Project Lore

[caption id="attachment_9543" align="alignright" width="300" caption="We don't know much about S8 gear, but Paladin's can look forward to wearing this set."][/caption] Start wrapping up your career folks. Get all your Arena points and rankings in line, because it won't be much longer before the current season comes to a close:

We are currently planning to end Arena Season 7 as early as January 19. At that point we will go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week. It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific titles and/or Relentless Gladiator’s Frostwyrm to refrain from transferring their character to another realm until after Arena Season 7 ends. The following Arena Season will not begin for at least one week after the current season ends. During this time between seasons, all rated matches will be turned off and only skirmishes will be available. When Arena Season 8 begins, all team ratings, personal rating, and arena points will be wiped, but matchmaking rating and honor points will remain.

Of course, the transition between Arena seasons can also be a portent of things to come. I'm sure by the end of tonight, when the best guilds in the world have no doubt blown through all the new encounters in Icecrown Citadel, we'll find out anyway, but why don't we do a little predicting ahead of time? A little bit of math could tell us when the next wing of the raid, The Crimson Hall, is set to open. If Season 7 ends on January 19th as cited above, that gives us two weeks right there. But it takes a whole extra week for Blizzard to go, tally up the scores, and hand out the rewards. There's a good chance we'll get a minor patch at this time that unlocks both Season 8 gear and the latest boss in the Vault of Archavon, Toravon the Ice Watcher. This Hodir-lookin' mofo will no doubt drop the usual PvP equipment, Tier 10 pieces, and even more Emblems of Frost for you to gobble up. This makes January 26th, three weeks away, the perfect time to drop the next wing of Icecrown Citadel. We will likely also find the fabled cinematic slipped stealthily into the game files in the process. So mark your calendars, everyone. January 26th the next date to mark on your calenders. Make sure to steel yourself for both more PvP and PvE conquests in the near future! Update: Looks like two weeks for the next wing is the official word. I suppose it will coincide with the end of Season 7 and not necessarily the beginning of Season 8.