WoW ESports: Classic WotLK Events & Tournaments
With the release of the Classic Wrath of the Lich King in late September, Blizzard has decided to host a couple of competitive tournaments this autumn. The WoW eSports events aren’t known as particularly famous occasions. Still, these are notable for being closely tied to the release of the new Classic expansion.
The events will be played on WoW Classic, and you’ll be able to watch them unfold on YouTube and Twitch. One, the Undying Challenge, seems like a particular piece of fan service for WotLK enthusiasts. The other is the usual Arena Tournament, played as a separate cup held in Classic.
WotLK Arena Tournament
The regular WoW Arena Tournament has already come to pass in June. It’s typically a 3v3 PvP show between some of the most seasoned players from Europe and North America (two separate competitions). The Arena Tournament WotLK edition derives much from that. However, the latter is held annually but reset each time there’s a new expansion.
It’s essentially just a celebration of the new content chapter, but the same content will also offer possibilities for the contestants. They’ve raised the level cap to 80, added the Death Knight, and introduced powerful loot & abilities. Much of it is ancient news for regular WoW, but such is the current meta in Classic.
There have been two such events historically: one right after the Burning Crusade Classic released in June 2021 and the other — a year later. The finals of the new one are this November. The Arena Tournament WotLK PvP event seems to be particularly tied to the Wrath of the Lich King that came out just recently.
For people who don’t play this version of the game, it might be an excellent chance to see what the retro PvP battles looked like. It’s also an opportunity to view something not typically seen in the Shadowlands era of World of Warcraft. For Classic regulars, the Arena Tournament Classic 3v3 show would simply provide a few enjoyable evenings.
Schedule
The event is currently at the sign–up stage until October 28. Until then, any 3 players can create a team and send an application to Blizzard. If they are deemed qualified enough, they’ll be one of 128 teams to compete in Open Qualifiers on November 5–6. Out of them, the best 8 will fight in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals later.
Each region will have exactly 128 teams competing in the bracket. In total, it amounts to 256 contender teams and half as many individual matches. Only matches in the later stages of the bracket will be streamed by Blizzard officially. In contrast, the earlier matches will have to be viewed on GameBattles in the WotLK eSports Classic chapter.
The last three rounds are to be held on November 11–13. That’s also when the losers’ rounds are going to be held with the teams that were knocked out during the three final stages. It’s arranged to see how the team matchups would play out in different combinations compared to what happened.
The admission is free, and even you could sign up for the game and have a chance to win actual money. Both EU and NA cups get a prize of $50,000 each, divided between the top teams. The overall winner gets $17,000. The rest goes to the contestants that made it this far.
Undying Challenge
Undying Challenge WotLK is a curious competition between the best speedrunners in the game. The task would be to complete the Naxxramas raid without much preparation. It’ll be a closed event between the two guilds famous for their speedruns — namely, Progress and SPACEFORCE.
Their typical speedruns consist of ample preparations, the finest gear, and the most sophisticated builds to get through the raids and dungeons as fast as possible. In this challenge, the teams will be given several unremarkable characters of maxed level. This should make it seriously harder for them.
They’ll have a short time to prepare, collect gear, and head to the dungeon to start their Naxxramas speedrun. After that, the first guild to complete the raid and not die once would be the winner. Note that Naxxramas is a long adventure that can take over 2 hours to complete — plenty of opportunities to perish.
The show is to take place on October 22–23. There will be official event broadcasts on both Twitch and YouTube, and this run is said to be one of the most exciting PvE events for the current expansion. Although potentially enjoyable to watch, it seems to only be a competitive show and not your typical WoW Classic eSports event.
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