World Of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade. It adds a substantial amount of content to the game world, including the continent of Northrend, home of the titular Lich King, and a new character "hero" class. It was announced on the first day of BlizzCon 2007, 3 August 2007.
Wrath of the Lich King was released on November 13, 2008, selling 2.8 million copies within the first 24 hours of availability. This makes it the fastest selling computer game of all time, beating the record set by the previous World of Warcraft expansion The Burning Crusade, which sold 2.4 million within its first 24 hours.[6] It will be followed be a third expansion set, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, announced on the first day of BlizzCon 2009.

Northrend
Northrend is a crescent-shaped continent in northern Azeroth. The continent is roughly half the size of the Eastern Kingdoms, but matches Outland in length and width. Although Northrend is known for its snow and ice, developers stated that only parts of the continent were to be frozen over. Northrend features eight zones with content for levels as low as 68, though players may travel to Northrend at any level. Players arrive by boat (Alliance) or zeppelin (Horde) either at the Howling Fjord or the Borean Tundra zones, located at opposite ends of the continent. Howling Fjord is home to evil half-giants called the Vrykul who reside in Utgarde Keep, the first dungeon to be described in the expansion. The Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills zones are located in the central-south and south-east parts of the continent respectively. The ursine Furbolgs reside in the forested Grizzly Hills. Dragonblight features the grave sites of dragons who came to the region to die. Wintergrasp is the first completely player versus player (PvP) zone in World of Warcraft, even on player versus environment (PvE) servers.The Forsaken and their Queen, Sylvanas Windrunner, have also arrived with a new contagion that they hope will prove to be effective against the undead minions of the Lich King. The Forsaken are seeking vengeance for being subjected to Arthas' magic. They have set up a military base of operations called "Vengeance Landing" and have created a settlement called "New Agamand", both in Howling Fjord.
The magi of Dalaran have also relocated (along with their city) to Northrend to deal with the rising threat of the Blue Dragonflight and the Lich King. The city of Dalaran functions as the neutral sanctuary city for the continent, analogous to Shattrath City in Outland. Dalaran is levitating at a great height above the Crystalsong Forest zone but can be accessed by either the ground (via a magic powered gem beneath the city that will teleport the player) or flying mount.
According to Blizzard game designers, Arthas Menethil and Ner'zhul, combined as the titular Lich King, is the main focus of the entire expansion.

Death Knight
The Death Knight is the first announced Hero class for World of Warcraft. Death Knights, according to Blizzard developers, are able to sufficiently fill the 'tank' and DPS (damage per second) roles. Death Knights can wear plate armor and wield weapons with rune engravings (enhancements), but they cannot use shields. A Death Knight's summoned pet (ghoul) is temporary and only lasts a short amount of time; however Death Knights can choose to specialize to make the ghoul permanent and give them full control over it.
Players who upgrade their accounts with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion are able to create one level 55 Death Knight per realm (the character number limit still applies), on any realm, once they have a character on the same account of level 55 or higher. Newly created Death Knights begin with a larger set of spells and abilities than new characters of other classes, but they start with no talent points and must unlock available talent points for their level by completing quests in the Death Knight starting area in Eastern Plaguelands (called Plaguelands: The Scarlet Enclave). Both the Alliance and Horde factions have access to the class, and Death Knights may be of any race.
Instead of utilizing rage, energy, or mana for combat resource systems, the Death Knight uses a new system; runes, which are displayed under the player portrait, and runic power, which is generated by using runes in other attacks. The Death Knight has two of each type of rune available (blood, unholy, and frost) for use. After a rune is used it enters a (nominally) ten second 'cooldown' period before it can be used again. With specific talents, the Death Knight can also turn their runes into Death Runes, which can be used as any runes type. Additionally, runic power decays over time when the Death Knight is out of combat.

Graphical improvements
Several enhancements to World of Warcraft's graphics engine were added with the release of Wrath of the Lich King. These include the use of a new shader in areas containing ice, new fire effects, and more realistic shadows and the option to turn down character texture resolution to improve performance.

Reception

The reception for Wrath of the Lich King has been very positive, scoring a 91 on Metacritic.
However, gamers have reported major frame rate drops even with high-end video cards, while exploring Dalaran — compared with other regions — in large part due to the very high population of player characters in the area at the same time, and the greatly increased graphical detail in Dalaran.

World Of Warcraft the Burning Crusade

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the first expansion pack for the MMORPG World of Warcraft. It was released on January 16, 2007 at midnight (0:00 AM) in Europe and North America, and sold nearly 2.4 million copies that day, making it the fastest-selling PC game in those regions. It was released on January 17, 2007 in Australia and New Zealand;in total, approximately 3.53 million copies were sold across these territories in the first month of release, including 1.9 million in North America, over 100,000 copies in Australasia, and nearly 1.6 million in Europe. It was also released in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia on January 16, 2007. It was later released in South Korea on February 1, 2007; in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on April 30, 2007.The game was released in China on September 6, 2007.

