TipsOut calls his tournament pure chaos
The Forever Open, the dueling tournament on the beta of World of Warcraft: Forever with 100,000 dollars in prizes, starts today. Its organiser Tips, known as TipsOut, talked about it in episode 8 of Pull 10, a Classic+ podcast hosted by the content creators Joardee, rencognito and JurdiJD. The interview was recorded on 14 October.
Pure chaos
Dueling was never meant as a competitive mode, says Tips. A mage can run at a rogue before the duel even starts, or a hunter can keep a warrior at a distance until the duel is over. So the team writes rules, such as a starting distance of 20 yards, the first Charge for a warrior and the opener for a rogue, much as you would meet them in the open world. Too many rules make the event boring and hard to enforce, so the team looks for a balance.
On the beta, everything is new. Players keep finding bugs, exploits and broken gear, and the rules have to follow. On the day of the interview, someone found something that would “completely break the whole event”. Legacy talents are not allowed, and some weapons are banned. “In terms of how the organization of these events goes, it’s pure chaos,” says Tips. Whoever signs up for a tournament on a beta also takes the risk that Blizzard changes their class.
Esfand put up much of the money in advance; sponsors and partners help pay him back. Esfand and Xaryu broadcast the tournament on Twitch, and every competitor has to stream their own view. Raider.IO helps with the sign-ups and the bracket. On day two, the top 32 duel in Hyjal Crater.
Blizzard does not balance for the tournament
Tips does not think Blizzard changes classes because of his event. The team has a launch to prepare. But hundreds of thousands of duels do put problems in the spotlight that would otherwise stay hidden. He names 
Penance of the Priest as an example. In episode 4 of the developer podcast, Aggrend gave Tips a shout-out by name.
No rated arenas
Tips does not want rated PvP in a game like Forever. A rating tells players what the game is about, he says, and then the classes have to be balanced around PvP. That costs the game its big, unusual abilities. He points to Rob Pardo, a lead designer of the original game, who called arenas one of his regrets. Tips would rather see battlegrounds open for a few days a month, so players spend the rest of the time out in the world. Blizzard said in its own podcast that arenas are not planned.
Self-found and a dream
Streamers who get gold from fans cannot be policed, says Tips: the team has no time to go through hundreds of hours of video. He hopes for a self-found mode in the game, and later on hardcore servers. His dream: a self-found hardcore tournament of one million dollars, two months after a hardcore server launches, with a final in a studio in Los Angeles.
His favorite items are the quirky ones, such as 
Skull of Impending Doom, 
Spider Belt and 
Whirlwind Axe.
The rest of the episode
Without Tips, the hosts go through a Blizzard survey about possible new classes, such as the Tinker, Necromancer, Warden, Bard, Runemaster and Illusionist. They would rather see no new classes in the first years. They also talk about Salvation, which every Paladin now has and which is no longer a Blessing, and about the Protection Paladin, which one host is unhappy with.
Source: Wowhead