When is Blizzard going to address the elephant in the room?

[Ababmer]

Honestly?

Most probably never. Why would they? Besides the record-breaking negative Metacritic scores the debacle of WC3Reforged somehow managed to slip under the world's radar. Beyond the tight-knit communities of WC3Hive, the official forums, and some dedicated discord channels, the world simply didn't care.

This isn't necessarily about the game being subpar. It's not about broken promises, a decimated community and borderline illegal consumer practices. It's about Blizzard not addressing the elephant in the room. It's about Blizzard not standing up and addressing their fans and saying 'we screwed up, and we're sorry - we'll do better.' Then actually DOING BETTER.

Where is the community outreach? There is none. Patching core features in months after release isn't good practice. Especially when many of these features were present in the game for the past 18 years before being broken by Reforged.

Charging $30 just to access working features, that you yourselves broke? Hilarious.

Whilst Blizzard will probably never stand up and take responsibility for this mess, I think that every day they don't, they're just driving some of their most dedicated community members further and further away.

But hey, Zombie-Blizzard limps on.

 

[DracoL1ch]

hey, it's totally up to your unrealistic expectations
Blizzard on Warcraft III Reforged Criticism: “Our Community Has Come to Expect Really Amazing Things From Us”

Our community has come to expect really amazing things from us, and we've heard from them that we did not achieve that bar. But we stand behind our games and have consistently shown that not only do we support them, but we continue to build on them even after launch.

expecting custom hotkeys and fulfilling the promises from 2018 isnt a realistic goal
oh, and they're still supporting the game, they didn't ditched us yet
hooray!
not many companies are THAT grateful today

 

[deepstrasz]

Charging $30 just to access working features, that you yourselves broke? Hilarious.

Nope only if you want the Reforged graphics enhancement. But yes, you cannot buy the Classic game anymore.

 

[loktar]

I'm sure there's still physical copies of the classic game floating around, as well as just cd-keys on eBay. Presumably you can still link unused classic cd-keys to your bnet account.

 

[pyf]

[...] It's about Blizzard not addressing the elephant in the room. [...] Where is the community outreach? There is none. [...] I think that every day they don't, they're just driving some of their most dedicated community members further and further away. [...]

One can still download from Blizzard's official servers and for free, some of the full digital download versions of SC, WC3 and D2 (including their respective expansions), in all their supported language versions, for PC and for MAC. No Blizzard account is required to download these full digital download versions, which are targeting those who already own legally bought CD-Keys.

As of this writing, the downloadables are:
- Diablo 2 (& LoD) v1.14b
- StarCraft (& BW) v1.15.2
- Warcraft 3 (& TFT) v1.27 (from an 'interesting' imho 1.27a2 folder - further investigations needed)

Unfortunately, the very first original digital versions from 2008 of Diablo 2 (v1.12a) and Warcraft 3 (v1.21b) do not seem to be downloadable from the Blizzard servers as of this writing.

 

[Ababmer]

wrong

 

[pyf]

@Ababmer: Insufficient data. Cannot process further. User input required.

 

[deepstrasz]

wrong

@Ababmer: Insufficient data. Cannot process further. User input required.

 

[pyf]

wrong

@Ababmer: Insufficient data. Cannot process further. User input required.

Still waiting for additional input from user @Ababmer to hopefully process his insufficient data.

 

[Ababmer]

So you can download game versions on some dark corner of the internet? Congrats?

Doesn't change the fact that Reforged was an absolute embarrassment. If you bought it you're just supporting poor industry practices.

 

[pyf]

Those full legacy versions can be downloaded from Blizzard's servers, and it is Blizzard itself who is providing the downloaders. Therefore, people have little to complain about.

 

[Razorclaw_X]

So you can download game versions on some dark corner of the internet? Congrats?

Doesn't change the fact that Reforged was an absolute embarrassment. If you bought it you're just supporting poor industry practices.

Doesn't change the fact this topic is the equivalent of pitching stones in a greenhouse. Nothing constructive can come of it by design.

 

[pyf]

@Razorclaw_X: really? Challenge accepted!

Warcraft 3 v1.32.0 was released in late January 2020.
Warcraft 3 v1.32.1 was released in early February 2020 (note: first 1.32.x release for Netease, btw)
Warcraft 3 v1.32.2 was released in late February 2020 (... and for Netease too, btw)

Based on information from this August 13 post by @deepstrasz, which is itself leading to this other post from February 17 on the Blizzard forums:
Classic Warcraft III --- Official Installers - Official Patches
... we know that since an unspecified date before 1.32.2 was released, the downloaders which allowed one to install a v1.27 version were freely available from Blizzard.