Gameplay
Main article: Gameplay of World of Warcraft
Two new playable races were added to World of Warcraft in The Burning Crusade: The Draenei of the Alliance and the Blood Elves of the Horde. Previously, the Paladin class was exclusive to the Alliance faction, and the Shaman class was exclusive to the Horde faction; these new races allowed Alliance players to play Shaman as Draenei, and allowed Horde players to play Paladins as Blood Elves.
Player vs. Player
A new battleground, Eye of the Storm, was introduced with two brackets: one for characters between levels 61-69, and another for level 70 characters. Although this battleground was designed for level 70 characters, players are unable to summon flying mounts in this battleground. The Eye of the Storm battleground is only available to those with the expansion.
In addition, a new PvP Arena System was introduced as a way for players to fight in 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, or 5 vs 5 "Arena" battles. While the arena system allows players without The Burning Crusade expansion to partake in skirmish matches, those without the expansion are unable to participate in rated matches, which yield rewards based on a point system. Ladder matches were only accessible by players who have reached level 70. Three arena stages were introduced in The Burning Crusade expansion, including The Ruins of Lordaeron in the Undercity, The Circle of Blood in Blades Edge Mountains, and the Ring of Trials in Nagrand.Arena matches have taken a more prominent role in World of Warcraft's PvP content, and have developed into an electronic sport. One example of Arena matches as an electronic sport is the World Series of Video Games in 2007, where player teams competed in 3 vs 3 matches to earn cash prizes.Blizzard also holds its own seasonal tournament, the World of Warcraft Arena Tournament, which pitches teams from servers all around the world against each other.This tournament concludes with a 5v5 world final event, the first of which took place at Blizzcon ’07 and so ended season 1.
Additional "outdoor" PvP objectives were implemented, which are different for each zone in which they are located. Most of these outdoor PvP objectives involve "capturing" key points to reward players of the same faction in the area, usually with a temporary buff that adds a damage boost to player attacks or increases the rate players gain experience or faction points while the players are in the zone. For example, Terokkar Forest's PvP contest involves players standing near towers in order to capture them while defending the towers in PvP combat with players of the opposite faction that try to capture the objective. Other examples include Halaa in Nagrand and the Hellfire Fortifications in Hellfire Peninsula, where players compete for control to unlock quest and vendor access or gain factional reputation for rewards. Development
Distribution errors
Blizzard made a number of errors during the distribution of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in Europe. One such error is the failure to register the Collector's Edition for in-game rewards. As such, players who purchased the Collector's Edition of the game would have to send numerous proofs of purchase to Blizzard by postal mail in order to redeem their in-game awardsOnly 1,600 copies were delivered to Romania, which has more than 10,000 World of Warcraft subscribers.

Reception

The Burning Crusade received almost universal praise from critics upon release. The specially designed new starter areas met a mixed reception from critics. On the one hand, they were felt to give a strong new perspective to existing players or a solid introduction to the game to new players. The arrangement of quests and content in these areas was felt to be more finely tuned than for existing races,with players. It was felt that Blizzard had learned from the release of the original game, with the new content being varied without becoming overwhelming to new players, and new concepts being gradually introduced. On the other hand, reviewers felt that the new starter areas were poorly integrated with the existing world, leaving them feeling "tacked on." They were also disappointed that the new areas had a definite finish, beyond which a player would have to switch back to older content in order to progress their character.This progression didn't feel as smooth to reviewers when compared to the movement between zones for new characters from the older starting areas. The experience was also felt to be short-lived, with players being able to progress through these new areas with a couple of days' play without any new introductory dungeons to explore. It was also felt that these changes didn't address existing problems, such as the travel time between quest locations.Like in the original, the scenery of The Burning Crusade was highly praised, being described as "occasionally breathtaking," The introductory video to the expansion was described as "hugely impressive."It was generally felt that the new Outland areas were some of the best in the game,with the size of the new areas introduced being similar to the total size of other existing games in the genre. The new starting areas were also liked, with reviewers appreciating the attention to detail in these zones.Building architecture, scenery and creatures were all singled out for mention, despite some disappointment that buildings and creatures from the original game had been "rubber stamped" into these new locations.The uniqueness of each zone, from scorched plateaus to lush forests were praised, each area being described as having its own unique feel. The various small features, such as mechanical settlements or abandoned temples were also well liked. Players were advised that they would spend a large amount of time "just staring at the scenery" in these new locations. That said, it was felt that the game was starting to show its age, with careful use of texture and lighting techniques disguising a basic underlying geometry. This was thought to follow on from the strategy in the original game, where strong art direction and careful choice of colour helped to compensate for a simpler game engine, describing it as a "testament of art over technology."The orchestral music was well received, being described as providing a "constantly changing backdrop." The new score was felt to mesh well with the original, while still providing occasional "fresh twists." The soundtracks to each of the two new starting areas were particularly praised. Reviewers were generally positive about the voice acting in the game. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade was the best-selling PC game of 2007 in North America and Europe, and it is also the second fastest-selling PC game of all time(behind Wrath of The Lich King), selling nearly 2.4 million copies in its first 24 hours and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.
A second expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, was released on November 13, 2008

Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the official expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, requiring Reign of Chaos to play. Released in stores worldwide in multiple languages beginning on July 1, 2003, it includes new units for each race, a new neutral race, four campaigns, five neutral heroes (an additional neutral hero was added April 2004 and two more were added in August 2004), the ability to build a shop and various other improvements such as the ability to queue upgrades. Sea units were reintroduced; they had been present in Warcraft II but were absent in Reign of Chaos. Blizzard Entertainment has released patches for the game to fix bugs, add new features, and balance multiplayer.

The setting, arguably one of the most acclaimed of the Warcraft mythology, plays a prominent role in the Warcraft MMORPG as the backdrop for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, as well as World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Story

Campaign

Illidan Stormrage has gained the allegiance of the Naga, former Night Elves who adapted to underwater life and become strange, reptilian creatures. The Warden Maiev Shadowsong pursues her former prisoner, Illidan, across the sea, first to the Tomb of Sargeras. However, Illidan gains an artifact known as the 'eye of Sargeras' and wipes out some of Maiev's best women. Forced to call for help, she sends a messenger back to the mainland of Kalimdor. She asks the assistance of Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind, but Maiev holds a grudge against Tyrande for her actions in releasing Illidan. Although they are able to chase Illidan to Lordaeron, while helping the Blood Elven prince Kael'Thas, Tyrande delays the advance on an Undead army that causes her to be swept away downriver: upon their reunion, Maiev lies to Malfurion, claiming Tyrande was killed in order to prevent Illidan's escape. Malfurion and Maiev prevent Illidan from using the artifact called the Eye of Sargeras, defeat his army and condemn him to death. Illidan tries to justify his actions by saying his plan was to use the Eye to destroy the Icecrown Glacier and kill the Lich King, thereby destroying their common enemy in the Undead, but Malfurion accuses Illidan of having indirectly causing Tyrande's death. Kael'thas informs him Tyrande may have survived; Maiev's treachery comes out, and the brothers Stormrage join forces to save Tyrande. At this point, Kael'Thas supposedly takes a few more days to meet up with the human forces in the city of Dalaran, the exact same city in which they stopped Illidan. Malfurion then pardons Illidan after they save Tyrande, though he does not revoke his exile. Illidan then states that he could not join the Night Elves even if Malfurion did permit it, because his master will be enraged by his failure to use the Eye properly, and will hunt him down. Illidan departs for Outland, followed by Maiev. It seems as though Maiev would chase Illidan to the depths of the world, as she would do so. Malfurion then remarks that she has become 'vengeance itself'.

In the next campaign, the Alliance Campaign, the Humans are not the main focus unlike in previous games. Instead of the full Alliance, only the Blood Elven units are available (after the first mission), with the addition of the Draenei and Naga (who join forces with the Blood Elves throughout the game). Prince Kael'thas is the leader of the Blood Elves, a group of High Elves that survived the invasion of Quel'Thalas by the Scourge. Originally helping the Alliance, the Blood Elves take the help of the Naga to defend Dalaran and are imprisoned by Garithos, a Human leader prejudiced against the Blood Elves. In the dungeons, however, they are eventually rescued by Lady Vashj and her Naga. Vashj then helps free the other Blood Elves and takes them all to Outland, the remnants of the Orc realm Draenor, to meet their master Illidan. After fending off Maiev and gaining the allegiance of the native Draenei, Illidan is able to conquer Outland, storming the stronghold of the ruling Pit Lord, Magtheridon, where he hopes he will be safe from his failure to destroy the Frozen Throne. His master, the demon warlock Kil'jaeden, catches them nonetheless, and Illidan begs for forgiveness, claiming that he was merely gathering more forces to defeat the Undead Scourge. Kil'jaeden gives Illidan one last chance to destroy the Frozen Throne...or suffer his wrath.

