blizzard Warcraft 3: Reforged Gameplay Videos

[Starym 3,800]

 

It seems we have some very enthusiastic people in the closed WC3: Reforge beta, as youtuber Book of Flames has posted several videos of the game running on max settings at 1080p at 60FPS! We get a good look at the Orc and Human factions, with 3 matches being played and a surprise cameo by a Pandaren Brewmaster! We get some nice zoom-ins on a few units as well and a pretty good showcase of the game in action.

 

 

 

While there's still no word on an exact release date, we do know it's coming out this year, and you can check out all the official info on the game here.

[jinsu2301 273]

Looks a lot better than the initial screenshots from last year.

That said, I'd rather see a WC4...

[Alkasar 55]

36 minutes ago, jinsu2301 said:

Looks a lot better than the initial screenshots from last year.

That said, I'd rather see a WC4...

This Remaster is a much better decision than a WC4. WC3 set such high standards that it couldn't get better. Pretty much like HoMM3 did.

[Kurosu 58]

WC4 will never happen mate

[durdyenglish 298]

38 minutes ago, Alkasar said:

This Remaster is a much better decision than a WC4. WC3 set such high standards that it couldn't get better. Pretty much like HoMM3 did.

To be honest, I believe the success of WOW effectively eliminated the idea of a Warcraft IV. The story has gone on for 15 years now and they would have to weave a WC4 narrative into the WOW expansion narrative... almost impossible to do well. 

What I could see is a Warcraft Chronicle RTS that is a series of scenarios that "fill in" the WoW narrative from the past decade and a half (sort of a reverse of what they did with the Mount Hyjal instance in WoW). I think it would be awesome to have a WC RTS broken up into chapters that covered the major conflicts of each expansion. Chapters could go something like: Showdown at Blackrock, Assault on The Black Temple, Battle at the Wrathgate, The Hour of Twilight, The Siege of Orgrimmar, The Iron Horde Incursion, The Legion Returns, and The War of Thorns.

They could later add some DLC that could bridge the gap between two expansions. Really, if they used the whole Warcraft RTS platform to tell the side or transitional narratives in WoW, that could give a reason for a continuous stream of DLC and prevent the transitional narratives (like the War of Thorns) from getting lost in paperback or novella formats.

Ultimately, I think the warfront concept in BFA (and to some degree the garrison from WOD) was testing how easily they could merge the RTS elements of WC into their main IP of WoW. I personally like the idea of garrisons and warfronts (even as is, but knowing there is room to improve) better than a classic RTS (which I consider to be a dead genre), but I know that many people disagree with me.

Edited October 17, 2019 by durdyenglish

[Laragon 269]

27 minutes ago, durdyenglish said:

To be honest, I believe the success of WOW effectively eliminated the idea of a Warcraft IV. The story has gone on for 15 years now and they would have to weave a WC4 narrative into the WOW expansion narrative... almost impossible to do well. 

What I could see is a Warcraft Chronicle RTS that is a series of scenarios that "fill in" the WoW narrative from the past decade and a half (sort of a reverse of what they did with the Mount Hyjal instance in WoW). I think it would be awesome to have a WC RTS broken up into chapters that covered the major conflicts of each expansion. Chapters could go something like: Showdown at Blackrock, Assault on The Black Temple, Battle at the Wrathgate, The Hour of Twilight, The Siege of Orgrimmar, The Iron Horde Incursion, The Legion Returns, and The War of Thorns.

They could later add some DLC that could bridge the gap between two expansions. Really, if they used the whole Warcraft RTS platform to tell the side or transitional narratives in WoW, that could give a reason for a continuous stream of DLC and prevent the transitional narratives (like the War of Thorns) from getting lost in paperback or novella formats.

Ultimately, I think the warfront concept in BFA (and to some degree the garrison from WOD) was testing how easily they could merge the RTS elements of WC into their main IP of WoW. I personally like the idea of garrisons and warfronts (even as is, but knowing there is room to improve) better than a classic RTS (which I consider to be a dead genre), but I know that many people disagree with me.

With the impending level crush meaning people will skip entire zones of content, this idea is actually brilliant to "relive the lore of World of Warcraft" and way more interesting than some dumb time-walking raids.

