Warcraft 3

{{Infobox VG |title=Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
North American box art
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment Sierra Entertainment Capcom
Designer(s)	Rob Pardo
Version	1.22a (2008-06-30)
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X
Release date(s)	July 3, 2002 July 5, 2002 2003
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) OFLC: G8+
Media	CD (1)
System requirements	Recommended: 600 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, 32 MB 3D video card, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card (Windows)
Input methods	Keyboard and Mouse

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 or WC3 or RoC) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in July 2002. It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne, was released in 2003.

Warcraft III contains four playable races:^[1] Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and the Night Elves and Undead, which are new to the Warcraft mythos.^[2] Warcraft III's single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. Multiplayer mode allows for play against other people, via the internet, instead of playing against computer-controlled characters as is done in the single-player custom game mode.

The game proved to be one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units shipped to retail stores and over one million units sold within a month.^[3] Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.^[4]

Gameplay

A small Human army (red) attacking an Orcish base (blue).

A game of Warcraft III takes place on a map of varying size, such as large plains and fields, with terrain features like rivers, mountains, seas, or cliffs. In Campaign mode, the map is initially covered with the Black Mask, a dark layer which obscures the landscape beneath until it is explored. The Black Mask, once gone, is permanently removed.^[5] Areas that have been explored but no longer are within sight range of an allied unit or building are covered with the fog of war. Though terrain remains visible, changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are unseen.^[5] During a game, players must establish settlements to gain resources, defend against other players, and train units to explore the map and attack enemies. There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft III: gold, lumber, and food.^[6] The first two are required to construct units and buildings, while food restricts the maximum number of units the player may control at one time.^[7]

Creeps are often found in groups, such as these Trolls.

The game also introduces creeps, computer controlled units that are hostile to all players.^[8] Creeps guard key areas such as gold mines or neutral buildings and, when killed, provide experience points, gold, and special items to a player's hero.^[8] This encourages players to be aggressive instead of turtling. Warcraft III also introduced a day/night cycle to the series.^[9] Besides having advantages or disadvantages for certain races, at night most creeps fall asleep, making nighttime scouting safer; however, the line of sight for most units is also reduced. Other minor changes to the gameplay were due to the 3D terrain. For instance, units on a cliff have an attack bonus when attacking units at lower elevations.^[2]

In previous Warcraft games, there were only two playable races, Orcs and Humans, which had more similarities than differences. Barring cosmetic changes, most Orc units were identical to their Human counterparts. In Warcraft III, the Night Elves and Undead are added as playable races.^[1] Additionally, as in StarCraft, each race has a unique set of units, structures, technologies, and base-building methodology.

Warcraft III adds powerful units called heroes. For each enemy killed, heroes gain experience points, progressing in levels and gaining new spell options (bringing RPG elements to the series).^[10] Certain heroes can also apply beneficial auras to allied units. Heroes can equip items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities. The highest attainable level in a normal game is ten. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the other spells. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and shops containing usable items.^[11]

Campaign

An Orcish army.

Warcraft III's campaign mode is broken up into four campaigns, each featuring a different race, which are themselves divided into chapters. Unlike previous Blizzard titles, such as Warcraft II or StarCraft, players are not directed to mission briefings in which plot exposition occurs and objectives are announced; rather, Warcraft III uses a system of "seamless quests."^[12] Some plot development happens in occasional cinematics, but most occurs in-game with cutscenes. Objectives, known as quests, are revealed to the player during the progress of the map. Main quests are those that the player must complete to proceed to the next chapter, but there are also optional quests which are not initially revealed, but can be discovered and completed alongside the main objectives.

Through each race's campaign, the player retains control of one or more heroes, which slowly grow in experience as the levels progress. This experience is carried over to subsequent missions, allowing the hero to grow throughout the course of the campaign.

While different in terms of storyline and precise gameplay, all of the different races' campaigns are structured similarly. Each begins with a level involving simple mechanics to introduce the player to the race and the basic elements of their hero and units. After one or two such levels the player's first "building mission" occurs, requiring them to build and maintain a base while competing with one or more enemy forces. The only campaign that breaks this pattern is the Night Elf campaign, whose first mission involves building a limited base. The last level of each race's campaign is an "epic battle".