In the lands of Lordaeron, now known as the Plaguelands, Arthas returns to take his throne. After purging the capital city of humans once more, a civil war takes place. The Undead forces splinter into three major factions: Arthas and Kel'Thuzad, loyal to the Lich King; the Forsaken, led by the Banshee Queen Sylvanas Windrunner; and the 3 Dreadlords (Balnazzar, Detheroc, and Varimathras), loyal to the Burning Legion, seeking to avenge the Legion's defeat by controlling the Undead. Although it is speculated that Arthas would dominate all factions, he is forced to journey to Northrend, as Illidan's use of the Eye of Sargeras, while failing to kill the Lich King, has cracked his glacial prison and caused his power and that of his followers to weaken. In the end, Sylvanas defeats the Dreadlords, enslaving Varimathras and slaying the others, to become the nominal ruler of the Plaguelands, while Arthas travels to Northrend to defend the Lich King, battling the subterranean Nerubian race and Illidan's forces. After a ferocious battle between the Undead army of Arthas, and Illidan's Blood Elf and Naga troops to siege the four obelisks, which allows access to Icecrown glacier, Arthas defeats Illidan in a duel, and ascends to the Frozen Throne. He becomes one with the Lich King by donning the armor of Nerzhul. The new Lich King's further plans will be explored in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Bonus Campaign: The Founding of Durotar

The mini-campaign focuses mainly on two Heroes, Rexxar and Rokhan.

The Orc mini-campaign is a departure from the rest of the game. It has features more like an RPG similar to Diablo, featuring a Beastmaster named Rexxar as he helps the Orcs defend and develop their new home of Durotar from various enemies. The Orc mini-campaign was created because the game designers felt that the Orc storyline didn't fit into the main plot of The Frozen Throne. The mini-campaign allowed the designers to move away from standard real-time strategy conventions and explore new level design and gameplay concepts. This campaign was extended by two more chapters through patches of the main game.^[1] It also established plot and setting details in preparation for Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft. Completing the other campaigns is not a requirement to play the mini-campaign as the menu immediately allows the player to choose between the campaign missions and the mini-campaign.

In the wilds of Kalimdor, Rexxar comes across an Orc messenger who is attacked and mortally wounded, subsequently passing on his message to Rexxar before he dies. Rexxar gives the message to Thrall, the warchief of the Horde. He stays in the city of Orgrimmar for a while, performing a number of duties for the Horde to earn his keep. Eventually, he discovers that a force of Humans is planning an invasion of Durotar, led by Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, who has seized control of the Theramore islands from his daughter. Rexxar gathers allies for the Horde, the taurens led by Cairne Bloodhoof and the ogres led by Rexxar, and leads the assault on the islands to end the threat to the Horde. The Admiral is slain, and the Orcs leave the island in peace, but the truce between the Horde and the Alliance seems forever strained by the battle.

There is also an extra hero, Chen Stormstout the Pandaren Brewmaster available for playing if the optional quest 'Rare Brew' is completed.

Additions

A well-established Human base.

For each race, The Frozen Throne adds several new units and buildings, and one new hero per race. The entirely new race "Naga" has also been added, and can be played in several Night Elf and Blood Elf missions, as well as in custom maps if their basic unit (the Mur'gul Slave) is added via the World Editor. A smaller race, the Draenei, have also been included, though they can only be played in the Human campaign and World-Editor created maps. The old siege engines of the Humans, Orcs and Night Elves have been renamed and remodeled, receiving new upgrades in the process. The population limit has been increased from 90 to 100.

The expansion and its subsequent patches made the addition of neutral Hero units, which appear in the single player campaigns. Neutral heroes can be used in melee maps via the Tavern, a neutral building to hire them. The tavern can also instantly revive any fallen hero, with an increased resource cost, and reduced health and mana of the revived hero. A nearby unit is needed to access the tavern.

The Warcraft III Map Editor program now allows the user to do more custom work with regards to editing skills and new tileset and models to work with. A mod is being used with an anticipated project of a Warcraft III version of World of Warcraft which allows players to play single-player campaign and have several players play as well. The single-player version is nearly out but the multiplayer-MMORPG version has been delayed due to RTC changes.

Ladder

Battle.net servers host PvP Ladders for The Frozen Throne. Kalimdor (Asia), Lordaeron (USWest), Azeroth (USEast), Northrend (Europe),ThaiCyberGames (Thailand) all have influential players of their own. However, the varied styles of play and range of skill is heavily favored towards foreign realms such as Kalimdor and Northrend. These competitive ladders have driven the game along with yearly pro competitions. In recent years the steady decline of top players on the domestic realms has led to the few remaining top players to leave to Kalimdor, Northrend, retire altogether or move onto the Blizzard MMORPG World of Warcraft. The battle.net ladder includes Solo, Random Team, Arranged Team (2vs2, 3vs3, 4vs4) and Free For All, giving a wide range in which a player can determine and choose which ladder best suits them.

