Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Encyclopedia
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (often referred to as War3 or WC3 or RoC) is a real time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment
on July 3, 2002 (US
). It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe
. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne
, was released on July 1, 2003 (US).
Warcraft III contains four playable races: Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
, and the Night Elves and Undead
, which are new to the Warcraft mythos. Warcraft III' s single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft
(another Blizzard game), being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. In the expansion there are two additional races: the Draenei, a race of eredar who are cursed to be abominations, and the Naga, a race of vile serpents and other creatures that come from the depths of the sea. Multiplayer mode allows for play against other people, via the internet, instead of playing against computer-controlled characters as is done in the single-player custom game mode. Due to the dual storylines of the previous Warcraft games, the story can only be understood if using the proper storylines of one of the campaigns in the previous games, being the Orc Campaign on Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and the Human Campaigns on both the Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
and Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
.
The game proved to be a best seller and one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units shipped to retail stores and over one million units sold within a month. Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.
features like rivers, mountains, seas, or cliffs. In Campaign mode, the map is initially covered with the Black Mask, an impenetrable covering. The Mask is removed from areas that have been explored, but those that are no longer within sight range of an allied unit or building are instead covered with the Fog of War
; though terrain remains visible, changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are unseen. During a game, players must establish settlements to gain resources, defend against other players, and train units to explore the map and attack enemies (computer controlled foes). There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft III: gold
, lumber
, and food
. The first two are required to construct units and buildings, while food restricts the maximum number of units the player may control at one time.
The game also introduces creeps, computer controlled units that are hostile to all players. Creeps guard key areas such as gold mines or neutral buildings and, when killed, provide experience points, gold, and special items to a player's hero. Warcraft III also introduced a day/night cycle to the series. Besides having advantages or disadvantages for certain races, at night most creeps fall asleep, making nighttime scouting safer; however, the line of sight
for most units is also reduced. Other minor changes to the gameplay were due to the 3D
terrain
. For instance, units on a cliff have an attack bonus when attacking units at lower elevations.
In previous Warcraft games, there were only two playable races, Orcs and Humans, which had more similarities than differences. Barring cosmetic changes, most Orc units were identical to their Human counterparts. In Warcraft III, the Night Elves and the Undead are added as playable races. Additionally, as in StarCraft
, each race has a unique set of units, structures, technologies, and base-building methodology.
In addition, Warcraft III adds powerful new units called heroes. For each enemy unit killed, a hero will gain experience point
s, which allow the hero to level-up to a maximum level of 10. Progressing up a level increases the heroes attributes and also allows the hero to gain new spell options (bringing RPG elements to the series). Certain hero abilities can apply beneficial auras to allied units. All heroes can equip items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the three other spells that the hero possesses. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and markets in which the hero can purchase usable items. Often, the playing style of one's hero units (it is bound up to three at one time) decides who wins or loses the match/battle.
' s campaign mode is broken up into five campaigns (Including prologue), each featuring a different race which the player controls (2 Orc campaigns, 1 Human, 1 Undead, and 1 Night Elf). Each campaign is itself divided into chapters, which are like missions. Unlike previous Blizzard titles, such as Warcraft II or StarCraft, players are not directed to mission briefings in which plot exposition occurs and objectives are announced; rather, Warcraft III uses a system of "seamless quests." Some plot development happens in an occasional cinematic, but most occurs in-game with cutscenes. Objectives, known as quests, are revealed to the player during the progress of the map. Main quests are those that the player must complete to proceed to the next chapter, but there are also optional quests which are not initially revealed, but can be discovered and completed alongside the main objectives.
Through each race's campaign, the player retains control of one or more heroes, which slowly grow in experience as the levels progress. This experience is carried over to subsequent missions, allowing the hero to grow throughout the course of the campaign.
While different in terms of storyline and precise gameplay, all of the different races' campaigns are structured similarly. Each begins with a level involving simple mechanics to introduce the player to the race and the basic elements of their hero and units. After one or two such levels the player's first "building mission" occurs, requiring them to build and maintain a base while competing with one or more enemy forces. The only campaign that breaks this pattern is the Night Elf campaign, whose first mission involves building a limited base. The last level of each race's campaign is an "epic battle" which means that the player has to strike down a large number of enemy foes and finally destroy their main base. For that, the player has to use the knowledge he acquired during the latest quests and also has to invent some war-strategies.
, allows for single and multiplayer replays to be recorded and viewed, allowing a game to be played at slower and faster speeds and viewed from the perspective of all players.
