arena-season-8
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Arena season 8 to end as early as Oct. 12
Community Manager Zarhym has posted to announce that arena Season 8 will be ending as early as Oct. 12, two weeks from now. In addition, he has confirmed that Season 9 will not be starting until approximately one week after the release of the Cataclysm expansion. With this announcement, not only should arena teams get ready to get in those last few wins in hope of gaining end-of-season rewards, but we can all start looking forward to patch 4.0.1. It's not a guarantee, of course, but the end of an arena season is generally accompanied by a new patch -- and with patch 4.0.1 already on many of our computers via the background downloader, this may be as good a time as any. Of course, the post also leaves Blizzard leeway to push the end date back a few weeks if it needs to, as well, but either way, it may be a good idea to start getting prepared. Want to ascend the arena ladders faster than a fireman playing Donkey Kong? Read Blood Sport for pointers on arena play. Don't miss our interviews with successful arena PvPers, and see The Art of War(craft) for the inside line on battlegrounds and world PvP.
Patch 3.3.2: Season 8 gear listing
Patch 3.3.2 heralds the start of season 8, and with it comes a whole load of shiny new PvP gear. Armor sets, weapons, trinkets, the whole deal. MMO-Champion's database has been updated with all of it (stats included, of course), and Boubouille has all of it listed in convenient tabbed menus. You'll find rating requirements there, too. Of course, if you're only interested in what the armor looks like, we have you covered there. You can head back to our Season 8 preview, or simply check out the gallery below. %Gallery-84085%
Scheduled maintenance on US Realms for February 2nd
It looks like there will be realm maintenance for all US realms this February 2nd. Since it seems to be somewhat extended (3 AM PST to 11 AM PST) and we're waiting for the 3.3.2 patch to drop in order to start Arena Season 8, I'm willing to go out on a limb and suppose that there will most likely be the next minor content patch at this time. This will also most likely open the last wing of Icecrown Citadel. So! Are you excited? I'm excited! Well, also I'm kind of hoping I'm right, but then I'm excited. We'll have the Tuesday Morning Post for you to obsess over while waiting for the realms to come up, not that I compulsively refresh the realm status page or anything myself. No no, not me.
Arena points being reimbursed... for now
Players will be seeing the arena points they had left after season 7 ended be reimbursed in the near (if not immediate) future. Yesterday players logged on after maintenance to discover their points had been wiped, and that season 8 had not yet begun. Arena points are only wiped at the beginning of a season, not before and not during the transition between seasons. Crygil's full statement on the reimbursement is as follows: Arena points were wiped during the recent maintenance following the end of the arena season on January 19th. We initially intended to launch the next arena season this week, but it was delayed due to the minor content patch that needs to coincide with the beginning of the season having some last minute issues to resolve. Due to the delay in the arena season we are in the process of reimbursing arena points to all eligible participants. Characters will be returned to the amount they had on Tuesday, January 26th. All arena points will then be wiped when season 8 begins. We apologize for the confusion this caused and appreciate your understanding Rumors place season 8 beginning next week, although there has been no official announcement. Arena season 8 will begin with the release of patch 3.3.2 -- of which we recently discovered translated Korean patch notes.
Season 8 armor sets unveiled
Season 8 arena gear now available for you to drool over! Even though season 8 hasn't quite started yet due to delays, arena players will be rocking it in style. Although no clear date has been set in stone, the next arena season is expected to start soon (possibly coinciding with the 3.3.2 patch). The above shot is what the paladin gear looks like. Personally, I really like the way paladins, priests and warlocks look. I can't say that there is a specific armor set that I absolutely despise, but do take a look at our gallery and see all the sets for yourself. %Gallery-84085%
Bornakk on Arena Season 8 delay
If you PvP you may have noticed Arena Season 8 has not arrived today as expected. The forums certainly have, and Bornakk made sure to explain the reason. Apparently in order to start the arena season, the minor content patch 3.3.2 is necessary and since it isn't ready yet neither is Season 8. A brief side question about how people are finding the new resilience changes devolves but should't distract us from the main message here. Arena Season 8 has been delayed because patch 3.3.2 is not out yet. That's the sum total of what we know at this time. Please, do not panic, as soon as we know more about when the season will start or patch 3.3.2 will drop, we'll share that information with you.
Breakfast Topic: Your predictions for arena season eight
In season seven, we saw beast cleave (beast mastery hunter + enhancement shaman + holy paladin) win the majority of high-profile tournaments and become quite popular. Very few saw it coming. Beast cleave, of course, got handed several nerfs (only one of which was serious) which many considered a death knell, but the composition is still very strong. Towards the end of season seven, protection warriors (and to a lesser extent, protection paladins) were the new flavor-of-the-month craze. Again, almost no one saw it coming. The new season is slated to be quite different from previous arena seasons in WotLK. Resilience is getting a huge boost in effectiveness, increasing the benefit of wearing PvP gear in arenas. Some people (even on arena junkies) are stating that PvE gear will be even better in PvP because of the change. The idea is that arena players can get away with donning more loot from dragons because the added resilience benefit will make up for the forfeited survivability. While I might be wrong here, that sounds like terrible logic. One gladiator is predicting the shift to more survivability will benefit warlocks, warriors, and druids. The same poster believes mages and rogues will be harmed, while everyone else will keep status quo. So, I ask you, breakfast readers: What are your predictions for arena season eight?
