Have you looked internally at the distribution of players doing arenas on the live realm, separating those who are playing competitively with those selling teams or just tanking games to get gear?
Tom Chilton: We don't really have any way of knowing that. We can't distinguish what the intent of a given player is, whether they consider themselves to be competitive or whether they're just doing it for the gear or whatever. Certainly as far as players who are trying to exploit the system through loopholes, we have some changes coming in a patch just a few weeks away where we'll close a lot of those loopholes.
GameSpy: Are you able to talk about those changes yet?
Tom Chilton: Not just yet.
GameSpy: But we can expect the changes will be targeted at the point-selling teams.
Tom Chilton: Point selling, personal rating selling.
GameSpy: The two big things that players seem like they're against are the point-selling teams, since you can face highly skilled and geared players at even the low ratings, and those who bring alts or friends on a team to tank a team so that they can then get a high personal rating on the real team.
Tom Chilton: Exactly, that's what we'll be addressing.
A few lines about Death Knights
GameSpy: I'm interested in something you just mentioned, the Death Knights. They've been described as the class that's going to be the two-hand Tank, the class that'll tank unlike any class before. But that's a PvE role, good luck tanking in arenas. What are they going to do in arenas?
Tom Chilton: We definitely have to think about the Death Knight from all the different angles. We are starting to crystallize in our minds, how good the Death Knight tanks. What they're good at, what they're not good at. We have the core Death Knight mechanics already worked out. Their core spells and abilities. So they'll be filling their own tanking role. But in the same way, in the back of my mind as we design it, we have to figure out that they have their role in arena and have enough tools to be effective there too.
And a last quote just for fun ...
GameSpy: We can also expect that the group composition that wins overall will get nerfed shortly afterwards?
Tom Chilton: (laughs) If it feels like that particular group composition dominated the tournament, then I would say yes, but not necessarily just the winners.
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