World of Warcraft news » Are you ready to fight? Prepare yourself!

The 2012 World of Warcraft Arena Pass has begun with the Practice Phase — this is your opportunity to experiment, formulate your strategies, and master the moves that will carry you through to victory! You may want to try out a few alternate team compositions before the serious fighting begins. Which classes do you want your three characters to be and what specs will they have? Now is the time to prepare for the Ladder Phase that begins on May 9, in exactly two weeks.

The Arena Pass Realm

You’ve probably already found your way in, but if not, you’ll find an additional tab in the World of Warcraft realm list after registering for the Arena Pass. From here, just select the Arena Pass realm and log in.

Once you’ve logged into the realm you’ll find a group of vendors nearby who’ll provide you with everything you need, including armor, gems, and reforging. There’s an NPC who can teleport you to each of your faction’s capital cities, and should you run out of gold there’s a Paymaster who’ll willingly provide you with more spending money. Money’s no object on the Arena realm!

Since this unique version of Azeroth is focused on Arena combat, it’s almost completely uninhabited, though you’ll be able to find the special Arena Pass NPCs in the various towns and cities. You also won’t be able to enter any instanced area outside the Arenas, including all the dungeons and raids.

Gearing Up Your Gladiators

Though your characters will already have some great equipment when you create them, there’s an extensive assortment of items to choose from to tailor your characters to better fit your play style.

Your characters will already know all glyphs for their class, and you have a stack of Dust of Disappearance available, although more is easily acquirable from a vendor.

A potentially important part of planning your characters is doing so in conjunction with your 3v3 Arena teammates. You only have three character slots, so it might be wise for you to decide as a team which characters you want to have available. But what if you haven’t found teammates yet? What if you have some advice to give to fellow PvPers or you’re looking for advice yourself? Be sure to check out the official PvP forums to talk with other like-minded gladiators looking for teammates, or just talking strategy!

What’s this Arena Pass all about?

Have you acquired an appetite for the Arena Pass? You can register now.

To learn more about the 2012 World of Warcraft Arena Pass, visit the Arena Pass information page, or check out the FAQ. GL HF!