Argent Tournament lowdown from Zarhym
by Zach Yonzon 
Feb 25th 2009 at 1:30PM
The coliseum itself will not be part of Patch 3.1 and will be introduced in a later content patch. Blizzard plans many events centered around the Argent Tournament and plans to roll them out over time. Zaryhm confirms that the coliseum, or the event proper, will be instanced and will not be PvP-related. He also explains that the Argent Tournament is a concerted effort from all the capital cities, and players will earn the chance to represent their city of choice in the eventual battle against the Lich King.
For those concerned about the lore behind this seemingly festive jousting tournament, Zarhym states, "Tournaments and competitions like this may seem like trivial games in times of real struggle against the Scourge, but it's also an opportunity to rally those who oppose the Lich King through blood sport." Nothing like a little knight's tale to get players pumped for battle, I suppose.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1. 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ray Feb 25th 2009 1:37PM
Spaniard, Spaniard, Spaniard! ... I mean, For The Horde!
Ultron Feb 25th 2009 1:41PM
Oh god, I remember when I used to go to medieval times...
Eversor Feb 25th 2009 1:39PM
First to be downrated.
Eversor Feb 25th 2009 5:37PM
A "first" comment that gets deleted? Awesome! Hope this becomes a beautiful trend from the part of Wowinsider's editors!
lanceg33 Feb 25th 2009 1:41PM
I'm going to chalk my confusion up to a hangover but what exactly are we fighting here? It's *not* pvp-related but we are using some sort of a vehicle. . . jousting against other AI vehicle thingies?
/confuzzled
sephirah Feb 25th 2009 1:41PM
gz!
Eversor Feb 25th 2009 1:41PM
Ooh, PvE arena! Do want!
Lorewise - perfect way to recruit all kind of goons that usually just care for cracking in skulls of whoever. So why not play the good hosts, give them entertainment and then point the bloodlusty barbarians at Lich King?
Schulzy Feb 25th 2009 1:44PM
Now, do I get to represent all my cities in turn, or do I have to choose one and get stuck with it? I would love to earn all the rewards for each city, being a bit of a completist myself.
Shardrell Feb 25th 2009 1:52PM
I believe that currently there's an achievement for having represented all the cities in your faction. Excellent news for us completionists, unless things change before it launches.
Kakistocracy Feb 25th 2009 2:07PM
Just because there is an achievement does not mean that it is possible, case in point, the cooking meta achievement pre patch :D
Manatank Feb 25th 2009 1:42PM
"Tournaments and competitions like this may seem like trivial games"
Lorelol. I just hope it is fun, because it certainly makes no sense.
Brett Feb 25th 2009 1:50PM
hahaha, indeed.
Hollywood Ron Feb 25th 2009 2:19PM
According to the 1300s document Froissart's Chronicles, during the Hundred Years' War battle between the French and English was stopped for a joust between two members of the opposing sides. If two bloodthirsty enemies can stop in the middle of a battle and have a honorable tournament, why can't the Horde and Alliance have a tilt in Icecrown?
historylol
MisterMoose Feb 25th 2009 2:27PM
Yeah, but let's say that they were both involved in a war with Spain at the same time, and Spain seeked to absolutely destroy France and Britain and had no desire to stop for a tourney. At that point, do you really think a tournament would happen?
In other words, with the Lich King breathing down both the Horde's and Alliance's necks, I don't think a tournament makes sense. (To say nothing of the fact that I don't think Wrynn would allow a tournament against the Horde).
This event makes no sense lorewise, and I think it is the most egregious Lorelol thing that's ever been done. (Draenei, space travel, etc is artistic license, imho, but there's no way this tournament would ever, ever happen).
Boydboyd Feb 25th 2009 1:51PM
I make a motion that we all, forever and always, vow to down-rate "FIRST" comments like these forever.
/signed
*By /signing this document you agree to down-rate all "FIRST" posts that you see.
hehe
mtsadowski Feb 25th 2009 1:52PM
I like the idea, I just don't like the idea of a coliseum in the middle of Icecrown. Let's look at it logically, storyline-wise.
1. Putting a coliseum in Icecrown is like putting Yankee Stadium in the middle of the front lines in Afghanistan. What could possibly go wrong? Might as well give the Lich King season tickets.
2. Who is going to see this? Are you going to invite clivilians to watch the events? Why would you put civilians in such danger?
