World of Warcraft Esports: What's Coming for 2018

The World of Warcraft Esports announcement we have all been waiting for finally happened after being postponed previously. Jeramy McIntyre, Esports Manager revealed Blizzard's 2018 plans for both the Arena World Championship (PVP) & the Mythic Dungeon Invitational (PVE). We have outlined a summary of you can expect.

WoW Arena World Championship (AWC)

The arena cup battles throughout the year ultimately lead to the war, the 2018 Arena World Championship Finals at BlizzCon. With more, seasons cups, and prize pool money it is the perfect opportunity to follow your favorite teams including Method. The cups are broken down into 3 seasons. These seasons DO NOT mirror in-game PVP Seasons. There will be 6 cups per season for a total of 18 cups throughout the year. The rules & guidelines for roster changes will be the same as last year. Those rules will be posted at a later date. Information regarding China, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific can make it the 2018 Arena World Championship will be announced later this year.

Arena Cup Season Breakdown

Season 1 - Spring	Season 2 - Summer	Season 3 - Fall
3 NA Arena Cups & 3 EU Arena Cups $10,000 prize pool for each cup. Total of $60,000 in prize money for all 6 cups. The top 12 teams each cup will earn AWC Points. Note: New point distribution system designed to award consistency. Spring Finals The top 8 teams from Season 1 will compete. The top 4 NA teams & the top 4 EU teams. $100,000 prize pool. The winning team earns a spot for the Arena World Championship.	3 NA Arena Cups & 3 EU Arena Cups. $10,000 prize pool for each cup. Total of $60,000 in prize money for all 6 cups. The top 12 teams each cup will earn AWC Points. Note: New point distribution system designed to award consistency. Summer Finals The top 8 teams from Season 2 will compete. The top 4 NA teams & the top 4 EU teams. $100,000 prize pool. The winning team earns a spot for the Arena World Championship.	3 NA Arena Cups & 3 EU Arena Cups. $10,000 prize pool for each cup. Total of $60,000 in prize money for all 6 cups. The top 12 teams each cup will earn AWC Points. Note: New point distribution system designed to award consistency. The top 6 teams overall qualify for the Arena World Championship.

Season 1 - Spring

Season 2 - Summer

Season 3 - Fall

3 NA Arena Cups & 3 EU Arena Cups
$10,000 prize pool for each cup.
- Total of $60,000 in prize money for all 6 cups.
The top 12 teams each cup will earn AWC Points.
- Note: New point distribution system designed to award consistency.

Spring Finals

The top 8 teams from Season 1 will compete.
- The top 4 NA teams & the top 4 EU teams.
$100,000 prize pool.
The winning team earns a spot for the Arena World Championship.

3 NA Arena Cups & 3 EU Arena Cups.
$10,000 prize pool for each cup.
- Total of $60,000 in prize money for all 6 cups.
The top 12 teams each cup will earn AWC Points.
- Note: New point distribution system designed to award consistency.

Summer Finals

The top 8 teams from Season 2 will compete.
- The top 4 NA teams & the top 4 EU teams.
$100,000 prize pool.
The winning team earns a spot for the Arena World Championship.

3 NA Arena Cups & 3 EU Arena Cups.
$10,000 prize pool for each cup.
- Total of $60,000 in prize money for all 6 cups.
The top 12 teams each cup will earn AWC Points.
- Note: New point distribution system designed to award consistency.
The top 6 teams overall qualify for the Arena World Championship.

Sign-up for the cups begin January 12th.
The first North American cup starts February 10th & 11th with a 4 week duration.
The first European cup starts February 3rd & 4th.

Mythic Dungeon Invitational (MDI)

Last year we saw history in the making when the Mythic Dungeon Invitational brought mythic dungeon races to Esports. While the first attempts had some bugs to work out, overall it was amazing to watch competitive PVE strike up so much buzz and enthusiasm. On heels of the success from the 2017 season along with feedback from the community, the MDI is returning for a second season. Changes have been made to improve, refine, polish this competition. While there are still more details to come for the MDI 2018 season, more teams from the Proving Grounds portion from each region will be able to compete in the Time Trails, which qualify teams for the Regional Finals. The Regional Finals will cull the teams once more, taking the best to the Global Finals crowing a winner.

MDI Season Breakdown

Proving Grounds

Teams will complete 5 Mythic Keystone dungeon challenges when they are announced.
All teams who complete the challenge will be invited to the Time Trials.

Time Trials

Teams compete on 3 specific dungeons.
Teams will post their best times for these dungeons over 1 week.
The top 8 teams from each region move to the Regional Finals.
There will be 32 teams total.

Regional Finals

Americas | Europe | China | Asia Pacific

The top 8 teams per region, compete in their region bracket in double elimination format.
Mythic Keystone level will change throughout the competition to award skilled, efficient and quick teams.
Each regional finals will be broadcast on their own weekend.
The top 2 teams from each region will move on to the Global Finals.

Global Finals

The top 8 global teams will fight to the last combat resurrection live on stage.
This will be broadcast.
No prize information has been given yet.
There is no dates for when this begins.

You can watch the announcement announcement below:

You can read the original post on the World of Warcraft website. Venruki also did a nice breakdown of what all the above means in comparison to previous years so make sure you check it out: WoW PVP Esports 2018 Announcements.

To stay update to date on WoW Esports, make sure you bookmark the WoW Arena World Championship hub.

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