Hi everyone,
Like last year, I'm glad to sponsor and help organise a professional Warcraft III tournament, to be played on Hive-made maps.
The maps were selected in the 6th Melee Map Making Contest.

Now it is my pleasure to disclose the relevant info about the tournament:

Dates:

• Main event: 12 and 13 November 2020.
• First two of the five qualifiers will take place next Monday and Friday, i.e. 26th and 29th October. Starting time is 17:00 CET.
• The remaining three qualifiers are planned for 2nd, 6th and 9th November. Due to a busy schedule, these dates may be subject to change.

Format:

-Main event

• 8 participants, double Elimination. Played online on European servers.
• 7 maps, 5 winners of 6th Melee Mapping Contest, and last year's Brigtwater Oasis and Gold Port.
• All games are Bo3, except the grand final which is Bo5.
• Prizepool of 500EUR distributed as (place\amount): 1\240, 2\120, 3\60, 4\40, 5&6\20.
• Three players were invited for being medalists last year: Happy, Foggy and Hawk. Remaining 5 will qualify via the 5 qualifiers.

-Qualifiers

• Free to enter for anybody willing and able to participate. Played online on European servers.
• Single elimination, Bo1 for early rounds. Bo3 starting quaterfinals.
• Each qualifier centers on one map (e.g. on 26 October it is Tortoise Haven). All Bo1 games are played on it, Bo3 games start with this map.
• Prizepool of 50EUR, which all go to the winner. The winner qualifies for the main event and is barred from part-taking in subsequent qualifiers.

Links to qualifiers:

1. 26 October, Tortoise Haven
2. 30 October, Shattered Exile
3. 2 November*, Talonrift Coast
4. 6 November*, Zul'Alor
5. 9 November*, Last Snow

(*date to be confirmed)

Special thanks to Back2Warcraft for again being partners and co-organizers of the tournament!
And thanks to Mythic for the cool banner

Long live Warcraft!

