Concept:

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.

/SIGN
/BUMP

Totally awesome idea!

Spectating the opposing team, while on vent, telling your teammates or guildmates.

This was one of the only cool things for lowbies in Lineage 2. It gave them something to look forward too when they got high level. Also one of the best features in guild Wars is the Arena battles. It was fun to watch the Koreans whoop everyone and be amazed at their skill. I really do hope they can add this since it could be very benificial for others to study tactics from the better players.

Great idea.

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Q u o t e:
Ventrilo and Teamspeak say NO!

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I do agree that some players might find this intrusive, so a possible fix would be to have players participating in the battle
to take a quick vote on spectator options, for example:

-allow or deny spectator mode

-just be able to follow your own faction

-only allow spectators above a certain level (deny access to alts)

Few more ideas.

Just like we have an ignore list, each team could have a spectator list, so you'd have to ask permission to watch the fight, and would only be able to watch without being able to see stealth/ invis or traps, you'd be simply spectating the fight without interfering with the outcome.

OMG!! That really is an excellent idea!! I hope Blizzard really does do that. Did you get the idea from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion? You can actually do that in that game. You can also make bets. That would be pretty cool in WoW.

I don't see how you could have live spectating and not open it up to exploits. It would be cool if it was possible to record arena matches and make them viewable for a period of time afterward.

Great idea =D

Would be great to pass the time between queues AND probably help noobs lrn2play. <3

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Q u o t e:
We would love to have a way for others to be able to spectate arena matches. It's something we are looking into but don't have any more on that at this point in time. We realize that being able to cheer on your favorite team or your guildmates is always something people want to be able to do we just need to decide on how best to make something like that happen.

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I <3 Nethaera =)

Great suggestion by the OP.

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Q u o t e:
I don't see how you could have live spectating and not open it up to exploits. It would be cool if it was possible to record arena matches and make them viewable for a period of time afterward.

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you don't? Maybe just turn off all abilities and spells and not let people enter the area where the fight is happening? They are programmers ya know.

I was just saying something about this last night when the Arena matches started. I'd love to be able to watch others battle.

The only downside I can se is some groups might use it to watch their opponents, thus trying to find a strategy to beat them.

Doesn't stop me from wanting to see them though...

Edit: Actually, I wouldn't mind just sitting in some stands on the outside of the arena. I don't need to follow everyone around. I just want to see them duke it out.

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Q u o t e:
We would love to have a way for others to be able to spectate arena matches. It's something we are looking into but don't have any more on that at this point in time. We realize that being able to cheer on your favorite team or your guildmates is always something people want to be able to do we just need to decide on how best to make something like that happen.

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Thanks Nethaera for the post, I figured this was something that must have been thrown around the table at Blizz HQ. Just wanted to see what ideas the community had about the matter.

Install viewscreens that can be geared on in the major cities (or in Guild Halls if it is ever implemented). Gearing on the viewscreen will open a window that shows the battle and has different fixed camera angles that can be switched between to change the spectator's viewpoint.

or

Create a seating area similar to RL concert/sporting venues. Allow "tickets" to be purchased. The view would then be from a fixed positon, possibly with limited zooming. Use of certain engineering gadgets could allow the spectator to zoom in further. Better seats would require a higher purchasing cost. Just go to Gurabashi (sp?) Arena in STV and /sit then zooom camera to 1st person to get an idea of how it could be possible.