.Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a computer game released by in 3 July 2002. It is a real-time strategy computer game, the second sequel to and the third game set in the. As such, it is usually referred to as Warcraft III, often abbreviated to WC3 or WCIII.
Warcraft III is also considered to be one of Canada's national sports (along with hockey and lacrosse), due to the high level of top WCIII gamers that come from Canada and due to the occasional televised broadcast of the game, especially in British Columbia. The demo that was once available on Blizzard's website is no more; although the demo can still be downloaded from available third parties such as the Internet Archive.Details the of the and the origins of the, along with the fall of and the awakening of the are the plot of the story. In addition, the leave the, and on their journey to, save the trolls from destruction. When they arrive, they also assist the and officially form the as a collective of these races.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. Warcraft III won many awards including 'Game of the Year' from more than six different publications.A includes the tutorial and the.At, said they have several people working on a side project to update the old Warcraft games for modern computers. At, the team announced, a full remaster of Reign of Chaos and its, slated for release in 2019.
One of the main innovations Warcraft III offers over the previous games in the series is the way the role of hero units has changed. Where before, heroes were merely very powerful variants of standard units, now they are unique, with their own special abilities that normal units do not have access to. For instance, heroes within the game can find or trade items to increase skills, defense, etc. With each kill of an enemy of a certain level the heroes gain experience points, eventually resulting in increased levels of their own, and new spell options (thus introducing role-playing game elements to the series).
Some heroes also can apply beneficial auras to allied units.Another new innovation is the addition of creeps, which are computer controlled characters the player fights even in multiplayer. They guard key areas or neutral buildings and are designed to act as a resource for the players to kill to provide experience points to a player's hero and to provide hero items. The idea is to force the player to be aggressive instead of 'turtling up' (building up powerful defenses and rarely attacking).Within the game there are four races at war: the and the, who also appeared in, and, along with two new character teams, the and the. As an April Fool's joke before the game was released, Blizzard announced that the would be the fourth race.
The company didn't reveal the night elves until a month later, and pandas are a running gag in Warcraft now (to the point that a pandaren Hero — called the — was available in the expansion pack, and pandaren heads were featured on the glaives of Illidan and the rest of the Demon Hunter hero class). A fifth playable race, the, was changed during play-testing to a set of non-player characters and monsters (with a playable 'cameo' on the last level of the undead campaign, as summons ).Players meet other players over the Internet to set up multiplayer games via Blizzard's free Battle.net service, or may play against the computer.Warcraft III also includes a very thorough scenario editor called. It uses a scripting language similar to the trigger system used in StarCraft. As well as providing the ability to edit any aspect of the units, buildings and spells, it has such advanced features as custom tilesets, custom cinematic scenes, dialog boxes, variables, and weather effects. Many custom maps, featuring a large variety of game types continue to be developed, and together with the expansion pack have contributed to the longevity of the game. Exodus of the Horde screen Prologue: Exodus of the Horde Main article:The young awakes from a strange vision, directing him to the prophet. Medivh tells him to rally the orcs from and travel to, where they shall meet their destiny.
He frees the orcs from the remaining internment camps, including. The Horde steals the human fleet from Southshore and sails off. Near the Maelstrom, they are forced to land on a small island to repair their ships. There they are joined by the, led by, but are soon ambushed and captured by a group of worshiping a. Thrall and his people need to escape from their underworld prison together with the trolls and flee from the island before it is destroyed by an erupting volcano. Human Campaign screen Human Campaign: The Scourge of Lordaeron Main article:, a of the, and, Arthas' former lover and apprentice-Archmage, are investigating a strange plague that is spreading across the lands of.
To their horror, they find that the plague turns unsuspecting people into hideous warriors, and must move to stop the undead's plans. After a string of hollow victories (many towns in the now being destroyed), Arthas decides that the best way to end the game was to destroy, the proclaimed leader of the Scourge.
Mal'Ganis travels northward to the icy lands of, and Arthas follows him. There he aids an old friend, who tells him of a powerful weapon, a sword called.
Arthas obtains Frostmourne, at the (presumed) cost of Muradin's life, and uses it to defeat Mal'Ganis. However, as a result, Frostmourne steals Arthas' soul and turns to ally with the undead. Undead Campaign screen Undead Campaign: Path of the Damned Main article:With their new leader, the undead must move to complete their purpose in Lordaeron, which is to destroy the remnants of the and pave the way for a new invasion. In a series of quests, Arthas succeeds in reviving a former adversary, as a Lich, and the two successfully open an inter-dimensional portal for the true masters of the Scourge, the, to enter the realm of Azeroth (see the article on for a more detailed description). Orcish Campaign screen Orcish Campaign: The Invasion of Kalimdor Main article:After escaping Human captivity and fleeing to the shores of, orcish warchief must lead his brethren to safety and ensure their survival in this strange and hostile land. Help comes from the, a nomadic group of Kalimdor natives, and their leader,. Unfortunately, fellow orc falls under demonic corruption, and Thrall is forced to ally himself with Jaina Proudmoore, now leader of the survivors of Lordaeron.