1.32.9 PATCH NOTES

Blizzard said: Warcraft III: Reforged Patch Notes Version 1.32.9 – October 21, 2020 After extensive testing and careful observation of multiple tournaments, we’re happy to release this Version 1.32.9 Balance Update. This Balance Update focuses on changes to improve the Human vs. Undead and Orc vs. Night Elf matchups, with some quality of life changes and some long outstanding community requests. Thank you very much to you, the community. You were instrumental in guiding these changes. The feedback we received through posts, videos, and tournaments were greatly appreciated. We’d also like to thank Back2Warcaft, Dreamhack, ESL, WCG, WGL, and all of the community contributors who produced amazing games and content during these times. Your feedback was invaluable. HUMAN Castle research gold cost reduced from 360 to 320. Developers’ notes: The goal here is to increase the incentive of Human to go to Castle, as well as promote some one-base options. Peasants HP increased from 220 to 230. Developers’ notes: Increasing their health slightly should help players manage the early game harassment. Mountain King damage reduced from 60/115/160 to 60/110/150. Rifleman attack delay reduced from 1.4 to 1.35. Developers’ notes: With the additional changes to Human, we felt that this previous change needed to be reverted. Spell Breaker armor reduced from 3 to 2. Developers’ notes: The goal here is to try to get away from mass Spell breakers in Human Mirror. Sorceress slow movement speed reduced from 60% to 55%. Developers’ notes: A slight movement speed reduction to Slow. This is to improve the Orc vs. Human matchup and to slightly improve the Human vs. Night Elf match up to compensate for the lack of dispel. Siege Engine Tank experience bounty increased from 60 to 85. Developers’ notes: Recent changes to Undead repair rate could potentially increase the viability of Siege Engines, so we are increasing the experience bounty, which we feel is too low. ORC Great Hall supply granted increased from 10 to 11. Developers’ notes: This should help provide an early scouting option in the Orc vs. Night Elf matchup. Blademaster Mirror Image mana cost decreased from 100 to 80. Developers’ notes: We are starting to see emerging gameplay from Orc players using Mirror Image with Lighting Shield which is super exciting, entertaining, and fits their faction theme. However, we noticed the main deterrent of this strategy is Mirror Image’s high mana cost. In addition to the wisp detonate change, we believe this should further promote the use of this skill. Tauren Chieftain War Stomp stun duration against heroes reduced from 2/3/4 to 2/2.5/3 seconds, and Shockwave mana cost reduced from 100 to 90. Developers’ notes: War Stomp is an extremely powerful skill that performs quite well against enemy forces, however its “hero stunlock potential” needs to be reined in slightly, while reducing Shockwave’s mana cost to 90 could make it a viable alternative. UNDEAD Spirit Tower / Nerubian Tower repair rate increased from 35 to 45. Developers’ notes: The repair rate measures how long it takes for a building to be repaired, so the higher the number is, the longer it takes. Recent changes have allowed Undead to expand more easily, so we feel that the repair rate of their towers should be brought in line with the other races. 45 is 5 less than an Orc burrow, and taking in consideration that there will usually only be a maximum of 5 acolytes repairing it, we feel this makes the most sense. Death Knight Unholy Aura movement speed changed from 10/20/30 to 10/17.5/25. Developers’ notes: We have noticed that once the Death Knight reaches Unholy Aura level 2, they are able to take fights they wouldn’t normally be able to due to their increase mobility and kiting potential. Crypt Lord Level 2 and Level 3 Carrion Beetles: Hit points increased from 275/410 to 300/440. Movement speed reduced from 290 to 280 (all levels). Burrow ability requires the Burrow upgrade. Carrion Beetle Level 2 Collision Size increased from 16 to 32. Developers’ notes: We like seeing more Crypt Lord usage. However, there were a few issues to address. The high mobility and free burrow were the main factors driving an undesirable experience when fighting against Carrion Beetles. We decided to decrease their mobility and gate their burrow ability by an upgrade, but we are also compensating the Carrion Beetles health, so that the Crypt Lord will still be a viable pick. Destroyer cast point time decreased from 0.83 to 0.66. Developers’ notes: This change is to improve the usability of the Destroyer when casting Devour Magic. Gargoyle