WoW Tournament Registration Begins

[Tyveris]

The Blizzard 3v3 tournament registration is now open. Here are the important parts of the details. Note, this information is what is shown for the US and EU registration pages. Potentially, KR and TW may have different eligibility requirements.

Who can play?
US Account Holders
Allowed: United States.
Except: Arizona, Connecticut, North Dakota, Maryland, and Vermont.

Allowed: Canada.
Except: The Province of Quebec.

Allowed: Australia
Except: Victoria, Queensland, or the Australian capital territory.

Allowed: New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia.
No Exceptions.

EU Account Holders
Allowed: Finland, France, Germany, Spain, The United Kingdom, The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Ireland, and Switzerland.
No Exceptions.

Tournament Dates

Qualifier Round One
Practice Starts: March 31, 2008 - 10:00 AM Pacific Time (5:00 PM GMT)
Begins: April 15, 2008 - Sometime, doesn't specify.
Ends: May 20, 2008 - 2:00 AM Pacific Time (9:00 AM GMT)

** Top Four Teams Advance To Regionals and Get Free Entry for Round Two**

Qualifier Round Two
Practice Starts: June 3, 2008 - 11:00 AM PST (6:00 PM GMT)
Begins: June 17, 2008 - Sometime, doesn't specify.
Ends: July 15, 2008 - 2:00 AM PST (9:00 AM GMT)

** Top Four Teams Advance To Regionals **

* Entry Free
* $20 USD
* Canadians - As an alternative to paying the entry fee, you can submit a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in Canada to the video gaming culture in the United States. It has to be in by March 31st if you want it to count, so do it quickly.

Other Rules

* After the two weeks practice, there is a 150 rating penalty for changing your team.
* When there are two weeks remaining, you can no longer change your lineup.
* Win-Trading results in the team being disqualified.
* UI Mods may be used during the First and Second rounds, but not the regional qualifier or finals.

Source: World of Warcraft Account Management

Best of luck, time to scramble and make sure all of your players qualify. Canadians, get to writing that essay. If you don't mind sharing, please post it here (http://www.arenajunkies.com/showthread.php?t=15687) for our enjoyment.

[Daize]

Apologies for the OT, but eh, are they trying to find out how to gather more souls for WoW due to the fact that canadians have to submit a 250 word typewritten essay? ..

[Tyveris]

Guessing that is the only way its legal for Canadians to enter tournaments somehow? Seems quite strange heh.

[Deeta]

lol some one write an amazing essay for all us canadians

[Gangy]

ROFL at the essay. We can't write up here ><

[Final]

Allowed: United States.
Except: Arizona, Connecticut, North Dakota, Maryland, and Vermont.

/sigh so many old people and now this...

[Duckers]

250 words is nothing, personally I'd rather that than pay $20 US. :(

[Gangy]

Wait nvm... lol

I guess 250 isnt much after all.

You suck... Duck.

[Duckers]

We've gotta do both. :(
* Everyone but Canadians: $20 USD
:confused:

[Slappywag]

Canadian residents are not required to pay an Entry Fee in order to enter. Instead, Canadian residents may enter by submitting a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in Canada to the video gaming culture in the United States on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and mailing their essay to Essay Entry for The North American Blizzard Entertainment Arena Tournament, P.O Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623. Essay entries must be received no later than March 31, 2008 in order to be eligible. Essay entrants represent and warrant that the essay is their original work and does not infringe the rights of any third party. By entering, essay entrants hereby grant, without further consideration, all right, title and interest in and to their essay to Sponsor.Holy shit. It's real.

[Fexy]

WTS ESSAYS $5

[Krigare]

glad i changed my account address from maryland to my apartment at school in virginia half a year ago

[Akkin]

Could a regular letter even arrive there until March 31?

[Nitross]

.

[Algrumm]

* Canadians - Submitting a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in Canada to the video gaming culture in the United States.


R
O
F
L

[Grombringal]

Hope they'll give euro the same exercise, can't wait !

WAIT... NO :o

[KennyEU]

Holy shit. It's real.

Lol, sounds more like april fools to me, but I dunno really.

Either way hilarious no matter what.

[syztem]

I'm canadian, I went to register and it charged me $20.

