14 DAY TRIAL // If you are one of the millions of World of Warcraft fans and you would like to earn some official, legal cash for playing the game, this is the news for you! Because Blizzard has announced plans to launch a new type of competition using the Arena System in WOW. With more than $200,000 in cash prizes at stake, it's crystal clear that we're not talking anymore about some child's play.
The competition is a tournament-based one taking place on special realms that allow all the competitors to instantly create level 70 characters with all sorts of epic equipment. This means that it will focus more on tactics and execution rather than the time spent online and completion of the classic adventures. Which might be a great idea having in mind that some of the most hardcore WOW players are expected to take part. But don't worry if you don't consider yourself one of them - there is room for everybody, at least in the beginning.
The tournaments are scheduled to start this April with two rounds of online qualifiers in Europe, South Korea, North America and Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Each qualifier round will have a per-competitor entry fee - ?15/?12 in Europe; 20,000 won in South Korea; $20 in North America; and NT$450 in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau - and it will run for six weeks. Yes, this kind of sucks since all the competing players are probably paying the monthly subscription already, but you can't mess with Blizzard now, can you?
Throughout the competition, teams will play 3 vs. 3 matches on the tournament realm in their region, with the top four teams from each round advancing to the regional finals to compete for more than $27,000 in cash prizes. Winners from each region will then be invited to a global championship event to compete for $120,000 in cash prizes, including a $75,000 grand prize. Blizzard did not specify if there will be a player-limit but we doubt there is, since more teams joining mean more money for them. Still, for the ones who have a rather high competitive personality and don't really fancy the adventure part of the game, this will definitely be a solution.