With the upcoming expansion Blizzard will be introducing arena battles and to give you a better idea of what to expect, here are the rules:

  • You do not talk about arena battles. Coolness!
  • When a player enters an arena battle, all buffs and conjured items are purged/deleted. This is done to ensure no outside buffs or items from members outside of your team are able to be used in an arena battle.
  • No consumables other than bandages and conjured items can be used while in the arena. There will be a waiting area similar to the current battlegrounds where players on the team will be able to conjure items and cast buffs.
  • Abilities/spells/items with cooldowns longer than 15 minutes cannot be used while in the arena.
  • Each arena team will be given a rating, and will be matched up in the arena queue against teams of a similar rating. As time progresses the matching system will broaden its search up to a limit if a closely rated team cannot be found.
  • Ratings adjustments are made in the same way that ELO ratings adjustments are made. This system works by adjusting each arena teams rating from a specific match based on the rating of the team they are up against. If a team wins against a team of a higher rating, the increase of their arena rating would be much higher than if they had won against a team of a lower rating. This system will help promote players improving their skill and besting teams which may have previously held the top spots.
  • At the end of each week, characters receive arena points based on their team’s rating. A team must have fought a minimum number of battles for the week, which we have announced as currently set to 10 games. A player must have played in at least 30% of the team?s battles that week in order to be eligible to receive arena points. Each eligible player will then receive a fraction of the team?s total awarded points to spend on arena rewards.
  • Players may spend their points on arena rewards, or save their points until they have enough to get the rewards they desire.
  • There is a limit to the number of points a player can stockpile, which is currently planned to be as high as the most expensive item.
  • At the end of a season, players on a team are given a title based on their team?s relative position on the ladder which will last through the next arena season.