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Happy 15th Birthday Warcraft 3!

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Level 32
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Today, Warcraft III turns 15 years old since it was first released on July 3, 2002.
Happy Birthday to our favorite game! Click the image for full size :grin:


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Level 32
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Thank you to those who provided quotes!

Hive Workshop
@APproject - single-player map developer; Author of Iceborn, Acheron's Affliction, and more
@General Frank - Veteran models creator, Model Reviewer
@Heinvers - 2D Art Moderator; skin, terrain, and icon creator
@Kam - Patch moderator, head of Hive Feedback Team / Blizzard contact
@MindWorX - WC3 coder, previous maintainer of JNGP, developer of the SharpCraft & WEX world editor
@Ralle - Site's Creator and Owner
@StoPCampinGn00b - Site Community Manager, Administrator, and Social Media Manager
@Zwiebelchen - Author of Gaias Retalliation ORPG

Guests
@EagleMan - Diplomunion Administrator, previous developer of Azeroth Wars LR, current developer of Greece
@Jannes Tjarks (Neo) - Warcraft 3 eSports caster of Back2Warcraft, Blizzard contact
@Lisk - Original Legion TD author, Legion TD 2 standalone developer
@ugrilainen - Warcraft 3 journalist (W3arena, Warcraft3.info, Reddit.com/r/wc3, Twitter)
@WTii - YouTuber, Streamer

There could have been so many others, and it was extremely hard to pick. So don't feel left out! You can definitely share your own stories and memories down below.

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Level 28
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"15 years already... I was around 17 years old when I was sitting at school, reading Lord of the Clans and other WC novels, ignoring whatever nonsense my teachers were babbling. Now I can say it was totally worth it. I've created 3 campaigns I like to play and update and most players seem to like them. Thanks to the trigger editor I learned basic programming, and I now work as programmer for a consulting company."

- OutsiderXE
 

Deleted member 247165

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Deleted member 247165

I remember being 9 years old, my cousin showed me this awesome game. (He was playing it because of DotA Allstars then). I fell in love with the game since then. I remember playing Monolith day and night with my friends, DotA, many Castle Defense mods and many others. With each patch released, the game evolved even better. The program called World Editor is what led the modding magic touch us all. We all became "game designers" with the mods made by us. I would like to mention some extraordinary people that created awesome games for Warcraft 3 (No, I cannot call them mods, since they are too good) :
1) @SpasMaster - Sunken City (The best by far! The best I say, RPG dungeon crawling game with highly advanced mechanisms, cool heroes, addicting gameplay that feels like the first time everytime you replay it. Recently I'm playing it a lot, and I advise you all to do the same).
2) @Wa666r - God of custom races and altered melee maps. I and my friends adore you and your work. You managed to create extraordinary races with suitable synergies and various mechanisms. Thumbs up!
3) @Rufus - Warden (Innovatively and very enjoyable game. Warden has a unique system which allows the player to control Shalis (the Warden) using the arrow keys. The environments and puzzles of each level in the Warden game are purely amazing. You feel like you are playing Prince of Persia in Warcraft 3. Believe it!
4) @Zwiebelchen - Gaia's Retaliation (Did you ever want to play something like World of Warcraft in Warcraft 3? Well, now you have that possibility! This RPG is extremely cool and in my opinion it will never have competition. The regions in it are amazing, characters very suitable and gameplay experience assured to a high level!
5) @Alxen345 - I know what you might say, "He's promoting an AoS like DotA. Waw" . Believe it or not, Dungeon of Warriors is nothing like DotA. Different heroes, different items, different synergies in teamplay, different terrain (much more better than the one from DotA). DotA 1 is a relic for Warcraft 3. The game needs a new AoS that will succeed it.
6) @MoCo - Dwarven Monster Slayers (Are you a fan of action? DMS is the right choice for you. A unique RPG survival with a team of unique dwarves controlled by players. You'll have fun for sure! Also, this one is turning into a standalone game.
There are also many other modders, but I listed my favorite ones.
 
