Warcraft III
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Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
North American box art
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment Sierra Entertainment Capcom
Designer(s)	Rob Pardo
Version	1.22a (2008-06-30)
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X
Release date(s)	July 3, 2002 July 5, 2002 2003
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) OFLC: G8+
Media	CD (1)
System requirements	Recommended: 600 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, 32 MB 3D video card, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card (Windows)
Input methods	Keyboard and Mouse

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 or WC3 or RoC) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in July 2002. 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 in 2003.

Warcraft III contains four playable races:^[1] 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.^[2] Warcraft III's single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. 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.

The game proved to be 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.^[3] Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.^[4]

Gameplay

A small Human army (red) attacking an Orcish base (blue).

A game of Warcraft III takes place on a map of varying size, such as large plains and fields, with terrain features like rivers, mountains, seas, or cliffs. In Campaign mode, the map is initially covered with the Black Mask, a dark layer which obscures the landscape beneath until it is explored. The Black Mask, once gone, is permanently removed.^[5] Areas that have been explored but no longer are within sight range of an allied unit or building are covered with the fog of war. Though terrain remains visible, changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are unseen.^[5] During a game, players must establish settlements to gain resources, defend against other players, and train units to explore the map and attack enemies. There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft III: gold, lumber, and food.^[6] 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.^[7]

Creeps are often found in groups, such as these Trolls.

The game also introduces creeps, computer controlled units that are hostile to all players.^[8] 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.^[8] This encourages players to be aggressive instead of turtling. Warcraft III also introduced a day/night cycle to the series.^[9] 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.^[2]

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 Undead are added as playable races.^[1] Additionally, as in StarCraft, each race has a unique set of units, structures, technologies, and base-building methodology.

Warcraft III adds powerful units called heroes. For each enemy killed, heroes gain experience points, progressing in levels and gaining new spell options (bringing RPG elements to the series).^[10] Certain heroes can also apply beneficial auras to allied units. Heroes can equip items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities. The highest attainable level in a normal game is ten. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the other spells. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and shops containing usable items.^[11]

Campaign

An Orcish army.

Warcraft III's campaign mode is broken up into four campaigns, each featuring a different race, which are themselves divided into chapters. 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."^[12] Some plot development happens in occasional cinematics, 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".

Multiplayer

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Battle.net lobby.

While campaign games can have many different objectives, the sole objective in melee games is to destroy the opposition's buildings. 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.^[2] Warcraft III, like Blizzard's previous title StarCraft, 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.^[13] 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).^[14] One should note that at this point in time the U.S. East Gateway / Azeroth has become the de facto standard for online play. Most competitive play is held on this gateway as well as most public play in general. As the game has aged the players have condensed for this reason. 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.^[15] 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.^[15] Players can also host custom games, using maps created in the Warcraft III World Editor. The game also offers Friends Lists and Channels for chatting, where players can create custom channels or join Blizzard-approved ones.^[16] 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".^[17] These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game.

Synopsis

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 timeskip from Warcraft II. This period was originally intended to have been documented in Warcraft Adventures, but that game was canceled in mid-development.^[18]

Characters

Each campaign features several heroes around whom most plot exposition occurs. Thrall is an Orc who was raised in captivity. He escapes into the wilds of Azeroth's northern continent, Lordaeron, where he discovers a few Orcs who were not captured by the Alliance. Thrall becomes warchief of the new Orcish Horde, and sets out to free his people. Another major character is Arthas Menethil, prince of the human kingdoms. While courageous, Arthas is known to be rash and hot-headed; he is a paladin studying under the old war hero Uther the Lightbringer. The characters used in Warcraft III and its expansion The Frozen Throne also share ties with the 2004 release of World of Warcraft in which Illidan and Arthas are main bosses.

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 tutorial, 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.

