Warcraft III: Reforged Developer Update - Player Profiles

[Vinz]

Warcraft III: Reforged Developer Update - Player Profiles

Blizzard said:

August 19, 2020

Greetings Warcraft III: Reforged players!

In our last Developer Update, we shared details regarding our upcoming Ranked Play overhaul, which includes a new MMR based ranking and matchmaking system, an in-game leaderboard, and Ranked Seasons. We also mentioned that we would continue providing the community a look into the Warcraft III team’s development plan. For this month’s update, we want to dive into our next high priority feature currently in development: Player Profiles.


FEELING THE NOSTALGIA

As with the Ranked Play system, we want the Player Profile system to capture the feel of legacy Warcraft III while providing updates that enhance the experience. Therefore, many of the features included in the original system will be brought into Warcraft III: Reforged.

Work in Progress: Profile Screen


PLAYER PORTRAIT AND PERSONAL DETAILS

In legacy Warcraft III, you were able to see your Player Portrait icon and were given additional space to include information about yourself, providing you a way to customize your profile. For Reforged, we felt it was very important to maintain this. In the new Profile System, you will also be able to customize your player portrait and details. We have combined the original homepage and additional information sections into one personal details section, with a maximum character limit of 255.

Work in Progress: Personal Details Edit Screen


MATCH HISTORY

Along with the Personal Details section in your Player Profile, you will be able to view your match history in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, FFA, and Custom Games. Dropdowns will be available in the profile screen for you to filter by game type. We will also provide seasonal match history, as well your all-time match history for you to browse through. On the bottom left of the profile screen, you’ll see your total wins, losses, and win percentage by race—similar to legacy Warcraft III.

Work in Progress: Profile Dropdowns

Work in Progress: 4v4 Match History Screen

For arranged 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4, you will be able to see the teams you are on, your teammates, MMR, wins, and leaderboard ranking. Clicking on each team will provide you the match history for that team.

Since our new Ranked System will be using MMR to determine ranking instead of the leveling system in legacy, you will now have your current MMR displayed in your profile for each race in 1v1 and your team MMR in each of the team-based game types.


MATCH HISTORY DETAILS

Work in Progress: View Details Screen

Another notable feature coming with the profile system overhaul is the ability to view the details of a previously played match. In your profile screen, you will be able to select a specific match and view the details of that match. Below is an example of what the match detail screen would look like.

Work in Progress: Match Details Screen

You will also be able to view your match details for each of your arranged team games as well.


LOOKING FORWARD

The Player Profile system will launch in the next major content patch alongside the Ranked System. We are still looking to release in the next few months and will provide another update as we get closer to launch. We look forward to seeing the community discuss the upcoming Player Profile feature, along the continual discussion of our Ranked Play feature.

- The Warcraft III Team

 

[Linaze]

The best part is the unmentioned "Clan" button. I hope that is within the scope of the next major patch as well.

 

[Venombite]

Good thing, however it's just talk. And talk is cheap. I'll only be content when I see something done at this point.

 

[deepstrasz]

ood thing, however it's just talk. And talk is cheap. I'll only be content when I see something done at this point.

This is the part where they communicate...

 

[Venombite]

This is the part where they communicate...

Yeah, they should've communicated like a year ago, now it's kinda too late for communication, and it's cheap.

 

[deepstrasz]

Yeah, they should've communicated like a year ago, now it's kinda too late for communication, and it's cheap.

Why are you even following these news threads then?

 

[Venombite]

Why are you even following these news threads then?

That's a really good question. Tbch, I've no clue.

It became a habit, I guess :/

 

[Kyrbi0]

Good stuff.

 

[ZugZug2151]

No news on custom campaign feature

 

[fenix140]

We look forward to seeing the community discuss the upcoming Player Profile feature, along the continual discussion of our Ranked Play feature.

Now that you mention it, it improves the performance of the game, it seems that the user interface needs a lot of RAM. That at least the minimum of Ram is 2 GB, this should be enough for a game that is still incomplete. (It's a suggestion)

 

[DracoL1ch]

no rush, take your time, mr developer

 

[Chaosy]

Good thing, however it's just talk. And talk is cheap. I'll only be content when I see something done at this point.

