Massively^™

As for the soon to be obsolete Season 1 gear, Gladiator's items will be moved to Sun Reach's Harbor on the Isle of Quel'Danas and will no longer be purchasable with honor but with Tier 4 tokens instead, ironically these are acquired by PvE raiding. The idea was recently introduced in the 2.4 patch and you can also turn in Tier 5 tokens for Season 2 gear. Speaking of Season 2, the Merciless-Gladiator's gear will be the new clearance epics purchasable with honor points and have no arena or personal rating requirement.

The registration fee is $20 per account; play will last six weeks with matches played out on the Tournament realms. This is a 3v3 only event, but the 2v2 and 5v5 brackets see quite a bit of action as well, proving that there is a demand for this type of competitive player versus player gameplay. Raiding Sunwell is the last thing a die-hard arena junkie has on their mind. Participants can create up to three new level 70s with full sets of PvP gear per realm. Hit the official tournament forum to meet up with others to discuss the best strategies and team compositions.

One factor that keeps MMORPGs running is the desire for progression. Every player who sets foot in any subscription-based game can eventually see the will of the developers creating systems that will make you dedicated time and energy to their game.

Yet, the one thing that no one seems to take notice of is the way we get sucked into keep playing. Sometimes isn't not about the difficulty of the challenge itself, but the path it takes to get to there. Everyone sees the physical difficulty of doing a raid, and everyone knows that the developers make it difficult to complete a raid so you keep playing longer, but very few can see the will of the developers resonating in the path it takes to get to the challenge.

Rohan at Blessing of Kings, however, locked onto that path in his latest post, entitled "Being on the Path".

The newest Tabula Rasa PvP arena, named the C.E.L.L.A.R. (Coalition of Enlistees Likely Looking for Aggressive Retaliation), has been gaining some attention since its introduction in Deployment 8 this week. This arena is set up as a boxing ring, complete with suitable equipment, colored corners and the whole nine yards.

Earlier this week, the members of the TR MOG clan held a tournament in this arena, and we were lucky enough to attend. We figured we would take this opportunity with the tournament in play to snap some screenshots and create a handy guide to the arena for those who aren't familiar with it just yet.

As part of a thank you note to its fans, videogame-themed television brand G4 has announced that it will bring back a host of favorite past shows for the Summer. Among these shows are the classics Arena, Judgement Day, and Portal. For those who missed it the first time around, Portal is the story of a guy named Dave, who was responsible for managing the Hub, an entrance to the various online MMO worlds of the day.

The shows will re-air beginning June 2nd as the G4 Rewind series, and will run until August 29th. Given that there are considerably more MMOs available these days, it's possible that Portal could enjoy a second chance, depending on its reception with the viewing audience. If this happens, we'd bet the show will have to rename itself to avoid confusion with the Valve game of the same name. Sure, the show came first, but walk into any geek gathering and see which property gets the recognition when mentioned.

The arena battles in World of Warcraft may be challenging and fun to play, but can they also be fun to watch? Blizzard is hoping the answer is yes, and pro-gaming league Major League Gaming is hopping on for the ride. As the headliner for their new PC Circuit, they are betting big that the millions of people who play the game will want to tune in to watch the best of the best battle it out. $22,500 in prize money is set aside for the top competitors at each of the PC Circuit's three stops. One of the 32 competing teams will be walking away with some serious money for upgrades. 31 teams will be shaking their heads and wondering what happened.

GotFrag eSports is giving the event the full coverage that sort of money demands. What nobody knows is how many spectators will tune in to watch what will likely be a competition nearly impossible to follow without a good understanding of PvP in WoW, or some commentators who really know their stuff. PC eSports fans were hoping for CounterStrike 1.6 and seemed disappointed with the selection of World of Warcraft as their initial gaming platform. But hey, we love WoW here. Bring it on! Just, please, be sure to get commentators who know what they're talking about.

Great news for World of Warcraft gamers today, as the weekly Tuesday maintenance leaves behind a nice present: patch 2.4.2. WoW Insider has the full monty on what you can expect when you log back in. The full patch notes will give you the details you crave. WI always goes that extra step, though, and has additional information from the community about stealth changes. Did you know there's a new Zebra mount being added to the game?

Here's the bullet-point rundown:

• Major changes to the PvP Arenas.
• The Mage spell Polymorph now works quite differently.
• Tweaks to the Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, Engineering, and Leatherworking professions.
• The bosses Vexallus and Kael'thas are no longer immune to taunt on Normal difficulty in the Magisters' terrace encounter.
• Hunters will have to learn new tactics due to some controversial changes to class and pet abilities.
• Weaponsmiths will now be able to enjoy their non-unique one-handed items.

A few weeks ago we reported on a fighting arena that is rumored to be releasing with Tabula Rasa's Patch 1.8. Since then, there has been some speculation about what this area will be used for. We already know it will not be strictly for the Friday Night Fights events, but we ask ourselves if it will be open to anyone at anytime.

Over at Tabula Blogger, the question is presented once again after the more recent news of our six-month veteran rewards; namely the Knuckle Dusters. Will these be a part of this arena? We can only hope, but we think the bigger question is what type of impact will this area serve (in both PvE and PvP) for players who may be finding themselves bored with the game as it stands today?