Like all previous Blizzard titles since Diablo
, Warcraft III uses the Battle.net
multiplayer network. Players can create free accounts in regional "gateways," which helps reduce lag
; these are Azeroth (U.S. East), Lordaeron (U.S. West), Northrend (Europe), and Kalimdor (Asia).
Unlike previous Battle.net-enabled games, Warcraft III introduced anonymous matchmaking
, automatically pairing players for games based on their skill level and game type preferences, preventing players from cheating and inflating their records artificially. If players want to play with a friend in ranked matches, Warcraft III offers "Arranged Team Games", where a team joins a lobby and Battle.net will search for another team; as with anonymous matchmaking, the enemy team is not known beforehand. Players can also host custom games, using maps either created in the Warcraft III World Editor
, or the default multiplayer scenarios. The game also offers Friends Lists and Channels for chatting, where players can create custom channels or join Blizzard-approved ones. Warcraft III also allows players to band together to form "clans", which can participate in tournaments or offer a recreational aspect to Warcraft III. Global scores and standings in matchmaking games are kept on a "ladder". These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game.
Due to the version 1.24 patch, many third-party programs have been rendered unusable. Several third-party programs that reveal the entire map, commonly known as maphacks, have been released for the update. It also disabled collided maps, which would make modified custom maps appear to be the same as the original. Another effect of the patch, which is not included in the release notes, is that custom maps with large filenames will not appear in the game. The limit is believed to be 20 characters, but this has not yet been tested.
This patch also rendered many custom maps unplayable due to custom map scripts. Even some versions of the famous Defense of the Ancients were no longer functioning.
from Warcraft II. This period was originally intended to have been documented in Warcraft Adventures
, but that game was canceled in mid-development.
, and the others telling the story from the point of view of the humans of Lordaeron, the Undead
Scourge, the Orcs, and the Night Elves, in that order.
The game opens with the Orc
leader, Thrall, waking from a nightmare warning him of the return of the Burning Legion. After a brief encounter with a man who is known only as "the Prophet", and, fearing that his dream was more of a vision than a nightmare, he leads his forces in an exodus
from Lordaeron to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor.
Meanwhile, the Paladin
and prince
of Lordaeron, Arthas, defends the village
of Strahnbrad from demon
-controlled Orcs. He then joins Archmage Jaina Proudmoore, who aids him in investigating a rapidly-spreading plague
, which kills and turns human victims into the undead. Arthas kills the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad, and then purge
s the infected city of Stratholme. Jaina parts ways with him, unwilling to commit genocide, or even watch him do so. The Prophet, after previously trying to convince other human leaders to flee west, begs Jaina to go to Kalimdor as well. Arthas pursues the dreadlord, Mal'Ganis, who was the leader behind Kel'Thuzad, to the icy continent
of Northrend, where he helps his old friend, Muradin Bronzebeard, find a powerful sword
called Frostmourne. Meanwhile, Arthas begins to lose his sanity
, burning his ships to prevent retreat, even when given an order to leave. Fortunately, Arthas and Muradin find Frostmourne. Muradin, however, learns that the sword is cursed. Arthas disregards the warning, and offers his soul to gain the sword. By doing so, Muradin was struck down by a shard of ice
when Frostmourne is released, and is presumably killed. Arthas supposedly kills Mal'Ganis, and abandons his men in the frozen north as his soul is stolen by the blade, which was later revealed to be forged by the Lich King. Some time later, Arthas returns to Lordaeron and kills his father, King Terenas.
Now a Death
Knight
, Arthas meets with the leader
of the dreadlords, Tichondrius, who assigns him a series of "tests". Arthas first exhumes the remains of Kel'Thuzad, contains it in a magic urn of the ashes of his father, which was protected by Uther the Lightbringer, head paladin of The Order of the Silver Hand. Arthas kills him too, then sets off to Quel'thalas, kingdom of the high elves. He then later attacks the gates and destroys their capital of Silvermoon. He kills Sylvanas Windrunner, the Ranger General of Silvermoon (only to resurrect her as a banshee), corrupts their sacred Sunwell and revives Kel'Thuzad as a Lich
. The Lich informs him of the Burning Legion; a vast demonic army who are coming to consume the world. Kel'Thuzad's true master is the Lich King, who was created to aid the Legion with his Undead Scourge, but in truth he wishes for the Legion to be destroyed. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad open a dimensional portal and summon the demon Archimonde and the Burning Legion, who begins his purging of Lordaeron with the destruction of Dalaran. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad were cast aside by Archimonde, and Kel'Thuzad reveals to Arthas the Lich King has already foreseen it and is planning to overthrow the Burning Legion.
