Stormsong Valley Testing, WoW at PAX East, AWC Spring Finals This Weekend

[chaud]

Battle for Azeroth Alpha - Stormsong Valley Open for Testing
The latest build of the Battle for Azeroth Alpha added the Alliance Zone Stormsong Valley for testing.

Things are still in an early state and likely to go through a fair amount of iteration. Please feel free to post any feedback on the content or bugs you encounter.

We've applied a hotfix so you should be able to play the intro now which will unlock additional questing in the zone. You can use the zone choice table now in Boralus to do the intro.

World of Warcraft is Headed to PAX East

World of Warcraft is headed to PAX East and you’re invited to join us! Whether you’re attending in person or you’re keeping up with all the great PAX coverage from afar, we’ve got you covered.

General Information
What: Hosted annually in Boston, PAX East is a celebration of gaming culture and community
Where: Boston Convention and Exhibition Center Booth #18019
When: April 5-8, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT

Head over to east.paxsite.com to learn more about panel schedules, hotel and travel information, forums, and more. You can also download the PAX East mobile app from Guidebook free for Android and iOS devices.

PAX East Attendees
If you’re braving the Boston weather, then you’ll want to stop by the World of Warcraft booth to warm up. We’ll have demo stations available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT in booth #18019 showing off the new Island Expedition feature. Declare your allegiance as Horde or Alliance and lay claim to Azeroth’s hottest new resource – Azerite.

If you’re looking to purchase some great Blizzard swag while at the event, make sure to stop by booth #18007! We’ll have plenty of great World of Warcraft items available for purchase including a convention exclusive — a limited-edition individually numbered print!

Please note that this is a single art print.

Join Us Online
Tune to in Twitch.tv/Warcraft Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7 at 2 p.m. EDT as World of Warcraft developers take you further into Island Expeditions.

We’ll also be hosting some of your favorite streamers on the Warcraft Twitch channel as they dig into the gameplay live from the show floor. Stay tuned for a full schedule. You won’t want to miss it!

Whether you visit the booth or you join us online, we can’t wait to see you at PAX East!

AWC Spring Finals Viewer's Guide

On March 31, we go live from Columbus, Ohio with the Arena World Championship Spring Finals. New for 2018, the format includes four teams each from Europe and North America in the biggest battle of Western teams outside of BlizzCon. The winner will grab a piece of the $100,000 prize pool and earn a spot at the year-end WoW Arena World Championship tournament.

Get caught up with all the info you’ll need to enjoy the Spring Finals.

Broadcast Schedule

March 31^st

• 9:00 a.m. PST
  
• 12:00 p.m. EST
  
• 6:00 p.m. CEST

April 1^st

• 9:00 a.m. PST
  
• 12:00 p.m. EST
  
• 6:00 p.m. CEST

Streams
English: Twitch.tv/Warcraft
French: Twitch.tv/WarcraftFR
German: Twitch.tv/WarcraftDE
Russian: Twitch.tv/WarcraftRU

Talent

Desk Host: Rich W Campbell
Commentator: Sid “Supatease” Compston
Commentator: Elliott “Venruki” Venczel
Commentator: Adrian “Healingstat” Archer-Lock
Analyst: Mohammed “Ziqo” Bashir


Format & Prizing

Total Prize Pool: $100,000 USD & Automatic Qualification for BlizzCon

• 1^st place: $50,000 & Automatic Qualification for BlizzCon
  
• 2^nd place: $20,000
  
• 3^rd place: $10,000
  
• 4^th place: $8,000
  
• 5^th – 6^th place: $4,000
  
• 7^th – 8^th place: $2,000

Opening Match ups

• Skill Capped Black (EU) vs Sneakier Snakes (NA)
  
• XRB to the Moon (EU) vs Super Frogs (NA)
  
• Ascendant (EU) vs The Rejects (NA)
  
• Reformed (EU) vs Method Orange (NA)

AWC Europe Rosters

1. Skill Capped Black - Whaazz, Raiku, Swapxy, Chas
2. XRB to the moon - Loony, Wallirikz, Zeepeye, Blizo
3. Ascendant - Ratapai, Vilaye, Maro, Akrololz
4. Reformed - Disyo, Relzah, Flappers, Gelubaba

