Arena tourneys need more Blizzard support?
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 14th 2009 at 7:00PM
Here's an interesting post on GotGame that sounds different from almost everything we've heard about professional Arena tourneys and Blizzard so far. Whenever we've talked to anyone involved with Arena tournaments, they've always told us Blizzard is very supportive of the events. But this post alleges otherwise -- they say that Blizzard is falling short of professional Arena support.There are two main complaints: first, that Blizzard doesn't supply any onsite Arena servers. We know this is true -- Blizzard has event servers that they use for events like this, kept offsite so they don't have to set them up all the time. But GotGame claims that this causes problems -- as much as 300+ ping, which in the quick world of Arena matches, is practically unplayable. We're not sure why Blizzard doesn't allow setups on site, but that seems like a reasonable step to take if they're serious about making professional Arena big.
The second is a little tougher: this post claims that Blizzard has brought the pro Arena servers up to the Season 4 patch, but locked the gear down at Season 2. Our own Zach Yonzon says he's not sure where the Arenas are -- he doesn't believe that official Arena matches are underway after Wrath yet, and if that's true, then Blizzard may already be updating this (bringing the gear on the realms up to level 80 levels to match the talents). But either way, it's strange to hear someone say that Blizzard isn't supporting professional Arena matches correctly. You'd think that if they were as into supporting WoW as an e-sport as they say, that they'd address some of these concerns.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, Contests, Wrath of the Lich King, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Amaxe Jan 14th 2009 7:03PM
Maybe they're sensing the antipathy towards Arena?
tulipblossom Jan 14th 2009 7:16PM
I honestly do hope that's part of it. I have nothing against those people who enjoy arena. To each his own. But, I wish so desperately that they'd rethink how to implement it. I wish that arena could simply be a side project of pvp. Something for people to do for fun, without having any effect on how we gain pvp gear.
havitech Jan 14th 2009 7:38PM
@tulipblossom
Couldn't have said it better myself!
I've always considered Battlegrounds the only format of PvP that fits with WoW's design. I'm excited that they actually recognize this and are trying to figure out a way to rate battlegrounds and offer rewards to people who work for it.
Dante Jan 15th 2009 2:32AM
You guys just hate it cos you suck at it, Arena is fun and one of the most interesting aspect of this game.
Stop the hate and let us get our PvP gears with Arena.
tulipblossom Jan 15th 2009 2:46AM
@Dante -
I love how anytime someone has a legit issue with arena, the common
and most assumed response is that the person must suck at arena,
therefor causing them to dislike it. It's so silly.
Why does me not liking arena mean that I have to suck at it? I got a
720 in math on my SATs, but I despise math and find it incredibly
boring. You can be great at something and still not find it
appealing.
So, not to feed the trolls or anything. I just always find it amusing
that anytime arena is challenged, the most common response by those
who enjoy it is "you only hate arena cause u suck, hyuck."
Not everyone is as one-dimensional as you, sir.
tulipblossom Jan 15th 2009 2:48AM
Weird spacing issue there, lol. Sorry to the reader.
tonedeff Jan 14th 2009 7:20PM
I got to agree with u tulipblossom.
I would like to see pvp go back to how it was in BC.
Firestride Jan 14th 2009 7:31PM
Assuming that Blizzard really, really does not want its servers (and all the proprietary software therein) stolen, I can't find a good way for them to cart out servers to an event. They would have to be extremely well guarded by Blizzard themselves, or would at least need a prohibitively high deposit to make the event runners keep them locked up.
kurtosis Jan 15th 2009 3:38PM
Google and Sun Microsystems already showed how that can be done - house an entire Arena server system in a shipping container, attach it to an 18-wheeler, and drive it around the country to different Arena tourney venues. Probably need more than one, one for each region of the country/s you hold Arena contests in, but there's the answer. Mobile, secure, 100% under Bliz's control, supportive of Pro-gaming, etc.
lbizzle Jan 14th 2009 7:48PM
The post linked is dated October 23rd 2008. The concerns were valid at the time.
Matrim Jan 14th 2009 7:50PM
Personally I can't stand how the arena matches pander towards the flavor of the months. Much like season 3 and 4, every match was druid and warr, druid rogue, or some other mixture.
What I would like to see is different but equatable rewards for BG's and arenas. That way the "l33t" arena aristocracy can have their high rating and the trench dogs can have their marks.
Plus from a lore standpoint, bg's make more sense than a WoW/Counterstrike bastard child
Dillon Jan 14th 2009 8:34PM
Arena needs to die permanently.
Clbull Jan 14th 2009 9:08PM
Personally, I agree with some of these complaints. I haven't really liked Season 5 because I think its dominantly dps now.
Leighlu Jan 14th 2009 9:21PM
Arenas are a botched concept, plagued by class imbalances.
Thus far, Blizzard has tried to fix arenas by "fixing" class imbalances, and in doing so, have negatively impacted the rest of the game.
With the existing vehicle system in Wintergrasp and encounters like the last boss in Occulus, all those disparities are removed. Using a like system in Arena combat would remove class imbalance issues, leaving the outcome of a match only influenced by latency and skill.
If would have to be more complicated than current vehicle systems, but the framework exists.
tulipblossom Jan 15th 2009 12:56AM
I completely agree with your sentiment about arenas being botched.
I don't want to step on any toes. And, I really do want everyone to have the chance to enjoy the game to its fullest. That being said, I know that there are a large group of people who love arena and I have no problem with that at all.
My beef with arena is how broken it is and how it throws a monkey wrench into the way pvp works and that in its disfunction, it creates problems in pve, class balance, etc.
I feel like arena is a fine idea and I have no problem at all with it being in the game. However, it should be entirely separate from regular pvp, I believe. It's basically Mortal Kombat with 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5.
I don't mind if with arena ratings and points, people gain awesome titles, unique mounts, and vanity pets, etc. All of those things are meant to be frivilous and fun. But, I don't believe that gear should be gained through arena. I feel like arena should be played for fun, not for progression of gear.
Top pvp should be about how well you make your class, and the skills available to it, function in a pvp environment. And, until there's a way to level the playing field with pvp gear, balancing classes in this way, will never be completely possible.
I feel like if they're going to allow people to gain gear progression through arena, then they honestly need to allow people to gain the exact same gear progression through battlegrounds. Pvp should not be about gear. Everyone should be able to achieve the top pvp gear in the game, without feeling limited to how they do it. If you don't like Battlegrounds, then that's just fine. You can do arena if you'd like. But, if you don't like arena, you should be able to gain the exact same pvp gear as a whole, solely through BGs.
But, if the people who enjoy arena still need to feel more special somehow and don't enjoy doing arena just for the fun of it, then that's fine. I don't mind them having ratings and getting special mounts, vanity pets, etc. Even, though I'm a nut for things like vanity pets and mounts, I'd still never do arena to get them. Even if the coolest and most rare mount/pet in the game was only achievable in this way. I just simply don't like how right now unless you enjoy and choose to play arena, you will never progress to the top gear in pvp. That limitation and bias makes no sense to me.
tulipblossom Jan 15th 2009 12:59AM
frivolous*
Laynne Jan 15th 2009 9:39AM
I couldn't have said it better tulipblossom
kabshiel Jan 14th 2009 9:44PM
e-sports = lol.
That is all.
Donaghy Jan 14th 2009 10:20PM
"But GotGame claims that this causes problems -- as much as 300+ ping, which in the quick world of Arena matches, is practically unplayable." Congratulations, now you know how the rest of the world feels.
uncaringbear Jan 14th 2009 10:28PM
Please, just get rid of Arenas. How much longer does Blizz need to flog a long dead horse?