Warcraft III Reforged dropped and even before the end of launch day things were not looking good. To sum things up: Warcraft III Reforged is a disaster currently holding a 1.1 user rating on Metacritic. Blizzard seems to be keenly aware of this fact as its being reported that users on their forums are being banned for helping others get refunds. Talk about scummy moves.
It’s crazy how fast Blizzard fans turned on the company, but one can’t be all that surprised as this isn’t quite the game they were promised. I don’t mean that it’s simply a bad game, rather one that Blizzard marketed as something wholly different and still are. And the worst thing is that all the changes made in Reforged also roll back to classic Warcraft III meaning you can never play the original game online even if you still have the discs and install it.
Users have been flooding YouTube, Reddit and various online forums to vent their frustrations over Blizzard’s deception. Most notably for those simply looking is the fact that the in-game cutscenes in the game are nothing like the ones shown off in the original BlizCon 2018 trailer. It’s not even done in the same style and the visual quality is actually a slight downgrade. This is made worse as on Blizzard’s own site for Reforged they are still using the 2018 trailer to push the game.
There have also been changes made to how the game plays, mostly with various balancings issues, but you don’t have a choice with these. So if you wanted to skip this remaster (like I did) you can’t even install your copy of Warcraft III classic and play the game you remember growing up on. It’s some serious revisionist history bullshit that boggles the mind. How on earth does a company remaster a game and then force changes on the original?
But this isn’t even a complete Warcraft III experience as features are missing from the game. Cutscenes were not remastered in any way and new ones weren’t added (something that was promised), animated backgrounds on menus are missing, font issues and so much more. Here is a current list of features that were in Warcraft III but are somehow now missing in Reforged:
– Automated Tournaments
– Clans
– Profiles
– Ladder
– 3D animated campaign backgrounds
– 3D animated portraits in Battle.net
– /slash commands in Battle.net chat
– Communal channels listing
– Custom Campaigns
– Battle.net News section
– RoC campaign balance (RoC now uses TFT balance)
-No custom keybinds
-No MMR system
-No Frozen Throne menu screen
-No new story content (promised)
This is all pretty terrible and more than enough to anger fans, but the worst thing Blizzard has done is stab the hearts of fans with the announcement that all content created in the editor and any mods created and shared become the sole property of Blizzard. There is also a shiny new Report button so that users can rat on their friends if something offends them or might be derived from copyrighted content.
It might seem weird to attack the fans that made the company what it is but it only makes sense with the success of something like DoTA. The game originated as a mod of Warcraft III before the team behind it was scooped up by Valve, making them in direct competition with Blizzard’s own MOBA, Heroes of the Storm.
From a boardroom perspective, this makes all the sense in the world as you don’t want an idea created on your platform making money and becoming competition elsewhere. The problem is that by doing this you are angering and turning away the fans that help create you in the first place. It shows the disconnect between the Blizzard suits and the users that have come to define them.
And then we get to the refunds issue that doesn’t look good for Blizzard. Users have taken to Reddit to accuse the company of banning them from the forums for helping others figure out the process required to ask for a refund. Many of these players had pre-ordered the game and rightfully want refunds as what they were sold was not what was advertised.
It’s time to leave the past behind and understand that Blizzard as it currently isn’t the Blizzard that many of us grew up with. Its shareholders looking to make the biggest return while spending the least amount possible. It’s simply another EA, a company who long ago ate its own tail in an attempt to feed itself.
What happened to you Blizzard? If this what you want your legacy to become? With every misstep, you lose a piece of what made you special. I can only pray the new Diablo (not the mobile one for Asian markets) can be salvaged.
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