Thrall the warchief arrives on Kalimdor, meeting Cairne Bloodhoof and the tauren, and clashes with a human expedition on the way to find an Oracle. Meanwhile, the Warsong Clan are left behind in Ashenvale to build a permanent settlement, but anger the Night Elves and their demigod
Cenarius by cutting down the forests for resources. To defeat them, the Warsong leader Grom Hellscream drinks from a corrupted fountain of health contaminated with the blood of the Legion's pit lord commander Mannoroth, successfully killing Cenarius, but binding his clan to the Legion's control. Thrall manages to reach the Oracle, in fact the Prophet, who tells him of Grom's doings. Following the Prophet's directions, Thrall and Jaina join forces to purge both Grom and the world of demonic influence. They succeed in capturing Grom and healing him of Mannoroth's corruption. Thrall and Grom begin to hunt Mannoroth and Grom kills him, dying in the process, but in doing so freeing the orcs from the demonic control of Mannoroth at last.
Tyrande Whisperwind, leader of the Night Elves, is outraged to find the humans and orcs violating the forests, so she initially vows to destroy them. However, she soon finds out that the Burning Legion has arrived on Kalimdor. In order to oppose the Burning Legion, Tyrande reawakens the sleeping Elf Druids, starting with her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, and frees his brother Illidan Stormrage from prison, against Malfurion's will. Illidan meets Arthas, who tells him about the powerful "Skull of Gul'dan". Consuming the Skull and becoming a demon-elf hybrid, Illidan uses its power to kill Tichondrius. He is however banished from the forest by his brother as he is now part demon. Meanwhile, the Prophet summons Thrall, Jaina, Tyrande and Malfurion, and reveals that he used to be Medivh, the Last Guardian and the betrayer from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans... much to Tyrande's shock. The humans, Orcs, and Night Elves form a reluctant alliance to spring a trap on the Burning Legion, and delayed it long enough for many ancestral spirits to destroy Archimonde at Mount Hyjal. Peace once again comes to Kalimdor as the Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat.
, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, and Glenn Stafford. The Limited Edition of Reign of Chaos came with much of the orchestral music on a separate soundtrack. Each of the four playable races has different music: monastic music for the humans; ambient
and Native American
-sounding music for the Night Elves; warlike African-sounding music for the Orcs; and fast, haunting music for the Undead. New musical themes were added in the expansion.
One of the signatures of Blizzard games are the unit quotes. If a single unit is clicked four or more times in a row, the unit's voice samples become increasingly comical. The unit may start getting angry at the player, or make allusions and references to other games, movies, or jokes. Movies quoted include Monty Python
, Blade Runner
, Star Wars Episodes IV & V: A New Hope
& The Empire Strikes Back, Army Of Darkness
, and Toy Story
. Games like Mortal Kombat
, Warhammer 40,000
, Blizzard's own StarCraft
, and Banjo-Kazooie
are paid homage, in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live
,
The Twilight Zone
, and Beavis and Butthead and Austin Powers: Goldmember.
before it, Warcraft III ships with a "World Editor"
program that allows players to create their own custom scenarios and maps. The World Editor has features such as unit editing and event triggers. Through Battle.net, players can download and play peers' custom maps. To facilitate modding, third-party developers released tools for spell editing through SLK spreadsheets, customizing skins with .BLP converters, JASS
editing, and a file importer that opened up .MPQs. The World Editor was expanded and improved for The Frozen Throne expansion. Though the editor has received updates through game patches, it is not officially supported as a product.
Huge communities have also formed; one of the bigger ones is the Koei Elite Gaming, which is based on the Dynasty Warriors
franchise. Some custom maps have enjoyed great success, particularly maps based on AoS (Aeon of Strife) such as DotA
, which became a tournament item at Blizzcon
2005 and other tournaments around the world.. Various new types of games have been created included Role Playing and Tower Defense maps.
1999 around 1:00 PM. The development started in early 1998 and the development stages were presented at ECTS 1999, 2000 and 2001, E3 2000, 2001 and 2002 and on a tour where Bill Roper
visited computer game magazines.
The game was announced as role-playing-strategy game (RPS) with a flexible camera movement. The first version shown at ECTS 1999 had no interface, except portraits for the heroes. In articles from that time you can find that abilities and items were used via right-click on a unit and an appearing icon collar.
Around January 24, 2000 a video from Korea appeared on the Internet; it showed some gameplay and in the background Rob Pardo
explained some things. This version already had an interface concept, but the most part of the interface were placeholders, it had map with some kind of 3D look, icons for abilities and orders and an eye-shaped display for gold.
