World of Warcraft (WoW): the major game for this year’s World Series of Video Games tour. “WHAT?” the first thing I thought to myself. I have played the game since alpha. I’ve played massive multiplayer online role-playing games since I was 13. But now, it is getting the attention of one of the biggest organizations in the eSports world? Things are really going to get interesting in 2007.

WoW has been a game dominated by the PvE (Player vs Enviroment) players since its existence. Getting world firsts kills, obtaining those purple items, and progressing through the instances that Blizzard throws at you is what it was all about; then battlegrounds came along. For the most part the hardcore players continued on with instancing, but many would play in the different battlegrounds during non-raid hours. It was a small step for Blizzard, but PvP still served as a “side” part of the game when compared to its PvE counterpart. More instances came out and the guilds progressed through them in due time. And then something happened.

Blizzard announced the implementation of the Arena system right before the first expansion of the game came out – The Burning Crusade. However, players would not be able to play in ranked matches until they acquired level 70 on their characters and the first Arena season started. This was quickly achieved shortly after the expansion was released, but Blizzard waited to start the Arena season. Once the season started many players on many battlegrounds began to shift focus from PvE to PvP.

Battlegroup 6 (Vengeance) and Battlegroup 9 (Bloodlust) seem to be getting the most publicity at the moment. This is because the only three sponsored teams are on those two battlegrounds. Team Pandemic, Check-Six, and Enervate Gaming are the only teams thus far to sponsor a team in WoW, but did they make the right choice?

When Power Trip (Team Pandemic) and Zerg It Down (Check-Six) were first picked up, many of the GotFrag readers claimed it as a big mistake, that WoW wasn’t going anywhere, that it could never be balanced enough to make it in eSports. Now what do you have to say that a major organization is backing the game? Sure, I’ll be the first to admit that there are many imbalances in the game at the moment, but who’s to say that Blizzard won’t fix these in a patch? Yes, gear does play a big role – but WSVG stated in an interview at WorldOfWar.net that they are going to use standardized gear to nullify that. These changes would put everyone at the same level and the only variance between teams would be the races they chose (granting different racial abilities) and talent specializations. However, the biggest thing being argued in the communities is the 3v3 format.

Right now, 5v5 is the most widely played format in the ranked arenas. WSVG also stated in the interview mentioned above that they would use a 3v3 ruleset. Why? Their reasoning states following around 10 players in a small arena is quite difficult when trying to draw spectators in. With four players out, it will be much easier to follow the matches. However, what about the group setups involved in 3v3?

In the world of 3v3 Arena there will always be a counter to any group you run. I think this is a very big reason why the WSVG would chose to run this format. In 5v5’s, you are most likely always going to have a Paladin, a Warrior, and a Mage; the other to spots can be filled with a ranged DPS and a Priest. In 3v3’s the variety of classes that can be used is endless. If you run a healer heavy group (Paladin, Priest, Warrior) then you can counter it with a DPS heavy group with a Mage. Think about it: you’re watching the WSVG finals of WoW. It is a 5v5 format. In the past ten games you’ve seen every group run the same classes except for maybe one class difference. It would be kind of dull watching everything work like clock work in the matches over and over. Now think about all of the different possibilities in 3v3 that one can run to counter the other group. It will indeed be a sight to see.

So who will win the first tournament? The smart bet would be to place it on one of the three sponsored teams. Dedication and experience will win the tournament. These three teams have been consistently playing together in PvP since WoW came out. Much like Counter-Strike, teamwork will play a very big role. However it would not surprise me if a team comes out of no where and takes the tournament. The 2007 WSVG tournaments will surely be something to watch for any World of Warcraft fan.