Now that's a bit more like it. After coming across a whole generation of remakes and remasters that threatened to change my mind on the prospect of revisiting past projects, there's finally one to break that dangerous illusion before it set. On one hand, it's incredibly lazy and speaks to a certain lack of creativity on the part of the imaginers who spearhead these projects, but on the otherhand if you can take something great and make it even better, then why wouldn't you? (Heck, if this kept up I might have even forced myself to give those new Disney movies a shot.) Thankfully, one burning turd in the pile has come crashing at our feet to remind us all that good remakes are the exception, not the rule, and that far too often their conception is drawn by corporate greed and likely a little active disdain for an audience always asking for the envelope to be pushed.
So if you've spent anytime around the internet gaming community forums in the past week, you'd have been made aware of the fact that Blizzard is trending in the news once again, and it hasn't even been 6 months since the whole 'Chinese toadies' debacle. Do you remember during the Blizzcon right after that whole mess, when Blizzard Entertainment's President, J. Allen Brack, descended from his ivory tower to let everyone know an important message; "We're sorry!". J, (Who's first name I literally cannot find after a 3 minute google search) relayed how Blizzard had let the community and themselves down, but it would be okay because they were committing to making things right from here on in. "We will do better going forward," the man promised with all the sincerity of the Monkey and the Buzzard "But our actions are going to matter more than any words". Why, how very true Bracky-boy, you can make all the crocodile tears that you want but until we see a marked improvement from your office and the way you do business, ain't no one sane going to be cozying up to you guys anytime soon. That was a self imposed test that Blizzard ultimately failed with their very next game release, the remake of 'Warcraft 3: Reign of Choas': 'Warcraft 3: Reforged'.
For the uninitiated, Warcraft 3 is the last real-time strategy title out of the Warcraft franchise and, incidentally, one of the most influential video games ever made. This title defined RTS for many games going forward, established the popularity of a brand that would then go on to found the biggest MMO of all time: 'World of Warcraft, and built the archetype for a dedicated & creative modding community. Skyrim may boast the biggest modding community of all time, (or at least it did at one point, not sure now) but 'Warcraft 3' likely had the most ambitious. 'Reign of Choas' was a bastion for custom games that completely rewrote the rules of play, total conversion mods that were send-ups to franchises like DBZ and loving attempts touch-ups of the UI interface. (Which I'm told was garbage. I never played the game so I'll just have to take their word for it.) In fact, one such custom game for Warcraft proved so popular that is spawned a little spin-off title called 'Defence of the Ancients 2'. That's right, 'DOTA 2' and by transitive property, 'League of Legends' and the entire MOBA genre, own their entire existence to 'Warcraft 3: Reforged' and it's passionate community of minds. (So you can blame old-school Blizzard next time you see that same god-damn LOL advert by Nevercake. "Take that, rich guy, go buy an island somewhere and afford stuff; I'm trying to play League here with my many friends, who exist!")
It was with some fanfare then, that Blizzard announced back in 2018 how they planned to completely remake Warcraft 3 from the groundup in 'Warcraft 3: Reforged'. (And it was only 'some' fanfare, considering that was the same year that they announced 'Diablo: Immortal'. That particular travesty seemed to suck a lot of the air out of the room.) This was heralded with a long list of promises that was sure to set fan's hearts a-racing; there would be a remodeled UI, various narrative tweaks to bring the storyline in line with WoW's lore and, most exciting of all, brand new cinematic cutscenes for the various campaigns. These cutscenes were the star of their trailer, showcasing a decently rendered back and forth between pre-Lich Arthas and pre-dead Uther. Whilst this animation wasn't anywhere as good as Blizzard's irregular expansion announcement vids, (Which makes sense. Those probably take a couple of years to put together each.) it was still a grand step-up from the original game and had fans pumped for what other improvements the remake might have. Promise after promise leaked from Blizzard's chalice and the thirsty masses drank it up, never even tasting the healthy heap of arsenic mixed in.
But in the words of every adulterer ever; Promises are made to be broken, and so one could have guessed that Blizzard would break theirs, However, I don't think anyone could have imagined the extent to which this would reach. It started innocently enough, with the team sending corrections to news outlets that were calling this a 'remake'. Whilst that label was accurate to some degree, this title would have more in common with a 'remaster' with updated models, features and content, but the same basic beloved experience behind it all. Fair enough, it was good of them to clear it up. Then came a straight up walk-back. This one was, again, quietly announced by Blizzard to the necessary news outlets, and was concerning the narrative tweaks that fans were dubious about. They wouldn't be going through with it, just bringing everyone the same great story as before. It was around about this time that they began detailing how they wanted this game to feel like the original as much as possible because that was already such a strong foundation. Strong words, team. Speechcraft 100.