Around April 19. 2000 Blizzard released some new screenshots of the game, these were completely without interface. These screenshots showed many heroes and some abilities and had a fixed but zoomable camera.
The next screenshots came around May 10. 2000. These screenshots showed the new interface of the game. It looks a little bit like the human interface of the release version, but has little cannons above the minimap and the command button space. The gold display is still eye-shaped, but the last screenshot before E3 2000 shows a rectangle-shaped gold display. Most models, icons, textures and abilities that you can find on these screenshots never appeared in the retail version.
Then from E3 2000 around May 12, 2000 to ECTS 2000 the game didn't change very much.
The next big changes came between ECTS 2000 and E3 2001, when a different interface and the Nightelf race were revealed.
The next interesting change came at ECTS 2001, when the interface became almost what it is today. The biggest changes of this version are, that lumber became a resource and heroes got an inventory, though in a video from April 2001, you could already see an item on the ground.
After ECTS 2001 Blizzard experimented with different resources and had versions of the game with gold, lumber, mana stones and upkeep or a race depending resource that represented the population like the required food in newer versions.
In the middle of January 2002, Blizzard shipped out 5000 beta versions of Warcraft III to randomly selected testers in order to help improve it before being released in stores, the beta release had all the game’s units and races, however was only playable over Battle.net. Single player games and LAN play were not playable on the beta version of the game.
In addition to the regular game, there also exists a limited Collector's Edition
Warcraft III bundle. The collector's edition box contained a Warcraft III cinematic DVD
, including behind-the-scenes features and the cinematics of all prior Warcraft games; a Collector's Edition Soundtrack
; a Collector's Edition instruction manual; The Art of Warcraft book; and lithographic
prints.
Blizzard Entertainment also released the Warcraft Battle Chest, which contains Reign of Chaos bundled with The Frozen Throne in one box, along with guides from BradyGames.
Another version, the Exclusive Gift Set, came bundled with the cinematic DVD, official BradyGames strategy guide, and Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition.
Warcraft III is also available in the Best Sellers Series along side StarCraft, StarCraft: Brood War, Diablo, Diablo 2, and World of Warcraft. Also, a selection of games from other companies other than Blizzard have been included in the Best Sellers Series.
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
on July 3, 2002 (US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
). It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe
Warcraft Universe
Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media originally created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of Four core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and World of Warcraft...
. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the official expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, requiring Reign of Chaos to play...
, was released on July 1, 2003 (US).
Warcraft III contains four playable races: Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy-themed real-time strategy game published by Blizzard Entertainment and first released for DOS in 1995 and for Mac OS in 1996...
, and the Night Elves and Undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
, which are new to the Warcraft mythos. Warcraft III
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
(another Blizzard game), being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. In the expansion there are two additional races: the Draenei, a race of eredar who are cursed to be abominations, and the Naga, a race of vile serpents and other creatures that come from the depths of the sea. Multiplayer mode allows for play against other people, via the internet, instead of playing against computer-controlled characters as is done in the single-player custom game mode. Due to the dual storylines of the previous Warcraft games, the story can only be understood if using the proper storylines of one of the campaigns in the previous games, being the Orc Campaign on Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and the Human Campaigns on both the Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy-themed real-time strategy game published by Blizzard Entertainment and first released for DOS in 1995 and for Mac OS in 1996...
and Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal is an expansion pack developed by Cyberlore Studios, released in 1996 by Blizzard Entertainment for their award winning real-time strategy computer game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness...
.
The game proved to be a best seller and one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units shipped to retail stores and over one million units sold within a month. Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.
Gameplay
A game of Warcraft III takes place on a map of varying size, such as large plains and fields, with terrainTerrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
features like rivers, mountains, seas, or cliffs. In Campaign mode, the map is initially covered with the Black Mask, an impenetrable covering. The Mask is removed from areas that have been explored, but those that are no longer within sight range of an allied unit or building are instead covered with the Fog of War
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
; though terrain remains visible, changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are unseen. During a game, players must establish settlements to gain resources, defend against other players, and train units to explore the map and attack enemies (computer controlled foes). There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft III: gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
, and food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
. The first two are required to construct units and buildings, while food restricts the maximum number of units the player may control at one time.
