2013 Arena Pass Rated Phase Delayed

The 2013 Arena Pass rated phase has been postponed due to a bug that didn't reset player teams. Its start date has been pushed back to August 6th but will still end August 27 (for both US and EU).

"We have become aware of an issue that has prevented Arena Pass teams from being reset. To allow for time to resolve the issue and allow teams to plan accordingly, we currently intend to extend the practice phase and instead begin the rated phase of the Arena Pass on August 6. Currently, the conclusion of the rated phase is still planned for August 27.

We appreciate your understanding in the meantime, and look forward to fierce competition when the rated phase begins."

So if you haven't played your 50 matches for Murkimus yet, hold off until next week. If you have played some matches already, remember to not include them in your qualifying matches count.

And as always, remember to just do your best in the arena. Purposely throwing matches could get your team disqualified or reset your game count. Keep in the spirit of the event, even if you don't PVP. Do it for Murkimus!

2013 Arena Pass Registration Starts!

UPDATE: Blizzard clarified which pet will be available for this year's Arena Pass. It will be the original Murkimus the Gladiator, and NOT Murkimus Tyrannicus.

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The 2013 Arena Pass registration (US) is open! The EU registration will likely start soon if it hasn't already. :)

It's unclear whether or not the pet for this year's Arena Pass will be the newly datamined Murkimus Tyrannicus or if it will be the traditional Murkimus the Gladiator. Only one is listed as one of the rewards for participating (""Murkimus", the Armored Murloc in-game pet"), so it's hard to say which one will be featured this year. Hopefully we'll find out more details in the coming weeks.

Here are some details for those that haven't participated in the past:

- Have an active WoW subscription and an account that is in good standing.
- Sign up and pay $20 in North America or €15/£12 in Europe.
- Find two other players and create a 3's team.
- Once the rated phase begins, you and your team will need to participate in at least 50 arena matches to qualify for the pet.
- You must not leave your team at any time during the rated phase or else your games be discounted towards the final total.
- The arena matches are held on a completely separate server than the main WoW realms, so no transferring of characters or anything like that is necessary.

For more details, check out the FAQ for the Arena Pass event.

If you're terrible at PVP (like me), do your best to participate in each match. Going in and botching the game by not attacking or zoning in naked may disqualify that match or your entire team. The Arena Pass is meant to be fun for everyone, so do your best to stay in the spirit of PVP for those that enjoy the sport. Blizzard does keep tabs on those that are instant forfeiting and there have been cases where action was taken upon those teams. Better to be safe than sorry, and do your best to give the other team hell. ;P

Another thing to keep in mind is to actively communicate with your team! I don't mean in the arena itself, but to organize when to play matches together. If you're teamed with two strangers that are in it for the pet as well, it's important to make sure everyone is on the same page. 50 games may not sound like a lot, but between real life priorities as well as other in-game activities, a person's schedule can already be pretty full, so it's sometimes difficult for people to make time to play extra. Communicate. Let them know when you're free and be pro-active and ask when your teammates will have time to do some matches during the ranked phase. Set up specific days/times when the three of you can be online and queue up for some games, and in turn be considerate and keep your word to be online at a certain time. We all have to help each other out and do our part to earn this pet! :)

As for me, I'm unsure if I'll be participating this year, and it will depend on if the new murkimus will be the pet for 2013. Since I already own the original Murkimus the Gladiator, it would be pointless if I signed up only to receive a second one. I'm hoping for some details on the pet soon so I can determine if I'm going to be participating or not. Not to mention I need time to find a team!

Murkimus: "Where's the Battle?"

Yay! Murkimus finally arrived in my mail on live servers. :D

It's about time I got around to adding him to my collection. Now that I have an experienced battler in my collection, my pet army is sure to win Pet Battles! :P

Murloc Blues

UPDATE: Blizzard is now aware of the situation and they're working on getting the pet mailed out "soon".

It's been 4+ weeks since the end of the Arena Pass (5 weeks and a day to be exact), and there's still no sign of Murkimus. Players are starting to get anxious, however there is an EU blue poster that said:

"We are currently investigating this matter where players are eligible for the pet but have not yet received it. We will get back to you on this as soon as we have an update :)"
- Nakatoir

Hopefully this is an indicator that our little murlocs will be on their way to us soon. Also hoping that this "investigation" also applies to all regions and not just the EU servers.

If my memory from past years is correct, I think most players received their pets between 4 - 6 weeks after the end of the Arena Pass event despite the official ToU stating:

"The pet will be mailed to the character(s) on the account within four weeks following the end of the Arena Pass Service."

I'm not too worried but I AM starting to feel a slight onset of 'Gimme!' coming on lol. Especially since some players in the threads listed above claim that the titles that were also part of the reward were already handed out.

"Arena Pass Participants who have played one hundred (100) Arena Matches as a member of an Arena Teams that is ranked in the top 1,000 of all Arena Teams at the end of the Arena Pass will receive the “Vanquisher” title for characters on the World of Warcraft account registered by the Arena Pass Participant that are level 71 or higher."

Back to more waiting I guess!

2012 Arena Pass Ending

The 2012 Arena Pass tournament is coming to a close - June 5th at 1:00 AM PDT for NA regions and 10:00 PM CEST for EU.

I hope everyone that signed up managed to get the necessary games in to be eligible for Murkimus. According to both NA and EU Terms of Use, the pet should be mailed to qualifying characters within 4 weeks of the end of the event. So now it's time to play the waiting game. :P

2012 Arena Pass Server Up

The Arena Pass realm is up! To access it, just log into WoW and go to the switch servers screen. There should be a new tab on the bottom that says "Tournament".

It will still be about two weeks until the matches played with your team will count towards the number required to be eligible for Murkimus. Now's a good time to get your team started and become acquainted with your team's play style and schedule.