Another problem threatening ladder play is the fact that Battle.net has ceased to update its hack prevention program and a large percentage of ladder users utilizes third party programs for unfair advantages such as having the entire map revealed. The current matchmaking system also prevents players with very positive records from being able to find a game in a reasonable amount of time. At the same time others will join and leave many games repeatedly with an automated program to be matched against players with negative records in what is referred to as "AMM abuse".

Development

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was originally announced on January 22, 2003.^[2] On February 14, 2003, Blizzard announced the first beta test for the game, which offered 10,000 players to sample the game.^[3] On March 10, 2003, 10,000 more players were selected to participate in the beta test.^[4] On May 29, 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion set had "gone gold". There have been many patches, including patch 1.21b which allowed the game to be played without the official CD. On April 4, 2008 Blizzard released a new test version of Warcraft III patch 1.22. The patch was available for testing on the "Westfall" beta server. The Westfall server was recently taken down and a message by Blizzard was given stating that a live release of patch 1.22 to all realms would be forthcoming. On July 1, 2008 patch 1.22 was released. Due to the latest patch, version 1.23, many third-party programs have been rendered unusable. Several third-party programs that reveal the entire map, commonly known as maphacks, have been released for the update. It also disabled collided maps, which would make modified custom maps appear to be the same as the original. Another effect of the patch, which is not included in the release notes, is that custom maps with large filenames will not appear in the game. The limit is believed to be 20 characters, but this has not yet been tested.^[5] The 1.23 patch included no actual changes to gameplay, and the 1.24a and 1.24b patches followed suit.

Awards and ratings

Like its predecessor, The Frozen Throne was well received among critics. It has an average rating of 90.5% on Game Rankings.^[6] It is still played by hundreds of thousands with the aid of the vast editor.

Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 atau WC3) adalah sebuah permainan video komputer RTS yang dirilis oleh Blizzard Entertainment pada bulan Juli 2002. Permainan yang merupakan sekuel kedua dari Warcraft: Orcs & Humans ini merupakan permainan video yang paling ditunggu-tunggu dengan total pemesanan awal sebanyak 4,5 juta unit, dan lebih satu juta unit lainnya terjual dalam waktu satu bulan setelah game ini dirilis.

Blizzard Entertainment merilis game ini dalam 2 versi: versi regular dan Collector's Edition yang dibuat terbatas. Satu paket dalam versi Collector's Edition adalah DVD sinematik Warcraft III, termasuk fitur di-balik-layar; sebuah CD soundtrack; sebuah instruksi manual; Buku The Art of Warcraft; dan Lithographic Prints. Warcraft III memenangkan banyak penghargaan termasuk "Game of the Year" dari lebih dari enam media publikasi. Pak ekspansi untuk game ini, The Frozen Throne, dirilis tahun 2003.

Cara Bermain

Metode permainan pada Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos pada dasarnya tidak berbeda dengan permainan-permainan video RTS lainnya. Pemain mengontrol sebuah markas yang terdiri dari beraneka bangunan. Beberapa dari bangunan ini kemudian bisa digunakan untuk memproduksi unit pekerja dan prajurit. Bangunan yang dimiliki oleh setiap ras memiliki nama dan penampilan yang berbeda-beda, namun fungsi tiap bangunan itu pada dasarnya sama walaupun beberapa memiliki fungsi unik yang tidak dimiliki bangunan dari ras lain. Pemain juga bisa membangun sebuah bangunan mirip menara pertahanan untuk membantu melindungi markasnya.

Ada 2 sumber tambang utama dalam permainan Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos: emas dan kayu. Emas diperlukan untuk membuat bangunan dan unit, sementara kayu diperlukan untuk membuat bangunan dan unit tingkat lanjut. Emas diperoleh dengan menambang pada suatu bangunan mirip gundukan yang disebut "Gold Mine" memakai unit pekerja. Kayu sendiri diperoleh dengan menebang pepohonan yang terdapat di hampir setiap sudut peta permainan. Emas dalam jumlah kecil juga bisa diperoleh dengan membunuh unit musuh atau menjual barang-barang yang hanya bisa digunakan oleh Hero. Sumber daya lain yang dibutuhkan tapi tidak digolongkan sebagai tambang adalah food (makanan) yang menunjukkan populasi unit pemain. Food diperoleh dengan cara mendirikan bangunan pusat kota ataupun bangunan lain yang fungsinya kurang lebih mirip murah. Human misalnya, bisa menambah food dengan cara mendirikan bangunan Farm dan/atau Town Hall. Batas maksimal food dalam Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos adalah 90.

