Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment Sierra Entertainment Capcom
Designer(s)	Rob Pardo
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X
Release	July 3, 2002 July 5 2002 2003
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 or WC3) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in July 2002. It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the third game set in the Warcraft Universe. The game proved to be one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units preordered and over one million additional units sold within a month. Warcraft III contains four playable races, including the Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. In addition to these are the Night Elves and Undead, which are new to the Warcraft mythos. Warcraft III's campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner.

Blizzard Entertainment released two versions of the game: the regular edition and a limited Collector's Edition. 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. Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne, was released in 2003.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Warcraft III is markedly different from its predecessors. The campaign mode inserts the player in a long, plot-driven sequence, and a variety of conventional scenarios, where the player must defeat an enemy, similar to previous Warcraft games. Multiplayer mode allows a player to play against other people, via the internet, instead of playing against computer-controlled characters.

Game basics

File:WarcraftIII orcshumans.png

Warcraft III game in action, with human soldiers (red) attacking an Orc base (blue).

A game of Warcraft III takes place on a map of varying size, with terrain features like rivers, mountains,seas, or cliffs. In Campaign mode, the map is initially covered with the Black Mask, meaning nothing can be seen in that area until it is explored. Otherwise, areas that have been explored previously but now are not within sight range of an allied building or unit are covered with the "Fog of war"- though the terrain remains visible, changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are unseen. Players must construct settlements and bases to capture resources, defend against other players, and train units to use in battle. There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft: 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.

In previous Warcraft games, there were only two playable races, Orcs and Humans. The differences between each were mostly cosmetic; every Human unit had a corresponding Orc equivalent. In Warcraft III, the Night elves and Undead were added as playable races. In addition, differences between the races was dramatically increased, giving each race certain advantages and disadvantages. For example, Human and Orc units regenerate hit points faster during the day, while many Night Elf units can turn invisible during the night. The types of units and buildings each race can build also vary dramatically. Humans have cheap farms which can be built quickly but provide less food than most other races' corresponding buildings. Orcs have burrows, which are more expensive and slower to build than farms, but provide more food and can be loaded with peon workers to give it a ranged attack. Undead have Ziggurats, which can be upgraded to powerful defensive towers. Lastly, the Night Elves have "Moon Wells" which can be used to replenish the health and mana of friendly units.

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). 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, although in a custom map the player can increase the limit to as high as ten thousand. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the others. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and shops containing usable items.. While "Hero" units were originally created in the second game of the series, Warcraft III greatly expanded the role, use, and strength of heroes. In the previous game, Hero units were only available in campaign mode, whereas they are now in both campaign mode and regular melee games. In Warcraft II, heroes were nothing more than buffed versions of regular units, only slightly stronger in terms of certain stats, and in some cases, had lowered numbers in certain stats (Most notably Gul'Dan). In Warcraft III, hero units are exceptionally stronger than regular units. In addition, in the Warcraft II campaign, when a hero unit died, the mission would automatically be failed, which provoked many players to simply leave their hero alone, for fear of failing the mission. While this is the case in a small minority of campaign missions (mostly the ones that do not involve building a base), "Altars" could be built by worker units, as means to resurrect a fallen hero. This greatly increased the amount players used heroes in the game, whether in campaign or multiplayer.

The game introduces new units for each race and 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 and special items to a player's hero. This encourages players to be aggressive instead of turtling.

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.

Campaign

File:Orcishhorde.jpg

The Orcish horde.

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." 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, most notably the Orc campaign, with the player and one ally facing four different human 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 being an "epic battle". In both the Orc and Night Elf campaigns you have allies, although they do very little; in the Night Elf campaign your ally is all but automatically overwhelmed by enemy forces. The final Human mission begins with both heroes initially unavailable, being on a short side mission. On the normal (easy) level, it is relatively simple to destroy all enemy buildings and units, but until the side mission is completed with the unavoidable loss of one hero, the enemy hero always reincarnates carrying four Ankhs of reincarnation. In the undead campaign, the final mission involved you defending an uncontrollable hero unit from enemy forces.

