The new campaign in Warcraft 3 is good, but not completed

MeinMMO demon Cortyn played the new campaign in Warcraft III. But the judgment is quite poor – because something significant is missing.

A clear highlight of BlizzCon for me was the announcement of Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom. A new campaign in Warcraft 3 – after so many years! It sounded too good to be true. And unfortunately, I have to say after about 15 hours of playtime: Yes, it was simply too good to be true.

But let me start from the beginning.

The best prologue they could have made

The campaign is divided into two parts. The main part and the prologue campaign.

The prologue deals with events that we already know at the core, but from a fresh perspective. We are not Arthas, conquering Lordaeron and killing his father, but we are the city guard. We are excited about the return of the prince, fighting bandits in the city or ensuring that roses are scattered along the path when the prince arrives.

When King Terenas is killed, all hell breaks loose. As the city guard, we try to protect the civilians and understand what has actually happened. We evacuate many people to the neighboring Andorhal and uncover that the sewers of Lordaeron have long been infiltrated by the Scourge. Defectors had joined the cult of the damned and had long prepared for this day.

To take revenge, our hero, Garek, wants to go to Stratholme to hold some of the defected nobles accountable. That works “so-so” – because Garek dies in the end.

The prologue campaign is excellent. It is atmospheric and provides a perfect start that raises great hopes for what is yet to come. I would really rate it: 10/10 points. Really good. The quality is outstanding. It is everything I wanted.

The start of the main campaign is good too, but you can feel the slight decline. Somehow the cutscenes are not as elaborate anymore. The animations are not as refined.

Garek awakens as a Forsaken and there was a time jump. He hardly remembers his old life and is quickly recruited by the dark ranger Anya to help prepare Lordaeron for the Forsaken. The last humans are driven away, looters and bandits are slain and remnants of the Scourge are beaten down.

We learn many small, interesting things: Like why the water in Undercity is actually so poisonous green. Or what kind of research the apothecary Putress has been conducting. Or what Undercity actually did with the corpse of Garithos.

These are small, cool details.

But it quickly becomes clear: This is not a normal Warcraft III. We do not control large armies, do not build bases. We play a small group of heroes, which we – similar to WoW or Diablo – equip with individual gear, level up and explore interconnected maps.

This is cool and is definitely fun. There are interesting loot and many secrets. Items have interesting effects, grant new abilities or powerful bonuses. Boss fights exist and require quick reactions and good micro-management of several heroes to handle them.

But: This is not “real” Warcraft III. This is an action RPG in the engine of Warcraft III.

Annoying bugs, long running times

That alone would not be a reason for a negative review. I have enjoyed it so far. But then came the bugs. Devastating bugs.

Here are two extremely annoying bugs I encountered:

Talent points that make you weaker

The dark ranger Anya has a passive ability where every 4th shot of hers deals bonus damage. This is a core aspect of this hero. But she can choose a talent that causes her shots to additionally deal poison damage. The problem: This disables her bonus damage on every 4th shot. A clear bug. Since there is no way to reset talent points in the game, my Anya is now much weaker. I have actively weakened her with talents because these talents do not work. It is infinitely frustrating.

Cutscenes that are completely broken

From the end of the first act, I kept encountering weird errors in the cutscenes. When I talked to an NPC, the dialogue would start, but something absurd would play out on the screen: There were always “copies” of my characters. Garek and Anya suddenly stood there doubled and attacked each other until the copies were defeated. My suspicion: When starting a cutscene, additional “characters” are summoned that are then used for the scene’s animations. But there seem to be errors such that these second characters are actual units and also turn out hostile.

From then on, every cutscene is the same: 2 Gareks and 2 Anyas beat each other up and “kill” the quest NPC in the sequence, so the camera then glides through an empty room where the NPCs should have been. After the cutscene, everything is back to normal.

Long walking distances

The last point is not a real bug, but: You have to run so much. So incredibly much. Of the 15 hours, I must have spent 2 hours just running across the map to get from one quest goal back to Undercity. Maybe I overlooked or did not understand a fast travel option – but heaven, that was exhausting.

Sometimes there were dialogues between Anya and Garek or the other NPCs on these walking paths. That was absolutely manageable and you could listen to the conversation. But very, very often you click on the target location at the other end of the map and can then first go make a tea, because nothing happens anyway.

Warcraft III Forsaken Kingdom would be good, but it isn’t yet

Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom has the potential to be a really good Warcraft adventure. But it needed more time. It simply isn’t finished and is clearly in no condition to be released. I can only advise everyone to wait a few weeks before buying or starting the campaign until the bugs are fixed.

And I also want to emphasize at the end: There is really a lot that is truly good. The feeling of nostalgia was outstanding at times. The music that plays in the ruins of Lordaeron gives me goosebumps every time. The overhaul of the character models looks infinitely better in the campaign than it did at the beginning in Reforged. The models are more modern, prettier and still feel like Warcraft III.

I can only assume that there was a deep desire on the part of the developers to have the game ready by BlizzCon to release it as a cool “shadow drop”. But honestly: That was nothing. It could be really good. I know it will be good when it is finished. You can feel it every second. There is so much love and so many details in the world. But it just needs more time.
Therefore, my clear recommendation: Don’t put yourself through this yet. Wait until Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom is finished. Because it is not yet. I can only hope that Blizzard’s other releases go better, such as WoW Forever.