Arena Tournament – BlizzCon – Patch 3.1
There’s been a rash of news the past few days, although very little of it is of any real interest.
For instance, did you know that Blizzard is doing another Arena Tournament this year? Participants can get an armored murloc mini-pet, which sounds really cool … until you read the FAQ and realize that you need to participate in 200 games to get the pet.
I considered it — I could spend $40 to sign up two accounts and then stand around getting beat on for 200 2v2 matches. But I don’t think I have the patience for that, and anyway Blizzard might notice and be annoyed.
I do find it fascinating, however, that only 15 of the 32 pet families will be available for hunters on the Arena realm, including:
- Bat
- Boar
- Carrion Bird
- Cat
- Dragonhawk
- Nether Ray
- Owl
- Raptor
- Ravager
- Scorpid
- Serpent
- Spider
- Warp Stalker
- Wind Serpent
- Wolf
That’s the same list from last year, isn’t it? Maybe they just neglected to update the list? If anyone has signed up, I’d love to hear if you really are limited to these families.
In other news, BlizzCon 2009 has been announced, and I definitely won’t be able to go this year. I really wish I’d gone when I lived in San Diego — I just feel silly about that now.
Finally, Patch 3.1 appears to be very close to making an appearance on the Public Test Realms — at least in Europe. The US PTR forum still says that it’s not ready, but the EU PTR forum seems to be quite busy. Europe also has an Ulduar Preview up, although I can’t find anything similar for the US. But perhaps we’ll get some news on this side of the pond soon.
(As always, my thanks to MMO Champion for the Euro-centric news.)
[Edit:] On hunter pets for the Arena Tournament, Ghostcrawler has posted that:
With the new design, you should be able to pick any pet for the tournament. We might not be able to change this right away though.
28 Comments
First!
siege battles.. well oculus and malygos last part with dragons is my favourite encounters in wotlk so far so im liking it.
Screen shots are awesome, and the new mechanics sound intriguing(sp?). Shame I will probably never see it since my hunter is stuck at 73. :(
No exotics, so I’m assuming it’s just an unupdated list…
This sounds really interesting but I’m not sure if I’d pay $20 to get beat up 200+ times. *shifteyes*
On another note, Ulduar is looking awesome, but I’m a bit disappointed in some of the reused graphics. (Such as example the upper level Northrend dungeons.)
I thought all the Arena Tournament matches were 3v3…? That would make it $60 to get beat on for 200 games. =\ I’m still debating if the murloc pet is worth $20 and 200 beatdowns. It just might be.
Hmm… I wonder if Yogg-Saron will be a boss in Ulduar? :) That would be cool, another Old God to encounter! ^^
WOOO BLIZZCON!! I’m so excited! I’m hoping Im able to get some tickets again this year. It’s so worth it.
Murloc pet: While cute, not worth it. I hate Arena more than life itself. It’s annoying and I’m not going to pay to get beat on. I already pay $15 a month to get my butt kicked in arena XD
Actually Mania, what you mentioned is called Multiboxing, and people do it all the time. It’s only annoying when twinks do it in BG; all a sudden three shammies in your face and you’re dead.
The only thing Blizzard hates is when people ’sell’ the ratings. It happened once I think.
And I hope Yogg-Saron is not introduced yet, as he/it/she/whatever would probably be one of the last ’stepping stones’ for Blizz making Arthas ‘raidable’ if they do.
It’s why I am trying to get my hunter geared up atleast :c
I’ve checked the US and Europe sites and only 3v3 matches are available on the tournament servers… so yes that means its $60 (on top of normal fees) to get a murloc – granted it has equipment!
Oh – and 2 other reliable players/bots.
From the Ulduar Preview: “Mimiron built the Flame Leviathan as part of the V0-L7R-0N weapons platform, and as a result, this tank packs quite a punch.”
V0-L7R-0N … VOLTRON!!! XD
Thanks for the clarification on the 3×3 Arena Tournament battles, Tchann and Darknez. You’re right — that raises the cost (in organization and/or money, either way) too high for me just to get the murloc pet.
