Warcraft III: Reforged - now with lowest user metacritic score of all time

[Citizen]

You could say it was the hero concept present in Warcraft 3 that prompted the decline.

Heroes were cool, I just wish maps didn't require to grind neutral mooks in the forest for xp. Concept of an elite unit gaining powers by participating in battles is pretty alrite for a skrimish based RTS. Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

 

[luj1]

Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

True!

 

[alighieri]

Man. I played WC3 tons of hours while growing up. Its all gone.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

War3 has aged better than any 2d RTS I can think of.

 

[Olinser]

You could say it was the hero concept present in Warcraft 3 that prompted the decline.

Heroes were cool, I just wish maps didn't require to grind neutral mooks in the forest for xp. Concept of an elite unit gaining powers by participating in battles is pretty alrite for a skrimish based RTS. Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

If you actually followed the development of Warcraft 3 back in the day it was originally very, VERY different in its early builds. They were basically testing something similar to Dawn of War (which didn't exist at the time), and the idea was that normal units COULDN'T move around on their own, that they had to be attached to a hero squad, and that the regular gameplay was very much more quest based and RPG rather than RTS.

Of course they jettisoned that idea but kept heroes for the final Warcraft 3, but then of course they went to World of Warcraft.

 

[Fishy]

Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

War Wind (1996) had them already. Stupidly obscure game but had its own charm with its 4 factions.

 

[Multidirectional]

War3 has aged better than any 2d RTS I can think of.

It looks fine. Units don't look too great but environments are pleasant to the eyes. Still I think something llke Stronghold looks way better in modern resolution.

 

[eviltentacle]

Heroes were cool, I just wish maps didn't require to grind neutral mooks in the forest for xp. Concept of an elite unit gaining powers by participating in battles is pretty alrite for a skrimish based RTS. Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

Zapp Brannigan would love Warcraft 3.

 

[alighieri]

 

[Jigby]

So there's a torrent floating around calling itself WC3 1.29 - was anyone brave enough to check if this is the last legit version of WC3, complete with widescreen support?

You can download the Public Test realm version from blizzard, which is the 1.31.1 version. Although I believe somebody has already mentioned it in this thread.

 

[catfood]

So there's a torrent floating around calling itself WC3 1.29 - was anyone brave enough to check if this is the last legit version of WC3, complete with widescreen support?

Even if it is, i assume you'd have to block the executable with a firewall because the version with widescreen support was tied to the launcher, which updates as soon as you run the game.

In fact if i knew i'd have blocked it right away but now it's too late.

I got the electronic versions of the game stashed away in my hardware, the downloads Blizzard offered before, and they go as high as 1.27.

You don't need to block it. Just don't click 'ok' when the update prompt appears.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

They weren't invented by WC3 but it had a long development and a huge influence on the genre even before it was released. Some older RTS had hero units, but only in campaign in most cases. I remember the term RPS (role playing strategy) thrown around, and how it would revolutionize the genre, I think a few games (Kingdom under Fire and Warlords Battlecry, probably more) where "inspired" by WC3 previews and released in the meantime, even if they played more like normal RTS with heroes in skirmish on top. WC3 wasn't the first RTS with heroes in multiplayer/skirmish, but it changed the core gameplay from big bases and tons of workers + tons of units to hero + units as support for the hero.

Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

War Wind (1996) had them already. Stupidly obscure game but had its own charm with its 4 factions.

War Wind had a ton of cool things rarely or never seen in other RTS. The heroes weren't quite the same concept as in WC3 though, you had clan leaders that were just ok in combat, and you lost when they died, and mercenary heroes from the inn or found on the map, and they weren't as stupidly strong and essential to your strategy as heroes in WC3.

 

[DraQ]

Heroes were cool, I just wish maps didn't require to grind neutral mooks in the forest for xp. Concept of an elite unit gaining powers by participating in battles is pretty alrite for a skrimish based RTS. Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

Starcraft had heroes.
Myths had veterans and pretty much all units were named.

The only thing WC3 brought to the table was 3D calarts.

 

[Daedalos]

it's really sad to see them bungle up this classic game.

I mean the starcraft remaster was pretty fucking great, so, this just comes as depressing news.