It's not just talk.
It's WIP with pictures as proof.

I suppose you could have photoshopped them though.

Not to mention they have done stuff the last few months, just not the specific things that you want.

 

[Linaze]

It's not just talk.
It's WIP with pictures are proof.

I suppose you could have photoshopped them though.

Not to mention they have done stuff the last few months, just not the specific things that you want.

Clearly blizzard fired all the reforged developers and hired an intern to make photoshop mockups!

 

[deepstrasz]

Clearly blizzard fired all the reforged developers and hired an intern to make photoshop mockups!

Photoshop is expensive. They, he, it (could be a monkey), uses Paint.net.

 

[Linaze]

Photoshop is expensive. They, he, it (could be a monkey), uses Paint.net.

I did some further digging and what I found is... exposing, to say the least.
When you zoom in and apply CSI techniques you can reverse the mockup creation process and reveal the following:

They used GIMP! The cheap bastards...

 

[Ardenaso]

Now I wonder what Pad is gonna do for the next few months (2)

 

[Bribe]

Good stuff, however was anyone asking for this? WarCraft 3 stayed afloat because of mods. Let's see more news on that front. The last time there was any modding innovation was almost a year ago.

I'd really love to be able to run JASS and Lua in the same map, or be able to convert JASS maps to Lua maps without having to delete all my triggers and start over.

Alternatively, if the JASS syntax became more forgiving and allowed us to call "code" type as quickly or nearly as quickly as we can call functions, and allow the code to be stored into arrays, would be nice. Lua-like function overriding instead of vJass hooks would be nice, as hooks don't prevent the hooked thing from running.

Also I was advised that we would see GUI users soon be able to do almost anything JASS users could, including custom events. Where's the news on that front?

Instead, all we've gotten are player profiles and ... oooOOOooHHhh ... WarCraft 3 ported to StarCraft 2 ... which would have been great, had this been 5 years ago.

Warcraft 3 is still 10 times the size it used to be, even for people who don't own Reforged. How about some dev time is spent in decreasing that footprint at least?

 

[Linaze]

Good stuff, however was anyone asking for this?

Only everyone who plays melee.

 

[LazZ]

Soon™

 

[deepstrasz]

Good stuff, however was anyone asking for this?

They have to compete with fan made platforms. It's only natural they bring their clients on the official server(s).

I'd really love to be able to run JASS and Lua in the same map, or be able to convert JASS maps to Lua maps without having to delete all my triggers and start over.

If that includes C# and who knows what other programming languages too, sure

 

[Bribe]

Only everyone who plays melee.

I used to play melee quite competitively before I got into modding (I'd say the first 7 years I was doing just competitive playing). Never once would I have cared for such a feature as this. I preferred getting to know my own skill within the game, not having some statistics machine spell it out for me. It just looks like a League of Legends feature they made to support WarCraft 3.

Both games would be better without statistics. Just get in, immerse yourself, have a good time doing your best, win or lose, then turn it off when you're done. No looking back.

 

[Linaze]

I used to play melee quite competitively before I got into modding (I'd say the first 7 years I was doing just competitive playing). Never once would I have cared for such a feature as this. I preferred getting to know my own skill within the game, not having some statistics machine spell it out for me. It just looks like a League of Legends feature they made to support WarCraft 3.

Both games would be better without statistics. Just get in, immerse yourself, have a good time doing your best, win or lose, then turn it off when you're done. No looking back.

10 years ago this might've been true for a lot of people. These days every competitive game ships with matchmaking, MMR/ELO, leagues and that sort of stuff.
Regardless: Check any non-modding Warcraft 3 discussion board and it's clear people want these kind of things back.

 

[chopinski]

Good stuff, however was anyone asking for this? WarCraft 3 stayed afloat because of mods. Let's see more news on that front. The last time there was any modding innovation was almost a year ago.