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Got goosebumps reading this post. Happy 15th birthday Warcraft "Not World of Warcraft" III!
 
Warcraft 3 modding is what got me into modeling and texturing and game art as a whole. It is because of it I'm currently following my dreams of becoming a game art designer (In fact I just came back from an art exam for applying at an art university), so that community has changed my future and my interests as a whole. I still remember back in 2010 (when I was 13 or so) when I discovered hive and started doing those horrible recolored skins, marveling at the magnificence of actually changing an ingame asset (that was huge for me back then) without realizing how bad those skins sucked. Eventually I got to learn my way around photoshop and eventually Milkshape and discovered that I had more talent for 3D models than 2D textures. All the generous comments on my models drove me to make more of them like a chain reaction and before I knew it, I had a freaking long list of models. It was clear by then what I wanted to do in life, and here I am now, following those dreams, all thanks to the hive and Warcraft 3. Happy birthday, and thanks to this wonderful community!
 

Kasrkin

Hosted Project: LoA
Level 26
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I both love and hate this game but that's probably the same for a lot of people. I think my first custom game on WC3 was a lotr map that included the entirety of the Two Towers. As this was Reign of Chaos everything was just base units with only a couple changed usually just being tinted a certain color. I think I was playing as ents at the time.
Now I'm involved in a giant campaign project that makes me want to give up with all the time it will take but I love it all the same. You're awesome Bossman.
This game has truly been a great experience from the mauls to the rpgs, here's hoping to even more great memories involving this infuriating and awesome game.
 
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In 2002 I already had fallen in love with the RTS genre. By then I had logged countless hours of WC2: The Dark Saga and Command and Conquer: Red Alert. In my mind, no game could even come close to those two. Then one day I was introduced by my cousin to Warcraft 3. We sat in his parents study in front of the computer for quite a while, taking turns trying to figure out how to play.

We were horrible. I think I spent the first 20 minutes just clicking on our Tree of Life and Wisps with no idea how to make them do anything. Eventually we started to figure out how to move units and build structures. And from that point I was absolutely hooked.

Fast forward a few months and I finally got my own copy of the game. After another year or so I began modding. Well, you couldn't really call it that. I would open up popular Maps in the World Editor and play around as much as possible, trying to make changes I thought would improve those games. They didn't.

I joined wc3sear.ch in 2006 right before we became The Hive. I continued to play and learn and build as a part of this community. There was no better place out there to learn from. 11 years later I am still here with the same amount of love for this game and my own mod to show for it. The great thing is that I know my experience is not unique. All of us have similar stories and all of us have found unparalleled joy in this game and in this community. I hope that feeling never dies out. Here's to another 15 solid years of gaming and community!
 
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Still playing it to this day..

My friends brother got it back in 2002, we were watching it and not too long after I went to the store with my parents and they bought it for me.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
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First time I had seen Warcraft III, was in an internet cafe (around 2002 if I'm not mistaken). I think it was a demo or something. I had immediately fallen in love with the Night Elf race. Those trees and spirits just lit an esoteric sentiment within me. From then on, well, came a story already told by others.

If I were to describe the game, I'd say as one of my brothers spoke: "It's the best game ever made". At least it still is to this day. From an artist's point of view, it is an elixir of creation.
 
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Kyrbi0

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This is so cool. And surreal. I was 12 when it first came out, but I probably didn't play it until a year or two later (my family always got games late). I was a silly boy, making Sonic & Imhotep heroes... 17 years later I'm a husband of 5 years, father of 2, and still modding. It's pretty cool.
 
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I wouldn't be into computers. I wouldn't be a gamer. I wouldn't be a memer. All of the friends I have now, I wouldn't have. I would have no idea what Internet culture is like. I would just be a completely different person without StarCraft: Brood War and WarCraft III.
 
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This was my first strategy game I ever played. I remember the days when I was able to get on the computer, and instantly got massive smile on my face as Warcraft 3 loaded up. I never stopped playing it, I couldn't - everything was just so great about the game. Then I discovered how much I love fiddling around with the world editor. In school I would carry around a little notebook where I wrote all the ideas I could to create the factions. No game comes in comparison with regards to how much time I played Warcraft 3.
 