But it's hardly surprising given how Blizzard continues to fuck up their own brand to the point of not being recognizable for what made them famous in the first place.

Long gone are the studios with ultra nerds that also are the CEOs and CTOs and can actually make decisions on their own.

It's a sad development, but an unsurprising one as the games industry has grown into a large beast.

When something becomes popular, it attracts all the bloodsucking and money grubbing retards like flies on shit, and the budgets explode into the stars as people try to make BIGGUR games, that ultimately end up as half of what the old games was, for 6 times the ressources spent.

 

[ChaDargo]

it's really sad to see them bungle up this classic game.

I mean the starcraft remaster was pretty fucking great, so, this just comes as depressing news.

But it's hardly surprising given how Blizzard continues to fuck up their own brand to the point of not being recognizable for what made them famous in the first place.

Long gone are the studios with ultra nerds that also are the CEOs and CTOs and can actually make decisions on their own.

It's a sad development, but an unsurprising one as the games industry has grown into a large beast.

When something becomes popular, it attracts all the bloodsucking and money grubbing retards like flies on shit, and the budgets explode into the stars as people try to make BIGGUR games, that ultimately end up as half of what the old games was, for 6 times the ressources spent.

The SC remaster wasn't great at all. There were signs of this shit long ago. They're not fucking up their brand. It's a weird thing: they are haf-assedly taking over their brand. They've been run over by the Korean market for years without any say in their property rights. It's a weird shitstorm of taking back their property rights while ruining their property. Blizzard has no fucking clue what they're doing lol

 

[Daedalos]

it's really sad to see them bungle up this classic game.

I mean the starcraft remaster was pretty fucking great, so, this just comes as depressing news.

But it's hardly surprising given how Blizzard continues to fuck up their own brand to the point of not being recognizable for what made them famous in the first place.

Long gone are the studios with ultra nerds that also are the CEOs and CTOs and can actually make decisions on their own.

It's a sad development, but an unsurprising one as the games industry has grown into a large beast.

When something becomes popular, it attracts all the bloodsucking and money grubbing retards like flies on shit, and the budgets explode into the stars as people try to make BIGGUR games, that ultimately end up as half of what the old games was, for 6 times the ressources spent.

The SC remaster wasn't great at all. There were signs of this shit long ago. They're not fucking up their brand. It's a weird thing: they are haf-assedly taking over their brand. They've been run over by the Korean market for years without any say in their property rights. It's a weird shitstorm of taking back their property rights while ruining their property. Blizzard has no fucking clue what they're doing lol

What specific parts about the SC remaster didn't you like?

 

[alighieri]

original wc3 artstyle is pretty shit too compared to wc2 ironically.

I agree with this.

Also, all the assholery aside, I don't fully understand the surprise and shock at blizz game looking like utter shit? Diablo 1 and Warcraft 2, their last good looking games, were already a couple of years ago, poor and outdated graphics are pretty much their forte for a long time now.

The style of WC3 was inferior to WC2 but the art itself was professional and high quality.

Same with Diablo 3. Shit style compared to the original, but you can't say the product doesn't feel expensive.

This, however, feels like some mod that was abandoned mid development.

I still remember my first thoughts on playing Warcraft 3 for the first time all those years ago. They were: "why does this look so ugly? It is almost as bad as Mario 64".

I suppose later on I got used to the graphics and they didn't get much in the way of the game, but it was still annoying and I can't understand what you've seen in them.

Mario 64? What are you, some kind of Zoomer?

The game was released during the age of early 3D. In no way the game looked any worse than other 3D releases from that time like Battle Realms or Empire Earth or Dark Reign 2 or what else was there back then, and in fact it looked better. The way the game moved, the variety in the terrain, all those little details they slapped everywhere. I remember when i loaded Battle Realms a few years ago i was shocked at how technically inferior it looked compared to Warcraft 3, where as back in 2002 they seemed comparable to me.

Maybe you are right and it looked better than the 3d of the time. But it still was rather bad. People frequently say the older 3d aged badly, but I thought it was always bad, to be honest.