I'd actually but the WC3 remaster if they added that kind of campaign to it in the future as a DLC. Without it, it's a skip from me. I played (and still have) the original, so why do I need a remaster when RTS don't really live off the graphics to be playable or not.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Laragon

[durdyenglish 298]

24 minutes ago, Laragon said:

With the impending level crush meaning people will skip entire zones of content, this idea is actually brilliant to "relive the lore of World of Warcraft" and way more interesting than some dumb time-walking raids.

I'd actually but the WC3 remaster if they added that kind of campaign to it in the future as a DLC. Without it, it's a skip from me. I played (and still have) the original, so why do I need a remaster when RTS don't really live off the graphics to be playable or not.

Yea I agree - I think the idea would be great DLC for the Reforged engine -  at this point, there's no need to produce an entirely separate game from the ground up.

[Arcling 898]

1 hour ago, durdyenglish said:

To be honest, I believe the success of WOW effectively eliminated the idea of a Warcraft IV. The story has gone on for 15 years now and they would have to weave a WC4 narrative into the WOW expansion narrative... almost impossible to do well. 

(...)

They could later add some DLC that could bridge the gap between two expansions. Really, if they used the whole Warcraft RTS platform to tell the side or transitional narratives in WoW, that could give a reason for a continuous stream of DLC and prevent the transitional narratives (like the War of Thorns) from getting lost in paperback or novella formats.

Rather than due to WoW's success, RTS genre has been in decline, like in case of every "genre rush" people eventually got bored of them. Also, many of them were bad, just like when we had many military shooters, mobas or battle royales at one point. Sadly, doing "good enough" isn't good. Sure, RTS could still be doing quite well, but it won't bring them Overwatch money (especially from it's first year), and now I bet they want to make something that will bring them revenue comparable to something like Fortnite.

Nova campaign for Starcraft 2 had sold poorly, skins and co-op commanders did way better, not to mention lower costs. I wouldn't count on a story dlc for Warcraft 3 Reforged. It's quite costly, they need to get voice actors and developers to work on new maps and assets. Additional skins are more probable.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Arcling

[Laragon 269]

15 hours ago, Arcling said:

Nova campaign for Starcraft 2 had sold poorly, skins and co-op commanders did way better, not to mention lower costs. I wouldn't count on a story dlc for Warcraft 3 Reforged. It's quite costly, they need to get voice actors and developers to work on new maps and assets. Additional skins are more probable.

You're right about voice actors, but for other assets they don't really need much at all. WC3 already has a map editor, and as part of that they've shown the world it's just not hard to make your own custom maps. They would need a handful of "specialty" assets like a quality deathwing model. But Blizzard is a master at reusing assets where WoW still has the same alliance keeps that get built whether it's from Vanilla all the way to BFA, so there really aren't that many assets they would need for the general world.

I know it's still really unlikely, but if they're doing any RTS content in the next three years, this is probably what is should be. As you pointed out, a new RTS IP probably won't go over well after their struggles of even SC2 sales.

[darkinchworm 20]

Those peasant faces are awful. Mustaches look to be about 4 inches tall.

[Teufel 331]

20 hours ago, Alkasar said:

This Remaster is a much better decision than a WC4. WC3 set such high standards that it couldn't get better. Pretty much like HoMM3 did.

It might as well be less about standarts and people unwilling to let go of their nostalgia and 'the orcs were greener' mindset even if something objectively more interesting is right under their noses.

Pretty much the same fater HoMM suffered - 5 did improve most of what makes 3 good, as well as finally giving 'racial identity' to the factions but fans just gone with their nostalgia and it was mostly overlooked, even if Nival were smart about it, releasing 'close AF to 3' vanilla HoMM5, first expansion adding some HoMM4 QoL elements, and the second one them going all-in with the new ideas they've gathered so far.

WC4 might just be suffering the same fate, if it ever comes. Also, I guess it'd take WoW to truly end to it even happen plot-wise, for getting a 'novel' treatement, where the game will cover events in-between expansions, seems nigh-impossible to execute properly. Let alone getting it an expansion of its own.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Teufel

[Abom 31]

Textures look blurred, probably due to the anti aliasing at 1080p.

Looks good - I'm glad a new generation will get to play it. As an old die hard, this doesn't do anything for me. Been there, done that.

[Kurosu 58]

1 hour ago, Abom said:

Textures look blurred, probably due to the anti aliasing at 1080p.

Looks good - I'm glad a new generation will get to play it. As an old die hard, this doesn't do anything for me. Been there, done that.

What do you mean "get to play it "? You could and still can, play the classic.