From a military point of view, this does not make sense. You do this sort of thing AWAY from the front lines. It's just common sense.
Draelan Feb 25th 2009 2:25PM
Let's see if I can make a bit more sense of the reasoning behind this tournament... Though it's called the Argent Tournament, it's more of a collaborative effort between all the major horde/alliance factions. The Argent Crusade is likely there more to keep the horde/alliance from ripping out each other's throats. (Also why it's named after them, since they're neutral so get no complaints about the name from either side.) While the Argent Crusade may have hand-picked its elite beforehand, that doesn't mean the horde/alliance have, so this would be a good opportunity for them to pick out the best of the best amongst their ranks. It also has the appeal of showing up the other faction with their champions without the casualties of the battlefield. (Since, I seriously doubt these duals are FATAL like some people seem to think. The Argent Crusade is smart enough to enforce this.) So this competition could serve multiple purposes: 1) Getting horde and alliance to work together on some level by using the Argent Crusade as a mediator. 2) Finding the best soldiers to assault Icecrown Citadel, since having a lot of less skilled fighters will just swell the Lich King's ranks since they'll be taken out too easily. 3) It also serves to set the Lich King into focus in a more subtle way. It sets him as a sort of proving ground ala "Yeah, you did well in the arena, but how well can you handle this?" Setting the bar higher.
As for the coliseum being in Icecrown... You have to put things in perspective here. First off, Zarhym has said that it will be on the coast, displacing a bunch of penguins. That would mean it's somewhere on the north/northeastern coast, about as far away from Icecrown Citadel as one can get in Icecrown. Secondly, though we may be able to fly across the zone fairly quickly (Hell, it's reasonable to fly across an entire CONTINENT in relatively quick time compared to the real world.), from the perspective of a character IN the game, these zones are MUCH larger. It's like placing something in Florida and saying it's near Washington D.C. Sure, on a map of the CONTINENT it's not that far, but YOU try moving a massive army of mainly ground troops across that distance, especially given how many mountains and cliffs there are in Icecrown. And given that the coliseum will be attracting the horde/alliance's elite (i.e. the players), attacking it with anything less than a full army would be rather pointless.
mtsadowski Feb 25th 2009 2:42PM
Okay, I didn't read that last part about being on the coast. That makes more sense as far as safety goes.
Still, you're not going to generate much of a crowd. It's a bit of a hike for an audience. That's like Blizzard announcing Blizzcon in Northern Alaska... okay, maybe that's a bad example.
Eisengel Feb 25th 2009 5:25PM
Actually, having been trained my US Army Intelligence and knowing some military history, this makes great sense militarily.
The AC is a tiny segment of the AD. A force of trusted soldiers handpicked to weed out infestation by the Cult of the Damned. While this gives you a great core of soldiers you can trust, it does not give you a massive army capable of taking on an enemy that can raise the dead.
I won't say the AC nearly got wiped out, but they had their arses handed to them in upper Gun'drak, where they're doing their very best just to hold on to their forward bases, and without our help (questline), it seems that the Argent Vanguard would have been overrun. The AD was basically a National Guard, they were a defensive force. They never had to organize or supply an invasion. They didn't fight in unfamiliar lands, didn't have to strategize over a grand scale or raise siege machines or other materiel. Going to Northrend and fighting LK there is entirely different from just holding back the undead in the Plaguelands, and Tirion is starting to figure this out.
He's in way over his head with a group of dedicated, trustworthy soldiers that don't know an envelopment from an enfilade. He needs experienced, battle-hardened soldiers that know the terrain, the enemy, that know how to conduct battle and invasion, how to take ground and not just hold it, how to supply an army, how to built and deploy war machines... in short, he needs to turn his little defensive guard into a force projection army.
Given the setting of WoW, what is the best way to do this? Bring together all the roughnecks and adventurers, have them display their skills for some prizes, and pick the best.
RogueJedi86 Feb 25th 2009 5:55PM
I'm with you on the safety of the locale. Saying the continent is thousands of miles across makes it even less likely that civilians could come see their city's champions in combat. Crossing hundreds of miles of scourge-infested icefields, including the resting place of an undead frost wyrm that was resurrected by the Lich King himself? Not the safest territory, especially not on a much larger scale.
They should've placed it on the ground in Crystalsong. That place is very peaceful in the non-crystallized areas. Much more convenient to the citizens of Dalaran.