I'd really love to be able to run JASS and Lua in the same map, or be able to convert JASS maps to Lua maps without having to delete all my triggers and start over.

Alternatively, if the JASS syntax became more forgiving and allowed us to call "code" type as quickly or nearly as quickly as we can call functions, and allow the code to be stored into arrays, would be nice. Lua-like function overriding instead of vJass hooks would be nice, as hooks don't prevent the hooked thing from running.

Also I was advised that we would see GUI users soon be able to do almost anything JASS users could, including custom events. Where's the news on that front?

Instead, all we've gotten are player profiles and ... oooOOOooHHhh ... WarCraft 3 ported to StarCraft 2 ... which would have been great, had this been 5 years ago.

Warcraft 3 is still 10 times the size it used to be, even for people who don't own Reforged. How about some dev time is spent in decreasing that footprint at least?

Totally agree. I remember when they announced Reforged my excitement about the promised new World Editor/JASS functionallities was over 9000 and then after launch we didn't even get a simple code highlight and code completion. It's good that they are still working on the game, it gives hope that maybe one day Warcraft might become what it was in its glory days, but i think they are focusing in the wrong sections first. Melee is not nearly as popular as custom games and custom campaigns and every single patch so far has only addressed Lobby and Melee improvements. But at least they working on it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

elee is not nearly as popular as custom games and custom campaigns and every single patch so far has only addressed Lobby and Melee improvements.

I think the answer is pretty simple - content creators, in particular people like Grubby. If Blizzard improves melee, these people will sing praises to Reforged and say that it's actually quite good now. Due to their reach, that message will probably be heard by a lot more people than any new editor features (most people only care about the results of modding, not the tools that the modders are given to achieve these results, because they can use the former and don't understand the latter).

 

[Raven80]

Blizzard and his stupid priorities.... i guess i will have to wait for custom campaigns option for like 20+ years...

 

[deepstrasz]

I think the answer is pretty simple - content creators, in particular people like Grubby.

Some dudes recording videos->content creators. More like video recorders.
Also, Grubby is a pro player.

 

[Uncle]

At least once they're done adding back removed features we can start getting NEW features. Some time in 2022 is my guess.

 

[Bribe]

At least once they're done adding back removed features we can start getting NEW features. Some time in 2022 is my guess.

I would like for them to re-add the feature to run this game on Windows Vista with 1GB of RAM, a 1GHz CPU and a 20 year old GPU.

 

[deepstrasz]

I would like for them to re-add the feature to run this game on Windows Vista with 1GB of RAM, a 1GHz CPU and a 20 year old GPU.

Warcraft III is not yet abandonware->GoG worthy. They will not develop on/for OSs that will not be updated anymore.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Some dudes recording videos->content creators.

That's what youtubers and streamers are pretty widely considered to be, yes.

Also, Grubby is a pro player.

Being a pro-player doesn't mean that he can't also be a youtuber/streamer (which he is), a.k.a. a content creator.

 

[deepstrasz]

That's what youtubers and streamers are pretty widely considered to be, yes.

Semantics sometimes gives too much importance to something that is not what it is named to be.

Being a pro-player doesn't mean that he can't also be a youtuber/streamer, a.k.a. a content creator.

Fairly sure there's no need for such a phrase.
I meant Grubby is important because he's a melee pro player and it's the melee scene that brings money and advertising not custom games/campaigns.

 

[Bribe]

Warcraft III is not yet abandonware->GoG worthy. They will not develop on/for OSs that will not be updated anymore.

Of course, but this was more of a tongue-in-cheek remark about re-adding features that were removed. I don't even own a functioning Vista machine anymore, but I did a couple of years ago when I was forced to enter the market for a new laptop (because they simultaneously had dropped support for the Intel GMA that my Windows 10 Netbook had relied on).

 

[deepstrasz]

Of course, but this was more of a tongue-in-cheek remark about re-adding features that were removed.

Sure. I just hope there will be people/services out there to ensure such survivability in the hundreds and thousands of years to come.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I meant Grubby is important because he's a melee pro player and it's the melee scene that brings money and advertising not custom games/campaigns.