Ryai: I actually meant that Blizzard might well see my refusal to even *try* to win a fight as conflicting with the purposes of the tournament. If I participated, I wouldn’t even fight back — just let the other team kill me as fast as possible. And I suspect Blizzard might not like that. :>
I do multibox occasionally — or did before my self-Refer-A-Friend account ran out of time. It’s not really my thing, but it was a convenient way to get a few hunters up to level 20 for testing purposes in only a few hours.
Well I heard some people lose on purpose just to get a steady rating, and I doubt Blizzard would really care- or hey you could put up some form of drama!
Strip from your gear and use /dance! Dazzle them with pixle flesh!
Hell I’d gladly allow rogues to oneshot me on Ryai 200 times if it got me a murloc. But the price… I still owe a friend 50 bucks for her buying me the CE edition of Wrath… I don’t want to seem like a friend who can’t repay/won’t.
… that and I’m broke atm. aha.
Double Post;
Btw your worry would be unfounded, the case I heard about was a group of people waiting untill low realm pop times, to get on and do arena, one team would lose repeatedly, and then they’d switch.
There is also, if I remember right, a chance real money or WoW playmoney was being exchanged for these wins/losses.
That’s what got Blizzard to root around if I remember right.
But I can understand your worry, or anyone elses for something like Arena.
could be unfounded* lol typo/lol triple post D:
lol I’m an airhead again
You know, rather then have 20 hunters with two accounts each, why not just team up and have ten pairs of two?
Not that I would actually do this, but if I was going to participate, I’d definitely want my wasp pet and be pissed if they wouldn’t let me have it. Wasps are the bane of rogues’ existences, and rogues are the bane of mine, so things even out, lol.
But no, as everyone else said, I’m not coughing up money to get my butt whooped.
one wuestion why the heck do canadians, such as myself have to right a fugging essay to enter the tourney???
@ Lyniaru
You dont *need* to write an essay to enter if you’re a Canadian. I’m Canadian and I entered by simply paying the $20, but, the essay could be the cheaper way. And, though I didn’t get passed a 1600 rating on the tourney servers, I found it worth the $20 just to play around with a friend with classes and specs you never thought you’d touch. Turns out, I’m horrible at destruction warlocks, who would have thunk it?
I’m….just not a fan of the arena. It is more of an example of class imbalance then any actual skill, so…..yea.
/agrees with Palla
Plus, aren’t there STILL complaints about hunters being gimped in arena? Not only that, but we’re limited in our choice of pets as well..? I’d be too afraid to enter if anything. ..That is, if I’d ever somehow actually wanted to arena with a hunter for some reason.. >_>
Survival has a Lock’n'load glitch that can allow them a large number of explosive shots in a row. Because of that they are doing better then normal in PvP, PvE, and arena. Currently lock’n'load can trigger off of both serpent sting and a trap at about the same time, allowing for survival to fire off a salvo of exploding rounds without the internal cooldown. Not fun for anyone on the other side.
Well outside of a glitch for SV, hunters are pretty gimped for arena, last I heard only a couple ever made it past an erf, 18k rating. And one person showed this imbalance by the fact when he played his friends resto druid, and he knew nothing outside a bare minimal of healing no doubt, he was rolling his face and earning, easily, a 2000 rating, where as his poor hunter had to work for weeks to keep at I think 14something.
People whined that it was just him playing a more geared out druid- but the fact still stands, with very little skill to play a druid, he easily obtained something that he had been working for weeks, on a hunter, who had gear.
Sadly WoW is imbalanced when you get more than 1v1, and even then it’s luck on who wins [unless a rogue]. Case in point, in WG I was going to do a daily, and still being a bit miffed over an MM killing me after I, rightfully, tracked it down and killed it, I find a Pally and I go /cackle.
Then about a five minute long battle ensues- or eight minutes. It was a damn long fight kiting that damn paladin around thru elementals and revenants and trying to not get killed by either. I got the HK in the end. But it was a struggle.
But alot of people don’t get this and claim omg this class is broken or this is op- causing alot of classes to get broken. You know Resto druids? Evil. Evil. I hate them, they are op to an extent, I’ve seen them as I’ve said survive being bashed upon by very well geared and skilled players [sadly none were DKs], and they don’t die. Hell pre Wrath my lock was in an AB battle and it was me and a shammy vs a rogue and a resto and finally I realised the resto would just not die. So as the shammy dealt with the rogue I /banished the resto. Then dotted the rogue and feared, to give the shammy a breather, and banished the resto a second time.
