Arathi Basin was my battleground of choice for the first time last weekend (well it was honour weekend after all). Over the course of several games I began to pick-up the strategy and ways that I could best help my team. And then this week I found this Arathi Basin Guide on Wow-Insider that summarised most of the things I’d figured out (fighting on a node, shouting early to notify about incoming etc.), along with several things I hadn’t (e.g. holding 3 nodes close together if possible and watching people’s debuffs to see what they are being attacked by). All in all a nice guide. I just wish I’d found it earlier

Season 3 of the arena has arrived, bringing bigger and better rewards. One upshot of this is that the rewards from season 1 are now available for purchase with honour and battleground tokens.

I’ve summarised below the rewards and honor / marks needed. This was sourced from MMO Champion, check out their post on arena rewards for full details.

Season 1 Item	Price
Gladiator’s Armor Breastplate	14500 30x
Gladiator’s Armor Gauntlets	10500 20x
Gladiator’s Armor Helm	14500 30x
Gladiator’s Armor Leggings	14500 30x
Gladiator’s Armor Shoulders	11250 20x
[Gladiator's Bonecracker]	9000 20x
[Gladiator's Bonegrinder]	27000 40x
[Gladiator's Cleaver]	18000 20x
[Gladiator's Decapitator]	27000 40x
[Gladiator's Endgame]	9000 20x
[Gladiator's Gavel]	25200 20x
[Gladiator's Greatsword]	27000 40x
[Gladiator's Hacker]	9000 20x
[Gladiator's Heavy Crossbow]	27000 40x
[Gladiator's Idol of Resolve]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Idol of Steadfastness]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Idol of Tenacity]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Left Ripper]	9000 20x
<[Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Libram of Justice]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Libram of Vengeance]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Maul]	27000 40x
[Gladiator's Painsaw]	27000 40x
[Gladiator's Pummeler]	18000 20x
[Gladiator's Quickblade]	9000 20x
[Gladiator's Reprieve]	9000 20x
[Gladiator's Right Ripper]	18000 20x
[Gladiator's Salvation]	25200 20x
[Gladiator's Shanker]	18000 20x
[Gladiator's Shield Wall]	15000 20x
[Gladiator's Shiv]	9000 20x
[Gladiator's Slicer]	18000 20x
[Gladiator's Spellblade]	25200 20x
[Gladiator's Totem of Indomitability]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Totem of Survival]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Totem of the Third Wind]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's Touch of Defeat]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's War Edge]	8000 10x
[Gladiator's War Staff]	27000 40x
[Veteran's Chain Bracers]	9435 20x
[Veteran's Chain Girdle]	14280 40x
[Veteran's Chain Sabatons]	14280 40x
[Veteran's Band of Dominance]	11934 10x
[Veteran's Band of Salvation]	11934 10x
[Veteran's Band of Triumph]	11934 10x
[Veteran's Pendant of Conquest]	11934 10x
[Veteran's Pendant of Dominance]	11934 10x
[Veteran's Pendant of Salvation]	11934 10x
[Veteran's Pendant of Triumph]	11934 10x

V’Ming Chew has an interesting article on building an arena team at WoW-Insider.

He focuses on class composition, particularly examining the class representation of the most successful arena teams and also a breakdown of four traits needed to be competitive in arena: damage, heals, control and durability. In 2v2 particularly, durability is important (so Wise & I setting up a 2v2 mage / priest team might not be the best plan ). He then examines the group compositions of 3v3 and 5v5 teams. Well worth a read for arena fans, especially as it has pretty pictures