The game also introduces creeps, computer controlled units that are hostile to all players. Creeps guard key areas such as gold mines or neutral buildings and, when killed, provide experience points, gold, and special items to a player's hero. Warcraft III also introduced a day/night cycle to the series. Besides having advantages or disadvantages for certain races, at night most creeps fall asleep, making nighttime scouting safer; however, the line of sight
Line of sight (gaming)
Line of sight, sometimes written line-of-sight or abbreviated to LoS, is a term used in wargames and some role-playing games . It refers to visibility on the playing field. Many abilities can only be used against an enemy within line of sight.In some games, miniature figures are used to determine...
for most units is also reduced. Other minor changes to the gameplay were due to the 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
terrain
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
. For instance, units on a cliff have an attack bonus when attacking units at lower elevations.
In previous Warcraft games, there were only two playable races, Orcs and Humans, which had more similarities than differences. Barring cosmetic changes, most Orc units were identical to their Human counterparts. In Warcraft III, the Night Elves and the Undead are added as playable races. Additionally, as in StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, each race has a unique set of units, structures, technologies, and base-building methodology.
In addition, Warcraft III adds powerful new units called heroes. For each enemy unit killed, a hero will gain experience point
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s, which allow the hero to level-up to a maximum level of 10. Progressing up a level increases the heroes attributes and also allows the hero to gain new spell options (bringing RPG elements to the series). Certain hero abilities can apply beneficial auras to allied units. All heroes can equip items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the three other spells that the hero possesses. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and markets in which the hero can purchase usable items. Often, the playing style of one's hero units (it is bound up to three at one time) decides who wins or loses the match/battle.
Campaign
Warcraft IIIThrough each race's campaign, the player retains control of one or more heroes, which slowly grow in experience as the levels progress. This experience is carried over to subsequent missions, allowing the hero to grow throughout the course of the campaign.
While different in terms of storyline and precise gameplay, all of the different races' campaigns are structured similarly. Each begins with a level involving simple mechanics to introduce the player to the race and the basic elements of their hero and units. After one or two such levels the player's first "building mission" occurs, requiring them to build and maintain a base while competing with one or more enemy forces. The only campaign that breaks this pattern is the Night Elf campaign, whose first mission involves building a limited base. The last level of each race's campaign is an "epic battle" which means that the player has to strike down a large number of enemy foes and finally destroy their main base. For that, the player has to use the knowledge he acquired during the latest quests and also has to invent some war-strategies.
Multiplayer
While campaign games can have many different objectives, the sole objective in melee games is to destroy all the buildings of the opposition. In default melee matches, players can pick their own heroes, and losing one will not end the game. To make the game proceed more quickly, by default the map is covered in fog of war instead of the Black Mask. Warcraft III, like Blizzard's previous title StarCraftStarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, allows for single and multiplayer replays to be recorded and viewed, allowing a game to be played at slower and faster speeds and viewed from the perspective of all players.
Like all previous Blizzard titles since Diablo
Diablo (video game)
Diablo is a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment on December 31, 1996....
, Warcraft III uses the Battle.net
Battle.net
Battle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external...
multiplayer network. Players can create free accounts in regional "gateways," which helps reduce lag
Latency (engineering)
Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system, the precise definition of which depends on the system and the time being measured. Latencies may have different meaning in different contexts.-Packet-switched networks:...
; these are Azeroth (U.S. East), Lordaeron (U.S. West), Northrend (Europe), and Kalimdor (Asia).
Unlike previous Battle.net-enabled games, Warcraft III introduced anonymous matchmaking
Matchmaking
Matchmaking is any process of matching two people for the purpose of marriage or a sporting contest.-Practice:In some cultures, the role of the matchmaker was and is quite professionalized...
, automatically pairing players for games based on their skill level and game type preferences, preventing players from cheating and inflating their records artificially. If players want to play with a friend in ranked matches, Warcraft III offers "Arranged Team Games", where a team joins a lobby and Battle.net will search for another team; as with anonymous matchmaking, the enemy team is not known beforehand. Players can also host custom games, using maps either created in the Warcraft III World Editor
Warcraft III World Editor
Warcraft III World Editor is the official level editor for the real-time strategy game...
, or the default multiplayer scenarios. The game also offers Friends Lists and Channels for chatting, where players can create custom channels or join Blizzard-approved ones. Warcraft III also allows players to band together to form "clans", which can participate in tournaments or offer a recreational aspect to Warcraft III. Global scores and standings in matchmaking games are kept on a "ladder". These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game.
Due to the version 1.24 patch, many third-party programs have been rendered unusable. Several third-party programs that reveal the entire map, commonly known as maphacks, have been released for the update. It also disabled collided maps, which would make modified custom maps appear to be the same as the original. Another effect of the patch, which is not included in the release notes, is that custom maps with large filenames will not appear in the game. The limit is believed to be 20 characters, but this has not yet been tested.
