The Forever Open: a $100,000 level 30 Horde dueling tournament, sign-ups close October 4 (Pacific)

The first dueling tournament of the WoW: Forever beta is on. It's organized by Tips Out, who ran the Classic Duelers League and OTK's 2023 Mak'gora, and broadcast by streamers Esfand and Xaryu. It's an open tournament: anyone with beta access can register, and registration runs on Raider.IO.

At a glance

• Format: 1v1 duels. The top 4 of each class in the Qualifiers (sáb 17 oct) move on to the Finals (dom 18 oct)
• Character: PvP ruleset · Horde · level 30 · a brand-new character with the last name "Foreverpvp"
• Prize pool: $100,000 in total: $50,000 to the champion and $5,555 to the top player of each of the 9 classes
• Entry fee: 15 gold in game, on qualifier day
• Broadcast: twitch.tv/esfandtv and twitch.tv/xaryu (co-streaming welcome)
• Partners: Raider.IO, Starforge Systems, RestedXP

The $100,000 prize pool

The prize pool was $50,000 when the tournament was announced on September 27. The next day streamer TimTheTatman announced he would add another $50,000, making it $100,000 as of September 28.

The split in the rules document: $50,000 to the Champion, and the other $50,000 divided evenly between the top-placing player of each class, which comes to $5,555 for each of the 9 classes. Tied classes split their prize evenly. The bracket winner is crowned "Death's Duelist".

Players who win prize money must submit invoices before payment is processed.

ChangedThe Raider.IO prizes page now lists the $100,000 split too ($50,000 champion, $5,555 per class).Before: As of September 29 the Raider.IO prizes page still lists the pre-increase split ($25,000 champion, $2,777 per class).

Schedule

• dom 27 sept, 11:00: Registration opens and leveling and gearing begin. Characters created before this time are ineligible
• vie 2 oct, 10:00: Registration closes, and characters can only be created until then
• sáb 17 oct, 09:59: Leveling and gearing close
• sáb 17 oct, 10:00: Tournament starts with online check-in and the Qualifiers
• dom 18 oct, 15:00: Finals end

Times are from the Raider.IO schedule. The Qualifiers format and ruleset will be released separately, at least one week before the Qualifiers.

How to enter

• 1. Create a brand-new Horde character on the PvP ruleset of the WoW: Forever beta. Characters created before dom 27 sept, 11:00 are ineligible.
• 2. Give the character the last name "Foreverpvp". This is required.
• 3. Register on Raider.IO (rio.gg/foreveropen) and enter your character information.
• 4. Log into that character and ask for an invite to the guild <The Forever Open III> from Tips Zug, Theboggy Foreverpvp, Admin Hulatwo, Admin Magetea, Admin Musashii or Prestige Admin.
• 5. Start leveling! Registration closes vie 2 oct, 10:00.

Any further characters must be registered one by one as they are created, and only within the registration period. Only one character may be selected and played during the tournament.

Event questions go to the <Forever PvP> Discord (discord.gg/YdvQnxADwP); for registration issues, ping the RaiderIO role there.

Leveling, Qualifiers, Finals

• Leveling Stage: From dom 27 sept, 11:00 to sáb 17 oct, 09:59, level the new character to 30 and prepare for the tournament. Check in on Raider.IO before the start at sáb 17 oct, 10:00 to secure a spot.
• Qualifiers: Starts sáb 17 oct, 10:00: every registered, checked-in player who has reached level 30 and paid the 15 gold entry fee competes. The format comes out at least a week in advance.
• Finals: dom 18 oct: the top 4 of each class from the Qualifiers enter the Finals bracket and play best-of-5 duel series. The bracket winner is crowned Death's Duelist and takes the lion's share of the prize pool.