Multiplayer

File:Wc3 multi.png

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Battle.net lobby.

Multiplayer differs slightly from Campaign mode. In default melee matches, players can pick their own heroes, and losing one will not end the game. While campaign games can have many different objectives, the sole objective in melee games is to destroy the opposition's buildings. To make the game proceed more quickly, by default the map is covered in fog of war instead of the Black Mask. Warcraft III, unlike previous Blizzard titles, also 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 with multiplayer components since Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, Warcraft III uses the Battle.net multiplayer network. Warcraft III owners can create free accounts and participate in regional "gateways," which helps reduce lag; players can create accounts in different "Gateways", named 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 you and your allies join a lobby and Battle.net will search for another team; as will anonymous matchmaking, the enemy team is not known beforehand. 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.

Every matchmaking game contributes to a player's rank, with global scores and standings kept on a "ladder". If a player gets the highest rank, he/she may participates in the tournament. These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game. Warcraft also bestows "ranks" on players, in the forms of icons which are unlocked by a certain number of wins with each race in ladder games. Every player begins with a peon icon; by winning more and more games, the player can receive new icons which denote their status. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is no longer used in professional tournaments, which use the game's expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, instead.

Story

Setting

Main article: Azeroth (world)

Warcraft III takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth, which is divided into three main continents: The Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, and the icy Northrend. The humans primarily live in the northern part of the Eastern Kingdoms, Lordaeron, while the Undead later on make their settlement there. The Orcs also live in Lordaeron before they move to Kalimdor, the home of the Night Elves who guard the sacred lands found there. In the center of the world lies a large, neverending storm called "the Maelstrom," the site of the original Well of Eternity. The game's plot takes the player across all these continents and numerous locations in each.

Characters

Main article: List of Warcraft characters

The tutorial campaign, "Exodus of the Horde," has the player take command of Thrall, a young Orcish warchief, as he leads his army across the sea to Kalimdor. Later in the narrative, Thrall once again appears, along with his right-hand Blademaster Grom Hellscream, as the Orcs arrive on the shores of Kalimdor. In "The Scourge of Lordaeron" the player commands Arthas Menethil, a young prince and paladin who unites with the mage Jaina Proudmoore in an effort to investigate a mysterious plague, directed by a shadowy cultist named Kel'Thuzad. In Kalimdor, high priestess Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion Stormrage direct the Night Elves against the Burning Legion's forces.

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 Thrall, warchief of the new Orcish Horde, waking from a nightmare warning him that the return of the demonic Burning Legion is imminent. After a brief encounter with 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, Prince Arthas Menethil, a Paladin appointed by his father, is fighting demon-worshipping orcs. He is assisted by his mentor, Uther Lightbringer, a paladin. After defeating the orcs, Arthas joins Archmage Jaina Proudmoore, with whom he investigates a strange plague that is spreading across the lands of Lordaeron. The plague coincides with the rise to power of a shadowy "Cult of the Damned". To their horror, they find that the plague kills and turns human victims into the undead. Arthas proceeds to kill the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad, then hunts down the dreadlord he serves, Mal'Ganis. Arthas, blinded by a desire to kill Mal'Ganis, follows the dreadlord to Northrend. The Prophet, after previously trying to convince King Terenas, Archmage Antonidas, and Arthas to flee west, appears before Jaina and begs her to go to Kalimdor as well. Arthas pursues Mal'Ganis to the icy north, and decides to aid his old dwarf friend, Muradin Bronzebeard, and find a powerful sword called Frostmourne. Upon discovering the blade, Muradin learns that the sword has a curse upon it; Arthas disregards the warning and pulls the sword from its pedestal. The blade kills Muradin, and Arthas goes on to kill Mal'Ganis with the sword before leaving his men to die in the frozen north as he is possessed by the blade. Some time later, Arthas returns to Lordaeron a hero to the unwitting populace, and kills King Terenas, his father.

