Big changes are coming to World of Warcraft’s Arenas that will make participating more convenient and competitive than ever before, and some of those changes may begin appearing on the PTR very soon.

Today, competition is limited to the realms within your Battlegroup, and your ability to participate in the Arena system requires having a static team with friends on the same realm. In the upcoming Patch 5.4, we’re building on technological improvements we’ve made over time (such as region-wide matchmaking) to expand the pool of competitors and improve the Arena experience for all World of Warcraft players.

One of the first things you’ll notice in Patch 5.4 is that you’ll no longer need to join or create an Arena team to compete. Instead, queuing will work much as it does for Rated Battlegrounds: you can queue for an Arena battle in a party of the appropriate size (still 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5), and your opponents will be selected based on the average Match Making Rating of your party.

For the most part, the mechanics of Arena will remain the same. You’ll still gain and lose personal rating based on your wins and losses, though your Conquest Point cap will now be based on your Personal Rating. The rating requirements to purchase items will also be based on your Personal Rating.

The change will confer a few advantages over the old static-team-based system:

You’ll no longer need to worry about invitations, joining, or leaving an Arena team. Now you can play with who you want, when you want.

You’ll be able to join a cross-realm group and queue for Arena matches with friends from other realms.

The Arena ladder will no longer be sorted according to Battlegroup. Just like Rated Battlegrounds and normal Battlegrounds, now all Arenas will be region-wide. You’ll be competing with a field of opponents that includes every Arena player in your region.

As before, at the end of an Arena season, the top players will still earn titles and mounts.

We’re excited for these changes, and we’re eagerly looking forward to hearing your feedback. Please join us on the PTR when these updates go live to check them out for yourself.