Blizzard plan to introduce a new arena in Mists of Pandaria called Tol’vir Proving Grounds. While I joked in the past at what form this arena might take, it seems Blizzard have learnt their lesson.  Indeed, this arena looks quite impressive with a simple layout based on Nagrand Arena—the most balanced arena in the game. It’s Egyptian themed with four golden statues standing in roughly the same position as the pillars in Nagrand.

The fact this arena is situated in Uldum suggests they were aiming to release it in Cataclysm. However, while it may in fact be a delayed feature, the design and allusion to Nagrand Arena allows any such delay to be forgiven. Indeed, it’ll limit the chance of Ring of Valor popping and that can never be a bad thing.

While some might criticise the design for been lazy or just a simple retexture, this isn’t necessarily a problem when it comes to arena design. Indeed, while retextures are a bad thing in terms of BGs, sticking to a simple yet balanced design is perfect when it comes to arena. We get a nice change of scenery without certain design flaws giving one team a massive advantage over another.

Yes a raging fire, a one shot mechanic in the form of a Tornado and a poorly drawn dragon is absent. But you can’t have everything!

Twitter and Email

In other news I’ve set up a twitter account to post blog updates and general musings about WoW when I just can’t be bother to write a full post! You can find it here – twitter.com/HMCeon. Follow me if interested.

I’ve also got a fancy Hydramist email address. So if you want to contact me with any content ideas, feature requests or anything in particular, you can do so. The address is ceon@hydramist.tv

Please do not send it to @hydramist.com. That would indeed be Hydra and Kalimists carpet cleaning business where even the toughest stains are stunned and Smited away!