Also, what the fuck they give us 3 business days to get them the essay? I'm going to have to express send it? Retarded. Should have an online entry system or something.

edit: Purolator Express: $50.05 2 Business Days

That's my only option to get it there in time...

[mbl]

correct me if im wrong but the essay is only for the regionals? So I guess we can play the online part without writing the essay :x

[Tyveris]

correct me if im wrong but the essay is only for the regionals? So I guess we can play the online part without writing the essay :x
You are incorrect. You need to do the essay for the first and second online qualifier.

[tristantio]

It's aboot time Canadians get in on a tourney!

/not Canadian, just wanted to say aboot

[Steamboat]

sooooo apparently I can't play in this tourney cause im from CT....are you kidding me?

[Trevarion]

sooooo apparently I can't play in this tourney cause im from CT....are you kidding me?

no

[skiit]

What makes you think the essay is necessary?

Canada has a law that says you cannot hold a contest that REQUIRES purchase to enter. So you can pay 20$ or u can write the essay.

[Tyveris]

What makes you think the essay is necessary?

Canada has a law that says you cannot hold a contest that REQUIRES purchase to enter. So you can pay 20$ or u can write the essay.
Reading it a few more times, it looks like you might be right.

4. Entry; Entry Fee. The Entry Fee for the Tournament is $20.00 USD for the First Qualification Round of the Tournament, and $20.00 USD for the Second Qualification Round of the Tournament. Canadian residents are not required to pay an Entry Fee in order to enter. Instead, Canadian residents may enter by submitting a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in Canada to the video gaming culture in the United States on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and mailing their essay to Essay Entry for The North American Blizzard Entertainment Arena Tournament, P.O Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623. Essay entries must be received no later than March 31, 2008 in order to be eligible.

I updated the original post. Thanks for the catch, that makes it less fun though :P

[syztem]

so all my general forum bitching was for nothing?

yeah ill just pay

[Krigare]

haha what a loophole, its cheaper to just pay the 20 bucks than pay to rush the damn essay from canada for cali in 3 business days

wonder what the law says in the ineligible states that say you cant participate in an online competition..pretty sure MLG holds events in baltimore and such and those cant be free to enter...

[Levidian]

Whoa wait..............................

we have to use default UI in the finals?
W
T
F

[Krigare]

Whoa wait..............................

we have to use default UI in the finals?
W
T
F

either that or a standard provided UI like wsvg had

yes, no magictrack/afflicted

anyway with the direction e-sports and online gaming in general is going, these states need to resolve the laws that prevent participation in online tournaments of any sort. I did some research and it applies to xbox live tourneys and stuff like BF2 tourneys as well.

[Levidian]

either that or a standard provided UI like wsvg had

yes, no magictrack/afflicted

Hmm maybe im mis understanding.

Addons like Proximo, Natur, any bars mods etc would still be useable right?

[Hirim]

Oh.

Well I guess I'll just be paying then!

[Hirim]

Hmm maybe im mis understanding.

Addons like Proximo, Natur, any bars mods etc would still be useable right?

Not for the finals.

At WSVG they gave a standard addon which replaced default Unit Frames and thats all you were allowed to use. At the official Blizzard tournament it wouldn't surprise me if they made you use full default.

[Levidian]

Not for the finals.

At WSVG they gave a standard addon which replaced default Unit Frames and thats all you were allowed to use. At the official Blizzard tournament it wouldn't surprise me if they made you use full default.

Wonder what the setup time is going to be setting up keybinds and macros and shit could possibly take a little while.

[Krigare]

Wonder what the setup time is going to be setting up keybinds and macros and shit could possibly take a little while.

gonna have to setup characters on the server anyway but I imagine they will give plenty of time, as in as much time as it takes for everyone to get ready, to get everything setup. If they dont itll just be a big fail. Either way we know where the finals will be but have they even announced any info on the regionals? For NA I imagine they would be somewhere in cali just for convenience on blizz's part but unless its some big deal there will only be 8*3=24 ppl at the event to play.

[Levidian]

I guess if you were going to be serious about it you could configure your interface before hand and save it on a jump drive then just dump it on your rig and make sure it's configured correctly.