This patch also rendered many custom maps unplayable due to custom map scripts. Even some versions of the famous Defense of the Ancients were no longer functioning.
Setting
Warcraft III takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth. Several years before the events of the games, a demon army known as the Burning Legion intent on Azeroth's destruction corrupted a race called the Orcs, and sent them through a portal to attack Azeroth. After many years of fighting, the Orcs were defeated by a coalition of humans, dwarves and elves known as the Alliance; the surviving combatants were herded into internment camps, where they seemed to lose their lust for battle. With no common enemy, a period of peace followed, but the Alliance began to fracture. The events of Warcraft III occur after a timeskipTimeskip
A timeskip is a narrative device that is commonly used in the telling of epics or sagas. It allows the storyteller to quickly age characters or develop events without getting bogged down in irrelevant or uninteresting details...
from Warcraft II. This period was originally intended to have been documented in Warcraft Adventures
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
WarCraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was a black comedy point-and-click adventure computer game under development by Blizzard Entertainment that was set in the Warcraft universe, and cancelled before its release...
, but that game was canceled in mid-development.
Plot
The game's plot is told entirely through cinematics and cutscenes, with additional information found in the Warcraft III manual. The campaign itself is divided into five sections, with the first acting as a tutorialTutorial
A tutorial is one method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture; a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task....
, and the others telling the story from the point of view of the humans of Lordaeron, the Undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
Scourge, the Orcs, and the Night Elves, in that order.
The game opens with the Orc
Orc
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
leader, Thrall, waking from a nightmare warning him of the return of the Burning Legion. After a brief encounter with a man who is known only as "the Prophet", and, fearing that his dream was more of a vision than a nightmare, he leads his forces in an exodus
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
from Lordaeron to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor.
Meanwhile, the Paladin
Paladin
The paladins, sometimes known as the Twelve Peers, were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, according to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. They first appear in the early chansons de geste such as The Song of Roland, where they represent Christian martial valor against the...
and prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
of Lordaeron, Arthas, defends the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of Strahnbrad from demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
-controlled Orcs. He then joins Archmage Jaina Proudmoore, who aids him in investigating a rapidly-spreading plague
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
, which kills and turns human victims into the undead. Arthas kills the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad, and then purge
Purge
In history, religion, and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged,...
s the infected city of Stratholme. Jaina parts ways with him, unwilling to commit genocide, or even watch him do so. The Prophet, after previously trying to convince other human leaders to flee west, begs Jaina to go to Kalimdor as well. Arthas pursues the dreadlord, Mal'Ganis, who was the leader behind Kel'Thuzad, to the icy continent
Continent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
of Northrend, where he helps his old friend, Muradin Bronzebeard, find a powerful sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
called Frostmourne. Meanwhile, Arthas begins to lose his sanity
Sanity
Sanity refers to the soundness, rationality and healthiness of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational...
, burning his ships to prevent retreat, even when given an order to leave. Fortunately, Arthas and Muradin find Frostmourne. Muradin, however, learns that the sword is cursed. Arthas disregards the warning, and offers his soul to gain the sword. By doing so, Muradin was struck down by a shard of ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
when Frostmourne is released, and is presumably killed. Arthas supposedly kills Mal'Ganis, and abandons his men in the frozen north as his soul is stolen by the blade, which was later revealed to be forged by the Lich King. Some time later, Arthas returns to Lordaeron and kills his father, King Terenas.
Now a Death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
Knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, Arthas meets with the leader
Leader
A leader is one who influences or leads others.Leader may also refer to:- Newspapers :* Leading article, a piece of writing intended to promote an opinion, also called an editorial* The Leader , published 1909–1967...
of the dreadlords, Tichondrius, who assigns him a series of "tests". Arthas first exhumes the remains of Kel'Thuzad, contains it in a magic urn of the ashes of his father, which was protected by Uther the Lightbringer, head paladin of The Order of the Silver Hand. Arthas kills him too, then sets off to Quel'thalas, kingdom of the high elves. He then later attacks the gates and destroys their capital of Silvermoon. He kills Sylvanas Windrunner, the Ranger General of Silvermoon (only to resurrect her as a banshee), corrupts their sacred Sunwell and revives Kel'Thuzad as a Lich
Lich
In modern fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a form of immortality...