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Warcraft 3 was the first game that I bought in a shop and played online. That was summer of 2004 when I first had a mashine that was capable of running it. So for me it's "only" 14 years ago, but it was still enough to consume a noteable part of my youth :p I didn't play much else online between 2004 and 2009 until the 1.24 patch left a huge cut in the online fun and playability. Stil played it public online until 2011 until we weren't able to get a full game of "footmen frenzy 4.2 -ar" even with bringing 5 premade players of 12 necessary players :(

Still playing it premade now and then and mapping for it though. :cool:
 
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Roland

R

Roland

Such inspiring quotes, Happy Birthday Warcraft 3, You've been a "Building Blocks" to Virtual life.
 
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"It's Warcraft 3, not World of Warcraft"

lol I think we've all been through that.

What makes this whole experience is the community and modding support - this is what keeps the game alive.

I gotta admit I can't believe how WC3 community is still so friendly and supportive, in comparison to others. All other game communities are so full of toxic behaviour. What happens here?
 

Kyrbi0

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I gotta admit I can't believe how WC3 community is still so friendly and supportive, in comparison to others. All other game communities are so full of toxic behaviour. What happens here?
You gotta compare us to other modding communities; gaming communities are inherently competitive, which *can* breed that toxicity.
 
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true, however our Half life league forum and community was largely positive and friendly for many years... until slowly going more and more toxic in the recent years up to a point where I minimized forum usage as far as possible. It just went completly out of hand

Indeed: here we are all working more or less on the same side ;) TWHL (The Whole Half life) community is also still ticking and overall friendly and sorted... and even older than the hive workshop, but it is to be fair a little smaller and less active.
 
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Can't believe it's been 15 years already. It was 2007 when I first played the game, and the blood elf campaign was my favorite from the beginning. My first modding creations were just basic maps where I'd recreate the blood elf techtree from the campaign, and I've always wanted to play more with that race. In 2010 I decided to make my own blood elf campaign, and after so many updates, I think I can finally say I only truly finished it this year. It makes me quite happy that I fulfilled that little childhood dream of mine. I think Warcraft 3 is definitely the game I invested the most time in, and as much fun as I had with any other game, I don't think anything can surpass the satisfaction I had while testing the stuff I made in the World Editor.
 
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Looks like I am quite late to the party.


Happy birthday warcraft 3
After so much time we see
Our beloved game still thriving
There's still a large community
Never dying.

Since we were young we've played this game
It's like an ever-burning flame
That inspires us even at this stage
With passion, let us now exclaim:
"This game will never age!"

I was 6 when I got this game. A friend of my parents came to us and pirated it for me. That was quite a long time ago, I had Reign of Chaos patch 1.05.
When I was six, of course, I knew nothing of strategy, micro etc. I just loved to build peasants. By the time I was 8, I had already completed the first 3 missions of the human campaign and I wanted to be able to do more. I searched warcraft 3 on youtube ( though I barely knew what youtube was) and I found a lot of casters (which I didn't like, I was a kid and I wanted live gameplay and commentary). That's when I discovered wtii, who really helped me improve. Then I discovered Alphcarus, who was a campaign player. I loved campaigns so much that I decided to create one myself (and after quite some time, I succeeded). Night elves have always been my favourite. I like that old and ancient feeling associated with them if you understand what I mean. 3 years ago I pirated Frozen Throne and downloaded w3arena. I was so happy to play online. Later I discovered other players, like Funnywarcraft3 and YetAnotherYoutuber and also began to read the lore and play WoW. But I still consider warcraft 3 to be far greater than WoW. A few months ago, I began to appreciate casters and now I'm addicted to tournaments.
 
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Man 15 years already haha. I first played it since i was a toddler, gone to Battle.net since i was 12, mum remove the online feature for Battle.net and rejoin 1 year later :D Happy birthday Warcraft 3
 
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