Penambahan terbaru pada permainan Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos yang tidak ada pada permainan Warcraft sebelumnya adalah adanya 2 ras baru yang bisa dimainkan: Undead dan Night Elf melengkapi ras Human dan Orc yang sudah ada sebelumnya. Human sesuai namanya adalah ras manusia. Orc merupakan ras raksasa dan monster yang gemar berperang. Undead adalah ras yang terdiri dari mayat hidup dan roh-roh jahat, sementara Night Elf terdiri dari peri malam dan makhluk-makhluk ajaib penjaga hutan. Setiap ras memiliki kelebihan dan keunikan yang berbeda dengan ras lainnya sehingga memakai ras tertentu juga memerlukan taktik yang spesifik agar bisa menang. Untuk menjaga keseimbangan antar ras, Blizzard Entertainment selaku pengembang dari Warcraft merilis patch (versi pembaruan untuk permainan video) dalam interval waktu yang tidak tentu dan bisa diunduh di situs resminya.^[1]

Penambahan lain dalam permainan ini adalah adanya unit yang disebut Hero. Keunikan Hero dibandingkan unit lainnya adalah ia memiliki kemampuan yang bisa ditingkatkan dengan menaikkan levelnya hingga maksimal level 10. Level bisa ditingkatkan dengan membunuh unit musuh dan setiap mendapat kenaikan level, Hero bisa mendapatkan kemampuan baru sehingga menambah nuansa RPG dalam permainan. Hero bisa dibunuh, namun ia bisa dibangkitkan kembali di Altar. Jumlah maksimal Hero yang bisa dibuat adalah 3 di mana setiap kenaikan zaman pada bangunan pusat kota, pemain mendapatkan akses untuk membuat Hero baru.

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos juga menampilkan monster-monster liar yang disebut "creep". Monster-monster liar ini beragam dan kekuatannya bervariasi. Ada monster yang bisa dibunuh hanya dengan sejumlah kecil pasukan, namun ada juga unit yang sangat kuat dan bahkan kebal terhadap sihir. Mereka terletak di seluruh wilayah pada peta dan biasanya semakin kuat mereka, lokasi yang dijaga semakin penting bagi pemain. Jika dibunuh, mereka akan menjatuhkan sejumlah kecil emas bagi pemain dan juga poin pengalaman yang dibutuhkan bagi Hero untuk kenaikan level. Beberapa monster liar yang dibunuh juga menjatuhkan barang yang memberikan status tambahan maupun kemampuan khusus yang hanya bisa digunakan oleh Hero dan juga bisa dijual untuk mendapatkan emas.

Multiplayer

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos juga memberikan kemampuan bagi pemainnya untuk bermain secara bersama-sama dalam permainan yang sama atau biasa dikenal dengan istilah multiplayer. Multiplayer bisa dilakukan lewat sambungan LAN maupun lewat sambungan internet. Pemain yang ingin bermain multiplayer lewat koneksi LAN harus membuat nama akun terlebih dahulu, lalu membuat ruangan khusus untuk bermain bersama-sama dengan pemain lainnya atau masuk ke ruang yang sudah ada. Bermain lewat sambungan internet sendiri pada dasarnya tidak berbeda dengan bermain lewat sambungan LAN. Blizzard Entertainment selaku pengembang Warcraft menyediakan server khusus untuk bermain lewat internet (online) bernama Batlle.net. Perbedaan pokok dengan bermain lewat LAN adalah pemain harus membuat akun Battle.net di situs yang bersangkutan sebelum bisa ikut bermain di Battle.net.

Plot

Plot dalam Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos hanya bisa ditemui pada menu campaign (perang dengan misi-misi tertentu yang spesifik) dalam mode single player (permainan tunggal). Ada 4 campaign berbeda di mana setiap ras memiliki campaignnya sendiri-sendiri (kecuali ras Orc dengan tambahan tutorial campaign untuk pemula). Jika pemain sudah menyelesaikan campaign dari suatu ras, maka pemain bisa melanjutkan ke campaign milik ras berikutnya dengan urutan Human, Undead, Orc, dan Night Elf sebagai campaign terakhir.

Cerita di Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos bermula ketika suatu desa di Kerajaan Lordaeron milik ras manusia diserang oleh gerombolan Orc. Pangeran Arthas selaku anak dari raja Lordaeron pun diutus untuk menangani masalah itu bersama penyihir wanita Jaina Proudmoore dan komandan perang senior Uther the Lightbringer. Setelah Arthas berhasil mengusir gerombolan Orc dan membebaskan penduduk desa, Arthas mulai merasakan adanya keanehan baru seperti adanya serangan dari makhluk mirip mayat hidup dan munculnya wabah misterius di Lordaeron. Semakin lama menyelidiki, Arthas mulai sadar bahwa ada iblis bernama Mal'ganis yang ingin memanfaatkan penduduk ras manusia (Human) sebagai tentara bagi kaumnya.

