Updated FAQ - May 16, 2005

Where can I find the brackets and seedings?

The brackets can be found here, or by clicking the "Brackets" button on the Season Two website's sub-navigation. The player seedings are listed on the bracket table in front of the player names.

Although we haven't finalized the tournament schedule yet, we will be separating the solo and 2v2 competitions. The 2v2 competition will occur first, sometime in early June. The solo competition will place a few weeks later. We feel this will better allow both players and fans to follow the action. A positive side effect of this scheduling change is that players who qualified in both events will have the opportunity to compete in both.

There are several reasons why a player may not be listed:

• On March 2nd a number of accounts were closed for various forms of ladder abuse, including the use of loss bots. These bans were conducted in a highly conservative way, erring on the side of avoiding false positives. Each account entered into the tournaments was manually checked for such abuses. In some cases, we found additional players who had been engaging in this activity whose accounts had not been closed on March 2nd.
• Players may only participate once in each format (solo or 2v2). We choose the highest ranked qualifying account in these cases. Related to this, when a player qualified in the 2v2 bracket with multiple partners, we had to qualify the highest ranked team of that player.
• The brackets and seedings reflect the standings at the exact moment the ladder Season ended on May 2nd. The ladders remain open, and players may have gained or lost ranks in the interim. These do not affect their participation or seeding in the Season Two event.

These represent the players that were the closest to qualifying on May 2nd. In the event players do not show up during the tournament, this 2v2 team or two solo players will take the places of the lowest seeded no-shows. This is only in effect for the first round of each tournament. This is the extent of substitutions we will allow. If there are further no shows, byes will be distributed as appropriate. All players listed as substitutes are encouraged to be in the event channel on Battle.net during the first round of the tournament.

No, sorry. The brackets, seedings, and schedule when it is released are final. We realize that some players may not be able to participate, and will be giving first-round byes to their opponents in those cases (after substitute players have been offered those openings).

Yes. As was announced on April 28th, the Battle.net champions will also be receiving a box of delicious cookies at the expense of Blizzard's tournament team. Unfortunately, our plans to be prepared and buy the cookies ahead of time experienced some technical difficulties. We ate all the cookies. Our new strategy is to buy them again right before the cash and prizes are shipped to the winning players.

Over the coming days we will be releasing further information about the Season Two event. Stay tuned to the tournament website for more information!

What does all the tournament terminology mean?

• Game: A single map played between two opponents.
• Match: A set of games between two players. In the case of Season Two, the first player to win two games wins the match.
• Bracket: A graphical representation of a "tree-style" tournament's schedule. [Example]
• Single-Elimination: A style of tournament where only the winners advance to the next round of play. The loser of any round is eliminated from the tournament. Season Two uses this tournament format.
• Shoutcast: A live, internet radio broadcast of a game or match. During Season Two, Warcraft III community Shoutcast teams will provide coverage in several languages.
• Seeding: This represents the players' "rank" in the tournament bracket. Normally the top seeded players will have an advantage by playing a lower seeded player in the first round. In some tournaments these are chosen subjectively, but in the case of Season Two these are based on the players' Battle.net ladder ranking.
• Bye: Single-Elimination style tournaments require a number of players that is a factor of two (4, 8, 16) in order for each player to have an opponent during each round. When the number of players is not a factor of two, the top-seeded players are given a "bye", or a pass to the next round with no first round opponent. The number of byes is equal to the next highest factor of two above the number of players minus the number of players. With 15 players, there would be one bye. All players are thereby guaranteed to have a second round opponent.
• Forfeit: Forfeits are automatic losses as a result of some infrigement. Most commonly these are the result of a player not showing up, though breaking the tournament rules could be another cause for forfeits. In the case of a single-elimination tournament, forfeits equate to being eliminated from the tournament. The opponent of a player who has forfeited will advance to the next round as if he or she had won the match.
• Ladder: A style of competition where players attempt to reach the top ranking or "rung". Each player on a ladder is seeded and occupies a different rung on the ladder, though there may be players tied for a position. When a player increases their ranking or rung, it is at the expense of the player who previously occupied that rank. Battle.net \ employs a ladder system for Warcraft III which is the basis for invitations to the Season Two event.

What will be the format for the matches in the final tournament?

All rounds in both the Gateway and Worldwide Battle.net Championships will be a best-of-three format. The first map in each match will be fixed. Thereafter, the loser of the previous map may select any other eligible map from the map pool. Maps may be played more than once in a match.

Where can I find the archived information from the Season One Tournament?

The results, downloads, and news from Season One can be found here. In addition, there is a link to the Season One archive on the bottom-left corner of each of the Season Two web pages.

How will the invitations for the final tournament be determined?

Players will be invited based on their standings on the Battle.net Solo and Arranged Team 2v2 ladders on May 2, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. UTC. In addition, there is a possibility that select third-party tournament events may be the basis for some tournament seedings. However, no such events have been announced, and it is anticipated that the vast majority of invitations will derive directly from the Battle.net ladders.

What changes have been made to the Battle.net ladders and how does this affect me?

We have removed both the level and experience caps from all ladder formats. Players were previously limited to level 50 and 22,500 experience. This will have no impact on most players participating in the Battle.net ladders. However, it will provide a mechanism to establish who the top ladder players really are. Tournament seeding will now better reflect a player's Battle.net rankings.

Players above level 50 will have the same search times and possible opponents as a player at level 50.

Achieving levels above 50 will be extremely difficult. While the amount of experience required to reach each level continues along the same pattern as levels 50 and below, experience gained from victories will decrease and experience lost from defeats will increase the further a player moves past 50. Only the very best ladder players will be able to maintain a high level beyond the current cap.

Cash prizes will be paid in the form of a cheque in U.S. dollar denomination pending the completion and return to Blizzard Entertainment of an IRS w-8 or w-9 form, depending on the country of origin. Note that foreign denomination cheques may take some time to clear at banks outside the United States.