA, warriors probably MS, rogues prob ShS, etc...) but for others, I'd love to see what spec works in what type of group... e.g. was the shaman in the 1st team resto, enh or ele? was the druid dreamstate, balance or resto?
Silenius Jun 4th 2008 9:43PM
I know Ill be rooting for In The Shadowplay, any team that names themselves after a Joy Division song automatically gets my vote
STereo Jun 3rd 2008 2:41PM
I'm amazed there was even 1 hunter. I wonder if he actually saw any playing time or just sat on the bench.
Vir Jun 19th 2008 2:19PM
They could at least roll back the holy paladin nerfs from s2.