Arthas akhirnya berhasil mengalahkan Mal'ganis melalui pertarungan yang alot, namun Mal'ganis berhasil melarikan diri ke Kutub Utara sehingga Arthas memutuskan untuk mengejarnya. Di Kutub Utara, Arthas tanpa sengaja bertemu seseorang bernama Muradin yang sedang berada di Kutub Utara untuk menemukan pedang ajaib yang disebut Frostmourne. Arthas yang terobsesi mengalahkan Mal'ganis pun berusaha mendapatkan Frostmourne walaupun harus menyebabkan Muradin tewas. Arthas akhirnya berhasil membunuh Mal'ganis dengan bantuan pedang Frostmourne, namun tanpa sadar pedang itu juga mempengaruhi pikirannya. Ketika tiba kembali di istana Lordaeron, Arthas yang sudah dikuasai pedang itu membunuh ayahnya sendiri sehingga Kerajaan Lordaeron pun tertimpa kekacauan.

Arthas yang baru saja mengkudeta ayahnya sendiri kemudian bertemu oleh iblis lain bernama Tichondrius yang mengatakan bahwa Arthas sudah berhasil melaksanakan misi pertamanya sebagai bagian dari ras Undead. Arthas selanjutnya diperintahkan untuk menghancurkan pemukiman ras High Elf dan mengklaim sumur ajaibnya untuk memperluas kekuasaan Undead dan membangkitkan kembali Kel'Thuzad, pendeta Undead yang dulu dibunuhnya. Melalui Kel'Thuzad, Arthas mengetahui bahwa wabah di Lordaeron merupakan bagian dari rencana ras iblis bernama Burning Legion untuk masuk ke dunia dengan bantuan roh dukun bernama Lich King. Kel'Thuzad juga menjelaskan bahwa ia telah "dipilih" oleh Lich King sebagai salah satu anak buah kepercayaannya melalui pedang Frostmourne tersebut. Arthas dan Kel'Thuzad selanjutnya diperintahkan untuk membukakan gerbang antar dimensi dengan jalan merebut kitab sihir dari Dalaran, basis terakhir Kerajaan Lordaeron. Mereka akhirnya sukses memanggil Archimonde, pemimpin dari Burning Legion dan dengan kekuatannya, Archimonde menghancurkan sisa-sisa Kerajaan Lordaeron.

Di saat yang hampir bersamaan, Thrall, pemimpin tertinggi ras Orc, memutuskan untuk mengungsikan rasnya keluar dari tanah Lordaeron usai bertemu seseorang misterius bernama The Prophet (Sang Peramal). Di tengah perjalanan, kapal-kapal mereka terkena badai sehingga rombongan Thrall terpisah dengan rombongan Grom Hellsceam, saudaranya, hingga akhirnya terdampar di Kalimdor, tanah yang belum terjamah. Di Kalimdor, rombongan Thrall bertemu dengan ras manusia banteng bernama Tauren yang belakangan menjadi sahabat mereka. Rombongan Thrall akhirnya bertemu dengan rombongan dari Grom Hellscream yang terlibat peperangan kecil dengan ras manusia yang juga mengungsi ke Kalimdor usai runtuhnya Kerajaan Lordaeron. Thrall menyuruh Grom agar tidak mengganggu ras manusia lebih lanjut, namun Grom mengabaikannya sehingga Thrall menghukum Grom mengumpulkan kayu untuk mendirikan markas.

Grom selanjutnya menebangi begitu banyak pohon sehingga menggunduli sebagian hutan. Ulah Grom menggunduli hutan membuat Cenarius - dewa penjaga hutan Kalimdor - marah sehingga ia menyerang pasukan Grom. Pasukan Grom yang terdesak mencari dan meminum air dari suatu sumur ajaib agar bisa mengalahkan Cenarius, namun ternyata sumur tersebut sudah dikutuk oleh kekuatan iblis. Di saat bersamaan, pasukan Thrall yang dibantu Tauren berhasil mendesak ras manusia, namun tiba-tiba The Prophet muncul kembali dan menyatakan bahwa mereka harus bersatu karena Burning Legion sudah mendekati Kalimdor. Orc dan Human akhirnya memutuskan untuk bekerja sama memerangi pasukan Grom yang sudah dikuasai iblis sebelum akhirnya berhasil menyelamatkan Grom. Grom sendiri akhirnya gugur setelah berhasil membunuh Mannoroth, iblis yang sebelumnya mengutuk dirinya dan ras Orc lainnya.