. The Lich informs him of the Burning Legion; a vast demonic army who are coming to consume the world. Kel'Thuzad's true master is the Lich King, who was created to aid the Legion with his Undead Scourge, but in truth he wishes for the Legion to be destroyed. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad open a dimensional portal and summon the demon Archimonde and the Burning Legion, who begins his purging of Lordaeron with the destruction of Dalaran. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad were cast aside by Archimonde, and Kel'Thuzad reveals to Arthas the Lich King has already foreseen it and is planning to overthrow the Burning Legion.
Thrall the warchief arrives on Kalimdor, meeting Cairne Bloodhoof and the tauren, and clashes with a human expedition on the way to find an Oracle. Meanwhile, the Warsong Clan are left behind in Ashenvale to build a permanent settlement, but anger the Night Elves and their demigod
Demigod
The term "demigod" , meaning "half-god", is commonly used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human; as such, demigods are human-god hybrids...
Cenarius by cutting down the forests for resources. To defeat them, the Warsong leader Grom Hellscream drinks from a corrupted fountain of health contaminated with the blood of the Legion's pit lord commander Mannoroth, successfully killing Cenarius, but binding his clan to the Legion's control. Thrall manages to reach the Oracle, in fact the Prophet, who tells him of Grom's doings. Following the Prophet's directions, Thrall and Jaina join forces to purge both Grom and the world of demonic influence. They succeed in capturing Grom and healing him of Mannoroth's corruption. Thrall and Grom begin to hunt Mannoroth and Grom kills him, dying in the process, but in doing so freeing the orcs from the demonic control of Mannoroth at last.
Tyrande Whisperwind, leader of the Night Elves, is outraged to find the humans and orcs violating the forests, so she initially vows to destroy them. However, she soon finds out that the Burning Legion has arrived on Kalimdor. In order to oppose the Burning Legion, Tyrande reawakens the sleeping Elf Druids, starting with her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, and frees his brother Illidan Stormrage from prison, against Malfurion's will. Illidan meets Arthas, who tells him about the powerful "Skull of Gul'dan". Consuming the Skull and becoming a demon-elf hybrid, Illidan uses its power to kill Tichondrius. He is however banished from the forest by his brother as he is now part demon. Meanwhile, the Prophet summons Thrall, Jaina, Tyrande and Malfurion, and reveals that he used to be Medivh, the Last Guardian and the betrayer from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans... much to Tyrande's shock. The humans, Orcs, and Night Elves form a reluctant alliance to spring a trap on the Burning Legion, and delayed it long enough for many ancestral spirits to destroy Archimonde at Mount Hyjal. Peace once again comes to Kalimdor as the Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat.
Sound
Most of the music within Warcraft III was composed by Tracy W. BushTracy W. Bush
Tracy W. Bush is a video game music composer, sound designer and a foley artist. He is known for composing music for the popular games Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft, StarCraft , and StarCraft: Brood War , and for sound design on Diablo II and...
, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, and Glenn Stafford. The Limited Edition of Reign of Chaos came with much of the orchestral music on a separate soundtrack. Each of the four playable races has different music: monastic music for the humans; ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
-sounding music for the Night Elves; warlike African-sounding music for the Orcs; and fast, haunting music for the Undead. New musical themes were added in the expansion.
One of the signatures of Blizzard games are the unit quotes. If a single unit is clicked four or more times in a row, the unit's voice samples become increasingly comical. The unit may start getting angry at the player, or make allusions and references to other games, movies, or jokes. Movies quoted include Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
, Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
, Star Wars Episodes IV & V: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
& The Empire Strikes Back, Army Of Darkness
Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness, also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness or simply Evil Dead III, is a 1992 horror comedy fantasy action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is the third and final installment in The Evil Dead trilogy. The film was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Robert Tapert,...
, and Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
. Games like Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (video game)
Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting-game developed and published by Midway for arcades. In 1993, home versions were released by Acclaim Entertainment. Released in the Fall of 1994, the Microsoft Windows 3.1x version was released by Activision Interactive. It is the first title in the Mortal Kombat...
, Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
, Blizzard's own StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, and Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...
are paid homage, in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
,
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, and Beavis and Butthead and Austin Powers: Goldmember.
Modding
As did Warcraft II and StarCraftStarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
before it, Warcraft III ships with a "World Editor"
Warcraft III World Editor
Warcraft III World Editor is the official level editor for the real-time strategy game...
program that allows players to create their own custom scenarios and maps. The World Editor has features such as unit editing and event triggers. Through Battle.net, players can download and play peers' custom maps. To facilitate modding, third-party developers released tools for spell editing through SLK spreadsheets, customizing skins with .BLP converters, JASS
JASS
JASS or JASS2 is an event driven scripting language used in Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III game and its expansion pack The Frozen Throne...
editing, and a file importer that opened up .MPQs. The World Editor was expanded and improved for The Frozen Throne expansion. Though the editor has received updates through game patches, it is not officially supported as a product.