With the death of the King, Lordaeron lies in ashes. Arthas, whose soul has been stolen by Frostmourne, meets with the leader of the dreadlords, Tichondrius. Tichondrius assigns the fallen prince a series of "tests". As Arthas completes quests to revive former adversary Kel'Thuzad as a Lich, he kills the remainder of Uther's paladins and destroys the High Elves' kingdom of Quel'Thalas. The Lich then informs him of the Burning Legion, a vast demonic army that has consumed countless worlds before their own. The Lich King was created to aid the Legion with his undead Scourge, but in truth he wishes for the Legion to be destroyed and to be free of his prison, the Frozen Throne. Kel'Thuzad's true master is actually the Lich King, rather than the Burning Legion. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad open a dimensional portal with Medivh's spellbook so that the Burning Legion can enter the realm of Azeroth. Archimonde is summoned and the Burning Legion begin to destroy Lordaeron.

After escaping human captivity and fleeing to the shores of Kalimdor with his surviving troops, Orcish warchief Thrall leads his brethren to safety to ensure their survival in Kalimdor. With the aid of the Tauren Chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof, Thrall heads north to Ashenvale Forest to seek the Oracle of Stonetalon Peak, clashing with a human expedition who has also arrived upon Kalimdor for unknown purposes. Meanwhile, Grom Hellscream and the Warsong Clan have been left behind to gather enough lumber to build a permanent Orcish settlement on the isle, and, in cutting down the large amount of trees necessary to do so, anger the native night elves and their demigod, Cenarius. In order to defeat Cenarius and his night elves, Grom succumbs to demonic corruption by willingly drinking the pit lord Mannoroth's blood, binding his clan and himself to the Legion's control. Back on Stonetalon Peak, Thrall reaches the Oracle to discover that it is actually the mysterious Prophet. The Prophet informs Thrall and Archmage Jaina Proudmoore that Grom has succumbed to demonic control, the two races will need to join forces to save him, and suggests that Grom has a crucial role to play in the unfolding of events. With the humans' help, Thrall fights his way through the ranks of the Warsong Clan and the Legion and is able to capture Grom and purge him of the demon blood. Grom then has a premonition of Mannoroth's presence in a local canyon, and the two go there to face Mannoroth. Grom manages to slay Mannoroth, freeing the orcs from the demonic corruption, but dies in the process.

With the coming of the Undead Scourge and Burning Legion as well as the humans and orcs, Tyrande Whisperwind and her Night Elf Sentinels fight a desperate battle to save their beloved home of Kalimdor from enemies old and new alike. After realizing the situation is beyond the Sentinels alone, Tyrande first reawakens her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, then the Druids of the Talon, and finally the Druids of the Claw. While Malfurion awakens the Druids of the Claw, Tyrande, at the protest of Malfurion, goes into the prisons of the Watchers, freeing Malfurion's brother, Illidan, and a handful of other Night Elf troops. However, before Tyrande can explain that Illidan will be a powerful ally, Malfurion protests greatly. Illidan wanders into the forests of Felwood with a band of followers, where he duels with Arthas; as both of them are of similar strength, there is no winner, and Arthas gives Illidan information about the powerful "Skull of Gul'dan". Illidan consumes the skull and uses his new power to kill Tichondrius. Malfurion, seeing that his brother has become a horrific combination of demon and night elf, banishes Illidan from Kalimdor. After this, Tyrande and Malfurion join forces with the outlanders Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall to delay the Legion's advance upon the World Tree. Archimonde manages to overrun the allies and begins to drain the power from the Tree. However, Malfurion springs a trap, and Archimonde is destroyed in a colossal blast of energy that shatters the tree of life--but unlike Archimonde, the tree would heal and its roots would once again grow deep. Peace once again comes to Kalimdor as the Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat and the humans, orcs, and night elves stand victorious.

