Warcraft III also includes a very thorough scenario editor. Players can also form clans comprised of ten or more players, which are also ranked. Ranked game play is facilitated by Blizzard Entertainment's Automatic MatchMaker, which pits players of comparable skill against each other. In addition to custom games, in which players have complete control over game settings (including map, teams, handicaps, etc.), features a ranking system for certain standard game types: 1v1, or solo various team games (2v2, 3v3, 4v4) and free-for-all (FFA). Players meet other players to chat and set up multiplayer games through. West), Northrend (Europe), and Kalimdor (Asia). Warcraft III has a vibrant online gaming community centered around Blizzard Entertainment's servers (called Gateways): Azeroth (U.S. A fifth playable race, the Burning Legion, was changed during play-testing to a set of non-player characters and monsters (with a playable 'cameo' on the last level of the Undead campaign, as Kel'Thuzad summons Archimonde). The company didn't reveal the Night Elves until a month later, and pandas are a running gag in Warcraft now (to the point that a Pandaren Hero - called the Brewmaster - was available in the expansion pack, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne).

As an April Fool's joke before the game was released, Blizzard announced that the Pandaren would be the fourth race. Within the game there are four races at war: the Humans and the Orcs, who also appeared in Warcraft and Warcraft II, along with two new character teams, the Night Elves and the Undead. The idea is to force the player to be aggressive instead of 'turtling up' (spending all resources on defenses and technology, rather than attacking).Īn in-game screenshot of humans (blue) fighting orcs (red). They guard key areas or neutral buildings and are designed to act as a resource for the players to kill to provide experience points to a player's hero and to provide hero items. Certain heroes also can apply beneficial auras to allied units.Īnother new innovation is the addition of creeps, which are computer controlled characters the player fights even in multiplayer. With each kill of an enemy of a certain level, the heroes gain experience points, eventually resulting in increased levels of their own and new spell options (thus introducing role-playing game elements to the series). For instance, heroes within the game can find or trade items to increase skills, defense, etc. One of the main innovations Warcraft III offers over the previous games in the series is the addition of several powerful units called heroes.

10 Night Elf campaign: 'Eternity's End'.

9 Orc campaign: 'The Invasion of Kalimdor'.

8 Undead campaign: 'Path of the Damned'.

7 Human campaign: 'The Scourge of Lordaeron'.

Warcraft 3 neutral heroes