Rules

General rules

• 1. You may not leave the designated dueling location for any reason (including hearthstoning to repair). If you must log off, a maximum of 3 minutes of total offline time is allowed; past that you are disqualified and forfeit any prize money. The only exception is Warlocks, who must check in with an admin before leaving to get shards, can only leave once, and cannot interact with other characters, banks, vendors, etc. while away.
• 2. ChangedThere is a maximum of 1 minute of downtime between duels to heal, buff and mana up. Players who try to extend it may be disqualified at the behest of the supervising administrator or tournament staff.Before: There is 1 to 2 minutes of downtime between duels to heal, buff and mana up.
• 3. Administrators may change dueling locations at any time due to circumstances.
• 4. Each player keeps one talent build for the Qualifiers and one for the Finals. A different build may be used in each stage, but it cannot be changed once the stage begins.
• 5. Duelists compete with one character for the entirety of the dueling stages.
• 6. Legacy points are permitted.
• 7. Competitors must stream their own perspective during the Qualifiers and Finals, including duels and any bag or talent inspections, and keep the VoD for admin review. Not streaming or not keeping a VoD may forfeit all matches and prize money. Streams must be on Twitch, YouTube or Kick only.
• 8. Competitors are responsible for reading and understanding every rule in the document.
• MovedFormer rules 1 (class buffs from other players) and 2 (holiday buffs and consumables) moved to "Items, buffs and consumables" below, and the buff rule changed.

Delay of game

• No intentional delays (e.g. rogues stealthing for minutes to reset cooldowns). Non-strategic acts meant only to delay forfeit the duel. 60 seconds or more of inactivity during a duel is an immediate delay-of-game penalty and possible disqualification.
• Intentionally fleeing a duel means disqualification and forfeiting all prize money. Intentionally force-fleeing an opponent (e.g. chain-fearing them on the rim of the duel line) immediately disqualifies the player who did it. Ambiguous flee situations are reviewed and judged by the organizers.
• If a duel times out, nobody wins; the players re-duel, with food and water capped at 3 for the rest of that matchup.

Interference

• If admins and referees judge that outside interference affected a duel's outcome, the duel is timed out and replayed later in the round. If the interference was intentional or coordinated by a competitor, that competitor is immediately disqualified and forfeits all prize money.

Items, buffs and consumables

ChangedAll consumables are allowed unless stated otherwise, except for these:Before: All consumables are allowed unless stated otherwise, except for these two:

• ChangedMagic Dust and Slumber SandBefore: Magic Dust
• New ruleFurbolg Medicine Pouch
• Fire, Nature, Frost, Arcane, Holy and Shadow protection potions
• MovedAll holiday event buffs (e.g. the Wickerman buff) and consumables (e.g. Candy corn), moved here from the general rules
• New ruleCampfire buffs
• New ruleAll "world buffs" or temporary buffs from completing open-world objectives or quests (e.g. Blood Shard buffs, the shaman air totem quest buff)
• ChangedOnly class self-buffs are permitted for each player. Players may buff themselves with items and consumables after a duel has begun, provided they are not from other classes and do not violate any other rules.Before: All baseline class abilities and class buffs are allowed. Class buffs from other players are only allowed if they last 2 minutes or longer (e.g. no Power Word: Shield unless you are a priest).

A banned item may not be equipped in a match or be in your bags during a bag inspection. Violations mean immediate disqualification, forfeiting prize money and a ban from all future events. As WoW: Forever is still an unsolved game, item and consumable bans may change at any time.

Class-specific rules New rule

• New ruleShaman may have up to 4 totems down at the start of a duel.
• New ruleStealth classes always get the uncontested opener in a duel. An uncontested opener is the first offensive action cast, such as abilities like Cheap Shot or Blood Fury, or trinkets such as Barov's Peasant Caller. Opponents must stand still until the opener has been initiated (do not spin your character around).
• New ruleClasses with assigned openers lose the right to an uncontested opener if they wait more than 25 seconds between the duel commencing (the moment the opponent becomes hostile) and their opener. Opponents delaying a stealth class's opener through other means doesn't count against the 25-second grace period.
• New ruleDruids are classified as a stealth class for openers. If a druid opens with an ability such as Entangling Roots or Starfire, the start of that cast ends the uncontested opener grace period.
• New ruleWarriors always get an uncontested opener too (except against stealth classes, whose opener takes priority). That covers abilities such as Charge, items such as Grenades and trinkets such as Barov's Peasant Caller. The same 25-second rule applies.
• New ruleIn stealth vs. stealth matchups, both players have to seek one another out, with no opener granted.
• New rulePre-HoTting (applying heal-over-time spells before a duel begins) is banned.
• New ruleHunter pre-trapping (placing a trap before a duel begins) is banned. Traps may only be placed after the countdown hits 0 and the opponent has become hostile.
• New ruleWarlock pre-saccing (sacrificing a demon before the duel begins) is banned.

