Lots of Arena PVP info from Drysc
Drysc has practically written a novel today on the upcoming rewards for Arena PVP. When a player asks how the rewards will be distributed, Drysc opens up and answers a lot of questions we had about how the Arena system would work.
Arena honor points will be given based on ranking every week during maintenance-- if you have a high ranking, you get more points than if you have a low ranking. This means that everyone will eventually have access to all of the Arena PVP awards. If your team is terrific, you'll get access to them much faster than a team that flouders in the rankings, but no matter how you play, as long as you have a ranking, you'll earn points every week.
Arena seasons will last three months, and and the end of a season, the teams with the top rankings for that period will get "cool prizes." Drysc says that, unlike the normal Arena PVP awards, these rewards will be "purely status or cosmetic in nature," but what that means we're not sure-- special mounts? Special tabards? Cooler looking versions of Arena weapons?
One of the rewards will be titles for the top teams at the end of the season.
The other big news: rankings won't go into effect until you're level 70. You'll still be able to play Arena "skirmishes" that don't count towards the ranking (they'll still give honor points, however), but not until you ding 70 will you be able to enter the tournament system.
In addition, the skirmishes will be seperated by every 5 levels-- 60-64, 65-69, and 70 for the ranking system.
And once you do start ranking, you need 10 matches minimum to enter the system. So Drysc says most players will probably play their ten, and then decide whether it's something they want to stick with or not. In addition, he predicts matches will run "5 minutes or less"-- in sharp contrast to the BGs currently in the game.
Finally, Drysc says players will be able to be on one team of each size-- 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5.
Sounds awesome-- can't wait to see what kind of rewards come out of the system, and the prospect of "5 min or less" matches sounds a lot more enticing than the looooong WSG and AV matches I've been stuck in lately. While we're at it, here's a little Arena video as well. In just the Arena system alone, PVPers will have plenty to play with come the Burning Crusade.