AWC North American Rosters

1. Method Orange - Cdew, Mes, Trill
2. The Rejects - Jahmilli, Rubcub, Sethcurry, Roastyz
3. Super Frogs - Chanimals, Wealthyman, Kubzy, Mageiden
4. Sneakier Snakes - Dilly, Milkmanx, Syfoxy, Kaska

The Story
Some of the underdogs at the Spring Finals are finding form at just the right time. With the Sneakier Snakes taking North America Cup #3 to sneak into the Spring Finals they will be looking to catch fire at just the right time. Running one of the most dangerous Jungle Cleaves in the world, the pressure from Sneakier Snakes has looked better and better each week. The European region has its own underdog too with Ascendant coming in as a #3 seed. Don’t be fooled by that seeding for Ascendant though; in EU Cup #3 Ascendant lost to two of the top teams in the world: Skill Capped Black and XRB; the top two seeds in Europe.

With a lethal RMP, Ascendant will be looking to match up with North America’s more direct compositions, especially if they can push the games later and get further into dampening. Sneakier Snakes should be showing a different angle, with their aggressive Jungle Cleave looking to push early and notch quick wins. The stylistic matchups will be in the spotlight on the big stage at the Spring Finals with the top North American teams, including Method Orange, playing a very aggressive fast style. On the other side, Europe has the behemoth Skill Capped Black playing an extremely smooth RMP right now with some very quick set ups. If both Sneakier Snakes and Ascendant can keep their red-hot play going into the Spring Finals anything is possible for them, even with tough matchups in round 1.

The World of Warcraft Arena World Championship Spring Finals kick off March 31st featuring the best from North America and Europe. *

Where to Discuss
Join in on the conversation about these games here!

• Reddit.com/r/WoW
  
• Reddit.com/r/WorldofPvP
  
• Mmo-champion.com/forums/255-PvP

More Information
Visit the AWC Website for information on this tournament and others, or to learn more about competitive WoW Arena!

[Nerraw]

That is one pretty zone.

[Lawri]

I just love the colors and the atmosphere of that zone. The only thing I dislike are the naga... Somehow they don't fit the theme of Stormsong Valley. But otherwise it looks like a place I'd like to visit!

[Bathory]

I wish I wasn't so tired of Naga. I used to love those things.

[Divada]

Looks a lot like Valley of the Four Winds.

[Deleted]

That zone looks awesome. Guess we'll have MoP #2, which is a good thing.

[Levaustian]

Beautiful zone.

[AeronPeryton]

It's hard to believe that, after all these years, giant honeycombs and killer bees are something totally new to the game.

Things are looking slightly Banjo-Kazooie in that zone.

[mingarrubia]

The color palette is nice but the zone itself looks bland and generic IMO.

[Coloredtoad]

The color palette is nice but the zone itself looks bland and generic IMO.

Things are still in an early state and likely to go through a fair amount of iteration. Please feel free to post any feedback on the content or bugs you encounter.

[tru]

azshara buildup = naga dislike in a zone sound right

[Malum]

The color palette is nice but the zone itself looks bland and generic IMO.

You're right, it's terrible. Since this is the final version prior to release you should un-sub right away. No sense in sticking around playing a bland and generic game.

[Deleted]

The zone looks really bland to me, it seems to have very few unique features.

A few hills, normal looking buildings and a bit of water.

[Grimalkin of Old]

Let's hope for no more Legion-style terrain design

[Ophenia]

This guy looks unimpressed

[Deleted]

I like how 3 of my friends got Alpha... they don't really give a f*ck about it. But me who would like to test and give the devs some feedback (so they can change shit things like the endlessly evading celfthoof in Nagrand) doesn't deserve access. GG Blizzard.

[HuxNeva]

In picture 2 it looks like humans now can have variable height/size. Look at the 3 females in the line!

[Deleted]

Let's hope for no more Legion-style terrain design

Exactly. A valley should be easy to traverse.

[Deleted]

Boring. Looks like a mix of valley of four winds and high mountain. Blizzard don't have any new ideas anymore.

[Deleted]

Boring. Looks like a mix of valley of four winds and high mountain. Blizzard don't have any new ideas anymore.

I wanted to see an old god infested zone full of bugs and terrifying creatures, guts and body parts everywhere. But I guess this game won't be this dark anymore... they want to sell it to kids like the fortnite cancer.