One thing I wouldn't like is played with a different keyboard. I play on a huge ass 17inch laptop with one of those smooshed laptop keyboards with the num pad and everything. It would be a big change going to a full sized lol.

[Ampd]

Don't worry Levidian, Dustt isn't old enough anyways =P

[Ebonics]

anyone know if you're required to be the original account owner to participate and not be DQd?

[tristantio]

anyone know if you're required to be the original account owner to participate and not be DQd?

Pretty sure in the last Blizzard tournament people were disqualified for not matching the name of the account owner.

[Krigare]

somewhere in the rules it says you have to be the person the account is registered under

[Rapture]

The Eligible Participant must be the authorized account holder of the Account. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who registered the Account on the World of Warcraft gaming service. Here it is.

[Argeln]

I can't post in the news forums obviously, but here are the countries in EUROPE allowed to participate:

THIS TOURNAMENT IS OPEN ONLY TO INDIVIDUALS WHO PAY THE ENTRY FEE (as defined below), AND WHO ARE, AT THE TIME OF ENTRY AND AWARD OF PRIZE: (A) LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES: FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, SWEDEN, BELGIUM, RUSSIA, ITALY AND SWITZERLAND THAT ARE SERVED BY THE FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH AND UNITED KINGDOM ENGLISH EU WORLD OF WARCRAFT SERVER

Yep, there are LOADS missing.

[Melonjuice]

Just watch, everyone in canada will be sending in letters and on the first, and wow will say lUl april fools.

But seriously.. A letter ? Blizz is crazy

[Krigare]

Just watch, everyone in canada will be sending in letters and on the first, and wow will say lUl april fools.

But seriously.. A letter ? Blizz is crazy

What makes you think the essay is necessary?

Canada has a law that says you cannot hold a contest that REQUIRES purchase to enter. So you can pay 20$ or u can write the essay.

^^

[Krigare]

check this out

B. Arena Teams. The Tournament shall determine the top “Arena
Team” made up of no less than three (3), and no more than six (6)
Characters played by Eligible Participants who are of the same
“faction,” i.e., an Arena Team must be made up of all “Alliance”
Characters, or all “Horde” Characters. Each Character must be played by
a separate Eligible Participant.

gg?

[Faenella]

check this out



gg?

Oh wtf. No counter comping allowed in the tourny? I thought being able to play several classes well should always be an advantage in tourny play. I hope the finals don't turn into a pure rock vs scissors matchup.

[Tyveris]

"B. Arena Teams. The Tournament shall determine the top "Arena Team" made up of no less than three (3), and no more than six (6) Characters played by Eligible Participants who are of the same "faction," i.e., an Arena Team must be made up of all "Alliance" Characters, or all "Horde" Characters. The members of an Arena Team ("Team Members") shall be designated by one (1) Eligible Participant for each Arena Team who operates as the "Team Captain," and who purchases an Arena Team charter from an Arena Promoter using World of Warcraft Gold provided to their Character, and then invites other Eligible Players to join the Arena Team."

I don't see that in the rules. Maybe they removed it?

[Tyveris]

Added the EU information. Thanks for the update.

[Mortimer]

Disagree with EU eligible countries, so many unhappy ppl on the forums now. For me it's just been very big sadface all day --> :(

[Speedo]

So has the practice started yet? and if not when

[Tyveris]

Monday.

[Akkin]

Well...I wasn't sure if I should participate..now I am.
Austria the country where I'm originally from is not on the list..and guess what? Ireland, the country I live in atm isn't either. This is a fucking joke.

[syztem]

FYI for Canadians entering via essay:

Due to concerns raised by our community over the short time period provided for Canadian residents who choose to enter the Tournament by submitting the essay, we are hereby revising the Official Rules of the Tournament through this notice that Canadian residents who wish to enter the contest by submitting the essay may do so provided the essays are postmarked by April 14, 2008, and received by Blizzard by April 21, 2008 to be eligible.

This was the email response I received after nerd raging in an email before i realized I could just pay $20.

[shinji]

WHAT? no danes allowed? THIS IS BLASPHEMY!

gief tournament invite, OR I SHALL DRAW MORE MOHAMMED DRAWINGS

[Kolenzo]

Who can play?
US Account Holders
Allowed: United States.
Except: Arizona, Connecticut, North Dakota, Maryland, and Vermont.

