Is Warcraft 3 still alive?

[HaaG]

Long time no see friends, It feels like Ten thousand years gone, almost as long as Illidan's prison. I see Hivework is still alive somehow, but what about Warcraft 3? I can't find a place with many people to play it. I remember Garena died, then I have gameranger but not many players there to play seriously any map. Is there a secret platform you guys play on or something? I see hundreds of hive members on, but where do you play actually? Where can I find people to play Warcraft 3 maps with?

2. What is up with this WC3 Reforge? Do i get it for free if I download newest patch or ? And ppl on Gameranger seem to play only the old WC3. Why is that? Old maps don't fit with Wc3 reforge or?
Thanks for your time.

 

[TriggerHappy]

GameRanger probably the most popular private server. Battle.net has been pretty alive as well, reaching over 100 game lobbies frequently. You can see the list of lobbies here: WC3Maps

The largest communities are in Asia with platforms like Netease.

 

[HaaG]

Thanks a lot TriggerHappy, I remember you from 10 years ago . Btw is there a way to play battle net without purchasing the game? I mean the game is 30 years old

 

[General Frank]

It's less than 20 years old, and no, we don't talk about piracy here.

 

[pyf]

@HaaG: the best way to keep Warcraft 3 alive is to buy the game.

2. What is up with this WC3 Reforge? Do i get it for free if I download newest patch or ? [...]

Beginning with Warcraft 3 v1.32.0, the game comes with SD assets as well as with HD assets, as a monolithic 24 GB download. The HD assets are sometimes referred to as Reforged graphics. But most of the time, when people refer to v1.32.x, they refer to it as WC3: Reforged. One day, maybe the community will have to settle on a consistent terminology, to prevent any confusion about the game and its many versions.

If one has already bought at least RoC in the past, then he/she can attach his/her legally bought and valid RoC CD-Key to his/her Battle.net account, to be able to install / update the game to the latest version. It will allow him/her to play RoC and TFT with the SD assets at no extra charge, and he/she can also access Battle.net 2.0 to play online multiplayer games there as well.

The HD assets are not free.


Warcraft 3 Reforged has not followed the business model of StarCraft Remastered (game fully playable offline or online with SD assets, all for free), nor the one of StarCraft II (first campaign free + free access to the Arcade). Maybe WC3 will someday get aligned with any of these business models in the future. or maybe not.

That being said, it is imho unfortunate that the game can not be experienced in a (free) time limited Demo mode, so people can evaluate whether the program works for them or not.

[...] And ppl on Gameranger seem to play only the old WC3. Why is that? Old maps don't fit with Wc3 reforge or?

Overall, the current version of the game is still not up to the legitimate expectations of some (most?) of Blizzard's customers. Refunds of WC3: Reforged have been granted so far, for those who requested it.