Addon Spotlight: ArenaLive makes spectating easy, more Addon Mailbag
by Olivia Grace 
Oct 25th 2012 at 2:00PM
Writing the PvP column Blood Sport here at WoW Insider, I am a little biased, but PvP is one of the two best parts of the game for me, specifically arena. So when an addon like ArenaLive comes along, which makes a tournament-style UI available to everyone, I have to let our readers know.
Opinions vary on whether WoW is a game that's suitable for e-sports. I know some may disagree with me, but I really, really enjoy watching arena matches. I sat in a hall in Cologne for 5 hours watching the European Invitationals unfold, loving every minute of it. But one of WoW's problems as an e-sport is the absence of a spectator mode. Tournaments have to create their own UIs, and the possibility for casual streamed spectator arenas was previously pretty much nil. Until now, with the launch of ArenaLive!
For a recent tournament, run by addon site Curse, ArenaLive got its first outing, allowing the author, Vadrak, to iron out any bugs, and it performed fantastically. Nilheniel built this addon from the ground up, rather than adapting existing frames, as he recognized the need for an independent UI for tournaments which didn't simply adapt Blizzard's unit frames.
Opinions vary on whether WoW is a game that's suitable for e-sports. I know some may disagree with me, but I really, really enjoy watching arena matches. I sat in a hall in Cologne for 5 hours watching the European Invitationals unfold, loving every minute of it. But one of WoW's problems as an e-sport is the absence of a spectator mode. Tournaments have to create their own UIs, and the possibility for casual streamed spectator arenas was previously pretty much nil. Until now, with the launch of ArenaLive!
For a recent tournament, run by addon site Curse, ArenaLive got its first outing, allowing the author, Vadrak, to iron out any bugs, and it performed fantastically. Nilheniel built this addon from the ground up, rather than adapting existing frames, as he recognized the need for an independent UI for tournaments which didn't simply adapt Blizzard's unit frames.
Filed under: Add-Ons
