First announced at BlizzCon 2018, Warcraft III: Reforged was hyped as a full remaster of the 2002 real-time strategy powerhouse (which happens to be my favorite game of all time). We were told there would be updates to cutscenes, graphics, and the world editor, as well as the ability to crossplay between the original game and the “Reforged” version.
Warcraft III: Reforged was supposed to launch in 2019, but it was pushed back until January, 2020. What we finally received was a complete disaster — an attempt by Blizzard to shell off the property to a smaller company and cash in on the mega-hit while doing as little work as possible. It was a worldwide failure.
Currently, the game has a fantastic Metacritic user score of 0.6 with over 30,000 reviews. I think it’s safe to say they blew it.
Almost nothing that was promised was actually delivered. Cutscenes were hardly changed. In fact, the dynamic camera angles that once pushed the story forward were swapped for still shots of the characters. Models were slightly updated with more detail, but nothing of significance. No additional dialogue or story elements were created. Online matchmaking was pitiful.
In fact, shortly after launch, there was a live tournament between two of the world’s best Warcraft III players. The connection failed consistently every match — it was so bad that they actually had to revert back to the old version of the game to complete the tournament.
Worst of all, in many people’s opinion, were the updates to the terms and conditions for the map creator. Essentially, “Whatever you make in our software belongs entirely to us and there is nothing you can do about it.” It’s easy to take a glance at the T&C and see that Blizzard is afraid of losing out on another DoTA-type phenomenon.
The release was such a train wreck that a “fan”-made site called Warcraft3refunded.com was created in an attempt to force Blizzard into refunding the masses that had been falsely led into dumping their cash into this landfill of a game. This site launched within days of Warcraft III: Reforged‘s release.
Long story short, Blizzard tanked it. They threw the property into the dumpster fire they are becoming, while laughing all the way to the bank. In the process, they likely destroyed any chance that this once-amazing titan had at retaining a community or maybe even a legacy. And all because they were salty about losing out on DoTA?
Warcraft III: Reforged is an abhorrent, monstrous pile of feces placed on the doorstep of everyone who once adored the masterpiece that was the original Warcraft III.
Will Blizzard ever fix it? Will they ever redeem themselves in the eyes of the fans they tossed aside for a few extra coins? It doesn’t seem likely with the way they are running the rest of their franchises these days. (See the cease and desist letters sent to the nonprofit, fan-made vanilla WoW server, Nostalrius, in 2016, or the response to the Diablo Immortal announcement trailer in 2018).
At least DoTA seems to care about their community.