The game opens with the orc leader Thrall waking from a nightmare warning him that the return of the Burning Legion is imminent.^[19] After a brief encounter with a man called "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.^[20]

Meanwhile, Arthas defends the village of Strahnbrad from demon-controlled orcs^[21]. 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 resolves to purge the infected city of Stratholme. Jaina parts ways with him, unwilling to commit genocide. The Prophet, after previously trying to convince other human leaders to flee west, begs Jaina to go to Kalimdor as well.^[22] Arthas pursues the dreadlord Mal'Ganis to the icy continent of Northrend, where he helps his old dwarf friend Muradin Bronzebeard find a powerful sword called Frostmourne. Upon discovering the blade, Muradin learns that the sword is cursed;^[23] Arthas disregards the warning and offers his soul to gain the sword, which then knocks Muradin unconscious. Arthas kills Mal'Ganis with the sword before abandoning his men in the frozen north as his soul is stolen by the blade. Some time later, Arthas returns to Lordaeron and kills his father, the king.

Now a Death Knight, Arthas meets with the leader of the dreadlords, Tichondrius, who assigns him a series of "tests". First, Arthas exhumes the remains of Kel'Thuzad. He then attacks the kingdom of the high elves and destroys their capital of Silvermoon, corrupting their sacred sunwell and reviving 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 begin to destroy Lordaeron.

Thrall 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. To defeat them, the Warsong leader Grom drinks the pit lord Mannoroth's blood, 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 the humans join forces to purge Grom of demonic influence. Grom turns on Mannoroth and kills him, dying to release the orcs from the pit lord's control.

In order to oppose the Burning Legion, the Night Elf Tyrande Whisperwind reawakens the sleeping Elf Druids, starting with her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, and frees his brother Illidan from prison. 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. Meanwhile, the Prophet reveals that he used to be Medivh, the betrayer from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The humans, Orcs, and Night Elves unite to spring a trap on the Burning Legion, and many ancestral spirits destroy Archimonde at Mount Hyjal. Peace once again comes to Kalimdor as the Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat.^[24]

Sound

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Most of the music within Warcraft III was composed by Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, and Glenn Stafford.^[25] 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 more and more comical. The unit may start getting angry at the player, or make allusions and references to other games, movies, or jokes. Movies quoted include Blade Runner, Star Wars Episodes IV & V: Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back, Army Of Darkness, and Toy Story.^{citation needed} Games like Mortal Kombat, Monty Python^{citation needed}, Warhammer 40,000, and Banjo-Kazooie are paid homage,^{citation needed} in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Twilight Zone, and Beavis and Butthead.^{citation needed} For example, the Humans in particular do the Monty Python impressions. Click on a peasant character enough, and he'll say things like "We found a witch! May we burn her?" or "YOU'RE the king? Well I didn't vote for you." Or click on a knight, he may say "I NEVER say 'ni'!" or "My favourite colour is blue... No, YELLOW!"

Modding

As did Warcraft II and Starcraft 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.^[26]

Some custom maps have enjoyed great success, with Defense of the Ancients (DotA) being a tournament item at Blizzcon 2005 and other tournaments around the world.^{citation needed}

Development

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2008)

Other versions

The Battle Chest box and contents.

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 III 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.

Reception

Reception of Warcraft III was extremely positive; the game averages a 91% at GameRankings.com,^[30] and "Universal Acclaim" at MetaCritic, based on dozens of reviews.^[31] While GamePro noted that "WarCraft III doesn’t revolutionize the RTS genre", they still praised Blizzard for delivering a title with "a well-executed story, drum-tight game-play and a long shelf life as a multi-player title."^[28] GameSpot noted that as with StarCraft, the ability to experience the action from all sides "is of great appeal." The reviewer also noted that Warcraft III made the early stages of the game more interesting and less formulaic; in most RTS games, he noted, "the initial build-up period in such games is merely a race to get to the best units first."^[29] Most reviewers noted that Blizzard had finally fleshed out the storyline of the first two Warcraft titles, finally giving each side its own motivations and differences beyond cosmetics.^[32] IGN noted that "There's not a ton that's new to RTS buffs out there, but it's done well enough that you either won't notice or won't care."^[27]

However, criticism included the inability of the player to change the fate of Arthas' "turn to the dark side." Instead, Gamecritics.com noted, the player "has to sit by as Arthas slides into insanity."^[32] Other reviewers noted that the character models were of mediocre quality, especially when viewed up close during in-game cinematics. ^[29]

References

External links

• The official Warcraft III website
• The official Warcraft III strategy guide, ladder, patches, and map downloads
• Matchmaking and Ladder Explanation
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos at WoWWiki, a Warcraft wiki
• Warcraft III on MobyGames