So some folk who didn't go the distance of setting up a Google alert for this title might be a little disappointed when the release date came, not everything was as promised. But again. Blizzard's incompetence overshadowed even the most pessimistic predictions. Once the game launched it became clear, not much love and attention had really gone towards this title. The biggest issue, off the bat, was the gutting of the online features that made the original title so enduring. There were no profiles, clans, competitive play or even custom games at launch due to a brand new online infrastructure that was established for this title. (A seemingly incomplete infrastructure.) Although, even folk who prefer the single player may have found themselves disappointed. The UI was unchanged, the updated visuals are practically unnoticeable unless you zoom into the character models (which no one does in an RTS) and do you remember those cinematic cutscenes? You know, the ones that Blizzard sold this concept on the back off? Those ones that are still up on their YouTube channel and which are linked on their official website promoting this game? Gone. Completely no-existent in this title.
There are a bevy of bugs and other missing features that afflict this title, but the only other big change in this game was Blizzard's approach to custom content. Firstly, they strictly laid out their rules for using custom assets on their map creator, which prohibits some of the best overhauls for the game from being ported to the new title, and they specifically changed their privacy notice to future-proof their game. Eagle eyed readers noted how Blizzard's new rules meant that anything created within their game would be the sole property of Blizzard, and fans had to waive away their moral rights in order to get access to these tools. That means that Blizzard could take ownership of anything cool built using their engine and they wouldn't be obligated to pay the original maker so much as a credit. (Way to treat the community that made your game so big, guys! what's the encore? You going to go around kicking over strollers?) All of this is done, rather transparently, to avoid another situation like DOTA 2 arising, which cost Blizzard millions, perhaps even billions, in potential revenue. (Just nipping all creativity right in the bud, hey guys?)
And the icing ontop of all of this? The updated online infrastructure which rips away so many features, eliminates custom games (for now, at least) and enforces draconic copyright measures, has been implemented across the board. Meaning that all these systems aren't just present on 'Warcraft 3: Reforged', but on the original 'Warcraft 3' as well. All those 18 years worth of custom community content that kept this title alive, gone overnight, sacrificed to the Blizzard corporate puppet with Activision playing with the stings, in a theatre showing exclusively to the Chinese government. Blizzard haven't just ruined the legacy of one of their classic games, but the classic game itself. (Even EA couldn't manage that with Battlefront 2.)
So Warcraft fans were sold a lie, kicked in the nuts and left to fester, what's their next course of action? Well, get a refund of course! There's only the lingering problem that might make that difficult; and that would be Blizzard's particularly unfriendly refund policy. (Yep, the hole gets deeper.) In Blizzard's eyes, the second someone opens their software the company is completely relieved of all refund-responsibilities and will not cede to negotiations on that matter. This was something that was heavily put to the test in the wake of Reforged's release, as folk battled against Blizzard's systems to get their money back. Things got so messed up, that people on the official Blizzard forums were giving fellow consumers guides on how to force a refund out of Blizzard. Although these samaritans were then promptly banned for their troubles. (Because Blizzard are bringing their pneumatic digger for this hole.)
And that's where things currently are with Blizzard's latest disaster. Fans have review bombed this title's Metacritic to a 0.7 consumer score as of the writing of this blog. (which is only bottomed by 'Day One: Gary's incident'.) The bastions of consumer friendliness that once was has been transformed by Frostmourne and now stand as a lifeless shell of their former selves. (Get it? I replaced 'Activision' with Frostmourne- making it into a Warcraft 3 reference... well, I thought it was funny.) J. Allen Brack has straight up proved that his promises don't mean jack and now it's up to the audience to decided if enough-is-enough or if they have to wait for the next disaster to hit their wallets before they do something. Do they need to wait until Blizzard resell Overwatch to us and call it a new game? Or until Diablo 4 launches as a predictable buggy mess? When will the final shoe drop off this hydra-esque monstrosity and what exactly are the consumers ready to do about it? I guess this coming month will tell.
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