Arena-Tourney
Latest
Arena Tournament Phase 3 ends tonight
We hope you got those 200 games, because the Arena Tournament is ending this phase of the tournament by 9pm PDT tonight. This means that only the Top 1,000 teams will qualify for the next round, and the rest of the entrants can take the season off. The Top 1,000 teams will move on to Phase 4, or the invitational ladder, for a shot at winning up to $75,000 in a prize pool worth over $200,000. In order to qualify, players must have played a minimum of 200 games with the same character on the same team.Players on the Top 1,000 teams will receive the title of "Vanquisher" for all their characters Level 71 or higher. As an awesome consolation prize, any player who managed to get 200 games regardless of how well (or how badly) they performed will receive Murkimus the Gladiator on one of their characters. When Phase 3 ends tonight, the Tournament Realms will be shut down for one week, after which Phase 4 will begin anew on April 14. Good luck! We know it might be a little late for that, so... uh, congrats?
Blizzard posts another Arena Tournament update
Aratil posted another weekly update on the top teams on the US Tournament Realms, with last week's number one BARKSDALE CREW remaining stagnant at 2501 rating, allowing last week's third placers well then to move past them into first place. Curiously, well-known pro gamer Serennia's We Met on eHarmony, another Death Knight/ Paladin/ Warlock comp, which was fifth last week tanked to 43rd place. Interestingly, Serennia openly dissed NO LIGHTNING GEN BRAH in his blog as "not-so-surprisingly horrible," while taking a potshot at less popular Battlegroups. The players of NO LIGHTNING GEN BRAH currently hold the top spot of the 3v3 bracket on the Rampage Battlegroup and maintained status quo in the rankings on the Tournament Realms.Of course, it's important to note that none of these rankings really matter at this point. As Serennia noted in the same blog entry, players only need their teams to be in the top 1000 to qualify for the invitational phase of the tournament. Standings right now are merely observational benchmarks and Aratil's regular updates are nothing more than that -- updates. Although the US Tournament Realms indicate a trend towards the Death Knight/ Paladin/ Warlock team comp, the European side has a fair share of Rogue/ Mage/ Priest teams. That said, the top team in Europe as of this writing is also a DK/Pally/Lock comp that wasn't in the Top 10 last week. In Korea, where teams are still working their way to crack 2000, the most popular comps are the expected RMP with the current top team being a Death Knight/ Paladin/ Hunter. Yep, it's almost the same dominant setup with a Survival Hunter instead of a Warlock.
Arena Tournament moves to third phase
Registration for the 2009 Arena Tournament closed last Tuesday and the competition has now moved on to its third phase. Teams have been locked down, meaning existing teams may no longer add players to their roster. Players may continue to create new teams but will be unable to invite additional members beyond those that sign the original charter. Games played prior to the lockdown will still count towards the final tally that determines which teams advance to the next round.This is the home stretch for players who wish to qualify for the next stage in the Arena Tournament, where the top 1000 teams will move on. Players looking to obtain Murkimus the Gladiator need to play 200 games between March 10 to April 6, while players aiming for the Vanquisher title need to get within the top 1,000 teams within the same time period. Currently, the 1,000th team on US Tournament Realms is hovering around 1,600 rating so finishing somewhere between 1,700-1,800 would probably be a safe bet for the title. Good luck to everyone!