Multiplayer

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Battle.net lobby.

While campaign games can have many different objectives, the sole objective in melee games is to destroy the opposition's buildings. In default melee matches, players can pick their own heroes, and losing one will not end the game. To make the game proceed more quickly, by default the map is covered in fog of war instead of the Black Mask.^[2] Warcraft III, like Blizzard's previous title StarCraft, allows for single and multiplayer replays to be recorded and viewed, allowing a game to be played at slower and faster speeds and viewed from the perspective of all players.^[13] Like all previous Blizzard titles since Diablo, Warcraft III uses the Battle.net multiplayer network. Players can create free accounts in regional "gateways," which helps reduce lag; these are Azeroth (U.S. East), Lordaeron (U.S. West), Northrend (Europe), and Kalimdor (Asia).^[14] One should note that at this point in time the U.S. East Gateway / Azeroth has become the de facto standard for online play. Most competitive play is held on this gateway as well as most public play in general. As the game has aged the players have condensed for this reason. Unlike previous Battle.net-enabled games, Warcraft III introduced anonymous matchmaking, automatically pairing players for games based on their skill level and game type preferences, preventing players from cheating and inflating their records artificially.^[15] If players want to play with a friend in ranked matches, Warcraft III offers "Arranged Team Games", where a team joins a lobby and Battle.net will search for another team; as with anonymous matchmaking, the enemy team is not known beforehand.^[15] Players can also host custom games, using maps created in the Warcraft III World Editor. The game also offers Friends Lists and Channels for chatting, where players can create custom channels or join Blizzard-approved ones.^[16] Warcraft III also allows players to band together to form "clans", which can participate in tournaments or offer a recreational aspect to Warcraft III. Global scores and standings in matchmaking games are kept on a "ladder".^[17] These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game.

Synopsis

Setting

Warcraft III takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth. Several years before the events of the games, a demon army known as the Burning Legion intent on Azeroth's destruction corrupted a race called the Orcs, and sent them through a portal to attack Azeroth. After many years of fighting, the Orcs were defeated by a coalition of humans, dwarves and elves known as the Alliance; the surviving combatants were herded into internment camps, where they seemed to lose their lust for battle. With no common enemy, a period of peace followed, but the Alliance began to fracture. The events of Warcraft III occur after a timeskip from Warcraft II. This period was originally intended to have been documented in Warcraft Adventures, but that game was canceled in mid-development.^[18]

Characters

Each campaign features several heroes around whom most plot exposition occurs. Thrall is an Orc who was raised in captivity. He escapes into the wilds of Azeroth's northern continent, Lordaeron, where he discovers a few Orcs who were not captured by the Alliance. Thrall becomes warchief of the new Orcish Horde, and sets out to free his people. Another major character is Arthas Menethil, prince of the human kingdoms. While courageous, Arthas is known to be rash and hot-headed; he is a paladin studying under the old war hero Uther the Lightbringer. The characters used in Warcraft III and its expansion The Frozen Throne also share ties with the 2004 release of World of Warcraft in which Illidan and Arthas are main bosses.

Plot

The game's plot is told entirely through cinematics and cutscenes, with additional information found in the Warcraft III manual. The campaign itself is divided into five sections, with the first acting as a tutorial, and the others telling the story from the point of view of the humans of Lordaeron, the Undead Scourge, the Orcs, and the Night Elves.

The game opens with the orc leader Thrall waking from a nightmare warning him that the return of the Burning Legion is imminent.^[19] After a brief encounter with a man called "the Prophet", and fearing that his dream was more of a vision than a nightmare, he leads his forces in an exodus from Lordaeron to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor.^[20]

In another cinamatic, we see the Prophet again in the form of a raven flying over much of the world. He enters the captital city of the Kingdom of Lorderon, and flies into the throne room where the old King Tenaris is holding a conference with his councilers. From this we learn that they believe the orcs are regrouping and some wish to take defensive measures. The ambassador of Dalaran, a Magocracy, is more concerned about a strange plague that seems to be sweeping down from the North. The raven transforms into a man, who gives the same warning as was given to Thrall: that they should sail West. He is treated with contempt and leaves saying that he must find another who will take his advice.

