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Map of Dalaran Arena

The first of the new arenas will be located in the sewers below Dalaran. When teleported from the eastern continent to Northrend a large portion of the ground was taken with the city and it is here that the arena organizers have setup.

Being located in the sewers, the fighting will be close quarter based and therefore no mounts are allowed. It will be around the same size as the Blade's Edge arena but have several unique features.

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Draft Block Layout of Dalaran Arena

The first of these is the starting areas. Blizzard felt that with the new arenas they wanted to force the start time a little. So, in Dalaran your starting area is in a pipe part way up the wall on either side of the arena. Once the gates open, water rushes through the pipe at you and propels your team into the arena. This means playing defensively out of your starting area is not an option here.

The second unique element to this arena is dynamic line of sight (los). While the arena itself is fairly simple, made up of progressively smaller platforms going up to the center of the room (think of a pyramid), there is a twist. The center of the room has a pipe coming down from the ceiling, and every once in a while it will spew water out forming a column of water that blocs LOS across the center of the room.

Once on a platform there are limited ways up to the next one, and each one appears to be player height. This means holding the high ground could be critical in this arena, however doing so will be dangerous as well.

Want to hear it straight from Blizzard developers at Blizzard Worldwide Invitational '08? View the complete PvP: WotLK Arenas & Battleground presentation video.