Now, one also remembers that since the official release of the v1.27a patch in 2016 and even more with the release of v1.32 (a.k.a. Reforged), there has been a lot of negative reactions, and especially lately from Youtubers about Reforged. For the record, the complains about v1.27a in 2016 were about the lack of any new worthwhile features, and about nothing else iirc.


Question:

How many of these Youtubers / online influencers have ever mentioned at any moment the fact that the legacy 1.27 version was still available since some (undetermined) point in time without any restriction? How many of these influencers have mentioned they tried to reach Blizzard for comment? How many of these influencers have done (any) investigative journalistic work? On some Youtube videos, all some of them were doing was just to read word for word (negative) contents from some web site(s), only to add afterwards their own personal comment about what they just have read. Now, I personally do not need such reading help, and I can make my own mind.


I think Blizzard has addressed the elephant in the room, by making v1.27 free to download for everyone without the need for any Battle.net account, a download one can then keep and install (provided ones already own a legal and valid CD-key) anywhere. And as for those influencers who have expressed themselves in clickbait Youtube videos, my other question is: who will address the skunks in the submarine?

Surely Blizzard deserves criticism, but doesn't everybody deserve a fair treatment?

 

[Razorclaw_X]

I'm glad you wrote that weird essay that had nothing to do with what I wrote. Don't @ me with that garbage.

 

[pyf]

If you consider that pointing out a severe problem with information and ethics is garbage, then I pity you @Razorclaw_X

 

[MasterBlaster]

Why do you think they will address anything? Reforged only gets brought up as a meme, but even that happens pretty rarely. Blizzard trying to make another statement would only remind people how mad they were and make them talk about the game more, which would mostly be bad PR for the company.

Unless you're hoping that they're going to get their act together and significantly improve the game in the near future, in which case - yeah, nope, not gonna happen.

 

[Ababmer]

Yet you all still paid for it. Don't support poor business practices.

 

[deepstrasz]

Yet you all still paid for it. Don't support poor business practices.

The funny thing is that none in this thread, from my knowledge, has bought Reforged.
Well, MasterBlaster did, but I remember he refunded or something.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yet you all still paid for it. Don't support poor business practices.

It's so nice to make clever statements about other people if you don't care to check your facts

@deepstrasz yes, I refunded.

 

[Ardenaso]

I would refund if it gives me back the physical money, but my sister's using my account to play Reforged campaign for nostalgia

 

[pyf]

Doesn't change the fact that Reforged was an absolute embarrassment. If you bought it you're just supporting poor industry practices.

I believe that since the same time period, everybody could also have downloaded v1.27a from Blizzard at no cost, to eventually install it with their valid legal RoC and TFT CD-keys (note: TFT installation not mandatory) along with the latest regular version of the game. On Windows 10 v1909 x64, I personally did not experience any of the issues I remember people pointed out in 2016 with v1.27a. it is imho best practice to install it in a separate folder than the default WC3 one, though.

Yet you all still paid for it. Don't support poor business practices.

Those who preordered and were not satisfied with v1.32 soon after it shipped, got they money back if they asked for a refund. Also, there exist return/refund policies worldwide to protect the consumer, even with the buying of online goods and services, and Blizzard is complying to them afaik.
Those who already owned a valid and legal RoC CD-key could attach it to their Battle.net account and play v1.32.0 with SD assets. Even one from 2002 afaik. For the record, in 2003 the retail price of RoC+TFT was around €100 (60+40).

I personally have never even *installed* any v1.32.x version. But I _will_ install the most current one the day the HD assets become an optional extra download. In the meantime, I hope Blizzard will have taken the extra steps to fully support installations with both the latest current version and the legacy one they provide, plus of course any PTR for those who want to more actively help.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Another guy who rants about Reforged. Suck it up already.

Spoiler

+

Spoiler

Pretty much sums up my feelings about this thread.

 

[SharSash]

Nope only if you want the Reforged graphics enhancement. But yes, you cannot buy the Classic game anymore.

Wait. Did you just use "reforged graphiscs" and "enchancement" in one sentence?

 

[Blarto]

When will people finally get it...

Wc3 reforged = Blizzard shut down bnet1.0 for wc3 and moved everyone to bnet2.0.

They also raised the price (presumably) for the product to be played on bnet 2.0, because bnet2.0 service is worth more in blizzard's eyes, so they charge YOU more. On top of that, they hired/put some people to add some features to and tried to modernise graphics to "add value".

If you have Wc3 TFT CD (which you should), you can play old version and install w/e patch/mode you want. You just cannot play on bnet1.0 with other people anymore because blizzard shut down the server. They are under no obligation to provide free hosting services to you in perpetuity, even if it was in the EULA by some miracle, which i'm sure it is not, and that EULA won't be enforceable even if it was.

