Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

We currently do not plan to open the Tournament Realms for the 2nd Qualification Round until June 3rd. We are happy seeing all of the people who have registered in advance, so now when June 3rd rolls around everybody should be ready to rumble right from the start.

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

We’re keeping an eye on the new queue mechanics for exploits, but there is some critical information missing from this example. If the two players in question had not been exploiting, what rating would they be capable of maintaining?

The Elo system doesn’t actually rely on same-rating matchups to work, meaning if you’re only skilled enough to maintain a 1800 rating, but you play 1600 rated opponents all day and night, you’ll still hang around the 1800 rating mark regardless.

So, in the example above, the exploit should only work if the players in question were 1850 quality players anyways, in which case their exploit didn’t actually change their chances to get 1850 (or reduce on average the number of games they’d have to play to get there), it only changed who they played against to get there.

The exploit would only work if you were able to consistently play against opponents that were actually worse than their rating said they were. So, for example, if players at 1500 rating on average were actually worse than 1500, than it might work. However, if anything I think players feel that playing 1500 rated matchups is just as likely (if not more likely), to put you up against a team that is actually much better than 1500, in which case this exploit is hurting your chances more than helping. This only becomes more true the more players attempt to use this tactic (since more high-rated players would actually be queuing at lower ratings).

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

After several weeks of fierce competition, the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament’s first qualification round has come to an end. Registration for the second qualification round is now open, and you can check out the phase schedule for it. To register for the tournament or for more information, please visit our Arena Tournament information page. Thank you to all of the participants and good luck to everyone in the second qualifier!

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

If you registered on May 20th or after you are registered for the 2nd qualification round which will begin on June 3rd. The 2nd qualification round begins on June 3rd, you are simply allowed to register in advance.

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) has announced its second annual World of Warcraft Arena Tournament. The top 1,000 3-vs.-3 Arena teams from North America and Europe will be invited to participate in an open-ladder competition running June 9 to June 22. The top two teams from each region will compete in a live final in Los Angeles, California for a top prize of $25,000. For more information, please check the FAQ. Good luck to all of the participating teams!

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

There has been some confusion regarding the changes to Arena Team and Personal rating calculations in patch 2.4.2 for those players with 100% participation on their team so we’d like to clarify how the system works now.

The adjustment to a team’s personal rating can vary based on the average personal rating of the other team while team ratings will always adjust based directly on the team rating of the other team. If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating. Adjustments to your personal rating are based on the ratings by which the opposing team was queued.

• If the opposing team was queued based on their team rating, your personal rating will be adjusted based on their team rating.
• If the opposing team was queued based on their average personal rating, your personal rating will be adjusted based on their average personal rating.

Example:

• Team A has a rating of 1550. Team B has a rating of 1750.
• Team A has an average personal rating of 1520 for the members participating in the match. Team B has an average personal rating of 1490 for the members participating in the match.
• Team A wins. Team A’s team rating is adjusted based off of a win over Team B’s team rating of 1750.
• All members of Team A have their personal ratings adjusted based off of a win over Team B’s average personal rating of 1490 but it will be a smaller gain when compared to the rating their team got.

This change promotes having teams compete against players who’s ratings statistically match up best against them. In turn this will help provide the most competitive environment possible in the Arena.