Allowed: Canada.
Except: The Province of Quebec.

Allowed: Australia
Except: Victoria, Queensland, or the Australian capital territory.

Allowed: New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia.
No Exceptions.

EU Account Holders
Allowed: Finland, France, Germany, Spain, The United Kingdom, The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Russia, Italy, and Switzerland.
No Exceptions.

Wow, NZ residents can join it? This is like the first time they've even acknowledged that they have new zealand customers bar when they stuck an oceanic label on a few servers, while leaving their physical locations in the US.

Maybe I'll enter. I'll still be running 300 ping easy though...

[Akkin]

I'd really love to hear why people from certain countries are allowed to play Online Poker for real money but may not participate in a 3v3 WoW tourney...

[Argeln]

In the EU, loads of countries aren't eligible, which has caused a lot of distress on the forums and in teams as well (I mean, howmany danes play WoW, loads).

They should rename the tourney to "eligible countries 3v3 tourney cup"

[Speedo]

so when are we allowed on the realm exactly?

[Tyveris]

Supposedly, an hour from now.

[Kadrix]

Stupid question, do I access the realm on the normal client, or some downloadable client?

[Rapture]

US Announcement Source (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5640646111&sid=1): The launch of the Tournament Realm will be delayed for a few hours as the final preparations are completed. We are still scheduled to begin today and will provide further details as they become available.

EU Announcement Source (http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=3405052932&postId=34047070584&sid=1#0):Update 12:20 CEST: There has been a delay in opening the tournament realms. We will update you with new information as soon as possible.

We'll keep you updated as we know more.

[Daize]

Just retarded why people from Holland can't participate :s...

[Cova-]

haha the world's best or should we say 50% of the world'st best since the other half cant join geezzz this tourney is one big fail gg blizz.

[Argeln]

it's not blizzard's fault, you know. They have to make a request for every country and if the one you live in denies it (for whatever most likely silly reason) you just had bad luck.

[Cova-]

no blizzard just needs to try harder

[Akkin]

In the EU, loads of countries aren't eligible, which has caused a lot of distress on the forums and in teams as well (I mean, howmany danes play WoW, loads).

They should rename the tourney to "eligible countries 3v3 tourney cup"

Yeah the list of EU countries that are not allowed to participate is much longer than the list of those who are eligible to compete.
I'm quite frustrated that they wouldn't even care to give a statement on this.

[Akkin]

it's not blizzard's fault, you know. They have to make a request for every country and if the one you live in denies it (for whatever most likely silly reason) you just had bad luck.

I'm sure all these countries are just biased against poor Blizzard since they allow things like Online Poker, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (Blizz game too, quite strange), Magic: The Gathering, and so on - offline as well as online - but not a WoW 3v3 competition...
Also I'm a bit confused that for example Austrians were eligible to compete in the last event realm competiton but not in the upcoming tourney.

If I was Canadian I could save my entrance fee by spending some lousy 10 minutes writing a text nobody will ever care to read, but I guess since I'm just from a small European country I should know better (at least from experience with Blizzard) than to expect to be threated like Northern American costumers.

Anyways I don't really expect a statement by Blizzard on this since our CMs usually just copy/paste/translate US posts and this issue is not likely to be adressed in the US boards. All we got in the german boards at the moment is a blue post whining about us complaining and saying how unfair it is of us to give any blame to the company organising the event. No information included.

[Akkin]

LOL...not sure if anyone reads this, but...

This was the list for Europe on March 27:

(A) LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES: FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, SWEDEN, BELGIUM, RUSSIA, ITALY AND SWITZERLAND THAT ARE SERVED BY THE FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH AND UNITED KINGDOM ENGLISH EU WORLD OF WARCRAFT SERVER

This is it today:

(A) LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES: FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, SWEDEN, BELGIUM, RUSSIA, ITALY, IRELAND AND SWITZERLAND THAT ARE SERVED BY THE FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH AND UNITED KINGDOM ENGLISH EU WORLD OF WARCRAFT SERVER


They added Ireland subsequently...THIS IS PROFESSIONALISM!!!

[Tyveris]

Added Ireland, thanks :)