What can you say about World of Warcraft in 2008, other than repeating its acronym? Wow! The year started well with the game's inclusion in Extreme Masters and went from strength to strength. Sure the game isn't perfect and it will always have its haters in the esports community, but the game continues to be on the up and up.

The past

2008 started in the middle of season three – my own personal favourite season. Warrior/Druid (the comp I played in 2v2) was dominating the 2's bracket and it wasn't long before we saw them picking up a warlock to take over 3's as well. The RMP (Rogue/Mage/Priest) setup was still alive and well but WLD was the new dominant force in early 2008.

The other new tournament for WoW this year was MLG. Although based in America, and often lacking international talent, these tournaments featured many of the best players in the world. Notably, the San Diego event launched Orz (later to become Fnatic) and Hafu into stardom. A second place at that event, followed by first in Orlando and Dallas cemented the team's position amongst the elite. More importantly, however, it asserted the dominance of the Druid as top PvP healer.

In mid-June we got to see the first Asian teams in action at Blizzard WWI and they gave us a real show. As if on a mission to prove that RMP wasn't dead, Council of Mages from Korea cut through the competition like a hot knife through butter, dropping just a single map on their way to the final.

Despite 3-0'ing Improved Clicks in bracket play, the final match was one of the closest games of the year, though probably not the most exciting. Playing their ultra-passive brand of double-healer/rogue (Druid/Priest/Rogue in this case), IC managed to win the first best-of-three series. However, the Koreans came back strongly in the second set and claimed the victory.

It wasn't until BlizzCon in October that we saw Asian teams again, but this time they were much less impressive. The final was a renewal of the ongoing struggle between America and Europe and it was the latter that came out on top, thanks again to Nihilum. Council of Mages finished fourth, not picking up a single cent for their troubles.

ESL Gets Involved

The first ESL LAN tournament to feature WoW was the Global Challenge, Lepizig, which took place in August. Fnatic didn't fare quite so well, but they did pick up an impressive third place. SK-Gaming's very own EU team finished second behind Nihilum Plasma and the trend was set: Americans do well, Europeans do better.

That trend continued all the way to Los Angeles, where x6tence of Spain picked up 15 grand for beating Nihilum in the final. Despite a largely American field of teams it was the Europeans again who dominated proceedings. The Spaniards continued to show the power of WLD, overcoming Nihilum's unusual Warrior/Priest/Warlock.

The Montreal event in probably remembered more for Celex's infamous nerd rage but for SK fans the tournament was a real treat. Xom and co's RMP led the charge for Europe this time, but they had to overcome the American team of Gravitas Gaming in the final. An RMP mirror can be difficult to predict but SK played it almost flawlessly, picking up a 3-1 win.

Predictably, the Seoul event was a mass of RMP teams. With no European or American teams to bring WLD or even double-healer to the event, Korean RMP's dominated the handful of Chinese teams that turned up. Although many of them were unknown entities to the rest of the world, it was a familiar name that came out on top. HON, who finished poorly at both Blizzard events, went home with the biggest share of the prize money, beating kill e A (RMP, of course) in the final.

The Present

The last event of 2008 took place just days after the launch of WoTLK and saw the end of WLD as the dominant force. Even Fnatic – one of the best exponents of this setup – were forced to switch it up. Hafu tried to play Shaman, but it has become clear to everyone in recent weeks that Druid is not the weak link in WLD. Warlock's are at their lowest ebb since the early days of vanilla WoW and with the burst-driven game of today, it's difficult for them to outlast teams in the way they once did.

Indeed, the final of the American Continental Finals in Philadelphia was another RMP mirror. The year ended on a high, with one of the closest and most exciting games to have graced ESL TV. We had cross-kills, one-vs-ones and an unexpected winner in Trade Chat Allstars. Despite the lack of preparation players had, Philadelphia was probably the most watchable WoW tournament to date.

The future

Competitive arena play is at a real crossroad right now. The game is bursty, and generally over so fast you're left wondering what happened. It's no coincidence, and certainly no surprise, that RMP teams dominated the post-3.0 games. Drain teams and setups that are designed to outlast opponents simply can't do their job with the amount of damage flying round in the modern game.

Although speeding the game up might sound like a good idea to some, it simply creates a new problem. If the game is over in seconds then it's just as boring as games that are too long. Blizzard needs to find a middle ground, and fast. Resilience will supposedly help, but that remains to be seen, and in this writer's opinion it will take a little bit more than that.

Specs like muti-prep rogue and the oh-so skill-less BM hunter are dominating early season five. For classes with cooldowns like those two, it's simply a matter of blow everything on one target – preferably a cloth-wearer – and walk away with easy rating. This kind of play doesn't help anybody, least of all those of us who try and argue that WoW is an esport.

I'd like to say Blizzard has a good track record with fixing their games, and in general they do, but with no way to choose your map when practicing and no spectator mode, I'm starting to have my doubts. The future of arena play depends on how seriously Blizzard takes esports and current signs, I'm sorry to say, are not good.

The world's first and only weekly esports column returns next week, when we'll be looking at the last 365 days of Counter-Strike.