The players of all shapes and sizes

If you're not raiding, then, what are you doing with your game time?

Running heroics and getting ready for the arena season.
Did you play in the Wrath beta?

Yes. I was in the Friends and Family Beta for a short time before it went public.
Share with us your view of WoW as an e-sport.

WoW as an e-sport currently is actually pretty awful. Tournaments are using Season 2 gear on level 70 characters, with Patch 3.0 talents. This means that damage is really, really, really high. Arcane Mages at the moment dominant the tournament scene because of such high crits.
What sort of tournament scene exists for WoW Arena players, beyond working on Arena rankings in game?

There are several tournaments for WoW out there. Two, for example, are the Electronic Sports League (ESL) who have a world wide tournament, the finals being in March 2009, and Major League Gaming, a console-centric league who expanded to PC earlier this year with WoW.
Do you anticipate making a career from gaming?

Yes. I have hopes that working and going to school for five years will look good enough on a resume that I can get hired for a gaming-centric print magazine one day.
You hit 80 so quickly, yet you say you don't raid with your guild due to work and school commitments. What kind of a raiding schedule does Void maintain?

I powered my way to 80 during an easy week (right after mid-terms), hitting 80 on Sunday night. I don't really consider that too fast, being that many members of my guild hit 80 on Saturday morning. Void has been clearing all of the 25-man stuff every Tuesday. It's not so much that I do not choose to raid. I just don't find it that fun, and I have been so hot/cold in the past with when I play WoW that my guild does not want to gear someone who will most likely take a break from the game in the future.
Does ArenaCast focus strictly on professional tournaments?

Yes. There are not a lot of amateur tournaments out there for WoW. We hope to begin covering the upcoming Arena season, though, in WotLK.
How does one become a "professional" WoW player, anyway?

It is kind of a funny question. There is no committee that gives you a license or anything like that. Showing up to a tournament would be enough to label yourself as a professional WoW player, but I think getting a sponsor to pay for your trip and lodging would be a better judge of a professional player.
As far as numbers (of pros out there), I would guess 20 to 30 would be a ballpark figure. In the United States, you have teams like Pandemic, Fnatic, Evil Geniuses, GotGame and Gravitas. Europe and Asia also have their big-name teams.
How do you keep up with all the changes and balance issues in PvP? Do you need to stay immersed in PvPing yourself, or can you stay abreast through reading, watching matches and analyzing?

Keeping up with the changes and balance issues in PvP is an ongoing process. Personally, I have been able to read and watch matches analyzing them, but several of my colleagues do actively play Arena at the highest level on their respective Battlegroups.
What should players who are interested in becoming more competitive in Arena play do in game? Any sites or podcasts or resources you recommend out of game?

If you're looking to learn more about the professional scene in Arena, first off you should listen to ArenaCast (come on, I have to promote myself!). If you are interested in watching a weekly videocast, tune into ESL.tv. It is European, but don't hold that against them, ha ha. They do their live shows every Wednesday but also have video on demand if you miss an episode.
But really, paying attention to sites like ESFIWorld.com, SK-Gaming.com, Gotfrag.com, ArenaJunkies.com, etc., for announcements on tournament realms (private realms where teams can play with tournament gear to compete against some of the best out there) and general discussion about professional Arena play.
Wait a sec -private tournament realms? Blizzard seems to be putting the hammer down on private servers. Will this impact WoW e-sports?

Blizzard is in full cooperation with any organization that runs a tournament. Ninety percent of the time, a Blizzard rep is on-site at these events -the companies are not running illegal servers, but official, pre-made Blizzard servers.
These tournament realms are very the same realms that Blizzard uses for its own Arena tournament. Along with this, Blizzard also has a spectator client that the e-sport organizations have been allowed to use in order to broadcast matches. Hopefully in the future, this add-on will be released so anyone can watch a live Arena match. There are problems to be worked out, of course (allowing people to spectate matches could factor into when you want to queue for Arena, etc.), but hopefully there is a way around it.
Meet JP McDaniel, a 22-year-old college journalism major and podcaster for ArenaCast. JP has combined the game he loves with school and work in what he hopes will be a springboard to a print journalism career in gaming. He's managed to roll his main up to 80 in the midst of podcasting, news updates, tournament travel and his studies. We talked with JP about his road into e-casting and his perspectives on where e-sports -and competitive WoW, in particular -are heading.
Main character Moogol

