This has been kinda fun to watch, as an outsider at least (have not bought it). I thought about bring it up here.
So, blizzard just released the ''remake'' of one of their most beloved games in the past, Warcraft III:Reforged, which has upset several costumers and provoked intense backlash. It issue can be splitted in two subjects:
1- The final product do not match what was show during pre-order/annoucement/advertising
2- A new and different customer policy which has been considered too harsh and against the spirit of the original game.
- 1st point - BlizzCon 2018 vs. Launch 2020 Comparison -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwG5ct900B0
Pre-order false advertising is not really something new in the industry, but some cases are still so glare that do shine out, and this might be one. The trailer above problably sums it as an example, but there is much more and is all over the place. User Interface upgrades hinted at did not became real, final product models were severely downgraded from the annoucement trailer, promised voice over improvements were minimal and the list goes on.
This has prompted all kind of backlash on reddit, metacritic, foruns and what not. It is just brutal.
Warcraft 3 reddit, just for shits and giggles in case you want - https://www.reddit.com/r/warcraft3/
- 2nd point - "We stupidly didn't capitalize on DotA, so we'll make sure no one can capitalize on our stupidity in the future" - (Random youtuber user)
“Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title, and interest in and to all Custom Games, including but not limited to any copyrights in the content of any Custom Games. If for any reason you are prevented or restricted from assigning any rights in the Custom Games to Blizzard, you grant to Blizzard an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, unconditional, royalty free, irrevocable license enabling Blizzard to fully exploit the Custom Games (or any component thereof) for any purpose and in any manner whatsoever. You further agree that should Blizzard decide that it is necessary, you will execute any future assignments and/or related documents promptly upon receiving such a request from Blizzard in order to effectuate the intent of this paragraph.” - (Actual costumer licency from Reforged)
In case you lived under a rock for the last 17 years: the original Warcraft 3 came with a map editor, which allowed many and many different maps and gameplay to be created by its users. Most notably, the original Dota, which gave birth to the whole MOBA genre and worldwide phenomenon of League of Legends and Dota 2 e-sports.
Well, guess who never made money out of that? After losing to Valve in court over the Dota 2 name and failling with their own MOBA attempt, seems Blizzard is still salty about the subject.
Additionally, the new customer agreement also prevents any content from being created using any non-blizzard IP, what means many of the most famous maps from the past are officially banned.
Your thoughts?
Edit/Update - January 31st
REFUNDS
Reportedly Blizzard was giving refunds normally at first, but went full defensive once the situation became clear.
This includes regions which have legal basis for them, like Australia or EU. Some users claim to have played less than 2 hours and still get denied.
More recently they started to give refunds again, it seems the decision was taken overnight to ignore played time, but several people still report issues with it.
OLD Client
To clarify this point. You can still play what can be called the old client for the single player if you have not bought Reforged, but you need to download the new 30 GB client to do it
Besides that, several functions were taken from the old client, like shadows and sounds
Other funcionalities taken away from the old client, which were working properly before reforged launch: Clans, Arranged Teams, Custom Campaigns, Use Save Codes because account name changed, Use Map Editor without new EULA, Have all sounds, have a 1.5gb classic client, Play on a Ladder, Choose hosting region(s) when hosting games, Keep your old accounts
Update - February 4th
Blizzard answer so far: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/warcraft3/t/warcraft-iii-reforged-developer-update/18425
Last edited by vkaraujo - on 04 February 2020