He also discovers (courtesy of an oracle) that his fate is to help repel the Burning Legion, and he and Jaina accomplish this goal and also save Hellscream. Afterwards, Grom insists upon battling Mannoroth, the demon who cast him into the corruption. Thrall and Grom succeed in vanquishing Mannoroth, but Grom is slain in the process. Night Elf Campaign screen Night Elf Campaign: Eternity's End Main article:With the coming of the undead and Burning Legion as well as the humans and orcs, and her night elf Sentinels fight a desperate battle to save their beloved home of Kalimdor. She first reawakens her lover, and then the and finally the. She also decides to free the great betrayer, and he is eventually instrumental in weakening the Legion.
Finally, she and Malfurion join forces with Proudmoore and Thrall to delay the Legion's advance until a proper end can be arranged for their leader (mirroring the final mission of Starcraft, in which the player commands a multi-racial force against a common foe).Gameplay detailsUnlike other RTS games, Warcraft III has introduced a new element of gameplay, special units called, they are super units that have special abilities that expand as the game progresses (as they gain experience). For example, an hero can acquire the ability to (temporarily) summon water-elementals, increase the mana regeneration rate of surrounding magic casting units, create a blizzard over enemy units, and teleport friendly units to other parts of the map. In the course of a game, a maximum of up to three heroes can be built, but if they die, they can be revived at an altar.The is a gameplay concept that keeps armies small as it penalizes anyone who gets big too fast. With the Heroes occupying five food cap and the upkeep that force you to have low food cap it is difficult to win through sheer numbers, and micromanagement becomes more important, as a result the gameplay is more tactical than strategical.There are strong distinctions in the game between melee and ranged units; between air and ground units; and (particularly in ) between mundane, magical, and antimagic units. Antimagic units, such as the (only in the expansion pack) and the night elves', have the ability to cancel the effects of magic spells cast on other units.Awards Main article: Other versionsIn addition to the regular game, there also exists a limited bundle.
Another release was the. Finally, Warcraft III is also available in the 'BestSeller Series'. Other adaptationsThe strategy board game was released in 2003 by, and is based on Warcraft III. It uses a modular game board, which allows many different scenarios to be played with the same set of components.Sequels Expansion set. Main article:On 29 May 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion set, had 'gone gold' (release version sent to presses). It was released in stores worldwide in multiple languages beginning on 1 July 2003.
It includes an additional hero for each race and three to four new units per race, four campaigns, eight neutral heroes, the ability to build a shop and various other improvements such as the ability to queue upgrades. It requires the ownership of Reign of Chaos. Blizzard regularly patches both the original game and the more popular 'expanded' version to fix bugs, add new features, and balance multiplayer play. The latter is the reason Blizzard games remain popular long after their initial release.Spin-offA massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Warcraft universe, entitled, is the fourth Warcraft game in a series produced by Blizzard.
It picks up the Warcraft storyline four years after the events of Reign of Chaos.Quotations Main article:One of the features of Warcraft III, like Warcraft II, are the unit quotes. If a single unit was clicked several times in a row, the unit's voice samples would change. The unit would start getting angry at the player, or start saying silly things in reference to movies, games, or other things. For example, a peasant might say, 'Help! I'm being repressed!' - a quote from the movie - or a might say 'Spider sense.tingling' - an oft-quoted line of.System Requirements Minimum System RequirementsPCMac®Computer400 MHz processor or better.400 MHz G3 processor or better.Operating SystemsWindows® XP or Windows Vista®Mac® OS X 10.3.9 or higherMemory128 MB of RAM128 MB of RAMControlsA keyboard and mouse are required. Joysticks, game pads, graphics tablets, and input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.A keyboard and mouse are required.
Retrieved on 2009-06-30. Internet Archive (2002-12-02). Retrieved on 2018-03-05. ^. Retrieved on 2009-06-30.
Cieniawa, Lee 2009-06-30. The Armchair Empire. Retrieved on 2009-06-30.
Retrieved on 2009-06-30. ^ Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Instruction Manual: Heroes - Experience and Level, p.26. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Instruction Manual: Wandering Monsters and Wildlife, p.28. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Instruction Manual: The Single Player Game, pg. Retrieved on 2009-06-30. Retrieved on 2009-06-30.
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Instruction Manual: World Editor, pg.16. (English). Retrieved on 2009-06-30., page 4 & 5. Archived from on 2000-08-31. Retrieved on 2000-12-23.External links.