Blizzard opens Hyjal Crater for the Forever Open

Blizzard opens Hyjal Crater as a duel arena for the second day of The Forever Open, the dueling tournament on the beta. Players cannot normally reach the crater. Blizzard staff bring the players there, and vendors sell reagents on the spot.

Senior Game Designer Josh Greenfield, known as Aggrend, announced it in episode 4 of the developer podcast. The tournament runs on 17 and 18 October, for level 30 Horde characters, with 100,000 dollars in prizes.

The arena

Hyjal Crater lies in a part of the map that is not in use. The crater was there in the original game, but the new zone of Mount Hyjal uses that ground for other terrain. So Blizzard moved the crater to a map of its own.

Players cannot go there on their own. On day two, Blizzard staff help Tips, the organiser known as TipsOut, and the team reach the crater. NPCs there sell Soul Shard and reagents. A vendor that resets cooldowns may follow, depending on what the tournament needs.

The arena was already planned for later. Blizzard brought it forward to the beta for this tournament. In the podcast, the developers mentioned a return in a later patch, perhaps in the week of the Darkmoon Faire. When that happens, is not known.

Watching the tournament

Around 6,000 players signed up. The top 32 duel in the crater on day two. Xaryu and Esfand broadcast the tournament live on Twitch.

Pet items such as Spider Swarm are banned from the tournament. The beta itself ends on 21 October, three days after the final.