Here's a reminder of important dates for the Arena Pass.

I can't wait to get my 50 games in! Win or lose, Murkimus shall be mine. :D

2012 Arena Pass Important Dates

This is the schedule that the 2012 Arena Pass will follow:

April 24 - The Arena Pass servers will be brought online, and players will likely be able to start meeting up on the arena servers to create teams.

May 22 - Registration for the Arena Pass ends.

April 24 through May 8 - Practice Phase. Any matches played during these days will NOT count towards the number required to earn the pet.

May 8 through June 5 - Ranked Ladder Phase. Any matches played during this time frame will count towards the number required to earn the pet.

The last dates, May 8 through June 5, are the dates that players should especially take note of and mark down on their calendars. Only during this time frame will matches played count towards the 50 necessary to be eligible for Murkimus.

2012 Arena Pass Registration Open

The Arena Pass registration is now open! Games don't start yet, but I'm sure they'll announce when the rated matches begin. I recommend reading through the FAQ just to be sure you know what you're buying.

I think I'm going to try for it this year since I have some spare gift money. Originally I was hoping to find a great (and by great I mean AWESOME STEAL) deal on a TCG pet, but it doesn't look like that will be happening any time soon. So next best thing? Another pet but for much less money and I get to play with either guildmates or fellow vanity pet lovers!

The trick will be making sure our schedules match so my team can participate in the required 50 rated matches to be eligible for Murkimus. Hopefully it all works out!

Annual Arena Pass Event

Get ready for some arena-ing if you haven't already acquired a Murkimus the Gladiator! Sign ups for the 2012 Arena Pass starts on April 10.

As in previous years, it's likely that the cost will be about $20, and to be eligible for the pet, players will need to be on a team of three that participates in 50+ rated games.

I think I'll actually go for Murkimus this year. I'm still hanging onto that old stash of birthday/X-mas money that I was hoping to save for a TCG pet, but I have yet to see a deal that's within my budget. I can definitely afford the Arena Pass, though.

Anyway, looks like I'll need to start hunting for a team of two other collectors to create an arena team for the Arena Pass!

Edit: Forgot to mention that winning isn't a requirement. Just participating in enough rated matches will qualify you for the pet. If winning were part of the prerequisite... well let's just say there's no way I'd have any chance hah!

Delayed Arrival of Murkimus

for those that entered the recent arena pass tournament and satisfied the requirements to be eligible for murkimus, apparently there's a delay in the baby murloc pet's arrival. a blue poster has commented on the issue:

"I'll make some inquiries, but odds are they are aware and it should be resolved during an upcoming maintenance period." - Vrakthris

hopefully it will be mailed to players this coming tuesday after maintenance.

2011 Murkimus Reminder

to clarify things, blizzard has given us official dates to remember for those entering into this year's special arena tournament.

only games played between june 8, 2011 and july 4, 2011 will count towards the 50 games necessary to be eligible for the pet, murkimus. so mark your calendars and keep an eye on the date!

Insert Sparta-Themed Title Here

har har :P

but yes, it's that time of year again. the 2011 arena registration is now open for north american residents. the EU registration should be opened shortly. this special event will award eligible players with the murloc pet, murkimus the gladiator. the tournament will officially begin on may 10, 2011 and run until july 4, 2011.

to receive the pet, you will need to do the following:

- have an active world of warcraft subscription (must be upgraded to cataclysm status)
- register and pay the arena fee ($20.00 per person)
- create a team of 3 players (including yourself)
- participate in at least 50 rated 3v3 matches

some things to note:

- you must play all of your qualifying matches on a single team. if you or any of your team members leave your 3s team, it will likely reset your matches and void your eligibility for the pet.

- the arena tournament will run for 8 weeks. the first 4 weeks will be for practice and matches will not count towards the 50 needed to earn the pet. the final 4 weeks is when your matches will count. however, to be on the safe side, some players have designated the final 2 weeks for their arena games.

- players who are eligible for the pet will receive the companion on all toons on a single account.

- the pet will be mailed to your characters within 4 weeks after the end of the arena tournament.

good luck and have fun to all those entering!

This Is... PVP!

mmo-champ reports that a new arena tournament season will be starting soon. it costs $20 to register for the 2010 season, but pvp'ers and pet collectors rejoice! according to the official rules and faq page, Murkimus the Gladiator will be available again for those who participate.

- Players can earn the exclusive Armored Murloc pet for their live characters.

- Players who participate in at least 50 rated tournament games on one character and with the same team during the last four weeks of the online qualifier will be eligible for the Armored Murloc pet for their live characters.

for the full faq: click me!

remember that the catch is you must play 50 rated games during the LAST FOUR WEEKS of the online qualifier. the arena tournie as also only for 3v3, so you'll need two others in order to create a team and enter. one last thing, if you leave your team for any reason or switch during the last four weeks, your previous games will be void and you'll have to start over again and re-work your way up to 50 rated matches.

as much as i love murky and all forms of the cute little guy, i've already spent enough money for the next few months. plus PVP is just not my thing :P

Gladiator Murky Changes

wow.com reports that there was a change to the murkimus companion with this patch. murkimus was the 2009 pet reward for participating in the arena tournie. it was a short-lived and separate event from the live servers, and you had to pay about $25 US to join.

with the change all characters past and future, on an account that met all requirements to receive murkimus, will now receive the pet.

it's not a huge change but i'm sure it will make collectors with this companion very happy. a change like this would be the equivalent of any noncombat pet suddenly being available to all your toons on your account. blizzard's making the right move here, especially since there was a real life fee in order to get the pet. now if only they would change the TCG pets too.... ;)

do i own a murkimus? unfortunately i don't as i was too poor and uninterested in PVP at the time. oh well. can't win them all :P