So basically Blizzard killed Wc3 1.0 online service (TFT) and replaced with with Wc3 2.0 (REFORGED). People hate Wc3 2.0 and want Wc3 1.0 back, but Blizzard won't do it because there's no profit for them. They took GIANT RISK by making Wc3 2.0, because they added many features, modernised UI, etc, and the RISK DIDN'T PAY OFF. This happens in Business. Products fail. Companies fail. People move on and try something else, or fix the failed product slowly at a later time.

If you don't like Bnet 2.0, go learn some Chinese and install Netease client + uuu vpn and play with Chinese community. They are about 10 times more alive than wc3 bnet 2.0 anyway.

 

[deepstrasz]

If you don't like Bnet 2.0, go learn some Chinese and install Netease client + uuu vpn and play with Chinese community. They are about 10 times more alive than wc3 bnet 2.0 anyway.

I'd rather wait for and support Warsmash than give any ounce of pride to China.

 

[pyf]

They also raised the price (presumably) for the product [...] they hired/put some people to add some features to and tried to modernise graphics to "add value".

As of this writing, WC3:R Standard Edition costs €30

The last time I checked the Blizzard Store before Blizzard made buying Reforged mandatory, the official prices were:
- RoC: €10
- TFT: €10 (as a separate, optional buy)

Besides, we know that a TFT CD-key is no longer required with recent versions of the game. Blizzard advertised it as making TFT free. I am pointing out that the definition of the word 'free' may vary from people to people, and from context to context.

Therefore, we may consider a few scenarios:
- Reforged = €10 RoC + €20 HD assets
- Reforged = €20 RoC + €0 TFT + €10 HD assets
- Reforged = €20 (RoC+TFT as non-free whatever was advertised) + €10 HD assets
- Reforged = €15 RoC + €15 TFT + €0 HD assets (wow!)
- Reforged = €0 RoC + €0 TFT + €30 HD assets (aaugh!)
- v1.32 SD graphics = €10 RoC (with a legally bought CD-key from the Store, for example)
- v1.32 SD graphics = any price ranging from €60 to <€1 (with a legally bought retail RoC CD-ROM version)
- v1.32 SD graphics = any price ranging from €100 to <€2 (with a legally bought retail RoC+TFT CD-ROM version)

If you have Wc3 TFT CD (which you should), you can play old version and install w/e patch/mode you want. [...]

Up to and including v1.27b.

[...] You just cannot play on bnet1.0 with other people anymore because blizzard shut down the server. They are under no obligation to provide free hosting services to you in perpetuity, even if it was in the EULA by some miracle, which i'm sure it is not, and that EULA won't be enforceable even if it was.

So basically Blizzard killed Wc3 1.0 online service (TFT) [...]

Single player mode is still there. And authentic LAN games are still available with previous versions of the game, like for example the official full v1.27a digital. The only problem with authentic LAN games is: do people still have friends they pay a visit to IRL?

 

[Blarto]

As of this writing, WC3:R Standard Edition costs €30

The last time I checked the Blizzard Store before Blizzard made buying Reforged mandatory, the official prices were:
- RoC: €10
- TFT: €10 (as a separate, optional buy)

Last time I checked (before Blizzard released Reforged), you could buy legit CD keys for TFT/ROC for 5 USD each (not directly from Blizzard store though). So 10 Euro for classic TFT+ROC seems fair.

In other words, Blizzard's only "sin" is closing bnet 1.0, which people can get mad at, but its their servers and their IP, and that EULA people accepted when installing Wc3 for the first time probably included "Blizzard does not oblige to provide battle.net in perpetuity".

If you still own old wc3, you dont even have to accept new EULA to use wc3 or its editor, and Blizzard is nice enough to make Bnet 2.0 wc3 back-compatible with bnet 1.0 maps.

So really... @ THE OP ->

"Reforged sucks" threads are old news by now. We all get it. Move on with your life.

 

[pyf]

Last time I checked (before Blizzard released Reforged), you could buy legit CD keys for TFT/ROC for 5 USD each (not directly from Blizzard store though). So 10 Euro for classic TFT+ROC seems fair. [...]

Best deal ever, from 2011

Spoiler: ... but how much does this bundle cost, you may ask...?

[...] If you still own old wc3, you dont even have to accept new EULA to use wc3 or its editor, and Blizzard is nice enough to make Bnet 2.0 wc3 back-compatible with bnet 1.0 maps. [...]

The full 1.27a digital version that is downloadable for free from Blizzard's own servers (even without any Battle.net account) might come in handy there, for those who do not agree with the new EULA. Plus, maps created with the 1.27a editor are to be compatible always with any current version of the game.