[Arcling 898]

7 hours ago, Laragon said:

I know it's still really unlikely, but if they're doing any RTS content in the next three years, this is probably what is should be. As you pointed out, a new RTS IP probably won't go over well after their struggles of even SC2 sales.

Indeed, it's also quite sad that they aren't marketing this remaster, which implies lack of interest in making it known to wider audience. Almost a year of silence and all we get is some datamining from an incomplete client. This probably means that there aren't any big plans related to their RTS.

2 hours ago, Abom said:

Looks good - I'm glad a new generation will get to play it. As an old die hard, this doesn't do anything for me. Been there, done that.

Well, this "old die hard" who played original at release is waiting for it. And no, you did not, campaign will be quite different, it seems (you can still choose the unmodified one though).

Edited October 18, 2019 by Arcling

[Alkasar 55]

On 10/18/2019 at 8:00 PM, Teufel said:

It might as well be less about standarts and people unwilling to let go of their nostalgia and 'the orcs were greener' mindset even if something objectively more interesting is right under their noses.

Pretty much the same fater HoMM suffered - 5 did improve most of what makes 3 good, as well as finally giving 'racial identity' to the factions but fans just gone with their nostalgia and it was mostly overlooked, even if Nival were smart about it, releasing 'close AF to 3' vanilla HoMM5, first expansion adding some HoMM4 QoL elements, and the second one them going all-in with the new ideas they've gathered so far.

WC4 might just be suffering the same fate, if it ever comes. Also, I guess it'd take WoW to truly end to it even happen plot-wise, for getting a 'novel' treatement, where the game will cover events in-between expansions, seems nigh-impossible to execute properly. Let alone getting it an expansion of its own.

I'm actually someone who mostly prefers the newer stuff. About HoMM, I actually started with HoMM5 when I was 14. But last year I bought HoMM3 and it just feels so much better. HoMM5 is awesome of course, yet not much better than HoMM3.

In the end this all comes down to personal preferences. Of course. It is just that Warcraft3 did so much right that it is still actively played. It is hard to imagine what could be improved or changed. Besides the story is hard to continue now that WoW is going on for so long. 

Warcraft reached its peak in RTS and RPG. Let these games only be remastered, but not challenged by sequels. There is such a high risk to disappoint and fail. I would really love to see a new fantasy universe from Blizzard. A new world, new gameplay, new mechanics.

I'm completely on the side for new games. But in new worlds to explore. New storys that are not overloaded like the current ones.

[darkinchworm 20]

On 10/18/2019 at 4:17 PM, Arcling said:

Indeed, it's also quite sad that they aren't marketing this remaster, which implies lack of interest in making it known to wider audience. Almost a year of silence and all we get is some datamining from an incomplete client.

Well, how much marketing can they really do in the space between?

"Here's a model you're familiar with... but it looks better!"
"Here's a building you've seen before... but better constructed!"
"Here are some changes to a campaign map that will be of little or no consequence to anyone but the most diehard fan!"
etc.

You announce a remaster, you work on it, you release it. There's only so much ooh-ing and aah-ing to be done over a prettier version of the same damn game we played an entire generation ago.

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Will there be an option to keep the old graphics but still stay on the new engine? similar to wow classic kinda

[Starym 3,800]

13 hours ago, darkinchworm said:

Well, how much marketing can they really do in the space between?

"Here's a model you're familiar with... but it looks better!"
"Here's a building you've seen before... but better constructed!"
"Here are some changes to a campaign map that will be of little or no consequence to anyone but the most diehard fan!"
etc.

You announce a remaster, you work on it, you release it. There's only so much ooh-ing and aah-ing to be done over a prettier version of the same damn game we played an entire generation ago.

There's a ridiculous amount of things they can do marketing-wise. They might still do it closer to release but yea.

[darkinchworm 20]

On 10/20/2019 at 1:52 PM, Starym said:

There's a ridiculous amount of things they can do marketing-wise. They might still do it closer to release but yea.

Not to be a *filtered*, but making that statement and not backing it up with some sort of example rings a bit hollow.

They can throw no shortage of dollars at making people aware the product exists, but truly engaging marketing is a challenge for a product of its nature - no new features to announce drip-feed style over time. Just, again, slightly fancier looking textures and artwork.

Edited October 22, 2019 by darkinchworm

[Alderon714 0]

I still have that cd somewhere in a box. ?