now has a new toggle ability “Prioritize” which will allow the Gargoyle to prioritize flying units over ground units. Developers’ notes: This was requested by the community to improve the useability of this unit. When the ability is turned on, the Gargoyle will prioritize air units over ground units, but will still attack ground units if the player force attacks them. Necromancer Unholy Frenzy HP drain reduced from 3 to 2HP/s. Developers’ notes: A minor change to try and promote Undead’s usage of support casters. Rod of Necromancy cooldown increased from 22 seconds to 26 seconds. Developers’ notes: This is a targeted change to help Human deal against skeleton harass early game. With the increased cooldown, Rod of Necromancy gives the Human player a little bit more time to react and breathe before the next set of skeletons. This will also have a small effect on a few solo creeping routes as a Death Knight, but we find that acceptable. Night Elf Wisp Mana drained on detonate reduced from 50 to 40. Developers’ notes: Detonate has become too powerful, especially against Orc, due to their lack of mana regeneration options for their casters. Archer HP Reduced from 260 to 255. Developers’ notes: This is a slight calibration on a previous change to archers, since they are a little too durable, especially when considering the Elune’s Grace passive ability. Druid of the Claw (Bear Form) base damage increased from 24 to 25. Developers’ notes: Night Elf has recently been heavily reliant on tier 1 units, so we are hoping the Wisp Detonate change, along with slightly buffing the damage of Druid of the Claw (Bear Form) could promote more strategic variety. Chimaera Friendly Fire removed. Developers’ notes: Between the Frost Wyrm, Gryphon Rider, and the Chimaera, only the Chimaera does friendly fire. We feel this was a frustrating component of the unit. NEUTRAL Pitlord Level 1 Rain of fire range reduced from 800 to 700 Developers’ notes: This change is specifically targeting the Undead Pitlord push against Human. ITEMS Helm of Valor, Medallion of Courage, and Hood of Cunning stat increase changed from +4 to +5 for each stat provide. Developers’ notes: These items were underpowered compared to the other items available in the same tier. Claws of Attack +6 replaced with Claws of Attack +5. Developers’ notes: We are reducing the attack number because at +6, the power swing for range heroes specifically in the early game was too great. Tome of Retraining cost reduced from 300 to 200. Developers’ notes: Highly requested by the community. We are hoping to encourage some new builds and potentially create more ability variety throughout the different phases of the game. Wand of the Wind charges reduced from 3 to 2. Developers’ notes: At 3 charges, Wand of the Wind provided too much crowd control for a single Hero. Bug Fixes ART Added a glow effect to Engineer Gazlowe’s cigar in Reforged mode. Filled in missing textures on the Pile of Junk doodad in Reforged mode. Fixed an ordering issue with the Polar Furbolg Ursa Warrior’s armor in Reforged mode so it no longer sinks into his face. Removed team color from the Blue Dragonspawn Warrior’s eyes in Reforged mode. Filled in missing textures on the shoulderpads of the Blue Dragonspawn Warrior in Reforged mode. Corrected animations for the facial hair for the Satyr and Lord Garithos during their talking animations in Reforged mode. Adjusted the colors on mounted and unmounted Thrall so that they match in Reforged mode. Added a glow effect to the eyes for the Faceless One Trickster and Wraith portraits in Reforged mode. Added a glow effect to the eyes of the model and portrait for Salamander Hatchling in Reforged mode. Adjusted facial animations for the Sea Giant in Reforged mode so they better match their vocalizations. Resized footprints for Chicken critter so they better fit the model in Reforged mode. VERSUS Removed Ring of Protection +2 and added Ring of Protection +3 to the loot table for the Ogre camps on Furbolg Mountain. Adjusted terrain so units can no longer reach unintended places on Concealed Hill. CUSTOM GAMES Added tooltips for the Advanced Options in Custom Games. Fixed a bug with custom units in Classic Mode that was causing shadows to not display. CAMPAIGN Added a tooltip for the Soul Preservation buff used by Mal’Ganis. EDITOR Fixed an issue with the SetMapMusic function that was preventing playlists from playing music. Fixed an issue with the function for setting player names that was preventing those name changes from applying properly in game. Disabling Use Fixed Random Seed now properly randomizes the seed.