I honestly don't see your point here - Grubby is not important, because he's a pro melee player, but because he's by far the biggest W3 youtuber/streamer, ergo people watch him and care about his opinions, which means that he has a big audience reach and having someone like him be positive about the game is beneficial to changing community perception of Reforged. If Grubby was able to generate the same amount of views while modding or playing custom games, he'd be just as important.

Regardless, since W3's biggest content creator primarily plays melee, investing in that game mode will make him happy, ergo he'll be more positive about the game, which in turn means that his enthusiasm might rub off on his audience and lead to some of it re-buying Reforged or spreading the good word elsewhere.

I've obviously simplified this to just Grubby, but you should get my point - melee scene brings in the views (which is why it gets ad money), so that (plus e-sports potential) is why it got focused first, imo.

 

[deepstrasz]

I honestly don't see your point here - Grubby is not important, because he's a pro melee player,

I don't think Wtii or any mainly custom games streamers would have the same amount of success in advertising the game. Note that there was only a DotA tournament that made it outside of ladder. All else contests were original game related->melee.

Regardless, since W3's biggest content creator primarily plays melee, investing in that game mode will make him happy, ergo he'll be more positive about the game, which in turn means that his enthusiasm might rub off on his audience and lead to some of it re-buying Reforged or spreading the good word elsewhere.

It's like you're saying people will like bananas more or even start liking them because some internet celebrity says good things about them.

Even Blizzard themselves called Back2Warcraft for advertising, not some custom games streamer.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I don't think Wtii or any mainly custom games streamers would have the same amount of success in advertising the game.

If custom game streamers had the same amount of fans and/or viewers then yes, they'd absolutely have the same amount of success, because from a marketing point of view it's not that important what you do in the game, but how many people enjoy watching you do it. That's what generates your reach.

Or, I'll tackle it from another angle - let's say I was some hardcore, overpowered melee player and I could beat Grubby every time while drunk and half asleep, but I would not make any videos or stream. Do you honestly think that I'd be more important than Grubby, because I'm more "pro" than he is? No, I wouldn't. And it's the same with Grubby - he's not important, because he happens to play the most popular mode in the game, he's important, because he is popular.

It's like you're saying people will like bananas more or even start liking them because some internet celebrity says good things about them.

That's exactly how advertising works, though.

Also - from a psychological point of view, your pre-existing attitude towards a product has a very big impact on whether you will enjoy that product or not. So yes, it's possible that you might like bananas more if your favourite internet celebrity says good things about them and makes you believe they're good.

 

[deepstrasz]

he's important, because he is popular

and a melee player.

Also - from a psychological point of view, your pre-existing attitude towards a product has a very big impact on whether you will enjoy that product or not. So yes, it's possible that you might like bananas more if your favourite internet celebrity says good things about them and makes you believe they're good.

Too bad for banana Reforged.

Oh and most people here on Hiveworkshop, do actually play custom games.

 

[MasterBlaster]

and a melee player

I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one, because to me the fact that he's a melee player on its own has absolutely zero impact on his importance, unless you factor in the fact that playing the most popular game mode helps him be popular, but in which case - what matters is the popularity, not the game mode.

Also, a fun article for you:
Why do we like what we like?

Oh and most people here on Hiveworkshop, do actually play custom games.

If our little discussion is Earth, to me this point is somewhere in the Alpha Centauri system

Yes, this is me jokingly saying that I don't see how this is relevant in the context of what we were talking about.

P.S. I'm a little obsessed with space stuff lately, sorry

 

[Mr.Goblin]

Give us Dynamic Lights, shadows and custom campaigns! thank you!

but yes, some news is better then no news... also happy for the competitive section of warcraft3 melee match. I<d like to think Blizzard made some people happy.... for once.

 

[EredarArbeiterYU]

Give us Dynamic Lights, shadows and custom campaigns! thank you!

but yes, some news is better then no news... also happy for the competitive section of warcraft3 melee match. I<d like to think Blizzard made some people happy.... for once.