As for being a zoomer, I don't really know what that is. I thought about Mario 64 because both games had exaggerated bright colours and simple textures. It was what came to my mind at the time, so take that as you will.

tbh I think Mario 64 or even Zelda: OoT aged pretty well graphic wise as they didn't try to be realistic. Games that tried to have realistic graphics aged pretty bad in my opinion. While games like Thief, Half-Life or Gothic are still top-notch gameplay wise, their graphic looks like shit today.

 

[Zer0wing]

Is there a way to downgrade the base WC3 from 1.31.1 to a lower version?

 

[J_C]

Is there a way to downgrade the base WC3 from 1.31.1 to a lower version?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Is there a way to downgrade the base WC3 from 1.31.1 to a lower version?

Side note: fuck Amber Heard.

 

[catfood]

Welcome to gaming in The Current Year™ where you have to pirate games that you already legally own.

 

[Jigby]

Heroes were cool, I just wish maps didn't require to grind neutral mooks in the forest for xp. Concept of an elite unit gaining powers by participating in battles is pretty alrite for a skrimish based RTS. Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

Starcraft had heroes.
Myths had veterans and pretty much all units were named.

The only thing WC3 brought to the table was 3D calarts.

Warcraft's heroes were all about introducing persistence to the genre, which is not the case with Starcraft, therefore the heroes there perform a significantly different function. Not sure about Myth. If you look at the early W3 design promises, persistence in general was supposed to play the major part, persistent heroes, persistent world where you choose missions instead of the classical linear compartmentalized RTS mission structure, etc. Most of that was scrapped obviously. Still, the heroes in wc3 have their moments, I particularly like how they played around with progression in Frozen Throne, where they inverted it, i.e. Arthas becoming weaker with missions completed.

 

[J1M]

Heroes were cool, I just wish maps didn't require to grind neutral mooks in the forest for xp. Concept of an elite unit gaining powers by participating in battles is pretty alrite for a skrimish based RTS. Also I doubt hero units were invented by wc3, they were already in warlords battlecry games

Starcraft had heroes.
Myths had veterans and pretty much all units were named.

The only thing WC3 brought to the table was 3D calarts.

Warcraft's heroes were all about introducing persistence to the genre, which is not the case with Starcraft, therefore the heroes there perform a significantly different function. Not sure about Myth. If you look at the early W3 design promises, persistence in general was supposed to play the major part, persistent heroes, persistent world where you choose missions instead of the classical linear compartmentalized RTS mission structure, etc. Most of that was scrapped obviously. Still, the heroes in wc3 have their moments, I particularly like how they played around with progression in Frozen Throne, where they inverted it, i.e. Arthas becoming weaker with missions completed.

The Rexxar campaign is a lot closer to how they imagined Warcraft 3 when they first started working on it.

 

[catfood]

The heroes worked well in the campaigns, it's their addition to the skirmish that was questionable.

 

[Maculo]

I spent part of the weekend playing the campaign on Hard. I heard that matchmaking was borked, so I just kept to the campaign. It's mixed so far. On one hand, I was not too keen on Blizzard changing the campaign much, but I still had hoped they would increase the difficulty.

-With Culling of Stratholme, I feel Blizzard unintentionally made the mission even easier. Provided you leveled Divine Shield to tier 3 (45 second immunity, 60 second cooldown or 15 seconds without bubble), Arthas can solo-kill Malganis. Since Malganis can barely collect zombies, it makes the mission rather simple. Yet, Blizzard changed it to have Malganis also drop Robes of the Magi, Health Stones, and other +6 attribute items each time you kill him. With these items, Arthas can steamroll the map for the most part. One change I welcome, however, is that once you kill Malganis his forces immediately rush your base, which added some excitement to the mission.

-Fall of Silvermoon was mixed. I enjoyed the inclusion of new elven heroes to fight, but the AI needed to be more aggressive with unit creation and/or the ability to resurrect said heroes. Absent those changes, you can easily just grind them down. Although probably not optimal, I loved just spamming Unholy Frenzy on mass Crypt Fiends and watching everything die.

-The last Undead mission was decent. The final rush was larger than I remember and it really came down to how well I managed the prior waves.​

In terms of bugs, the campaign has been smooth (so far...), although some of the animations could use a touch-up. The menu screens are weird though, between weird load times and inconsistencies.