Server Mug'thol

WoW player since Release

Guild focus Everything

Other gaming interests I play every major release for every console, but WoW is the only MMO I play currently. I do, however, try to play the other games, but I find they aren't as polished as WoW and end up eventually quitting.
15 Minutes of Fame: You're a podcaster and freelance e-sports writer. Sounds pretty glamorous -what does that mean you end up doing in terms of day-to-day and week-to-week work?

JP McDaniel: My week-to-week activity is usually different each week, except for a couple things. On Wednesday afternoon, we usually record ArenaCast, our WoW podcast (now live Wednesdays at 6 p.m. CST). On Sunday afternoon, I write my weekly report for CEVO.com. Other then that, each day is random on what exactly I will be writing as news comes up throughout the week at different times. I stay very busy, though – that's one constant, I suppose.
Walk us through a typical production of ArenaCast.

My role on ArenaCast is producing, hosting and then editing and promoting each week. At first, it was a little much, but I have learned how to deal with it and usually can get the show posted and promoted with an hour after recording. A usual recording is somewhat staged, somewhat free form. I don't like to do too much planning beforehand, but a couple bullet points are always helpful in guiding discussion.
How did you get started in e-sports podcasting?

It's kind of a funny story. I had been wanting to do a podcast for a little over two years now. I listen to several other podcasts such as 1UPYours, Giant Bombcast and of course GFWRadio. But there has never been a podcast in e-sports, and I always talked about doing one. My friend and co-host of ArenaCast, Sam Lingle, got tired of my talking about it and said either do it or never mention it again. A week later, we were recording the ‘cast. I have plans on branching out to do other casts for ESFIWorld.com in the future, as well.
Plenty of players out there would love to get involved in the work and projects you do. What sort of skills and background do you need in order to be a successful e-sports journalist and podcaster?

It's kind of funny. Most of everything I have learned was on the fly and from someone else. About three to six months after learning things on the job, I would learn some of the same things in school (my major is journalism). Also, as with anything else in this world, consistency and hard work are the two best things to propel you forward in any industry. I guess I also owe a lot to my friends in the industry. Contacts are everything in the gaming world, and I was lucky enough to have some.
How do you manage to combine travel with school?

Very carefully. I am kind of lucky I suppose that most of the events I travel to all take place Friday through Sunday. Most of my teachers in college also do not mind me missing class for work, especially because it is journalism-related. I have had some very stressful weeks, though, where I have to travel and come back on two to three hours of sleep to take a mid-term.
Tell us about how gaming and podcasting balances with the rest of your life right now. Are you a student first, gaming writer and podcaster second -or do you consider yourself far enough into a gaming career that school has to work around gaming to some extent?

I try to balance it out, really. I think I put first what needs to be done the soonest. If I have a paper due for class on say, Tuesday, and an article that needs to be up Tuesday night, I'll do the paper first for school, then work. Its all time management, I guess. One day it could be school and the next, work.
What's your PvP background, and how does that play into the work you do?

I played Dark Age of Camelot heavily, and that was my first brush with the PvP world. I was in one of the top 8v8 groups on my server (LOL a roleplaying server – don't ask, I don't RP at all). From here, I moved to Archimonde when WoW was launched and was lucky to play alongside people from Nurfed, etc. When Arena was released in TBC, I played a lot in Season One, running 2345 composition. I quit however during the entire second season, but came back in Season 3 and got to top 10 in 5s and 2200ish in 2s.
I think in the line of work I do, having knowledge of the game is one of the most important things. It is kind of like the sports analysts now -most of them are ex-pros. Albeit I am no pro, I still know most aspects of the game.