This please! ^^

 

[Jouven]

There is a hilarious/sad cognitive dissonance, whoever has written this piece "text" using the phrase "FEELING THE NOSTALGIA", are they parodying themselves?... I don't know if they are laughing at the community, have a really twisted sense of humor or have discovered a new peak of negative self-awareness

Having worked as developer in a company in the past, paint/photoshop/x image editor is used a lot to make mock up previews from an initial template on how the product will look "finished"

 

[fenix140]

I would like for them to re-add the feature to run this game on Windows Vista with 1GB of RAM, a 1GHz CPU and a 20 year old GPU.

It is what I also say. Or perhaps it is impossible for this game to consume few resources. Looks like they truncated War 3 to the max. Not even Starcraft 2 is over the top. Blizzard keeps thinking about the current community and forgetting about the community that has used its game for a long time. So the comment that said:
"User: I can't play the recent Warcraft, I request more resources from my computer."
"Blizzard: If you want to play the recent Warcraft 3 (Not Reforged), buy a better computer."
"User: I've had the game for a long time, it's your fault if this game doesn't work."
"Blizzard: not our problem"
"Waht?!!!"

That's what youtubers and streamers are pretty widely considered to be, yes.

Even youtuber and steamer have Lag peaks in real time, this is impressive no. How badly is this game optimized.

 

[TriggerHappy]

This has to be an error, right?

 

[deepstrasz]

This has to be an error, right?

Nothing is impossible. Even 0 is uncertain.

 

[Waffle]

Last i checked GUI users still cannot use local variables without resorting to "custom" actions and mentally reasoning about how the trg-> jass conversion splits code into sub-functions.
Neither can GUI users create or call custom functions (they can run triggers and stash data in global variables.. this does NOT count, it is cumbersome to define and use and changes global state and makes reasoning about code harder)
That this is still the case in 2020 tells me all I need to know about how much blizz care for the world editor.

 

[fenix140]

Neither can GUI users create or call custom functions (they can run triggers and stash data in global variables.. this does NOT count, it is cumbersome to define and use and changes global state and makes reasoning about code harder)
That this is still the case in 2020 tells me all I need to know about how much blizz care for the world editor.

Most of the WorldEdit community is stuck at this point. I don't know if there is any way for Blizzard to take their Map Editor into account, but if they continue to ignore this, it will be a long time, as happened with the SC 2 update after 5 years.

 

[Chaosy]

Last i checked GUI users still cannot use local variables without resorting to "custom" actions and mentally reasoning about how the trg-> jass conversion splits code into sub-functions.
Neither can GUI users create or call custom functions (they can run triggers and stash data in global variables.. this does NOT count, it is cumbersome to define and use and changes global state and makes reasoning about code harder)
That this is still the case in 2020 tells me all I need to know about how much blizz care for the world editor.

Expecting GUI to have equal functionality to full syntax is silly. At least if you want to be remotely productive.
Although I will say that they could make it similar to the SC2 editor which indeed supports local variables in GUI.
But given that the feedback for SC2 was that the SC2 editor was considered too complex, perhaps that is not where we should draw inspiration from.

But even if you think that this is one of the good parts of the SC2 editor. Perhaps you should simply learn JASS if you are at the point where you feel like you need local variables as you are most likely at a point where you can start to make use of the full toolkit if you put your mind to it.
Or if you think JASS is clunky we are currently able to mod in vjass, c#, typescript, wurst and lua

 

[deepstrasz]

But given that the feedback for SC2 was that the SC2 editor was considered too complex, perhaps that is not where we should draw inspiration from.

It's only complicated because of the object data. The Trigger editor is more than fine, many more possibilities than Warcraft III's.

 

[Fingolfin]

Good stuff, however was anyone asking for this?

Let's be fair now - the removal of player profiles was one of the major sources of outrage when Reforged released, and has been whined about in every update so far. It's a good thing that they added it back (with improvements), though it should have been there on release.

 

[petroglyph]

Keep up the hard work Blizzard. dont give up. Luckily, I am one of those who like Reforged.