While most World of Warcraft excitement seems to be focused on the PTR and Patch 3.1.0, there's still a ton going on both in and out of the virtual world for you to enjoy. The most notable news is that the Arena Tournament has begun, but there's a couple of other updates for any music fans and artists out there.

• You can find out all about the 2009 Arena Tournament here. Players from around the world compete on tournament realms for cash prizes totaling more than $200,000, as well as an Armored Murloc in-game pet and the "Vanquisher" title.
• The Eminence Symphony Orchestra has just released Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard Entertainment. You can order it or listen to samples on the official Web site.
• Blizzard is asking fans to illustrate their own Blizzard Entertainment theme parks with rides and attractions based on Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo. Prizes include a digitizing tablet and StarCraft II beta keys, so start drawing! More information can be found on the contest page. Submissions are due by March 30.

In case you haven't heard, the dual spec feature will include a one-time cost of 1,000 gold. Of course, there's all sorts of discussion surrounding the price, ranging from comments that it's fair to it's too steep. While there's a ton of blue comments on the price (and will certainly be more as time goes on), I thought Bornakk's response to a post complaining it won't save money for some gamers was worth nothing:

If you respec consistently between 2 exact specs it does save you money in the long run. If you have needed to respec as little as you mention, it won't save you money, but it adds a convenience if that is what you want and you still have quite a bit of time to get the gold if you want it. By respeccing so few and far between it would be pretty easy to not pick this up and just do the classic respec whenever it is needed which should be pretty cheap.

Bornakk also states that most players worried about the price should have more than enough time to earn 1,000 gold before Patch 3.1.0 launches. What do you think? Discuss it in this thread in our forums.

With the PTR now live for 3.1.0, there's going to be all sorts of discussions and questions surrounding it. Here's some posts on the official forums that may help:

• Wryxian has stated on the official forums that "If you have made a character copy request, and your character is marked 'Pending' this means that the transfer has not yet been successful. The character copy page will show an estimated wait time, and unfortunately we cannot provide any further estimate other than this one."
• Dresorull has begun a list of known issues on the PTR. Currently it only has two (about titles and cooldowns) but it should be updated with others.
• Wryxian also made a post regarding Cross Language Battlegroups and said they will be tested on the four EU PTR realms.

And as always, if you have any PTR issues, you're welcome to discuss them in our very own WoW forums.

The PTR realm is now live and the PTR patch notes for Patch 3.1.0 are now available. You can read them in their entirety (courtesy of MMO Champion ) after the jump. They include the highly anticipated dual spec feature, a new Gear Manager to save gear sets for easy switching, and limited Ulduar testing. Also, ground mounts will now be able to swim. And here's a quote from Zarym regarding upcoming class changes:

The class changes are not nearly complete. We want to get the test realms out to begin testing the new content, but that means launching without all planned class changes ready. We're making numerous new class changes each day and will continue to add them in future PTR builds.

If you'd like to discuss the patch notes, Allakhazam user RPZip has started a thread in our general forum. Keep reading below for the full notes, which are subject to change as testing begins.

The following editorial contains views that are the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of Allakhazam.com

A few days ago, the runner up team in the Korean Extreme Masters World of Warcraft 3v3 Tournament, Kill e A, decided to disqualify themselves from participating in the Global Finals, located in CeBIT. While there have always been self-disqualifications in tournaments that arise from visa issues or lack of funds, Kill e A is not attending the tournament for completely different reasons.  In an official statement from Sang-Yeoi 'miracle' Lee of Kill e A, the team told The Electronic Sports League the following:

"Upon consultation with my teammates, we have regretfully decided that we will have to withdraw our participation from the tournament.
Due to recent balance changes resulting from the 3.0.9 patch, we believe that it is no longer possible for the Mage and Rogue character classes to remain competitive in a high-level PvP setting.

In addition, our testing has shown that it is now impossible for other classes to compete effectively with the Death Knight.

As the Mage and Rogue remain integral to our teams' strategy, and because we do not have a member prepared for competitive play with the Death Knight class, we have decided to withdraw our participation from all competitions for the time being until these imbalance issues are rectified.

Please accept our sincerest apologies."

In the next patch (3.1) a whole new spin to the game will happen when Blizzard implements a new world event named the Argent Tournament . Details are spare but you'll be able fight for a faction of your choosing in the new mounted combat system. This will bring new daily quests, new rewards of every type, and more achievements!

The tournament will be on the PTR in the near future (this week we're all hoping but it might not be there at the start) and you'll find it in Icecrown once it's there.

You can read the original post by Zarhym here.

If you're going to be in the San Francisco area from Feb. 27 to March 1, you may want to consider stopping in at the Darkmoon Faire to participate in all sorts of World of Warcraft-related activities. From Arena battles and leveling contests to tournaments for both the trading card game and the miniatures game, there's something for every type of WoW fan. Minis players have an added reason to attend:

The Darkmoon Faire Minis Championship debuts at DMF San Francisco. This will be the first chance for players to test their battle hardened army against the best in the business. Each player will bring their army of three and compete against other players’ armies for prizes and fame. ... Top 8 finishers will ride out of the event with the elusive Spectral Tiger Loot card, and the winner will walk away with a tricked-out laptop!

You can read all about the schedule of events for the San Francisco stop here. If you can't attend, the next Darkmoon Faire stops will be in Germany and Charlotte, N.C., in April.

I think it's safe to say we're all antsy to check out what Patch 3.1 has to offer once it hits the public test realm. Well, just to keep us up to date, Wryxian has started a thread on the official European forums that will be updated with the status of the PTR realm. Its current status? Not live. But that could change soon.

This post is to help prevent the same question being posted over and over again. The status of the PTR may change fast and without warning. If so, you're welcome to report it in this thread, and the status stated in this post will be updated as soon as possible.

Wryxian stated in another thread that the patch notes will be posted at an appropriate time. Wryxian also said, " Of course we have them before posting, but no we won't be posting them early." Regardless, the buildup is mounting for 3.1.

You may have noticed that for the past few days you could copy characters to the PTR. Well, Wryxian has acknowledged on the official European forums that wasn't intended since there are no PTRs active and there's no official date set for 3.1 testing.

We will be closing down the character copy service shortly and will delete all characters that were copied during this time. The character copy service will be enabled again once the PTRs are ready to go live.

So just to make it clear: The PTR for Patch 3.1 isn't active yet.

World of Warcraft player Syih recently completed his Illidan Stormrage papercraft model and posted pictures of it on the official forums, and I personally think it looks great. If you're curious about the design process, you can check out Syih's original post on the project from December, which also contains a Thrall papercraft. He says Illidan is about 5 feet tall and made using thick paper with thermocol inside for stability.

Syih's work can also be found on the unofficial World of Warcraft papercrafts blog. If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest giving it a look. There's some amazing projects on it, as well as tips on how to create your own paper versions of in-game items and characters.

So are any of you into this whole papercraft hobby? If you are, feel free to share your work.