WOW Arena Tournament sign-ups begin

Commited competitors would see that the classes are not balanced to have this kind of tournament on a level playing field.
And Blizzard even admits to it...

PvP in WoW does not work. Case closed.

It works. Case reopened.

It only "works" if you have never seen other games do it and/or you have no life. The game engine behind WoW only works for PvE. It cannot cope gracefully with PvP.

"It only "works" if you have never seen other games do it and/or you have no life."

You do know this is for the hardcore players? I'm guessing most of them who in have no life..

Anyway, PVPs fine in WoW. Its only not balanced during 1on1's and its impossible to balance a 1on1 with different classes....

Care to elaborate more? I played other games and don't see why you say WoW's way of doing things are inferior to the rest.

The engine behind WoW sadly has a problem with stat inflation. Since this is necessary to beat PvE encounters this has resulted in ridiculous PvP problems (way to much damage for example and the artificial Resilience stat). A lot of PvE skills also have no meaning in PvP sadly. They also break the rule of European game design NEVER take control away from the player. CC is a bad thing in a PvP type game. It is just badly designed for PvP... a pity IMHO. Lower stats on gear and less CC abilities would have solved a lot and a better "stat" engine behind it all focusing more on the player stats. Imagine having a Sword+20 in Dungeons and Dragons Some of my gear has more +Stamina than my character has naked It is a classic mistake of P&P game design. Blizzard got it all wrong (remember the whole redesign when TBC came out. Some classes were losing +crit for example when they went up a level This was a sign that the engine was not scalable and that usually means that the engine is bad for PvP type encounters).

It was a conscious decision to focus on PvE (and it works very well). PvP is just a mess IMHO but your millage may vary depending on your class/party.

I prefer Street Fighter for one on one.

In my opinion WoW has done a very good job balancing PvE and PvP. Now, with clear distiction between PvP and PvE gear, you cannot just use the best of one type and expect to do well in the other. PvP gear is good for PvP and PvE gear for PvE.

Also, when TBC comes there are a lot of changes in mechanics. Yes, some will view this as the fault of the original design in that it is not scalable. But the mechanics worked before TBC was out and changed to make it work post TBC ... and that's the main thing. If it will take them to change the mechanics again to make it work for the next expansion so be it .. as long as it works.

I don't understand why you said cc is not good for PvP. Diminishing returns was introduced a long time ago. That stops making people cc'ing the same person more than twice in a row. And there are ways to counter cc if you know how to play well. Without cc, PvP will be boring.

Some of the MMO out there are either PvE or PvP only. And so far WoW has done a good job to cater both needs.

>Without cc, PvP will be boring.

Plenty of MMORPGs without CC in PvP. FPS games also have no CC Like I said.. one of the most important design rules of gaming is to never take away control from the player. Nothing frustrates a player more than stare at a sheep/stun/sleep/fear for 10-20 seconds. I would prefer that Blizzard introduced some hard changes for PvP. No CC (or VERY limited CC) and itroduce a much more aggressive cover system in PvP fights.

Yes I agree that Blizzard have worked hard to solve some of the issues. IMHO they are not there yet and it will take a lot of hard work.

That being said... PvP can be quite fun in WoW... so I guess that is the most important thing. Who am I to take away the entertainment of people

Tournament Realm player here. I payed the £12 for the simple chance to duel some of the best players in europe, and to see how my class and spec played at the gear cap (or nearly - the tournament realm is played out in S2 weapons and gear, presumably because they have had more time to balance those items correctly). As a long time PVPer who has never, ever, had good gear for anything, I have made the following observations:

1) PvP is balanced around the gear cap. As a balance druid, I expected absolute failure. However, with over 1k spell damage, 10.8k health, 350 odd resi, and a full complement of leather gear with green armour bonuses, I can and have beat every FOMT class/spec except an sl/sl lock. (and I got one down to 4% yesterday. they are a black box to me, and I am 10 times better at them today than 1 week ago). In groups this is a different story, but on the whole I am personally more powerful when everyone is on an equal footing.

2) CC is not almighty. Learn where and when to use your pvp medallion, learn to dispell teammates, try to understand and count DR and have patience! If you are sitting there cursing and smacking your keyboard, you are not going to win the 75,000 anyway, so chill out

3) This game is an excellent tournament game. It's no Starcraft, but the dynamics of play will definitely translate into interesting gameplay and watchability as long as there is a 3rd party to record the events from outside and commentate! Also, since everyone can instantly roll FOTM teams, there need be no whining about class balance. If rogues are overpowered (they aren't), but everyone can instantly have a 70 rogue, then the problem is yours and not the games.

4) FOTM for 3v3 is Double Melee (rogue/war/healer). There will also be some legacy rogue/mage/priest teams I shouldn't wonder. Double DPS will make for faster, more exciting matches, rather than the half an hour long borefest 2v2 is at the moment. Look forward to some dynamic gameplay!

Oh yeah, and despite what the summary says, the price has done nothing about the prevailance of noobs. They are still very much in abundance. They are probably hoping that a load of people will do exactly what I have done and pay to play for the fun of doing it. They have to get that extra $75,000 from somewhere