Huge communities have also formed; one of the bigger ones is the Koei Elite Gaming, which is based on the Dynasty Warriors
Dynasty Warriors
is a series of tactical action video games created by Omega Force and Koei. The award-winning series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, based loosely around the Chinese classical novel of the same name. The first game titled Dynasty Warriors,...
franchise. Some custom maps have enjoyed great success, particularly maps based on AoS (Aeon of Strife) such as DotA
DOTA
DOTA may refer to:*Defense of the Ancients, a custom scenario for the video game Warcraft III**Dota 2, the sequel to the previously listed game, developed on the Source engine* Dota , a video game genre*DOTA , a chemical...
, which became a tournament item at Blizzcon
BlizzCon
"BlizzCon" is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo...
2005 and other tournaments around the world.. Various new types of games have been created included Role Playing and Tower Defense maps.
Development
The game was announced with a press conference inside the Henley-Suite at the European Computer Trade ShowEuropean Computer Trade Show
The European Computer Trade Show, commonly known as ECTS, was an annual trade show for the European computer and video game industry, which first ran in 1988, with the last event occurring in 2004....
1999 around 1:00 PM. The development started in early 1998 and the development stages were presented at ECTS 1999, 2000 and 2001, E3 2000, 2001 and 2002 and on a tour where Bill Roper
Bill Roper (video game producer)
Bill Roper is a video game designer and has been a well-known person in the worldwide gaming industry since 1994. He personally represents the games he works and has built a solid reputation with his strong relationships with press, developers, and gamers...
visited computer game magazines.
The game was announced as role-playing-strategy game (RPS) with a flexible camera movement. The first version shown at ECTS 1999 had no interface, except portraits for the heroes. In articles from that time you can find that abilities and items were used via right-click on a unit and an appearing icon collar.
Around January 24, 2000 a video from Korea appeared on the Internet; it showed some gameplay and in the background Rob Pardo
Rob Pardo
Rob Pardo is Executive Vice President of Game Design at Blizzard Entertainment. Previously he was the lead designer of World of Warcraft...
explained some things. This version already had an interface concept, but the most part of the interface were placeholders, it had map with some kind of 3D look, icons for abilities and orders and an eye-shaped display for gold.
Around April 19. 2000 Blizzard released some new screenshots of the game, these were completely without interface. These screenshots showed many heroes and some abilities and had a fixed but zoomable camera.
The next screenshots came around May 10. 2000. These screenshots showed the new interface of the game. It looks a little bit like the human interface of the release version, but has little cannons above the minimap and the command button space. The gold display is still eye-shaped, but the last screenshot before E3 2000 shows a rectangle-shaped gold display. Most models, icons, textures and abilities that you can find on these screenshots never appeared in the retail version.
Then from E3 2000 around May 12, 2000 to ECTS 2000 the game didn't change very much.
The next big changes came between ECTS 2000 and E3 2001, when a different interface and the Nightelf race were revealed.
The next interesting change came at ECTS 2001, when the interface became almost what it is today. The biggest changes of this version are, that lumber became a resource and heroes got an inventory, though in a video from April 2001, you could already see an item on the ground.
After ECTS 2001 Blizzard experimented with different resources and had versions of the game with gold, lumber, mana stones and upkeep or a race depending resource that represented the population like the required food in newer versions.
In the middle of January 2002, Blizzard shipped out 5000 beta versions of Warcraft III to randomly selected testers in order to help improve it before being released in stores, the beta release had all the game’s units and races, however was only playable over Battle.net. Single player games and LAN play were not playable on the beta version of the game.
Other versions
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
Warcraft III bundle. The collector's edition box contained a Warcraft III cinematic DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, including behind-the-scenes features and the cinematics of all prior Warcraft games; a Collector's Edition Soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
; a Collector's Edition instruction manual; The Art of Warcraft book; and lithographic
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
prints.
Blizzard Entertainment also released the Warcraft Battle Chest, which contains Reign of Chaos bundled with The Frozen Throne in one box, along with guides from BradyGames.
Another version, the Exclusive Gift Set, came bundled with the cinematic DVD, official BradyGames strategy guide, and Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition.
Warcraft III is also available in the Best Sellers Series along side StarCraft, StarCraft: Brood War, Diablo, Diablo 2, and World of Warcraft. Also, a selection of games from other companies other than Blizzard have been included in the Best Sellers Series.