Bits and pieces of Arena Season 4 have popped up on the PTR, and as previously speculated on MMO Champion, it looks like the gear will be named Brutal Gladiator. As expected, the armor pieces are recolored versions of the gear that drops in Sunwell Plateau. As the armor pieces are not class specific, what will happen is that for the first time in World of Warcraft Arena history, classes will have similar-looking armor. Warriors will share the same models are Paladins, Shamans can masquerade as Hunters, Rogues will look like Druids, and all clothies will look like they all went to the same tailors or yard sale.


This creates wonderful opportunities in PvP, particularly, hearkening back to the days when Night Elf rogues looked almost exactly like Night Elf druids. Even more confusion ensues when you consider that both Alliance and Horde now share the same armor models as opposed to unique faction models under the old Honor system. The good news is that the new armor sets -- or rather, non-sets -- look pretty sweet. The bad news is that more characters will walk around looking more alike than ever. On the other hand, a lot of PvP gear is coming out in Patch 2.4, such as reputation-based gear (ahem, recolors of the dungeon sets); Season 2 items going on sale Filene's Basement style; and PvE efforts rewarding PvP gear. There are a lot of choices as far as welfare epics are concerned, so fear of homogeneity can be kept in check.