Di saat bersamaan, salah satu pemimpin tertinggi ras Night Elf bernama Tyrande Whisperwind terbangun dari tidur panjangnya dan menyadari bahwa ada makhluk-makhluk asing yang masuk ke Kalimdor. Khawatir bahwa mereka hanya akan menyebabkan kekacauan, Tyrande beserta Malfurion - pendeta tertinggi Night Elf - menyuruh rasnya berperang dengan mereka sehingga Night Elf terlibat perang segitiga dengan Burning Legion (Undead) dan koalisi Orc-Human. Di sela-sela peperangan, Tyrande membebaskan Illidan - saudara Malfurion yang dipenjara karena dituduh berkhianat - untuk membantu Night Elf. Illidan yang dibebaskan selanjutnya berhasil membunuh Tichondrius, salah satu jenderal Burning Legion, namun di saat bersamaan ia malah tergoda dengan kekuatan Tichondrius dan kemudian menggunakan kekuatan tersebut untuk dirinya sendiri. Malfurion akhirnya mengusir Illidan karena kekuatan barunya dianggap membahayakan ras Night Elf.

Di tengah peperangan antara koalisi Human-Orc dengan Night Elf, The Prophet kembali muncul dan mengatakan bahwa inilah saatnya untuk bersatu demi menghentikan rencana jahat dari Burning Legion sambil mengatakan siapa dirinya sebenarnya. Ras Night Elf akhirnya setuju melakukan gencatan senjata dengan Human dan Orc. Ketiga ras itu kemudian mendirikan garis pertahanan terakhir di dekat Pohon Keabadian yang diincar Archimonde untuk menguasai dunia. Peperangan berlangsung begitu sengit, namun pasukan Burning Legion akhirnya berhasil mengalahkan pasukan gabungan ketiga ras tersebut. Di saat bersamaan, Malfurion ternyata memiliki rencana rahasia dengan mengumpulkan roh-roh penunggu hutan sambil mengulur waktu lewat peperangan. Akhirnya, tepat ketika Archimonde siap mengklaim kekuatan pohon tersebut, roh-roh penunggu hutan meledakkan dirinya sehingga Archimonde hancur bersama dengan Pohon Keabadian dan rencana Burning Legion menguasai dunia pun gagal.

Sejarah Blizzard

Blizzard Entertainment was founded by Michael Morhaime, Ayman Allen Adham and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse in February 1991, a year after^[3] all three had received their bachelor's degrees from UCLA.^[3][4] In the early days the company focused on creating game ports for other studios. Ports include titles such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I and Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess.^[5][6] In 1993, the company developed games like Rock N' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings (published by Interplay Productions). In 1994, the company briefly changed its name to Chaos Studios, before finally settling on Blizzard Entertainment after it was discovered that another company with the Chaos name already existed. That same year, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for under $10 million. Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.

Blizzard has changed hands several times since then: Davidson was acquired along with Sierra On-Line by a company called CUC International in 1996; CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form Cendant in 1997. In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger; Cendant's stock lost 80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer software operations, Sierra On-line which included Blizzard, to French publisher Havas in 1998, the same year Havas was purchased by Vivendi. Blizzard was part of the Vivendi Games group of Vivendi. In July 2008 Vivendi Games merged with Activision, using Blizzard's name in the resulting company, Activision Blizzard.

In 1996, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, which had been working on the game Diablo for Blizzard at the time. Condor was renamed Blizzard North, and has since developed hit games Diablo, Diablo II, and its expansion pack Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Blizzard North was located in San Mateo, California; the company originated in Redwood City, California.

Blizzard launched their online gaming service Battle.net in January 1997 with the release of their action-RPG Diablo. In 2002, Blizzard was able to reacquire rights for three of its earlier Silicon & Synapse titles from Interplay Entertainment and re-release them under Game Boy Advance.^[7] In 2004, Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb of Vélizy, Yvelines, France, responsible for the European in-game support of World of Warcraft. On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released World of Warcraft, its MMORPG offering. On May 16, 2005, Blizzard announced the acquisition of Swingin' Ape Studios, a console game developer which had been developing StarCraft: Ghost. The company was then merged into Blizzard's other teams after StarCraft: Ghost was 'postponed indefinitely'. On August 1, 2005, Blizzard announced the consolidation of Blizzard North into the headquarters at 131 Theory in UC Irvine's University Research Park in Irvine, California.

In 2008, Blizzard was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for the creation of World of Warcraft. Mike Morhaime accepted the award in the awards.

Blizzard

lizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded in February 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce. Based in Irvine, California, the company originally concentrated primarily of the creation of game ports for other studios before beginning development of their own software in 1993 with the development of games like Rock N' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In 1994 the company became Blizzard Entertainment Inc before being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates. Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. Blizzard went on to create several successful PC games, including the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series, and the MMORPG World of Warcraft.