#0 - Feb. 16, 2007, 3:46 p.m.
Allow players to spectate Arena matches, follow their favorite teams/players, etc. The queue system would function the same as the current BG system,
just talk to the Arena Battlemaster where an option for spectate would be available. Once inside the Arena, possible debuff would appear similar to when
you die and you are a ghost, just click it to exit the mode early. Selecting viewpoints could be done by having a pet bar show up once in spectator mode
to select one of the 3 vantage points.
Vantage Points:
-“Ghost”: Complete freedom of movement. You control camera.
-Fixed reference frames: Certain points around the map from with a player could watch.
-Player follow: Follow a certain player, rotational freedom of movement.
Tickets:
In order to reduce lag during certain times in the Arena season (i.e. towards the end of the season), tickets might be a viable option. A “Ticket Master” would
appear next to the Arena Battlemaster that would have a certain number of tickets allocated to each Battlegroup. Once the season draws closer to the end,
the Battlegroups that the final teams are from would have more tickets allocated to them.
The functionality of the ticket would behave as an item in your inventory with a cooldown activated. The cooldown would be equal to the amount of time
before the match. Once the cooldown was finished, a simple right click on the ticket would immediately transport you to the match in spectator mode.
Pricing would increase the later in the season it is. The tickets would initially be comparable to bind on equip (meaning that they could be re-sold).
However, for the Battlegroups representing their respective teams, a certain number of tickets would be bind on pick-up (in order to prevent a large amount of “scalping”).
Prizes:
Once the match ends, the money collected from tickets could be split 75% to the winning team, 25% to the losing. Another idea would be once the match has completed,
players could vote on things similiar to today's sporting events, MVP, etc. Certain prizes could be developed for players with the most amount MVP awards, as an example.
Tracking:
Many statistics could be tracked on WoW.com to give players an idea on which teams bring the highest amount of spectators, etc.
This is just a preliminary idea so obviously refinements are probably in order, which I encourage. I was just watching some WoW videos and thought, “wouldn’t it be cool to
watch these terrific players in real time with complete viewpoint freedom of control”.
Just an idea.