Meanwhile, Teneris's son Prince Arthas has been sent to help Uther the Lightbringer defend the Kingdom against the Orcs ^[21]. Several levels are spent fighting these Orcs.

Then we are introduced to the Archmage Jaina Proudmore, an aprentice in Dalaran, evesdropping on a conversation between her tutor Antonidas and the prophet. Antonidas also considers the prophet a madman, but Jaina is not so sure. They are afraid that the plague in the Northlands may be magical, and she is sent to investigate with Arthas's aid. They discover that the grain people are feeding on is plagued, and Arthas kills the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad. However, they then find the undead are marching on a nearby village, and Arthas sends Jaina, who can travel magically, for aid. The town's people are plagued, however, and the first thing he has to do is to kill them. He just manages to hold out until Uther arrives. He then resoves to go to Strathome, where Kel'thuzard has told him that the other origninater of the plague, Mal'ganis the Dreadlord, is hiding.

On the road to Stratholme the prophet greets Arthas, and bids him go West, but he too refuses. Jaina, evesdropping again, is even more doubtful. At Stratholme he finds that the people are plagued and beginning to be enslaved, and he insists that they must purge the city of everyone with the plague. Uther, who has come to help him, refuses furriously, and Arthas sends him away in contempt (the rank of Prince in this society is such that, if Arthas chooses to invoke it, will override anything else). Jaina, though more gently, also refuses to help. Arthas then tries to kill Malganis, who teleports away, telling Arthas to seek him in Northrend for the final battle.

We briefly see Jaina in the streets of the city, horrified by the result of what has happened. Uther arrives, and asks her what Arthas is doing, which she evenutally betrays, saying that she was in his confidence but did her best to stop him. Uther leaves. As Jaina stands alone in the wrecked city, the prophet comes and finaly addresses her directly.^[22] She does as she is bidden. With her flight, the human resitance to the invasion of the Burning Legion begins.

Arthas pursues the dreadlord Mal'Ganis to the icy continent of Northrend, where he finds and helps his old dwarf friend Muradin Bronzebeard, who was seeking a legendary sword called Frostmourne when he was overtaken by the undead. They join forces and continue to hunt Malganis.

An emisary from Lorderon comes, and says the mission has been recalled. Arthas is away from the camp at the time, but when he hears, in fury at his denied vengence, he hires mercenaries to burn the boats that could have taken them home (an unfortunate trick of geography allows him to reach them before his men). When his men reach the shore to find the ships sunk, Arthas blames the mercenaries, whom he and his men then attack, to Muradin's great horror.

A few days later they are surrounded, and Muradin is becoming more and more annoyed with Arthas's seeming indifference to anything but vengence. They go to seek Frostmorne to use as a weapon against Mal'ganis. Upon discovering the blade, Muradin learns that the sword is cursed;^[23] Arthas disregards the warning and offers his soul to gain the sword, whereupon the block of ice shatters and kills Muradin.

Arthas kills Mal'Ganis with the sword, at least partly at the Lich King's behest (it is the Lich King, at this point a still mysterious "dark lord", who controls the blade). He soon becomes completely mad.

In the end cinamatic of the campaign, we see the supposed triumphal entry of Arthas, now cloaked and hooded, amongst showers of rose petals and the ringing of bells. Once, though, he looks up, and his face is dead white, and we see a rose petal caught in his glove wither and decay. In seeming confusion, he kneels before his father, the cold sword in his hands. He then kills his father, whose bloody crown rolls from the throne. Later we understand that he went on to slaughter and destroy and that this time the kingdom had no defence against the undead.