1.32.9 PTR PATCH NOTES UPDATE

Blizzard said: October 13, 2020 Lok’tar! Once again, thank you all of the amazing feedback you’ve given to us through this PTR. The online posts, streams, and videos have been extremely helpful. In today’s new PTR build, we’re making a few adjustments to specifically help the Human vs. Undead matchup. We’re also reverting all previous changes to promote late game air. Although we want to increase the viability of all units, we feel with the current scope, it would be too risky to release these changes into the live environment. We hope to revisit this after the current meta has settled down with the existing changes planned. Please remember these changes are a work in progress and subject to change. And again, thank you for your continued feedback! -The Warcraft 3 Team October 13 PTR Changes Human Mountain King Thunderclap Damage Cap removed and damage reduced from 60/115/160 to 60/100/145. Developers’ notes: While the damage cap of Thunderclap sounded good, we have seen counter-intuitive play happening, such as mitigating the Mountain King’s damage by surrounding him with more than 8 units. This indirectly increased mass ghouls and skeleton strategies, which was undesired. Damage caps can also lead to player frustration. Castle research gold cost reduced from 360 to 320. Developers’ notes: The goal here is increase the incentives of human to go to Castle as well as promote some 1 base options. Undead Crypt Lord Level 2 and Level 3 Carrion Beetles hit points reduced from 330/490 to 300/440. Developers’ notes: The increased HP on Carrion Beetles were warranted due to their reduced movement speed, as well as their new requirement on burrow. However, we felt the current HP was too high and have reduced the amount of HP increased. Ghouls & Abomination Cannibalize now requires research again. Cannibalize moved to Necropolis. Developers’ notes: We decided to move Cannibalize to the Necropolis, which could promote variety in opening Undead builds, while still giving a player a choice on what they want to invest into. Gargoyle prioritize now will no longer stop the unit when activating. Added Status Icon. Skeleton Warrior & Skeleton Mage Level changed from 1 to 2 (Experienced bounty increased from 12 to 20). Developers’ notes: This will increase skeleton experience from 12 to 20, and while this will apply to all matchups, this should specifically help UD vs Human skeleton harass. Neutral Pitlord Level 1 Rain of fire range reduced from 800 to 700. Developers’ notes: This change is specifically targeting the Undead Pitlord push against Human. Pandaren Brewmaster Breath of Fire damage cap removed, and Breath of Fire initial damage per level reduced. Damage reduced from 65/125/170 to 60/100/140. Breath of Fire reduced DoT per level. Damage reduced from 7/14/21 to 7/12/18. Developers’ notes: While evaluating the damage cap on Thunderclap, we also saw the inconsistency that damage caps cause, so we felt this necessary. Items Wand of the Wind Cyclone cooldown removed, and Charges reduced from 3 to 2. Developers’ notes: Reverting the cooldown and reducing the charges helps solve the original issue of the Wand being able to take a specific hero out of the fight for an extended period of time. Reverted Changes Gryphon Riders build time reverted from 40 to 45 seconds, and Gold cost reverted from 260 to 280. Wind Rider Gold cost reverted from 245 to 265. Frost Wyrm build time reverted from 60 to 65 seconds, and gold cost reverted from to 355 to 385. Chimera build time reverted from 55 to 60. Developers’ notes: We will potentially revisit all of the above at a later date. Scout Tower / Guard Tower / Cannon Tower / Arcane Tower repair time reverted back up 5 seconds. Developers’ notes: We decided to revert this change with concern for potential tower rush strategies re-emerging.

