15 Years Later, 'Warcraft III' Gets A Public Test Realm

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Rexly Peñaflorida
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Rexly Peñaflorida is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering topics such as computer hardware, video games, and general technology news.

11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • zippyzion
    Actual Warcraft RTS possibly making a comeback!? Color me interested. I loved Warcraft 1 and 2. Warcraft 3 was pretty, but not quite as fun as 2. Man, I'd love to see a new Warcraft that isn't an MMO. RTS games are so much better in my humble opinion.
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  • bloodroses
    Hacking issues resolved? If not, don't bother. Online play was absolutely worthless due to it. :(
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  • Yeah, I'd love another Warcraft RTS, not the WoW type. Except for starcraft 2 and grey goo, we haven't had anything good in years. C&C had been destroyed.

    I still play Warcraft 2 and Command and Conquer 3 from time to time, because there just are so few available quality RTS games available. If you're a fan of the genre it's really been frustrating this last decade.
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  • bloodroses
    20061480 said:
    Yeah, I'd love another Warcraft RTS, not the WoW type. Except for starcraft 2 and grey goo, we haven't had anything good in years. C&C had been destroyed.

    I still play Warcraft 2 and Command and Conquer 3 from time to time, because there just are so few available quality RTS games available. If you're a fan of the genre it's really been frustrating this last decade.

    That is a definite that there hasn't been very many quality RTS games lately. I wasn't impressed with StarCraft 2, so Warcraft 3 is about the only RTS game I play anymore; and not online...
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  • Eximo
    Sins of a Solar Empire is probably the last RTS I had any real interest in. And the mods are glorious. I occasionally play a round of STA III.

    I kind of didn't like Starcraft II. I hate it say it, but it was just too familiar, didn't feel new.

    I agree on C&C, the simplicity of the older titles was something to retain while doing UI improvements. There may have been too much focus on graphics and storyline, oddly.
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  • bloodroses
    20061592 said:
    Sins of a Solar Empire is probably the last RTS I had any real interest in. And the mods are glorious. I occasionally play a round of STA III.

    I kind of didn't like Starcraft II. I hate it say it, but it was just too familiar, didn't feel new.

    I agree on C&C, the simplicity of the older titles was something to retain while doing UI improvements. There may have been too much focus on graphics and storyline, oddly.

    The simplicity factor of SC1 is why I didn't like SC2. In SC1, you had 'bread and butter' units, then different groups of specialty units; but not a ton. In SC2, it felt like every unit was strictly a specialty unit and you built strictly based on what your opponent had. It was way overboard unit type wise. Too much 'paper-rock-scissor' imo and just a click-fest as a result. It reminded me more of Total Annihilation than Starcraft.

    With the Command and Conquer, I only really got into the original and Red Alert. Both were great games, but I got 'hooked' into Blizzard's universe at the time... lol
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  • Eximo
    OpenRA is a great project if you like C&C. Also runs the old Dune games, though slightly modified.

    I think my first experience with SC2 was really soured, first by the price tag, then the player community. Basically all the people who had been playing SC1 for the last decade and just used tried and true methods that resulted in very short games. Had to go to single player just to even look at more then the first five minutes of unit building. And then I was like, hmm, neat graphics.
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  • derekullo
    Would a hypothetical Warcraft 4 just be a recap of WoW:Burning Crusade and any other expansion they felt like including?

    They sort of painted themselves into a corner not releasing dedicated Warcraft titles in addition to the WoW expansions.

    But I can understand the focus they needed to have for every WoW expansion and Diablo 3 along with the D3 expansion.

    In any case, I'm sure Warcraft 4: Burning Crusade, Warcraft 5: Cataclysm, ... and the rest would have sold.
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  • Eximo
    What they should have done is make it a companion game so that tournament battles in the RTS made faction/territorial changes in WoW.
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  • LB3
    Is there any way to still play WC3? The last time I played was years ago and it was such a horrible experience with hackers using the lag-out hack and map vision hacks. But apparently people are still playing? Anyone know?

    Like above, SC2 did not keep me interested for very long.
    Reply