Now a Death Knight, Arthas meets with the leader of the dreadlords, Tichondrius. He asks why he feels no pain at the destruction of all he has loved, and it is then that we first learn exactly what Frostmorne has done to him. He seems to be under the mind control of the Lich King, and for the moment, obeys Ticondrius (the detail of the mecanics of soul-stealing is never explained, nor are we ever told how much Arthas is to blame or how much others are controling him).

First, Arthas exhumes the remains of Kel'Thuzad, killing another paladin to do so. The paladins have managed to survive. But Arthas is ordered to place the remains of the necromancer in the urn that contains his father's ashes. It is in Uther's keeping and he kills Uther.

He is ordered to raise Kel'Thuzad and then attacks the kingdom of the high elves in order to use the magical powers of their sacred sunwell to do so. The elves defence consists of several magical gates and a group of rangers under the command of Sylvannas Windrunner. She hinders him at every turn and several levels are spent retriving the keys to the gates while under permant attack from her forces. She fights him through both gates and into the forrest of Silvermoon, where she is trapped by Arthas, who not only kills her, but raises her as a banshee as a form of revenge (this is very relevant to the later plot line in the Frozen Throne and WoW).

Arthas then succeeds in destroying Silvermoon and reviving Kel'Thuzad as a Lich, corrupting and almost destroying the sunwell. The Lich informs him of the Burning Legion, a vast demonic army who are coming to consume the world. Kel'Thuzad's true master is the Lich King, who was created to aid the Legion with his Undead Scourge, but in truth he wishes for the Legion to be destroyed (the Lich King was once an Orc, who one way or another helped the Burning Legion, but after some time tried to escape. He was caught, and in some way trapped and tortured. His spirit alone (bodiless) was frozen in ice by the legion in Northrend, and he was forced to aid the Legion again).

Arthas and Kel'Thuzad fought their way through a group of orcs to consult Archimonde, who told them to steal Mendiv's spellbook from Dalaran and use it to summon him and his minions. The wizards of Dalaran put up a valiant resitance, including formidable auras that harmed the undead, but they were at last defeated. Even while Kel'thuzad channeled his summoning spells, they fought. But in vain. The Burning Legion entered the world of Azeroth. The leaders of the undead were dismissed, to Arthas's consternation. The Lich King is after this commanded by no one.

Thrall's fleet is scattered by its passage through a storm, and they are shipwrecked on the shores of Kalimdor. Seeking his comrades along the coast, Thrall is startled to find the centaur fighting in great numbers against Tauren. He aids the Tauren, and soon meets their leader, Cairne Bloodhoof. They form an almost instant allience, Thrall helping to defend Cairne and his people in return for information on the land, in particular the presence to the North of an Oracle. Thrall finds one of the other Orcish leaders, Grom Hellscream, whom he calls brother, fighting the humans, whose presence is at that time unexplained. He orders Grom to leave them alone, but Grom disobeys. Grom was deeply involved in the historical corruption of the Orcs, and he is much more affected than Thrall by the nearness of the demons. Thrall circumnavigates the human bases by flying machine, and sends Grom North to cut lumber for their new settlement in an attempt to keep him out of trouble.

Grom obeys, but the forests are haunted by the Night Elves and their demigod Cenarius, a once mortal race rewarded with immortality by nature for a previous defeat of the Legion. Cenarius is greatly angered by the Orcs cutting down their forests, and he and his people attack them. The Legion meanwhile have landed on Kalimdor. They have been ordered defeat Cenarius before the full invasion commences. Mannoroth, who was the origanal corrupter and commander of the orcs, spilled his blood into a pool, knowing that the once chaos ridden orcs would not be able to resist its power. In spite of protests, Grom and his clan do drink from the pool, and kill Cenarius. But he has by drinking bound himself to the Legion's power, in spite of attempting again to resist Mannoroth's commands when then meet him again.

Cairne, having settled his people in a refuge from the Centaur, comes to help Thrall reach the Oracle in repayment of his help. Thrall manages to reach the Oracle, though he has to fight his way through many human defences to do so.

