Warcraft 3: Reforged is a disaster and could be one of many coffin nails for Blizzard. It shows that something is seriously wrong at Blizzard – at least that’s what Cortyn thinks.
The last days and weeks have been hard to endure even for hardened Blizzard fanboys, as Blizzard slides from one shitstorm to the next. If there’s a way to disappoint the players, it’s currently being taken consistently.
Whether it’s about the censorship of Jaina’s breasts (or my beloved succubi) in Hearthstone, the banning of a player who says something against China, or the disappointing ending of Patch 8.3 in World of Warcraft, Blizzard is currently taking on all negative PR they can get.
Warcraft 3: Reforged is a new milestone in the negative department. It is probably the latest low point of a development that leads fans to finally doubt their once-beloved game developer.
That the cutscenes in the campaign haven’t really been improved and that even the scene from the BlizzCon trailer no longer exists in the game, could already be considered criminal in some countries. This is a kind of deception that I simply am not used to from Blizzard.
False promises lead to a rating of 0.8 out of 10
I believe the only cases of “false promises” that I really remember as such were the dance studio in World of Warcraft and the advertising of the Battle for Wintergrasp with gyrocopters and other flying machines. These are minor details compared to what fans have been presented with now.
Above all, I find it hard to understand how Blizzard could mess this up. They had the fans on their side for the remake. When it was shown at BlizzCon, it was a small highlight. They only needed to deliver exactly what they promised. They had the license to print money and the opportunity to monetize an old game with relatively little effort. That it turned out to be so little effort in the end is outrageous.
Blizzard is currently getting the bill for this. The game is being shredded in all forums and the already poor rating of 1.9 out of 10 points has fallen further on Metacritic. Now it stands at 0.8 points. I didn’t even know until today that this is possible.
Blizzard alienates new players, but even more the old ones
The absurdity of this entire situation is that they have not only alienated new players but have also managed to alienate the small (but quite active) community of the original Warcraft 3.
Because if someone thinks, “Uff, Reforged is crap, I’d rather start the old game”, they’re out of luck. There is essentially no “old game” anymore. If you want to play Warcraft 3 online, you have to use the Reforged client. Although you can switch to the old graphics, a lot doesn’t work. Some units have no sound, sometimes towers simply don’t shoot at enemies, and many other bugs plague the game.
With the release of a new game, Blizzard has not only managed to break a lot of promises but has also actively taken something away from existing players of another game.
Reforged is dead – is development too?
Another questionable point is whether Blizzard will really invest much energy into Warcraft 3: Reforged now. Because if we’re honest: The game is dead for now. It has devastating reviews and there are complaints everywhere.
Blizzard will probably push some patches out and improve things, but whether all wishes and promises to the community will be fulfilled is questionable. After all, the current shitstorm is so big that many now have a negative attitude towards Reforged, and new players are difficult to reach. The money from pre-orders and loyal fans, who have been waiting for years, has already been secured. So why invest many resources when the child has already fallen into the well and drowned?
Do you think this is too negative a perspective? Then take a look at the StarCraft Remaster from 2017. It still doesn’t have a search function for ranked 2vs2 matches. Something that the developers promised at launch.
Even as an optimistic Blizzard fan, I would be very cautious with the hope that made promises will ever be fulfilled here.
I do feel a little bit of sympathy for the actual developers of the game. Because I can’t imagine that they had any say in the release. The developers must have seen for themselves what a disaster they were releasing and that there wasn’t enough time to get the game into an acceptable state.
Whoever does creative work and takes on such a community-adored “sanctuary” like Warcraft 3 wants it to be perfect. When you hear comparisons like “Even Anthem was better at launch than Warcraft 3: Reforged”, then some hearts must be bleeding.
The only logical explanation that I can come up with for this catastrophic release is legal reasons. In many countries, a product that can be ordered must also be delivered within a certain time. If this does not happen, customers can sue. Moreover, Blizzard had already postponed the release once, so they didn’t want to embarrass themselves by having to do it again.
But that would have been healthier. Healthier for the game, healthier for the community, and healthier for Blizzard’s reputation, which in recent years has not just been crumbling but is now in free fall.
Finally finish games and take your time
In the past – and with that, I already sound like I’m reporting like grandparents from the war – things were different at Blizzard. Games didn’t come out on a set date, but they arrived “Soon” or “When it’s done.” And this “Soon” and “When it’s done” could easily take a year or two or three in the future. A game was released when the quality was right.
If games were developed for years and didn’t reach the desired quality, they were not brought to market. The Warcraft adventure with Thrall was never released, even though it was basically playable and finished. The same goes for StarCraft: Ghost or Project Titan. These were games that were canceled after long development.
In the past, it was said in advance, “A Blizzard game! I can confidently buy it and have fun.” This has been changing for years. More and more often, it’s more like, “Ah, a Blizzard game… I’d rather wait for the first reviews.”
Isn’t that incredibly sad?
Blizzard or Activision, no matter who is responsible: Please stop it. Develop a game again and take the time you need. If you do that, you can create nearly perfect games that will remain in the memories of players forever. You create a legacy and games that are still relevant after 18 years. You had and have the potential to make gaming history with each of your games.
Well, with Warcraft 3: Reforged you surely made gaming history. But that’s probably not how you wanted it.
