RMP teams are well represented among the top contenders. The top 11 teams are all within 100 points of first place, and I wouldn't count out any of the 20 teams over 1900 ratings just yet.At this point all team rosters have been locked and new additions cannot be made.
The remainder of the tournament will include a second qualifying round, followed by regional contests for a shot at the prize money.MLG Is preparing a $22,500 tournament as Blizzard works to make a place for WoW PvP as an Esport, without damaging the PvE game.I suspect that the second qualifying round on the tournament server will be much less popular than the first.
The WoW Insider team fell prey to scheduling difficulties with our Friday Night bouts, but should be back in the saddle this week.
V'Ming - who thinks that gnome warlocks are travesties of nature and need to be KOSed has been bound with copious amounts of duct tapeand is currently suspended by his toenails in the basement of the WoW Insider headquarters where he is currently serving as a practice piñata for the rest of the crew.Amanda Dean has temporarily hijacked his column to bring you this important announcement.
The servers are live and Blizzard's $120,000 arena tournament has begun.This is your chance to prove that your team is the best in the world, or at least among eligible participants.The first two qualifying rounds are divided into Asian, European and North American Regions.* You have to place among the top four teams in one of these rounds to qualify for the big bucks.Before you sign up, be sure to check out the official tournament rules.
Players must have their accounts upgraded to tournament status in order to view the tournament realms.Entrance into each of the qualifying rounds will run individual participants $20 USD.Qualifiers run from March 31-May 20, 2008 to June 3-July 15, 2008.Players may use user interface modifications in the qualifying rounds, but will be limited to the default UI and custom macros in the live stages of the tournament.
You remember that 3v3 Arena tournament we told you about? The one with $200,000 worth of prize money, that's going to be played on private servers full of premade characters and paved with free epics? Well, today Blizzard announced which items you're going to be able to choose from, should you decide to cough up the $20 entrance fee. Let's take a look.
First off, there's high-quality ammo, reagents, bandages, poisons, food, and water. Boring enough. In case you feel the need to look really bad-ass, or to get from place to place faster, you can grab Reins of the Black War Tiger/Horn of the Black War Wolf. All that is fine, but what about actual gear? All the Season 2 Merciless Gladiator gear is available, and all the Tier 5 class sets. There are also selected other items from the tier 5 raids (SSC and TK), as well as some badge loot to fill in the gaps. I'm even seeing the odd T4 raid item, like the Eye of Magtheridon and of Gruul, and some Heroic drops like the Scarab of the Infinite Cycle (these seem to be limited to the accessories).
Blizzard provided further details on the much anticipated 3v3 tournament.A mere $20* entry fee per player will give you a shot at the $75,000 grand prize.That's $25,000 a piece (unless you have more players on your team), which is not too shabby.Second place will net your team $30,000 and the third place team will get $15,000. There will also be monetary rewards for regional finalists.
Your entry fee will grant you access to the arena server for the entirety of the six-week qualifying tournament.You will be able to create up to three characters on the server.This tournament will be about skill rather than gear.You may select your weapons and armor from arena and raid epics.You will also be able to select honor-based rewards and enchantments for your items.If you don't like your original selections, respecs and gear will all be free of charge.
So here's what my BlizzCon Bingo card looks like so far. All I need is to see someone play Zul'Aman, and I'm done. I found it kind of funny that most of the stuff wasn't very hard to come by-- Mohr didn't need a lot of prodding to do his Walken impression this evening, and instead of a Leroy Jenkins impersonator, we got the real thing (Ben Schulz, who really was Leeroy Jenkins, walked out on stage during the Sound-a-Like contest). And even if I don't catch Zul'Aman, tomorrow night I'll definitely see L70ETC play, so my BlizzCon Bingo is all but won.
And speaking of winning, I still have my prize-- no one came up to me on the floor and asked for it, so I still have a prize to give away. I believe we have a few prizes left, so let's do our find-a-blogger contest again tomorrow-- if you find a WoW Insider blogger on the BlizzCon exhibit floor before anyone else, and ask about the contest, we'll give you a prize. A ton of stuff has happened at BlizzCon already, but we have a whole other day left-- see you on day 2!
We'll be meeting up at the Lost Bar at 1150 W. Magic Way in Anaheim, just minutes away from the Convention Center. We'll be having all kinds of good times, including a trivia contest, some fabulous door prizes, and most likely the imbibing of drinks all night long. All of the WoW Insider staff at BlizzCon will be there, so come by, say hi, and have a good time on the eve of Blizzard's big event! See you there!
WoW Insider got to chat with WSVG President and Commissioner Matthew Ringel about how he's trying to turn videogames into a spectator sport, what the real standard for Arena combat is, and how you can explain a fight between six people with different specs and different classes to an audience who's never seen this game before. No easy task, to be sure. The entire exclusive interview starts right after the jump.
There were some people out there who thought that since WoW wasn't an FPS or RTS, that it didn't really belong in the world of competitive gaming. Heck, a friend of mine used to like to say that it wouldn't work unless you were "trying to judge one elf dancing on a mailbox compared to another." (This friend, I should add, is anti-WoW) That's why I'm glad to see the Arena competitions becoming more and more prevalent as time goes on.
As Drysc recently announced on the forums, World of Warcraft is set to appear in this year's Championship Gaming Series. Players will have a chance to land a spot in the draft at BlizzCon. And for those who thumb their noses at gaming as a possible job -- the winners stand to make between $30k and $100k when you figure in the base salary, bonuses for winning, and prize money. (I just hope it includes good medical, because I sense some carpal tunnel in the mix too. :D )
Check out Drysc's full announcement from the forums behind the jump...
When I came upon Ben Drago at the Darkmoon Faire in Chicago, he was yelling like Ragnaros. He was facing off against three WoW TCG players-- one was playing a Paladin, the second a Mage, and the last a Hunter. It was a Molten Core raiding event, and Drago was more than giving the guys a run for their money. The Paladin dropped quick (the player complained that Drago's Shazzrah "wouldn't let me heal!"), and while the mage and hunter held their own for a while, Drago eventually crushed them all with Rag's firey might.
He handed out a few booster packs as prizes anyway, and then sat down to talk with me about the WoW TCG that he promotes all over the country and the world, what player reaction has been like, and Upper Deck's event plans for Blizzcon and beyond.
This is the first part of a series of press release videos from E3; this one spotlighting the events at the Darkmoon Faire. It probably doesn't contain anything that most of us haven't seen, but it's a nice little video, in any case...although it could really use one of those carnival barkers yelling "Sunday, SUNday, SUNDAY!". Enjoy...
There were some people out there who thought that since WoW wasn't an FPS or RTS, that it didn't really belong in the world of 
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