It seems that Jaina Proudmoore, whose people these are, is also trying to consult the Oracle. They both reach him at the same time, and would fight, except that the oracle forbids it. Both then know him for the mysterious prophet. Thrall is not even aware of the fall of Lordaron until he is told that Jaina is "the leader of the survivors". The bewildered leaders are introduced and told that they must co operate if they are to live. Both are reluctant, particually Jaina, but eventually they both consent. Thrall is told what has happened to Grom, and ordered to save him. Without him the Orcs cannot atain their destainy.

Following the Prophet's directions, Thrall and the humans join forces to purge Grom of demonic influence. After some desperate fighting with Grom's clan, Infernals (a metoritic demon) start raining from the sky. Thrall captures Grom in a soul gem, and he is trapped in a magic circle and purged of the demonic influence. Thrall and Grom together go to fight and kill Mannoroth. Thrall is seriously wounded, and Grom, killing Mannoroth, is killed by the explosion of his body. As he dies he says to Thrall that the last of the demon's fire has left him, and that he is truly free. In his dying moments his red eyes, a change caused by the demonic influence, return to their natural colour.

On what we are later told by Jaina were the prophet's orders, the humans and orcs return to Ashenvale, where they build fortications and battle the undead.

At the beginning of the Night Elf campaign, we see the Priestess of the Moon, Tyrande Whisperwind, looking out over the invaded forests. She is concerned that there may be something even worse in the forest than them. Nevertheless, they set out to attack the united orcs and humans. Their attack on a base is interupted by a huge attack of undead, from which they flee. Some hours later, they meet Archimonde himself, who kills Tyrande's guard. She survives only by hiding from him, and is forced to run to the nearest camp of night elves.

The Burning Legion are heading towards the World Tree on the summit of Mount Hyjal. The World Tree contains energies that, if they can drain, will doom Azeroth.

In order to oppose the Burning Legion, she decides they must reawaken the sleeping Elf Druids (a result of an ancient bargin with the green dragonflight). To do this she must retrive the horn of Cenarius: fighting their way first through the orcs and then its elemental defenders. This mission is timed because the undead are marching on the barrow dens where Malfurion Stormrage, Tyrande's lover and leader of the druids, is alsleep. He awakes and deals with the undead. They continue through the infested woods, for the most part dodging the orcs and humans, to awaken the other druids.

The druids of the talon awaken easily at the horn call, and the Night Elves continue underground to find the druids of the claw. Within the barrows Illidan Stormrage, Malfurion's brother, is imprisoned. Tyrande frees him against Malfurion's wishes while Malfurion continues to wake the druids of the claw.

Malfurion says that he will have nothing to do with the freeing of Illidan. Illidan, returning to the surface alone, meets Arthas, who tells him about the powerful "Skull of Gul'dan", which is responsible for the corruption of the forests (This is the Lich King trying to facilitate the Legion's downfall). Consuming the Skull and becoming a demon-elf hybrid, Illidan uses its power to kill Tichondrius, who is now in direct command of the undead. Malfurion is again furious with what he has done and sends him away.

The Prophet appears to Malfurion in a dream, and sends him to meet Jaina and Thrall. Tyrande is at first unwelcoming, but they explain that they too were summoned. The Prophet appears, and reveals that he used to be Medivh, the betrayer from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the Last Guardian, who (for reasons relating to demonic posession) summoned the corrupted orcs into Azeroth.

The Humans, Orcs, and Night Elves thus enforcedly unite. Malfurion decides that in order to defeat the Legion, the Night Elves will sacrifice their gift of immortality. Summoning the ancestral sprirts to do this will take a while: longer than it will take Archimonde to reach the summit of the mountain. The three races build defences on the path to the summit to fight and delay all the forces sent against them. Each one is in turn defeated, allowing Archimonde to reach the tree. But as he tried to drain its energies, Malfurion blew the horn of Cenarius, summoning the spirits to attack Archimonde. They surround him and explode.

