This morning, Blizzard announced esports plans for World Of Warcraft, detailing the Arena World Championship & Mythic Dungeon International 2020. Now that the company is working with DreamHack for future events, the tournaments and their structure called for a revamp. So both the Arena World Championship (AWC) and Mythic Dungeon International (MDI) have been retooled to bring in more players and help make the games more accessible. The MDI will start broadcasting tournaments on April 11th on YouTube. You can read more about the changes for World of Warcraft esports below.

Arena World Championship

Embarking on the thirteenth year of the AWC, it's a good time to shake things up with one final season to close out Battle for Azeroth. There's even more on the line than ever before.

Format Changes

Registration for AWC's online qualification cups will open this Spring. All eight online Arena cups will award a $10,000 prize pool and AWC Points. Anyone can sign up and test their mettle for glory and cash prizes. Teams with the most points after all four North American and European cups will be invited to compete in the AWC Battle for Azeroth Finals. There, the eight best teams in the world will compete for a share of the $500,000 prize pool—the largest AWC Prize Pool to date.

Looking Ahead

The Arena World Championship will start up once again following the release of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and Azeroth's fiercest gladiator's will be tested more than ever before. The first AWC Tournament Series in Shadowlands will host two crucial competitive seasons with online cups and two in-person tournaments, including a mid-series LAN and a finals event which would occur in the Summer, similar to the Battle for Azeroth Finals this year.

Mythic Dungeon International

Mythic Dungeon International returns for its second year, with a new dungeon to challenge competitors and put them through their paces. Things are going to be a little different this year with some exciting changes.

Format Changes

One of the biggest changes made this season is how to define divisions. While there will still be two separate divisions, they won't be separated strictly as East and West.

⦁ The European and Asian (EU/Asia) division includes players from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Korea, China, and Taiwan.

⦁ The Americas (AMER) division includes players from the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand.

Teams will participate in the division based on where the majority of their team's players reside. It wouldn't be one of the most exciting MDI seasons yet without an in-person LAN. The finals will have teams competing for their share of a massive $300,000 prize pool. Moving forward, all MDI seasons will be considered their own standalone events with their own LAN final. This provides the WoW Esports team the ability to iterate quickly on changes and upgrades that the community will love. Stay tuned to the MDI esports page for more information on the next season, beginning in April.