Openers

• Before a duel, players stand in the dueling area chosen by the referees and administrators.
• No mounting up before opening a duel.
• Duelists start 20 yards apart: both stand on the duel flag, then walk 10 yards directly away from each other. After that, nobody moves until the duel starts and the enemy turns hostile. Only a stealthed character can move freely.
• Once positioned, an administrator counts down 10 seconds and then tells the players to accept the duel. Not following the directive may mean disqualification and forfeiting prize money.
• RemovedNo openers are guaranteed for any class. → replaced by the opener rules under "Class-specific rules" above

Code of conduct, referees, inspections

• Code of conduct: Be respectful and sportsmanlike toward competitors, partners, viewers, press and staff, in game chat, stream chat and other media too. Threats, doxxing, DDoSing, harassment, discrimination and hate speech mean immediate expulsion, forfeiting prize money and bans from future events.
• Referees: Volunteer referees make the calls on rule violations, and competitors must accept their rulings.
• Cheating: ChangedAccount sharing, match-fixing, stream-sniping, duel disruption, outside character intervention, client-side abuse, hacking, exploiting, gold-buying during the tournament and banned items or strategies are all forbidden. Intentionally exploiting rule loopholes may count as cheating. Penalties can include match forfeiture, disqualification, forfeiting prize money, temporary suspension and a permanent ban from all future events.Before: Account sharing, match-fixing, stream-sniping, duel disruption, outside character intervention, client-side abuse, hacking, exploiting and banned items or strategies are all forbidden. Intentionally exploiting rule loopholes may count as cheating.
• Inspection: Characters may face a bag and talent inspection before or during the event: open bags, the talent page and the character panel on stream. Talents must match the build submitted for that stage and bags may not contain banned items.
• Submittals: Competitors may have to submit the talent build for each stage at least 24 hours before it begins; missing the deadline may mean disqualification from that stage.
• Attendance: Players absent for their match may be replaced immediately and forfeit prize money.
• Discipline: Added to this postBreaking the rules or code of conduct can mean penalty points, disqualification, forfeiting prize money and/or a lifetime ban from all TFO events; organizers decide discipline case by case.
• Stream footage: Added to this postBy registering or taking part, competitors agree that Esfand, Xaryu, Raider.IO and other authorized partners may rebroadcast, restream, reproduce and use footage from their streams in livestreams, VoDs, clips, highlights, social media and related coverage.
• Rule updates: Added to this postThe organizers may update the rules at any time. Changes may be announced on social media, by email or in official videos, but this is not guaranteed. Keeping up with changes is each participant's responsibility.

Getting ready for 30

The beta level cap is currently 20. The Raider.IO page lists the requirement as "Level 30 (when available in WoW: Forever Beta)", and Blizzard has only said the next phase raises the cap to 30 with new talents, class abilities and the Darkspear Islands battleground. No date has been announced yet.

• The Forever Open Prep Guide: registration to tournament day in order, with races, abilities, talents, BiS gear, enhancements and consumables for each class
• Beta Level 30 Prep: abilities, talents, dungeons, battlegrounds and rares that open at 30
• Talent calculator: plan the level 30 build you'll submit
• Spellbook: abilities and ranks learned from 21 to 30
• Races & classes: compare Horde racials and pick the race you'll duel with
• Legacy: Legacy points are allowed, so plan your spend
• PvP: ranks, honor, battlegrounds and PvP gear

The controversy over streamers receiving questionable gold after the announcement, and Blizzard's reply, is covered separately. Blizzard responds to thread on streamers' gold