Quote from: Blizzard

With the first round of qualification for the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament underway, we wanted to provide a schedule for the remainder of this qualifier and details on what each of the phases entails.

Phase 1 – The Practice Phase – Currently active and completes on April 22, 2008

• There is no penalty for changing your team and you are free to move teams around.
• At the end of this phase all arena team ratings will be reset to 1500 during maintenance.

Phase 2 – The Competition Phase – Active from April 22, 2008 to May 6, 2008

• Every team will be reset to a 1500 rating and official rankings begin.
• There will be a 150 team rating penalty for any player added to an arena team.
• At the end of this phase all arena teams will be locked down and players will not be able to switch characters from arena teams.
• Registration will also close at the end of this phase.

Phase 3 – The Final Phase – Active from May 6, 2008 to May 20, 2008

• Registration is closed for this phase of qualification.
• Players are no longer allowed to switch arena teams during this phase.
• At the end of the phase, the top 4 rated teams from the Battlegroup will be invited to the regional qualifier if they meet all eligibility requirements.
• Eligible teams must have played a minimum of 200 games during Phases 2 and 3 to be able to qualify to advance to the regional qualifier.
• Each team member must have participated in 30% of their team’s games to be eligible to qualify.

First Qualification Round Schedule for North America:

• Phase 1 ends and Phase 2 begins: April 22, 2008
• Phase 2 ends and Phase 3 begins: May 6, 2008
• Phase 3 and the first Qualifier ends: May 20, 2008