PVPlab

There’s been a lot of speculation as to how Blizzard will handle the transition of level 70 up to 80 arenas, and I’ve been a bit curious myself. Issues in question include whether they will still allow 70 rated matches and if so, what gear will be available to them? Well that question, at least, was answered late last week by a Blizzard CM, Bornakk:

You will be able to continue rated arena matches at level 70, but there will be no new gear rewards in this bracket. Only skirmishes will be available from levels 71-79 but then at level 80 the rated matches will be available again.

So essentially we’ll still have the option of competing for level 70 gear, but don’t expect anything new and flashy anytime soon for those brackets. The release date of the level 80 rated arenas hasn’t been announced yet, but personally I hope its not in place at launch. Doing so would mean those who race to 80 at launch would have free reign to gather matches and ratings and points before many people even see max level. The other issue that remains unsolved is points. Can you just stack arena points from a level 70 season and use them at 80? Will your points reset to 0 after leveling out of the level 70? Or, conversely, will arena points inflate so much at 80 that having your points from the 70 brackets won’t be much of an advantage?

Answers are trickling out, so for now we’ll have to wait and see.