While no more major patches are expected to hit World of Warcraft before Wrath of the Lich King is released, we'll probably see quite a bit of tweaking between now and then. The next patch due for the service, numbered 2.4.2, makes some major changes to the way that Arena battles rewards PvP players. Previously, members of an Arena team were rewarded with Arena points based on the overall rating of their team. IE: if the average of the team members was 1900, and each team member participated in enough fights, everyone on the team was rewarded Arena points as if their rating was 1900. As of the upcoming patch, that's no longer the case.

Individual Arena ratings will now be taken into account. According to Blizzard Community Manager Drysc, "if a character's personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating." Individuals will no longer be able to 'float' their way to large amounts of Arena points. Arena gear previously required just a certain team rating, but with change that rating will also apply to a character's personal Arena rating. If a team's average Arena rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they'll be queued against appropriate opponents. This will prevent individuals from quickly improving their personal ratings through individual matches. And finally, "If a team does not enter an arena match that is starting they will lose points equal to the amount that would have been deducted if they had played and lost." This will work to prevent teams from abandoning matches until they compete against a group they are specifically looking to fight.

WoW Insider is reporting on the notes for the next patch to World of Warcraft. Even with the recent release of the much-awaited Patch 2.4, there are still numerous tweaks that have to be made. It's expected that there will be a number of these smaller patches between now and when the Wrath of the Lich King expansion releases, but no further 'major' patches ala the Sunwell.

Patch 2.4.2 offers up several different changes to the game, including:

• A major revamp of the way players are rewarded Arena points.
• Being polymorphed by an NPC no longer causes player characters to heal, a potentially major change.
• A new tameable pet for Hunters.
• Tweaks to the Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, Engineering, and Leatherworking professions.
• The bosses Vexallus and Kael'thas are no longer immune to taunt on Normal difficulty in the Magisters' terrace encounter.
• A series of minor tweaks to the abilities of almost every class.

The full patch notes are available at WoW Insider.

World of Warcraft has received its fair share of criticism concerning the necessity of having the best gear. Casual players often find it impossible to acquire. Raiders spend hours getting their sets built. PvPers can't live. Often times, your ability to fight and win is not dictated by your cleverness or strategy. It is determined by just how much your Frost Bolt can crit for.

As a few articles on PvP in World of Warcraft note, PvP is a meaningless struggle that simply makes that poor little level thirty gnome wish he never walked through STV. This form of PvP, commonly known as the gank, occurs mainly in the open world, in between the great cities and towns, where quests are painstakingly completed. Players will leave a neutral city only to be bombarded by hostiles ambushing unlucky travelers right outside the gates. Though Horde and Alliance die in droves in this manner, no one tends to care. The sun still shines upon Stormwind, the plague remains untouched, and the banners of war seem to have been furled up and forgotten. Yet the one defining moment after a kill, be it hard or easy, Arena or BG, is the receipt of the honor point.

By turning in honor points, players can work their way up the ranks to acquire Tier 6 gear. The more honor points, the bigger the sword. With this system in place, Blizzard has managed to make another aspect of the game quite gear dependent. Players with more time wielding the blade have a definite advantage over those who are just starting out in the realm of combat. Fighting in the WoW Arena quite often resembles reaching for a carrot on a stick. You may read Patton when you wake up, you may watch old war movies and study game footage, but you may not own that elite sword of gnome crushing and without that, you're toast.

Do you have a hot 3v3 team in WoW? Do you want to win some money? If so, this news is for you. Blizzard announced a new global 3v3 arena tournament yesterday, starting in April with two qualifier rounds. The tournament events will run on specialized realms where players can create level 70 characters and choose epic gear from vendors, to level the playing field. The vendors will be stocked with Arena and honor gear as well as "a selection of raid epics with the approximate power level of the Arena gear." Characters will also be given access to gold, gems, enchants, and class-specific items like ammo and soul shards. There will be an entry fee to compete in each qualifier round of $20/€15/local equivalent per competitor.

The qualifiers are broken down by region: Europe, North America, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, and run for six weeks. After this, the top four teams in each of the two qualifying rounds for each region advance to the regional finals, competing for "more than $27,000 in cash prizes." The regional winners will then compete in the championships, with $120,000 in cash prizes available. And the grand prize? $75,000. Who's going to take a stab at it? For more details, see the tournament FAQ.

[via WoW Insider]

Electronic Sports League have announced a "new" World of Warcraft 3v3 tournament to be held at this year's Dreamhack Computer festival in Sweden, between the 29th and 30th. The tournament will be 8 top-ranked teams, invite only.

Prize money is as follows:

First place: $45,000
Second Place: $22,500
Third Place: $7,500

This seems to be the replacement for the now-deceased WSVG a few months ago, but ESL have picked up the reins, along with the usual sponsors -- Dell, Intel, Blizzard. A new spectator system has also been unveiled, DreamArena, which should mean there'll be decent coverage of the competition for those who want to watch it. Here's hoping this one goes ahead!

[Via Curse.com]