1.32.9 PTR PATCH NOTES UPDATE

Blizzard said: October 6, 2020 Lok’tar! We would like to thank everyone for providing very valuable and passionate feedback. Going into the first iteration of the PTR, the Warcraft 3 team knew some of the balance changes may have been too extreme. However, we wanted to test the impact of the changes and gauge community feedback. In today’s iteration of PTR, we’re scaling back on some of the changes, as well as including some additional changes that were highly requested. Please remember these changes are a work in progress and subject to change. We plan to do one more balance pass before this patch goes live. Thanks! HUMAN Arcane Tower Increase Summon damage reverted from 25 to 20. Developers’ notes: After careful observation and playtesting, we feel this change didn’t accomplish what we originally intended. We are reverting this change in favor of buffing peasant HP and increasing repair speed on towers slightly. See below for more info. Peasants HP increased from 220 to 230. Developers’ notes: Increased HP should give peasants more survivability before an arcane tower can be built. We thank the community for this suggestion. Scout Tower / Guard Tower / Cannon Tower / Arcane Tower Reduce repair time by 5 seconds. Developers’ notes: A slight survivability increase to help humans mitigate certain mid game pushes Spell Breaker Armor reduced from 3 to 2. Developers’ notes: The goal here is to try to get away from the mass Spell breakers in Human Mirror. Rifleman Attack delay reduced from 1.4 to 1.35. Developers’ notes: With the additional changes to Human, we felt that this change needed to be reverted. Mountain King Thunder Clap now has a max damage cap of 8. Developers’ notes: If there are more than 8 units within the AOE range, it’ll still damage all units but with a decreased damage on each unit. Custom Maps shouldn’t be affected by this change, but map makers can modify the new field in editor to change the maximum damage if they want. This feature has been requested for a while, and we’re thankful for your patience. We look forward to your feedback on the exact number here. Sorceress Slow Movement Speed reduced from 60% to 55%. Developers’ notes: A slight movement speed reduction of Slow. This is to improve the Orc vs. Human matchup and to slightly improve the Human vs. Night Elf match up to compensate for the lack of dispel. Siege Engine Tank experience bounty increased from 60 to 85. Developers’ notes: Recent changes to Undead repair rate could potentially increase the viability of Siege Engines, so we are increasing the experience bounty, which we feel is too low. We may also reduce the health in the future. Gryphon Riders Build time reduced from 45 to 40 seconds. Gold cost reduced from 280 to 260. Developers’ notes: To promote usage of late game air, this applies to all races. ORC Great Hall Supply granted increased from 10 to 11. Developers’ notes: This should help provide an early scouting option for the Orc vs Night Elf matchup. Tauren Chieftain War Stomp stun duration against Heroes increased from 1.5/2/2.5 to 2/2.5/3 (2/3/4 originally) Shockwave mana cost reduced from 100 to 90 Developers’ notes: We have scaled back our changes to War Stomp change and reduced Shockwave’s mana cost to 90 to make it a viable alternative. Wind Rider Gold cost reduced from 265 to 245. Developer Notes: A slight cost reduction as Wind Riders are fragile and we could perhaps see most usage out of them at this cost. UNDEAD Destroyer Cast point time increased from 0.5 to 0.66 (0.83 originally). Developers’ notes: We liked the direction this was heading, as it improved response time for the destroyer when Devouring Magic. However, at 0.5 the ability was an almost an instant dispel. At 0.66 we have improved responsiveness without losing counter play. Crypt Lord Level 2 and Level 3 Carrion Beetles hit points increase from 275/410 to 330/490. Movement speed reduced from 290 to 280 (all levels). Developers’ notes: After evaluating the recent changes, we felt the movement speed of the Carrion Beetles needed to be brought down slightly, but we’ve decided to compensate this with a HP increase. This should make it slightly harder for Carrion Beetles to get surrounds but should increase their viability in the later parts of the game in direct battles. Death Knight Unholy Aura movement speed changed from 10/15/30 to 10/17.5/25 (10/20/30 originally). Developers’ notes: Adjusting scaling to feel more appropriate. Level 1 remains unchanged. Ghouls & Abominations Cannibalize researched by default. Developers’ notes: This is an experimental change to see if this promotes more ghoul play and creates more variety of UD openers. Gargoyle Now has a new toggle ability “Prioritize” which will allow the Gargoyle to Prioritize flying units over ground units. Developers’ notes: Something that was requested by the community to improve the useability of this unit. When turned on the Gargoyle will prioritize air units over ground units but will still attack ground units if the player force attacks a unit. Necromancer Unholy Frenzy HP drain reduced from 3 to 2 HP/s. Developers’ notes: A minor change to try and promote Undead usage of support casters. Spirit Tower / Nerubian Tower Repair rate reduced from 60 to 45 (35 originally). Developers’ notes: There was a bit of confusion around this change. The repair rate is how long it takes for a building to be repaired, so the higher the number, the longer it takes. We original dialed it up to an extreme number to see how it would feel, but after numerous playtests, we’ve decided to settle it at 45. This is 5 less than an Orc burrow, and taking into consideration that there will usually be a maximum of 5 acolytes repairing it, we feel this makes the most sense. Frost Wyrm Buildtime reduced from 65 to 60 seconds. Gold cost reduced from 385 to 355. Developers’ notes: To promote usage of late game air, this applies to all races. NIGHT ELF Wisp Detonate mana drain increased from 25 to 35 (50 originally). Developers’ notes: We knew that reducing the mana drain on wisps to 25 may have been too extreme, but we wanted to see how it would feel. We have decided to increase the drain amount to 35 (from 50). Archer HP reduced from 260 to 250. Developers’ notes: This is a slight calibration on a past change to archers, since right now they are a little too durable, especially considering the Elune’s Grace passive ability. Chimaera Build time reduced from 60 to 55 seconds Developers’ notes: To promote usage of late game air, this applies to all races. ITEMS Tome of Retraining Cost reduced from 300 to 200. Developers’ notes: This is an experimental change, but we hope to encourage some new builds and potentially create more ability variety throughout the different phases of the game. Wand of the Wind Cooldown increased from 0 second to 5 seconds. Developers’ notes: The power to instantly Cyclone 3 units with 1 item was too much. The Cyclone ability now has a 5 second cooldown, so this change brings this item more in line with the ability itself. CUSTOM GAMES Fixed a bug with custom units in Classic Mode that was causing shadows to not display.