Season 4 mostly ending with patch 3.0.2
by Alex Ziebart 
Sep 30th 2008 at 5:30PM
The season will not completely end at that point, however. The Arenas will continue, and you will still be able to gain rating and arena points right up until the release of Wrath of the Lich King so you can finish getting whatever pieces of gear you'd like to take with you into Northrend.
I think we all knew they were going to do something along those lines. If they didn't, the entire season would essentially have been blown. Turning class balance upside down and adding a whole ton of new abilities to the game right at the end of a competition is just a poor move. I think this is the best compromise, too. Ending the season while still letting people gear up for Wrath is great. Raid zones aren't shutting down with 3.0.2, so it would be a little annoying for PvPers if the arena did.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jamo Sep 30th 2008 5:45PM
Haven't blues promised, in the past, to provide 1 or 2 week notice for season end dates? If so, then we can anticipate either an announcement soon or a patch date no later than Oct 21st (seems late)
sharkeater75 Sep 30th 2008 5:49PM
just goes to prove arena is a minigame ;)
Malkeior Sep 30th 2008 5:53PM
And how exactly does it do that?
Daku Sep 30th 2008 6:10PM
So what's going to happen to the arena gear once xpack hits? Will the level 70 gear remain available? And what about Season 2 gear, which can currently be purchased with honor?
Typhun Sep 30th 2008 6:40PM
i would imagine everything would continue as is. Season 2 gear will still be available and whatnot. it seems like the only major change with the arena season will be that even though you may get that 2300 rating, its going to do nothing but get points for you, and let you buy those shoulders, but you wont be ranked #2 in your battlegroup. I think its appropriate(albeit disappointing for me, i am a warrior that has long rejected luckystuns in favor of swords, and lost to mostly warrior/druid teams where the other warrior was luckystun spec) that they do end the season then, because it really does change the pvp game dramatically and leaves it really unbalanced at lvl 70.
Natrone Sep 30th 2008 6:57PM
Since when were arenas balanced anyways?
I think this decision sucks as a class that has been rarely seen in the top end of arena teams. I was really liking what they were doing with the patch and hoping to finally get something to work with. Guess not...just goes to show Blizz loves Druids and Rogues and hates the rest of us. ;)
Zep Sep 30th 2008 6:47PM
You can still get points and buy level 70 gear, but as soon as you hit level 71 all your points are erased, and at the point you might as well go for the level 80 gear (although you could still buy level 70 gear).
GamerJunkie Sep 30th 2008 7:55PM
They should remove the arena ratings afterwards also and let people spend their arena points after the titles are handed out.
I believe the combination of arena ratings and class imbalances has led to S4 being the least interesting season of all Arena.
Only 3 classes prevailed in the top 2k+ ratings, shows some serious imbalance in this game and I've not seen Blizzard admit they've failed at fair and balance gameplay.
Andrew R. Oct 1st 2008 12:51AM
Blizzard will never admit they screwed up the arena system. Instead they want to make arenas the whole reason people play WoW.
It's going to crash and burn.
STereo Oct 2nd 2008 1:01PM
Blizz is going to crash and burn because of class balance not because of arena. People couldn't stand the doldrums of running the same dungeons over and over forever. (Well, some could but their parents won't pay for it forever).