Sound

Background music

Most of the music within Warcraft III was composed by Tracy W. Bush, 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. The music varies depending on the player's race: monastic music for the humans, ambient and Indian-sounding music for the Night Elves, tribal, warlike, slightly African-sounding music for the Orcs and fast, haunting music for the Undead. New themes were added in the expansion. Examples of such music can be found on the World of Warcraft subpage. Here are downloadable songs from both Warcraft II and III and even a few from World of Warcraft. All are orchestral compositions with the exception of three, two of which are 'skits' and one other constructed from the many in-game unit responses.

Unit quotations

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 to other games, movies, or jokes. For example, after several clicks peasants exclaim, "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!", "You're the king? Well, I didn't vote for you," and "We found a witch. May we burn her?", while footmen exclaim, "It's only a flesh wound!", Sorceresses inform, "For the End of the World Spell, press Control-Alt-Delete", and Knights remark, "My favourite colour is blue... No, YELLOW!" and "I never say Ni" - all quotations from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Spellbreaker unit makes reference to The Lord of the Rings by saying "I stole your Precious!", while an orc unit references Full Metal Jacket (Me so horn'ed, me hurt you long time!) The human Dragonhawk Rider quotes Top Gun by saying both "Permission to Buzz the Tower" and "I'll hit the brakes, he'll fly right by!" . Other movies quoted include Army of Darkness, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Blade Runner, Batman, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Toy Story, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, American Pie, and Flash Gordon. Games like Mortal Kombat, Warhammer 40,000, and Banjo-Kazooie are paid homage, in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Twilight Zone, Iron Chef, and Beavis and Butthead. Other references are to the famed sharpness of Ginsu Knives, Shakespeare, and the lyrics to ...Baby One More Time These samples that the units make after being clicked on 4 or more times is referred to as the "pissed" in the sound editor in the warcraft III editor. Also, there is a quote that will only be heard if the unit is ordered to attack a hero; this is referred as the unit's "warcry." Most warcries begin with "for" and then the name of their respective homelands. For example, when footmen are ordered to attack a hero, he will say "For Lordaeron."

Modding

Main article: Warcraft III World Editor

As did Warcraft II, Starcraft and many other Blizzard titles before it, Warcraft III shipped with a map editor that allows players to create their own custom scenarios and maps. The world editor (WE) has features such as unit editing and event triggers (which allowed for almost unending diversity in campaign design). 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(TFT). Despite the widespread use of the Editor, it is not officially supported by Blizzard. Nonetheless, some custom maps created by users have become wildly popular, with Defense of the Ancients being a tournament item at Blizzcon 2005 and other tournaments around the world.

Development

The storyline for Warcraft III started with the story of Thrall, which was originally the plot line that was developed for WarCraft Adventures, also known as "Lord of the Clans". Warcraft Adventures was to be a point-and-click graphic adventure game set in the universe. However, despite publicized development and positive feedback from many, the entire project was scrapped in 1998. However the story and some game elements would later influence Warcraft III.

Reception

Publication	Score	Notes
IGN	9.3/10	"Outstanding"
GamePro	4.6/5	Editor's Choice
GameSpot	9.3/10	Editor's Choice
Game Rankings	91% (22 reviews)	[None]

Reception of Warcraft III was overwhelmingly positive; the game averages a 91% at GameRankings.com, and "Universal Acclaim" at MetaCritic, based on dozens of reviews. 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." 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." 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. 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."

Some common criticism included the inability of the player to change the fate of Arthas' "turn to the dark side." Instead, the player "has to sit by as Arthas slides into insanity." Other reviewers noted that the character models were of mediocre quality, especially when viewed up close during in-game cinematics. Additionally, the character portraits were not synched with the audio.

See also

• Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
• World of Warcraft

External links

• The official Warcraft III website
• Warcraft III on MobyGames
• The official Warcraft III strategy guide, ladder, patches, and map downloads
• Template:Wowwiki
• Matchmaking and Ladder Explanation