Now you ask what relavence does this have? Oh the fact Scare Beast was going to be turned into an instant cast. Druids whined- but why? Zeldei can banish restos quiet easily, and then fear them. He can chain fear, and with talents, bam instant AoE fear. Now I say this because some druid was, sorry, dumb enough to say a hunter could chain fear!! And it’s no- fear from scare beast lasts 10 seconds. The attack itself has a 30 sec cd. Or is it 20 seconds..
And granted scare beast doesn’t work on beserking or whatever druids.. but whatever.
Sadly alot of PVP is now either about numbers, class and specc, and gear and skill. Or lack of it in some cases.
Why I hate WSG but loved AV/WG, in the masses I can get lost/hide myself and pewpew.
Skill is sort of the bottom of the pile factor now. A well played hunter can be a badly played death knight, but a well played vs a well played will pretty much always result in the hunter losing. Now toss in gear. The hunter has to be well enough geared to do damage to the death knight fast enough to not be ground into meat. Same goes for fighting any class. If the hunter isn’t deal copious amounts of damage with instant shots, then the fight is a loss. Skill can only overcome so much imbalance.
And forget killing a healer 1v1, unless your a rogue. Even WITH aimed shot up, I can’t kill a restoration shaman to save my life, no matter how many times I tranq off earth shield or water shield or riptide.
I dissagree, Ive Seen Alot Of Surv/Marks Hunters Take On Dks and pallys and druids ect ect and win every time, Like Take this one instance I wat up In SotA Guns shooting at the siege Gear When in the Corner of my eye a NE hunter *gasp* was using this pro technique To own a dk, and then a multilate rogue, then a paladin, then a druid and me QQ
Will, I’ve burned through inexperienced player after inexperienced player on my hunter. Go back and look at it again. I said SKILLED. And rogues caught in the open aren’t that tough. But your ‘win every time’ deal is a total crock, unless they are top tier geared, which is a gear indifference, which as I also mentioned is hard to overcome. And pro-technique? What technique is this?
Let me clarify something. The only ‘technique’ available to hunters, of all three specs, is the ’stay-the-hell-away’ technique, which involves a lot of running away. It has also been called kiting, but I like my name better. Past that, it is a matter of knowing when to concussive, how to keep your pet focused and alive, when to take a moment to wing clip, when to use what trap, when to feign, when to beastial wrath, when to disengage, and how to use your instant cast shots on the run, the SECOND they are off cooldown, and finally how to sting and what sting to use. Knowing when to tranq is another good one. With the appropriate kiting technique and a little luck it is possible to defeat a variety of melee classes without taking any damage. Death knights and warriors, however, are NOT two of those classes. Death knights just have to many ways of keeping you in range, and warriors have to many ways to get into melee range. Keep a paladin more then ten yards away and your good. Rogues in the open will usually opt to run away from you, rather then try to chase you down and kill you. Twenty yards on a shaman, but they tend to be squishier then paladins, and you can still waddle at least. Let them shock you, and return the favor with concussive. Druids are another class that are hard to keep at range, feral charge is a real pain, and berserk combined with natures swiftness makes staying at range difficult. Try to catch them outside of berserk and fear them. Be aware that if its a bear form then you’ll spend a lot of time trying to kill them, and if its a smart or modded player they’ll pop out before fear beast is done casting, then go back into form.
THOSE are techniques to use against players, and none of them are foolproof. I didn’t list warriors or death knights because there are honestly no good techniques that will save your life if either class knows what they are doing. It becomes a kicking, screaming, clawing fight for just a few more seconds of survival.
Why did I just….write a novel about PvP again? *Sighs* I must be more depressed then I thought.
Hey, Mania. >_> A friend and I need a third for an arena team that will consist of us standing around in dresses and/or doing incredibly retarded things while getting our 200 matches for the murloc pet in.
Interested? :D
Thanks for the invitation! Hmm .. I am actually very tempted. I’ll drop you an e-mail if you don’t mind.
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