Warcraft 3: Reforged is a game that I hate and a title that’ll go down in gaming infamy.
Warcraft 3: Reforged was announced at BlizzCon in 2018, and Blizzard made it clear with the announcement trailer their plans.
The remake would feature updated graphics, new animations and models, 4 hours of redone cinematics and an altered story designed to be more in keeping with World of Warcraft.
Blizzard assured fans that the original Warcraft 3 would still be playable after release despite how extensive these changes were.
Rather than replace the old game, the remake would be a different version available on the launcher, not a replacement.
The announcement and Blizzards promises of what was to come were met with great excitement; this would turn to rage on release day.
The promises that were broken
Warcraft 3: Reforged, after two years of development, was released in 2020 and was not what was promised.
The new models and graphics may have been present, and the game as a whole looked great, but the promised 4 hours of new cinematics with dynamic camera angles were absent, and the story and core mechanics were likewise unchanged from the original. Warcraft 3: Reforged was less a remake than a remaster.
However, the failure to deliver on content changes was not what truly enraged players. The primary source of rage was the status of the original Warcraft 3.
Despite the assurances made in 2018, the old game was no longer playable, and most of its beloved features were gone. Without these features, such as leader-boards and custom tournaments, Warcraft 3: Reforged was regarded as a lesser, incomplete version of the original twenty-year-old game.
The intended model upgrades for Warcraft 3: Reforged
Adding insult to injury
The final insult offered by Warcraft 3: Reforged to its players were found in the game’s terms of service, which all players had to sign if they wanted to play the remake.
In the terms of services, Blizzard made it clear that any content created by players in the game would belong to Blizzard and the company had full rights to use the content as they saw fit.
This policy change likely came due to Dota 2, a player made game mode originally in Warcraft 3 that gave rise to a multi-billion dollar game and genre with no profits for Blizzard.
A clear indicator that Blizzard intends to make money over providing a quality product.
Blizzard eventually released several patches to address the numerous complaints, but these measures have been half-hearted and haven’t solved the reason for my disdain.
My hatred for Reforged is not because it failed to meet expectations, broke promises or even was of poor quality; the reason I hate Warcraft 3: Reforged is because it broke my trust.
It lost the community’s trust – a far greater crime than just releasing a lacklustre title.
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