The First Solo Shuffle Tournament for Individual World of Warcraft Players

World of Warcraft is firmly established as one of the top eSports games, with many pros playing it globally. However, until now it could only be played competitively as part of a team, which is why the launch of the first Solo Shuffle tournament is attracting a lot of interest right now.

What Is Solo Shuffle?

World of Warcraft was launched in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment, as a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. Since it quickly became hugely popular and its gameplay is about players working together to defeat opponents, it was an obvious choice as an eSports game for teams to play.

Things changed last year, when the developer added Solo Shuffle, which is a solo queue for players who want to enter the game alone. It put them into a group of six players, made up of four damage-dealers and two healers. They play six rounds on a three-vs-three basis, with the team composition changing on each occasion to give every possible combination.  

In addition, changes were introduced to make each game faster. This was due to the developers worrying that players may abandon the queue or fail to finish the game if it took too long to complete. Each round should take no more than three minutes to play, with the first team killing a rival immediately named as the victor.

The Split Between Multiplayer and Solo Games

Emerging technology has allowed us to enjoy more of this type of MMO game where a huge number of players can compete at one time. This has led to spectacular moments such as the Battle of B-R5RB, which took place in EVE Online in 2014 and was possibly the biggest virtual battle to ever occur until then. In 2020, the same game’s Fury at FWST-8 was awarded the record for most players in an online battle, thanks to its 8,825 participants.

PUBG is another example of this type of game, with up to 100 players dropping onto an island to do battle. The last surviving player is the winner, and it has proven to be massively successful with over 75 million copies sold since its launch in 2016 and more than a billion mobile downloads. In this case, the difference is that PUBG players operate alone rather than in teams.

Yet, there is still scope for solo games where players simply play against the computer rather than other humans. This is the case with card games like baccarat, with this guide to the game confirming that it is a game of chance with no complicated rules. Each hand can be won by the banker or the player, or it can end in a tie. The person playing simply needs to try and predict what the outcome will be.

A Look at the Solo Shuffle Tournament

The first Solo Shuffle Tournament took place between September 23 and September 25. A total of 72 players took part, with people from North America and the EMEA region eligible for it, and the finals involved the 12 best players from each region.

Any WoW fan who enjoys doing their own thing will be keen to give Solo Shuffle a try. It’s a new way of playing a classic game that makes it easier to play competitively without having to join a team to do it.

This is a paid guest post.