ArenaTournament posts

World of Warcraft's Arena Tournament launched on March 31, 2008, letting players immediately create level 70 characters and equip them with high level skills and epic armor. Competitors from around the world battle for up to $200,000 in cash prizes. At the same time, the Arena Tournament underscores Blizzard's intentions of using WoW's PvP gameplay as a type of eSport. WoW rose to become the most popular MMO in the world primarily because of its PvE content, and using its PvP for eSports marked a sharp turn in the game's focus. We catch up with WoW's Lead Designer, Tom Chilton, Paul Della Bitta (Senior Manager, Global Community and eSports) and Joong Kim (eSports Manager) to get the inside story about balancing PvP and PvE gameplay and what players can expect to from the future of Azeroth.