Peace once again comes to Azeroth as the Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat.^[24]

Sound

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Most of the music within Warcraft III was composed by Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, and Glenn Stafford.^[25] The Limited Edition of Reign of Chaos came with much of the orchestral music on a separate soundtrack. Each of the four playable races has different music: monastic music for the humans; ambient and Native American-sounding music for the Night Elves; warlike African-sounding music for the Orcs; and fast, haunting music for the Undead. New musical themes were added in the expansion.

One of the signatures of Blizzard games are the unit quotes. If a single unit is clicked four or more times in a row, the unit's voice samples become more and more comical. The unit may start getting angry at the player, or make allusions and references to other games, movies, or jokes. Movies quoted include Blade Runner, Star Wars Episodes IV & V: Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back, Army Of Darkness, and Toy Story.^{[citation needed]} Games like Mortal Kombat, Monty Python^{[citation needed]}, Warhammer 40,000, and Banjo-Kazooie are paid homage,^{[citation needed]} in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Twilight Zone, and Beavis and Butthead.^{[citation needed]} For example, the Humans in particular do the Monty Python impressions. Click on a peasant character enough, and he'll say things like "We found a witch! May we burn her?" or "YOU'RE the king? Well I didn't vote for you." Or click on a knight, he may say "I NEVER say 'ni'!" or "My favourite colour is blue... No, YELLOW!"

Modding

As did Warcraft II and Starcraft before it, Warcraft III ships with a "World Editor" program that allows players to create their own custom scenarios and maps. The World Editor has features such as unit editing and event triggers. Through Battle.net, players can download and play peers' custom maps. To facilitate modding, third-party developers released tools for spell editing through SLK spreadsheets, customizing skins with .BLP converters, JASS editing, and a file importer that opened up .MPQs. The World Editor was expanded and improved for The Frozen Throne expansion. Though the editor has received updates through game patches, it is not officially supported as a product.^[26]

Some custom maps have enjoyed great success, with Defense of the Ancients (DotA) being a tournament item at Blizzcon 2005 and other tournaments around the world.^{[citation needed]}

Development

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2008)

Other versions

The Battle Chest box and contents.

In addition to the regular game, there also exists a limited Collector's Edition Warcraft III bundle. The collector's edition box contained a Warcraft III cinematic DVD, including behind-the-scenes features and the cinematics of all prior Warcraft games; a Collector's Edition Soundtrack; a Collector's Edition instruction manual; The Art of Warcraft book; and lithographic prints.

Blizzard Entertainment also released the Warcraft III Battle Chest, which contains Reign of Chaos bundled with The Frozen Throne in one box, along with guides from BradyGames.

Another version, the Exclusive Gift Set, came bundled with the cinematic DVD, official BradyGames strategy guide, and Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition.

Reception

Reception of Warcraft III was extremely positive; the game averages a 91% at GameRankings.com,^[30] and "Universal Acclaim" at MetaCritic, based on dozens of reviews.^[31] While GamePro noted that "WarCraft III doesn’t revolutionize the RTS genre", they still praised Blizzard for delivering a title with "a well-executed story, drum-tight game-play and a long shelf life as a multi-player title."^[28] GameSpot noted that as with StarCraft, the ability to experience the action from all sides "is of great appeal." The reviewer also noted that Warcraft III made the early stages of the game more interesting and less formulaic; in most RTS games, he noted, "the initial build-up period in such games is merely a race to get to the best units first."^[29] Most reviewers noted that Blizzard had finally fleshed out the storyline of the first two Warcraft titles, finally giving each side its own motivations and differences beyond cosmetics.^[32] IGN noted that "There's not a ton that's new to RTS buffs out there, but it's done well enough that you either won't notice or won't care."^[27]

However, criticism included the inability of the player to change the fate of Arthas' "turn to the dark side." Instead, Gamecritics.com noted, the player "has to sit by as Arthas slides into insanity."^[32] Other reviewers noted that the character models were of mediocre quality, especially when viewed up close during in-game cinematics. ^[29]

References

External links

• The official Warcraft III website
• The official Warcraft III strategy guide, ladder, patches, and map downloads
• Matchmaking and Ladder Explanation
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos at WoWWiki, a Warcraft wiki
• Warcraft III on MobyGames