#0 - March 29, 2007, 9:47 a.m.
Q u o t e:
Please read these rules before entering the World of Warcraft Arena Tournament (the "Tournament"). By entering and participating in the Tournament, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules and represent that you satisfy all of the eligibility requirements in Sections 1 below.
Q u o t e:
3. Tournament Period. The Tournament shall commence up the start of the First Qualification Round of the Tournament, which shall be February 16, 2007 (the "Commencement Date"), and shall continue through the end of the Arena Tournament Finals, which is expected to conclude on or about August 5 2007.
So every team was uninformed of the rules of said tournament going into it, we only had basic information about the structure of post season and the restrictions.
Arena Teams setup their group without knowing these rules. Among the top issues are:
Q u o t e:
If you are residing in the States of North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland in the United States, or Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, you are not eligible to participate in this Tournament
Knowing this, the teams that are affected could have had the time to select different players to represent their team.
Q u o t e:
All Arena Team members must be Eligible Participants and must separately enter in order to participate. Competition in the Tournament shall take place in the Arena Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft, and in accordance with the World of Warcraft Terms of Use and Arena Battleground rules.
So we add in the rule above, and some teams right now aren't even allowed to continue play!
Q u o t e:
Arena Teams. The Tournament shall determine the top "Arena Team" made up of no less than five (5), and no more than ten (10) 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.
Plus...
Q u o t e:
In the event that an Arena Team qualifies for the Regional Qualifier (described below), the Team Captain must designate five (5) Team Members from the Arena Team who will be eligible to compete in the Regional Qualifier, and if the Arena Team qualifies, for the Finals.
Teams went into this tournament knowing only one thing about this rule, and that is as stated above: The Tournament shall determine the top "Arena Team" made up of no less than five (5), and no more than ten (10) Characters . This is going to affect many of the top teams, and had they known this at the start of the season, could have adjusted their teams.
Q u o t e:
Third party user interfaces compatible with World of Warcraft, and which do not violate the World of Warcraft Terms of Use may be used during the First and, if applicable, Second Qualification Rounds of the Tournament, but will not be allowed at the Regional Qualifier or the Finals. At the Regional Qualifier, and the Finals, Team Members will have fifteen (15) minutes prior to the start of the first match with each opponent Team Member to prepare the computer on which they will use to participate in the Tournament match.
No UI's during regionals and finals. Understandable due to copywrite issues with mod authors, but Blizzard really needs to now take the time to update the UI so that especially healers can play without being hindered.
Our team is affected by at least one of these issues. Teams that are also affected I urge you to reply to this thread.
Iamvhell
Team Pandemic (formerly Power Trip)
Edit:
The following teams from your post on 3/27 ( http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=86914930&sid=1 )about the top 5v5 teams in each battleground have replied to this thread showing their support:
Bloodlust – “Power Trip” from Tichondrius
Rampage – “THE HUKHUKHUKHUKHUKS” from Illidan
Nightfall – “C A P S L O C K C R E W” from Kel’Thuzad
Shadowburn – “The Challenge” from Dark Iron
Reckoning – “Portable Hotdog Steamers” from Smolderthorn